Introduction

Today I will review the Mijia Honeywell Smart Smoke Detector (does not detect Carbon Monoxide) which I bought for 20,61 euro. So it was not only created by Xiaomi/Mijia, but in combination with Honeywell (well known for their the automation- and control systems).

The name Xiaomi has been showing up more and more when talking about IoT, especially when talking about affordable IoT. In march 2016 Xiaomi created a company dedicated to ‘smart home’ products, this company was called Mijia (Chinese for ‘Smart home’). Xiaomi is mostly focused on the Chinese market but has been slowly expanding to Europe (mostly phones). They are very good at combining a well-rounded product with good design for an insanely low price, but one of the main disadvantages is that the products are (almost) only available in China but can be imported via various sites like Gearbest.

Specifications

Weight Product weight: 0.1000 kg

Package weight: 0.1700 kg Dimensions Product size (L x W x H): 9.00 x 3.60 x 2.50 cm / 3.54 x 1.42 x 0.98 inches

Package size (L x W x H): 12.00 x 5.00 x 3.50 cm / 4.72 x 1.97 x 1.38 inches Package Contents 1 x Fire Alarm Detector

1 x Chinese Manual (Click here for English manual)

1 x Mount Plate

2 x Screw

2 x Wall Plug

2 x Double Sided Sticker Powered by CR123A Cell Battery 3.0V (NOT INCLUDED) Features Remote Alert (get a notification on your phone)

CCCF Certification

Zigbee Wireless Technology

Progressive Sound Alarm (will get louder with every beep up to 80 dB)

Periodic Self-inspection Reminder

Anti-flame materials

5 years or more lifespan

Configurable sensitivity

Compatible with SmartThings Manual Link

Unboxing

If you have bought Xiaomi/Mijia products before, this little box won’t surprise you. The box is the same as every other Xiaomi product with a slight Apple feel to it. The box’s design is very minimal and clean, with the product on front and white as primary color.

Design

Hardware & Software

Smart Features

The smoke detector has multiple ‘smart’ features, but if you don’t pair it to the gateway it’s just your average dumb smoke detector. I will you how to connect it to the Gateway in the following paragraph.

Remote alert

When the smoke detector gets triggered it willll send you a notification via the Mi Home App, even outside your home. Because of this you’ll be able to get to the starting fire faster and prevent it from burning your whole house down.

Self Testing

You can ‘self test’ the device in the Mi-Home app. This will send a self-check request to the device, after which a screen will show up asking you “Did you hear the sound?”. If you did hear it, your device is functioning normally! If you didn’t hear anything, it is probably because the distance between your gateway and the smoke detector is too far. If you want you can enable monthly reminder. The Mi-Home app will send you a notification that it is time for the monthly test and it will execute the self-test.

Set Trigger Sensivity

If you have a smoke detector close to the fireplace, the trigger threshold would need to be turned down a bit so it won’t go off every time you lit your fireplace. Same story for a smoke detector in the kitchen, you don’t want it going off every time you cook something. You can adjust the sensitivity by change the installation site, this way you can adjust it to the room. You have the three following options:

No smoke area (e.g. office, warehouse), Small amount of smoke area (default) Above normal amount of smoke (e.g. kitchen or close to the fireplace).

Tandem Mode

While this is not the most exciting ‘smart’ feature, the ability to tandem your smoke detector with your gateway is not to be forgotten. My house is three stories and let’s say my smoke detector at the bottom of my house gets triggered, it’ll be hard for me to hear it upstairs (image if I am sleeping or showering!). That’s why pairing it with your gateway is a nice solution for this. This way I’ll be able to hear it upstairs, even though the alarm is downstairs.

Connectivity

If you want more than just a ‘dumb’ smoke detector, you can pair it to your gateway. This can be done via the Mi Home app, available on the Play store and the App store. The app is mostly English but some parts are still Chinese, it is still very usable though. The pairing process is quite easy, the gallery under here will guide you through it (enable information for instructions!).

After that you have unlocked the smart features! If you click on the smoke detector you will be able to edit things like installation site or enable tandem mode.

Tips ‘n Tricks

Disabling the alarm when it gets triggered

If the smoke detector get’s triggered, you will have to disable the alarm by click the Sound stop/Self check button, you can find this on the front of the device. After you have clicked this button the alarm and light will immediately stop, but the device will also disable itself for 70 seconds.

What can trigger the alarm?

The following can trigger the alarm:

Hair or insect spray (directly on the device).

Cigarette smoke or other incendiary substances.

Smoke from e-cigarettes or alike devices.

Smoke or steam from cooking.

Condensation on the device (so do not install it outdoors or in bathrooms).

Simulation mode

If you want to test the sound of the device, you can simulate it going off (without actually burning something). This can be done by holding the button for 3 seconds. The light will begin to flash and the alarm will go off progressively, this means it’ll get louder with every beep. As soon as you let go it’ll stop the simulation mode.

Self-testing without the app

You can self-test the device without the app! This can be done by clicking the button on the device for one second, the light will and sound will indicate the status of your smoke detector.

Status Indicator Sound Normal The indicator will go red for a split second and change to yellow. One beep Low battery The indicator blinks yellow once. One beep Faulty The indicator blinks yellow three times. Three beeps Fire The indicator blinks red three times Three beeps

Device going off without any smoke/fire/condensation

If your device is going off and the indicator light is yellow (not red), it means the battery is empty and it wants you to change it. You can press the button once to disable it for 12 hours, after those 12 hours it will continue to go off until you replace it with a new battery. You can (but not recommend) disable the low battery warning by holding the button for 3 seconds to return it to normal operation mode. It will continue to work as usual but this is not recommended because you might forget to replace it. Because of this it will not be able to warn you anymore (because you returned it to normal mode).

Battery

The device is powered by a CR123a battery, which some of you might know from being used in (old-ish) cameras. These might be hard to get from a local shop (at least it was for me) or really pricey (like 10 euro a piece), I was able to pick up some Duracell one’s for 2 euro a piece. But I have ordered some rechargeable ones which I would totally recommend doing, this way you don’t have to buy new ones every couple of years (and way, way better for the environment!). If you replace an old battery make sure to self-check the device after you have replaced the old battery, you want to be sure the battery is working properly.

HomeAssistant and other third party intergration

The main idea for me was that I can add them to my HomeAssistant. After some struggles of identifying the devices, they worked perfectly. They also work for Domoticz but I do not use it myself.

Just like all the other products that are documented in the xiaomi_aqara component, you just have to setup your gateway via HomeAssistant and everything will show up! Beware it won’t have the same names as the Mi Home app but they will have name likes sensor.smoke.xxxxx. If you want to identify which smoke detector is where, I recommend adding them one by one while rebooting HA after adding one and giving it a friendly_name. You can also use 4 matches to trigger the alarm if you don’t mind it 😉

Conclusion

In conclusion, the device actually quite surprised me. I did not expect for it to have this many features, like the self testing via the app or buttons or setting the sensitivity with the installation site. The device even has tons of features without pairing it with the gateway, like certain beeping and light combinations for device status or battery warnings that you can disable for a certain time period. Being able to choose if you want to mount it with screws or adhesive was also a, not expected, but certainly welcome surprise, mounting the device itself was also super easy and can be done in a minute. The design itself it one of the best things though. They are so small that you barely notice them on your ceiling. And even if you did notice them, you would not mind it because they look so premium and well rounded. I think Mijia and Honeywell did a great collaboration on this one and I would love to see more products from them (please make a smart thermostat). At first I expected a smoke detector with an IoT sticker on it, but was definitely surprised with how feature packed it was. For the price tag of 20,61 euro I can’t even find a comparable product. So if you are obsessed with IoT and needed a good excuse to replace your old smoke detectors, don’t look any further.