Hello to everyone!!! Today I like to present to all of you my new project, that I was thinking on it for quite some time to make it and I wasn’t sure how to do it in order to be less expensive, to make and be effective so I can integrate it on my smart home.So today I present to you my Rain sensor.
-this sensor is made from an rain sensor from tuya witch clearly I do not use so I take all out and just let the sensor plate and an Aqara water leak sensor.when I bought it from the pictures I tough will be a bit larger but when I got it I was a bit disappointed as the case was to small and the Aqara water leak sensor didn’t get inside that sow yesterday I stayed all day to think how or were to place the Aqara water leak sensor in order to not have to glue it.sow I was searching for an small box around my house and I found one witch suits well.there rest was easy to do as I just had to solder new cables to that sensor plate and screw them to the aqara water leak sensor.And it works perfectly.Why I did this you my ask?well in were I live in Spain when comes the rain many times it comes with dust and making this rain sensor it will help me to automate my roller blinds so my windows doesn’t get dirty as cleaning windows is an pain more when I have to clean them mi self as my wife is smaller in height and can’t clean them all the way to the top.Now the only thing that I need to think is to we’re to place it as I have my patio but I also have an balcony and more important how to mount it.But at least it is ready to be used in automations.i hope you like it and I really hope that aqara will make such an sensor dedicated for rain snow and wind.just wanted to share my creation!!
I think it’s probably because Aqara revery focused on Apple Home. If you notice, everything can work with Apple Home and I don’t think Apple (Or anyone really) has implemented Matter for rain gauges.
Actually where I live, Cornwall, sunshine is not too bad. We average 1500 hrs of sunshine per year. I think we’ll break the average this year though. :-o
Well even if matter doesn’t support right now rain sensors it could be added to matter as an water leak sensor that is not an big issue and when matter will fully support then Aqara could change it with an small update.not really sure if they can or not still even if we have it to aqara app would be useful as personally I am using Meross belt motor witch I can easily add it to my aqara home app and make the automations there directly for the rain.exactly how I will do now with the water leak sensor on HomeKit
Controller is a Matter concept. It is the orchestrator of what happens. Think Apple Home, Alexa, Google Home, HA, Smartthings, etc. In the Aqara world, an M3 would be an example of a Controller.
Ok what I suspected so far this rain sensors from what I read works on HA via that zigbee device witch some uses to add zigbee devices to HA without and hub but also all that I have seen works on tuya smart life and there they need tuya smart life hub.now if aqara would make something like this it would be the same zigbee device that can be exposed via any aqara hub to Apple home but as an water leak sensor since so far Apple home doesn’t support yet rain sensors like water leak sensors .also I have see an rain sensor witch works on Xiaomi app too from Linptech witch can be used on Xiaomi app but I have no idea if it expose it via Xiaomi hub to Apple HomeKit
Well you just get an notification from what I test it but is enough that least for me to lower my blinds since this is not an normal rain sensor I do not know exactly how it will work once will rain but once I have an idea I will post it here how exactly works.as of now I just drop a bit of water on that top plate and in a few sec I get the notification not sure I think is 1/3 sec.also the great thing is that you can turn off the notification from HomeKit in my case and let the automation running only.ether way since is using an Aqara water leak sensor you can have an idea on how it will work more or less at it will be base on the water only that I take it off from my basic guard were are my others water leak sensors and the smoke detectors this way will work independently.
Interestingly, I recently watched a video about DIY rain sensors. A major point of discussion was actually how to empty the collection container, as the water doesn’t evaporate quickly enough. People had built some pretty adventurous contraptions that automatically tip the container to empty it every few minutes!
Professional weather stations work in a similar way, although the mechanism is usually more sophisticated and designed specifically for precise rainfall measurements. Many of them rely on a so-called “tipping bucket” (or tipping spoon) mechanism.
By the way, you can easily set up sensors in Home Assistant as virtual switches and expose them to Aqara Home or Apple Home via HomeKit or Matter.
Yes I have seen an weather station on AliExpress witch had an display that shows you everything but since I wasn’t interest in it didn’t read to much about it.i know even this sensor as I bought it I could be added it to HA since was tuya smart life compatible but I do not want to use it like that.I am just happy with aqara home app ,apple home app ,Meross app ,Xiaomi mi home and Nuki .i have more then 20 aqara devices 14 Meross devices ,Xiaomi I use is for fan, vacuum cleaner and heater and Nuki is for my portal and door lock.more I like doing small and easy automations witch works for my apartment.
Well this project is base on Aqara water sensor as the tuya I bough was cheap so I only let the plate and the case from it for me this way is better as the sensor I already have it added to Apple home app and now once I will mount it I can do and simple automation to lower my blinds when water in this case rain is detected.for me to add this sensor as it was to HA I would had to buy that zigbee usb to can add it more money to spend that is why this was the cheap and easy way for me.i know a lot of ppl love HA I am not a big fun.
Well after a few weeks of testing this rain sensor i made I have to say that it works perfectly it detects water fast when it rain and I made an automation so when water is detected to lower my roller blinds shutter down and I have to say that I was surprised that worked very well.the only downside is that plate witch I have seen some rusty spots on it already but still works as the spots are small.
