Hi Kiwi friends!
Does anyone have recommendations for a wireless, battery-powered smart button available in NZ (or that ships to NZ)? I’d like to use it with Home Assistant to act as a doorbell.
I can see things like this online, but the “easy to use, free app!” is off-putting… I’m after a button that has minimal capability to spy on me, and that can be integrated with HA.
Any suggestions welcome - or if anyone has any better ideas on an alternative option, go for it! We can’t get mains power or PoE where I want to put the doorbell.
I use a dumb 433MHz wireless doorbell (apparently this one on Ali Express, but the exact one doesn’t matter) with a Sonoff RF Bridge running Tasmota. It’s far faster and more reliable than anything with the smarts built into the button, and the battery lasts at least a few years.
I’ve got it set up to take a snapshot on the front door and driveway cameras, send a push notification with the front door camera, announce on the speakers that someone’s at the door, and turn on the outdoor lights at night.
The doorbell was $8 shipped, the RF Bridge was somewhere in the mid $20s but I already had it for some door sensors, and if you don’t already have a camera, a decent Reolink is under $150 shipped directly (or under $250 from a physical shop in NZ like PB Tech).
Sounds perfect, thanks for the reccs!
Congratulations, that sounds awesome!
Zigbee button.
Just grab a USB dongle that’ll work with zigbee, pair and off to the races.
I’ve got a ton of these: https://www.aqara.com/us/product/wireless-mini-switch/
I’ve used them for everything from being a light switch in a weird spot (my daughter’s lamp and a button at her height) to counting the number of diapers changed for my son.
Yeah, I use the Aqara buttons with zigbee2mqtt and a cheap ZigBee dongle - works great. Batteries in the buttons last for ages, but does take a second or two for home assistant to register the press
Amazing, thank you so much! This gives me a great starting point. I love your creativity with the diaper-counting - there’s so much cool stuff that tech can do, but I especially love when it’s helping out with the mundane daily tasks!
Unfortunately the TP-link Tapo stuff doesn’t have an official integration yet. There is a custom integration: https://github.com/petretiandrea/home-assistant-tapo-p100. Sadly it says only partial support for the S200B, as I was interested using it’s rotation function as a light dimmer. It’s also much cheaper than the equivalent from Philips. Is your door exposed to the elements? My concern would be most of these indoor smart buttons won’t hold up well to exposure to rain and sun.
The Aqara stuff is available in some NZ stores now, like CurbsTickle mentioned. Just make sure you have a zigbee dongle connected to HA.
Good point, I hadn’t considered the UV light impact. Thanks for the Aqara Rex, will look into it.
