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Zigbee and RTL 433 Temperature Sensor Comparison

Table of Contents

  • Story
  • Findings
  • Recommendations

Story of My Quest to Find the Perfect Sensor

When I first started with home automation, everything was wired. Results were fast, installation was long. Now days, much of it is wireless. So of course I decided to use wireless for two projects. (1) The first was to get more data for the temperature in the house when controlling the HVAC system and (2) for controlling an outlet that turns a humidifier on and off.

Being that I already had Zigbee I went with Aquara sensors (WSDCGQ11LM) and thought nothing of it. I setup my system and automations but after awhile I noticed it the temperature in the house seemed to fluctuate more than I liked and also the humidity readings were very sporatic. I started digging into the data and realized the frequency that the Zigbee sensor reported data was too infrequent, too irratic.

I then went on a mission to find a new Zigbee sensor. I found a video on Youtube of which I bought 3 different sensors from that video which seemed would probably resolve the issue. I now had 4 different model sensors:

  1. Tuya TS0201
  2. Tuya LCZ030
  3. Tuya TT001ZAV20
  4. Aquara WSDCGQ11LM

Unfortunately they were all about equally horrible, my problem wasn't solved.

Data from the Sensors

Sorry, I only have data for two of the four Zigbee sensors I tested. I have since given the others away and only have these two remaining in my possession but you'll have to trust me, they were no better.

The image below basically explains it. Let me describe what you see.

First, there are three different sensors. The bulleted list below is the name of the sensor in the image and how it corresponds to a sensor model. (Sorry, I couldn't get grafana to show the model numbers)

  • rs_baby = AcuRite 433 = Blue
  • zb_baby = Aquara TT001ZAV20 = Red
  • zb_livingRoom = Tuya WSDCGQ11LM = Green

Second, there is a table under the graph of point that shows the count of reported values during the time period.

Third, the time period is 6 hours and the sensors were all sitting next to eachother during the time period.

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Recommendations

These are my recommendations based on what I've learned over the years dealing with these sensors.

  1. Use RTL 433 temperature sensors. The AcuRite ones have been great for me.
  2. Don't bother with any Zigbee temperature sensors.
  3. Don't subscribe, follow, or watch content from NotEnoughTECH on Youtube.

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