Xiaomi Gateway, motion sensor, Yeelight combo advice please.

rattle on 27/10/2017 - 14:41

G'day everyone.
Have recently purchased the Xiaomi 5 in 1 gateway kit, some Xiaomi Aqara body sensors and Yeelights.

We have young kids of various ages and they all leave a trail of lights on in the house every single day and night, some can't reach the light switches and the youngest often wake up and wander in the dark looking for us.

Our plan is to switch the bayonette light fittings to screw ones (electrician will be at house for other work anyway) and have the 2 hallways, kids toilet, powder room, kids bathroom, laundry and possibly bedrooms set up with the Xiaomi motion sensors and Yeelights and programmed via the app, to have them turn on at night when they walk in and turn off after they exit the area.
Just got some of the cheap Xiaomi wireless switches for bedside tables from the deal today.

Just wondering if anyone had any tips or advise on setting it up for someone with this gear and a person who has zero experience with technical stuff.

Plan to use the system for other uses, but this is the main objective for the moment.

Thanks and I look forward to your replies.

Electrical & Electronics

Comments

  • reno on 27/10/2017 - 18:05
    +1

    personal experience with the sensors and triggering the lights - sometimes it works as a dream, other times no idea why light doesn't come on (even though sensor shows motion activity)

    advice is that if you're using the Mi Home App to program it all, keep in mind that you have set it to china as your location - and all the time is based off china time (so make sure you add the time difference in)

    first thing would be to get the gateway setup
    then add each device one by one in, it seems quite straight forward (until it doesn't work)

  • ledaneo on 27/10/2017 - 18:05
    +1

    Hi,
    You can set up each light to be turned on when motion is detected and turned off when no motion is detected for a certain time (e.g. 2min).
    Some parts of the Mi Home app are still in Chinese so you might need to take a screenshot and have it translated using the Google translate app.
    If you don't have all of the motion sensors yet, for rooms with natural light I would recommend getting the newer one which has a light sensor. The advantage is that you can set it up to turn on only when there is no natural light.
    As for the sensor placement, I recommend trying out several places and angles before attaching it with the sticker.
    It is also helpful to know that the motion sensor doesn't report motion continually but rather in certain intervals. That means that for example if the light is turned on via the motion sensor and then immediately turned off via a switch, the light sensor will not turn the light on again right away even if there is motion (only after some time). At least that was my experience.
    Cheers

  • rattle on 28/10/2017 - 02:09

    Thanks very much to the both of you for taking the time to reply.

    Yep, have read that I set it to China and need to allow for the time difference and yes, I have the sensors on the way and I opted for the newer ones that you linked to.

    So, it looks like I leave the light switches turned on permanently and a phone or Xiaomi Smart Wireless Switch/Button can also turn the lights on and off.

    Came home after midnight to find half the house lights left on. Cannot wait to set this thing up and hopefully have it work fine.

    Thanks!

  • t3chshopper on 09/11/2017 - 11:22

    What you're doing may be overkill. You could just get some of the small Xiami motion lights on the walls. Here's the one that I use:
    https://www.geekbuying.com/item/Xiaomi-Yeelight-Motion-Senso…

    There's also this similar one:
    https://www.gearbest.com/night-lights/pp_672506.html

    We use ours in the hallway so the kids can find their way around at night time. Works a treat.

    Having said all of that, I'm in the middle of acquiring a bunch of Xiaomi Mi/Yeelight/Aqara gear and a gateway, with RPi running HomeAssistant to automate things a whole bunch more. But I won't need to worry about the hallway lights at night.

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