Hey guys, I have not bought a hub yet as I have a few questions. I have a few smart home devices at the moment.
Philips hue (Every room)
Logitech Harmony
Ring Doorbell
Nest cams
Honeywell Singel zone Thermostat
ISmartAlarm
But my main concern is ST accessories i would like to use Xiaomi motion sensors and door sensors how do i make these work with ST?
Thank you guys??
Yes they work but not out of the box. You will need the custom Device Handler for the Xiaomi sensors. There’s also detailed instructions on how to install them here:
Thank you! What sensors could you recomend?
I use the Xiaomi temp/humidity (mostly for humidity) and buttons. They are cheap and pretty reliable once paired correctly. I have the buttons all over the place triggering a variety of actions.
I am a fan of Iris motions, contacts and plugs.
Brilliant, Thank you so much guys! This is really helpful . Any other sensors recomendations?
In my opinion, motions and contacts is where the magic happens. Many of my doors have Iris or Visonic contacts. I prefer Iris as the batteries last longer than other sensors. Also Door Locks are great to have.
Smart Phones also work as Presence sensors so the house knows when you are coming and going.
I prefer Smart Switches over Smart Bulbs but I see that you are already vested in HUE so…
Love Harmony Hubs! I have 5
Ring Door Bells (Pro) are sweet too.
Also, you will want to check out webCoRE. It is a rule engine that is pure awesomeness!
Thank you very much
If you look at the quick browse lists in the community-created wiki, look down near the bottom of that page for the “project reports” section, there is a list called “get started“ which has a number of topics you will probably find helpful. That includes discussions on which devices to buy. 
People have mixed results. Just sold mine off. Wasn’t worth the cheap cost unless you like to continually tinker with them IMO.
Xiaomi / Aqara motion sensors and door/window contact sensors can work just fine in a SmartThings ecosystem with some important caveats:
Xiaomi / Aqara Zigbee devices are only known to currently work with a SmartThings v2 hub or SmartThings Home Connect Pro (with firmware v22.52 according to one user), and may work with a v3 hub, but on any other types of SmartThings hubs (ST Link for NVIDIA Shield TV, SmartThings Home Connect (not the pro version), etc.) users have consistently seen Xiaomi devices dropping their connection.
Xiaomi / Aqara Zigbee devices are also incompatible with a majority of Zigbee devices that act as repeaters. A Zigbee repeater extends a Zigbee mesh network by allowing end devices connect to it instead of directly to the hub. Most wall/mains-powered Zigbee devices can act as repeaters, with some Zigbee bulbs being a notable exception. If a Xiaomi / Aqara Zigbee device connects via an incompatible repeater device, the connection gets dropped after a few hours. The best repeater-capable device known to work with Xiaomi / Aqara devices is an XBee (as explained here), and there are reports that the new IKEA TRADFRI Zigbee Plug is also compatible.
If a Xiaomi / Aqara Zigbee device’s connection is dropped for other reasons, such as network interference, or a weak signal due to distance, they will not automatically reconnect as Zigbee devices are supposed to. In that case, they need to be manually re-joined (by pairing but without first removing the device from the hub’s device list.)
The hardware functionality of some Xiaomi / Aqara button devices is reduced because of the way SmartThings handles certain types of incoming ZigBee messages. For example, the Aqara 2-button Wireless Wall Switch can only be recognized as one button in SmartThings.
Since all Xiaomi / Aqara Zigbee devices use what’s called a custom Device Handler (also known as DTH or DH), they are not officially supported in the new SmartThings mobile app. For now, they should be used with the SmartThings “Classic” mobile app. However this is true for nearly all devices that require a custom Device Handler, and SmartThings is in the process of developing support for them in the new mobile app.
Personally I have over 30 Xiaomi / Aqara devices and have migrated over from my SmartThings v2 hub to the Hubitat home automation platform, partly because of the limits of Xiaomi / Aqara button functionality in SmartThings. I only use XBee devices as repeaters, and so I don’t have any issues with my Xiaomi / Aqara devices dropping their connection (which was also true when they were connected to my SmartThings v2 hub.
I have found all their sensors to be very short range to the hub V 2. Great devices if you are close… and for me that is 5 to 7 metres and no major domestic alliances in between.
Not saying anyone else’s would be better…as suggested elsewhere, they are a pain if they drop off…BUT…in the right location they are rock solid and a bargain. Incidentally…IKEA tradfri seems to work well…
Thank you! anyone else have this issue?
Biggest thing is pair them close to the Hub using the pairing procedures posted in the dedicated thread. It is important to let them sit there for a day and make sure that they are showing battery level. Then, you can move them further away and they typically will stay paired. I have Peanuts and Iris Plugs all over the place and all of my Xioami sensors stay connected.
However, considering the Lowe’s Iris motion and contact sensors are discounted now, I would just go with them and call it wonderful.
Thank you so much for your help
Using strategically placed repeaters, particularly XBees if you have Xiaomi / Aqara devices, would solve this.
In fact, even if I didn’t have a single Xiaomi / Aqara device, I’d still highly recommend the use of repeating devices if you have a significant number of Zigbee devices.
Interesting. Before I stopped using it, any of my Xiaomi / Aqara devices that decided to connect via my Peanut plug dropped their connection within a day. I was able to confirm it was the Peanut Plug by using an XBee and the manufacturer’s free XCTU software to view a map of my hub’s Zigbee network connections.
That ability to view the Zigbee mesh network map is another great reason to use at least one XBee as a repeater.
Yes working without any issue. Home connect and I’m going to confirm the work with version 3 I’m using since week version 3 and the work without any issue version 3 and version 2 have same firmware 24.11
Thank you! can anyone recomend some websites to buy them from?
They show up on Amazon from third-party sellers every once in a while.
Gearbest and banggood are both big online shops that import many Chinese items. Both can deliver to either the US or the UK. They usually have Xioami. I prefer Gearbest’s return policy, And their customer service department seems to be better with English, so I use them in preference. Gearbest also seems to be better at predicting when goods will arrive: banggood can take a month or more.
One more thing I’m going to confirm I got two days ago new Samsung SmartThings WiFi 3-Pack, White (ET-WV525KWEGCA) new home connect they using same firmware the one they have home connect pro and they’re working with all Xiaomi devices since yesterday there’s no drop connection and I’m using new app for pairing purposes they’re going to pop up without any issue and working very well since yesterday no connection drop