XIAOMI AND
YOUR SMART HOME?
Is this the most comprehensive guide to
Xiaomi Smart Home? :)
Let's see what exactly you can add to your
(Smart) home....
The 1st thing that you need, although you
might take this thing for granted, is a decent
router! If you never thought about this, you
might have a feeling that it is enough to have
any router and that you can connect as many
devices as you want and that it will all work.
Wrong! Let's use the car analogy. It is true
that you can have a sedan or a limousine and
you can do whatever you want with it. But
would you use it to transport bricks? Or other
building material? Of course not. A pickup is
much more suited to that job. It is the same
with routers. If you buy a cheap router for
all and everything, you can't be surprised it
doesn't work OK and that devices disconnect. I
would suggest a separate router for your smart
home. You don't want any delays when you turn
on your lights, do you? So, this one is just
about right for Smart Home... not the cheapest
one, but not too expensive either....
So after you get your "infrastructure" OK, it
is time to get Zigbee Gateway or Hub. Coming
form Xiaomi, you don't have much options:
So now that you have a decent
router and a gateway, what next?
The easiest thing is to add some
bulbs... after all, they use your
existing "infrastructure" so just
replace your existing bulbs with
the smart ones... There are
COLOR...
...and WHITE bulbs:
after that, you might add a couple
of light strips, just for
atmosphere in your flat/house:
These are not a part of Xiaomi
smart home suite, but really
useful nonetheless, to be used in
closet or as night light:
OK, now that you have the basics,
you might want to add some real
lighting... Ceiling lights!
They're really nice and much
brighter than single LED bulbs!
You can use single bulbs for small
spaces or additional atmosphere
lighting, but in order to have
enough light in bigger rooms, you
need something like this:
..or like this... The 650 even has
ambient lighting around the edges:
Now, there are second generation
bulbs, which are pretty much the
same, but are 20% brighter and
white bulb has temperature
control:
...and 2nd gen RGB bulb:
OK, now you have the lights. But
what is so smart about those?
Except the fact that you can
control them from your Smartphone.
Well... Remember the Gateway we
presented in 2nd video? It
supports all sorts of sensors and
devices. Why the gateway? The
bulbs and light don't need one,
after all??? Well, the bulbs work
on AC. That means they're
constantly plugged in. If you want
to use for example, motion sensor,
you would have to run a cable to
the AC plug, which is pretty
impractical. Imagine having 5
sensors, or 10, and having to plug
each one into the AC outlet, and
run the cable to it! That is why
all these sensors run on
batteries. You just stick them
onto a wall, and that's it. Once
every couple of years you change
battery and that's it. That is why
all these devices use Zigbee
protocol instead of Wi-fi. Zigbee
was invented so that it uses very
little power, contrary to the
WiFi, so these devices can run for
years on single battery. So let's
see what is offered....
1st and probably most common
device is motion sensor, or as
Xiaomi calls it "Human detection
sensor". With it you can
automatically turn on the lights
when you enter a room....
Next thing you will almost
certainly want is a door sensor.
It signals when the door or
windows is open, and you can
create various automation rules
based on it...
Next thing you can add is
Temperature/Humidity/Pressure
Sensor. It is interesting being
able to compare differences in
room temperatures, especially in
the summer :)
and you can even put it outside so
you can be 100% sure what is outer
temperature. Just make sure it is
hidden from rain/snow. I have it
on my balcony:
OK, back to security; for your
windows, you can use door/windows
sensor, but you can also use
vibration/shock sensor. These
can't tell when the windows is
open or closed, but they detect
vibration and movement and the
angle. So If somebody tries to
break in by breaking the window,
you'll get the notification!
But what about internal problems?
Like fire or flood? Luckily, there
are several sensors just for that!
First what you can add is water
flood sensor. You just put it
somewhere near the water source
(i.e. next to your washing mashine
or dish washer, etc) and it will
alert you if there has been a
flood!
Then there is smoke detector. Be
sure to set it to lowest
sensitivity if you put it near the
kitchen... It turns on everytime I
make hamburgers....
And finally, if you use natural
gas for cooking (or heating), you
can add Natural Gas leak detector
unit!
Now, what about the regular
devices that are not smart? I.e.
you have a favorite lamp and you
don't want to replace it, but it
is not smart. Or a toaster. Or
anything that works on AC.
Luckily, there are several devices
that can help you out with that.
One of those is Smart Socket
Basic:
The basic version can only turn on
or off, but what if you need USB
ports? Or want to know how much
power the device consumes? For
that, there is Smart Socket
Enhanced.
But what about classic lights, you
have a lot of those and maybe you
don't want to change them? Is
there a way to incorporate them in
your Smart Home? Of course there
is! By installing a Smart Switch!
There are 2 variants. Single
rocker and double rocker. Let's
see....
This is single rocker switch:
...and double rocker switch:
...and here are installation
videos. Note that in order to
install them, you need square
boxes, they won't fit into the
round European boxes:
And before we continue with more
"exotic" stuff, here are some
options for switches that don't
have to be wired. You can control
your bulbs or ceiling lights with
wireless switches. Pretty handy if
you want to add additional
switches in a room, without
wiring! Ofcourse, there are single
rocker and double rocker switches.
And round buttons, which support
more actions, like double click
and long press:
And also a special button with
dimmer, that works only with
ceiling lights:
Now, here is the most exotic way
to control your lights or devices:
magic cube!
OK, now let's get to the more
exotic stuff... and let's start
from the entrance. First of all,
you can change your classic
spyhole with the digital one.
Really cool stuff!
What about the lock? Well,
ofcourse! Here is digital door
knob, so you won't need keys
anymore! You'll be unlocking your
door with fingerprint, NFC card,
your phone or by numeric code....
So... what else is there? Let's
think of your bathroom... Hmm,
what smart things could go in
there? Well, for one, there is
Smart Bath Heater from Yeelight!
And it is not only heater! It can
also Change Air or Dry...
and here is the installation
video:
And for the end, a couple of items
for your bathroom; Inductive soap
dispenser:
and inductive faucet, so you can
wash your hands without touching
anything :)
OK, a couple more details.... Some
hooks and other small things for
your bathroom....
...and in case you live in Europe,
a great adapter for your chinese
devices! Low profile, you won't
even notice it's there:
If you like my videos,
please subscribe to my YouTube
channel!
BUY ME
A BEER!
I
already spent many
days and nights to
record these videos
and l and am offering
them for free. So, if
you like it and feel
it is usefull to you,
buy me a beer or two!
Donate 2-3€ or $ or
whatever you think
appropriate.
Cheers!