Tasmota VS zigbee2mqtt

The best alternative firmware example for true IOT devices is Tasmota [1]. Erase manufacturer firmware for every ESP devices the day after purchase to avoid those careless manufacturer firmwares.

[1] https://tasmota.github.io/docs/

The ESP8266 based Sonoff S31 and ESP32 based Switchbot plugs, both flashed with either Tasmota or ESPHome, are my go-to options for US WiFi smart plugs with power monitoring.

And if you want to turn your ESP8266 into a standalone appliance, with a web interface and directly editable config that doesn't need a build step, Tasmota is another great option.

https://tasmota.github.io/docs/

Go to your gateway IP and type admin/OTAPASSWORD . The password can be changed from the Wifi Manager portal. Thanks, @NorthernMan54, for this add and to Tasmota as they inspired this feature and the code. Note that the WebUI is unavailable with the Theengs plug in this version.

Setting two on/off cycles with 50 discrete schedules seems like a very inefficient way of doing this when the same thing could be accomplished with two rules. Any compatible device flashed with Tasmota or similar FOSS firmware would make this possible.

This could absolutely be achieved using an ESP8266, but something like Tasmota or ESPHome might be a better platform to start with.

You could strap a magnetometer to a "dumb" weather vane, but I don't think Tasmota supports any magnetometers unless you want to do a PR. I know there have been a few attempts to add the HMC/QMC5883 sensors in the past, like this.

Tuya devices, and the Tuya-based Monster, Greeni, etc stuff can be connected to HA using the Tuya Integration, or converted to local-only using Tuya Cloudcutter and connected to HA using Local Tuya, or even flashed with Tasmota, ESPHome/Libre Tiny, or OpenBeken.

I use a "SONOFF Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus ZigBee 3.x.0 TI CC2652P + CP2102N Coordinator" with a long USB cable.

As user cricalix points out, there's also a version with an EFR32MG21, I'm not sure how they compare nowadays, see discussion on GitHub: https://github.com/Koenkk/zigbee2mqtt/discussions/14261

I can recommend this: https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/

You can keep your Hue bulbs and devices but threw away the app, hub, and need to work with hue as an institution at all.

I got a $30 USB zigbee stick to replace the hub. works great!

If the switch is draining too much battery, that could be a software bug.

I have a bunch of these switches https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/devices/TS0044.html#tuya-ts0044, and the solution of turning off the periodic battery reporting seems to have helped https://github.com/Koenkk/zigbee2mqtt/issues/14157#issuecomm...

If looking for lightweight solution with zigbee (usb dongle) one can also take a look at Zigbee2MQTT [0]. This library is used by HomeAssistant under the hood, but it can be used independently as a standalone app and let one interact with zigbee devices using MQTT json messages. And it supports a lot of devices : "Currently 2971 devices are supported from 379 different vendors"

[0] https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io

- Zigbee2MQTT to connect the vibration sensor.

Check https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/ to see if your device has any quirks...

And from there you go to: https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io there are good sugestions for the hardware there.