Can ST do integrations between Ring and Xiaomi Yeelights & door sensors?

hi all,

starting from a Ring, if I bought a SmartThings hub, would I be able to use it to integrate Ring, Xiaomi Door Sensors and Xiaomi Yeelights and do automations together?

Yes, but it is a much more complicated integration then if you were using a Hue bridge with hue lights, or the Osram Sylvania lights. And over time you may run into some problems with the sensors where they disconnect.

The Xiaomi sensors are popular because they are so inexpensive and they’re quite well built. But most of the models are not certified to the same protocol that SmartThings uses. This leads to two issues.

First, they are quite fiddly to get paired in the first place. And second, occasionally SmartThings makes some change which could cause all of them to stop working for a while. So far, that has happened two or three times, and the community developers have been able to get them working again, but there’s no guarantee because of the lack of certification. So you are taking a risk if you use is that at some point they will become incompatible with SmartThings. See the following thread to talk to people who are using the sensors:

Yeelight Bulbs

There are two ways to use the yeelight bulbs with SmartThings. The first is just to use their IFTTT channel. This is fairly easy to set up, but may introduce some additional lag. And if you want the bulbs to show up on your things list or on a dashboard you will need to add virtual switch as proxies for them. So doable, but as I mentioned not as easy as other bulb brands.

The other way is to set up your own “man in the middle” server device, typically a raspberry pi. This requires considerable technical skill. There are a few community members who have done it, see the discussion in the following thread. I think @davec has done most of the work on this code.

Ring

As for the ring doorbell, that’s the easy part: there’s an official integration. :tada:

https://www.smartthings.com/products/ring-video-doorbell-pro

Summary

So the answer is that you can, but it’s not a simple plug-and-play integration and it may not have the same long-term reliability as some other brands. But these are pretty well engineered very inexpensive devices available in both the US and the UK, so there are quite a few community members who are using them. :sunglasses:

4 Likes

thanks for the very helpful response.

Would you mind telling me which door sensors would integrate better with the ST hub?

All I have purchased is a Ring, and a £4 Xiaomi button, so I still have the choice of gateway to purchase. My rationale for looking into the ST hub was that it has large community support and is regarded as “working out of the box” with many smart devices. With what you’re saying about Xiaomi not being an “out of the box” integration, my choices are as follows:

  1. Buy another gateway e.g. Xiaomi gateway and accept the fact the product may not be as “slick” as ST
  2. Go for ST and buy sensors which work with ST out of the box.

Since you seem to be in the UK, here’s the list of officially supported sensors for UK hubs (not all are contact sensors).

But any contact sensor that’s a certified z-wave device or uses the zigbee HA 1.2 profile should work with ST with much less effort than the xiaomi devices sometimes require.

2 Likes

thanks mark, wow they are all very expensive compared to xiaomi :frowning::face_with_monocle:

Yup, that’s why many people like to use the xiaomi devices.

Ordered straight from China, they’re cheap and apparently the devices themselves are solid.

But the software side of it is just different enough to cause potentially a big headache with SmartThings.

I got a few contact sensors and a temp sensor from them when gearbest had some deal going. Haven’t set them up yet.

You mentioned one reason you’re interested in ST is the community support. I agree that’s one of the best things about this platform.

If you’re willing to diy, and cost is a consideration, you might want to give xiaomi a try. Use the resources of this community to help if you end up having difficulty.

3 Likes

Only the Ring doorbell works directly with ST. The Ring Stickup Cam does not directly integrate with ST. You need to go through IFTT to make it work. :weary:

2 Likes

I think I’ve made my mind up to try a Xiaomi gateway. It’s only £25 for it’s gateway and i’d ceratinly want their sensors. I’m not a fan of the server being Chinese but maybe I can research Home Assistant some more. I realise I’m getting more into the realms of a home cooked solution and not an off the shelf commercial solution , but the price differential is too much to ignore. Plus I heard somewhere that the Xiaomi hub can act as a ring chime (bit random but sounds like a nice extra)

Xiaomi vs SmartThings
Hub 25 vs 95
Door Sensor 8 vs 30

Total for what I want (3 sensors) 49 vs 185

I really appreciate the tips and i’m sure i’ll be back :slight_smile:

1 Like

That’s worth knowing. I personally think Ring doorbell v1 are still the best value offering in their range. It might seem odd putting those up where you don’t need a button but that’s what i’m contemplating for the rear of my house at the moment. The motion sensing and push alerts are so good.

Let us know what you think after you get the Xiaomi Gateway. I’ve heard good things about it from friends in Hong Kong Who were just looking for a very basic lights and sensors system, but the language factor isn’t an issue for them.

1 Like

shall do. I can get one from a UK based seller for £25, or import it for £19! crazy prices!

does anyone know the operating temperatures of the Xiaomi door sensors? Want to put one outdoors

I doubt they are rated for outdoor use… They are in no way waterproof. I have a couple in my garage which has gone down to 3 degrees (centigrade) so far this year and work fine.

1 Like

I was thinking if I could protect them from water if they’d survive the temperature. In the UK it was -1C this morning and can get lower

Mine have survived the baltic temperatures of this morning, so worth a go! Let me know how you get on as I need to get a sensor on the porch

1 Like