Xiaomi Mi Home - The smart home beginner guide
With Smart-Home you connect 2 things, digital control and expensive pleasure. But it doesn't have to be that way. Xiaomi released the Mi Home Starter Kit together with the Mi Home App 2 years ago. We want to give you the basics and make the setup as easy as possible for you.
Meanwhile the portfolio of Xiaomi includes more than 100 components that can be connected to the app. From simple door sensors to vacuum cleaners or washing machines. There are cooperation with Phillips or Honeywell, there are branches, subsidiaries like Mijia or Aqara. Time for us to give you an introduction to the Smart Home and to show you the different possibilities, as well as the installation and setup of the system and the most important components for a household.
Installation of the Mi Home Gateway
First of all, please make sure that you have the V2 from the Mi Home Gateway. You can recognize this by the fact that in the description the Internet radio was specified as a function in the gateway. V1 had no radio function and didn't accept a Zigbee protocol at that time, but you need it to connect the smoke detectors. So please make sure that you have the V2. During the setup, we start of course with the gateway, quasi the control center of the whole. Therefore we download the Mi Home App from the Play Store and install it. Then please start the Mi Home App, and if you don't already have a Xiaomi account, create a new one. Then you'll see the following screen:
There you'll see profiles/settings/ first at the bottom then on region - set them to "Mainland China", because here most of the products are available, so some lamps or sm,arte devices only work in this region. If you haven't already done so, please also use the language in English, German is unfortunately not yet available. If you have set the app to Chinese by default, you can use the screens to get to the language (last item under Settings).
Then we add the gateway to the Mi Home. Also here everything relatively easy. In the main menu click on the plus sign in the upper right corner. Then click on Add Manually at the bottom right and select the gateway from the list. Then you have to reset the gateway once, as described in the picture keep the button pressed until it starts flashing and a nice Chinese voice sounds. After that you should see the message that a gateway has been found. Then you just select your WLan network, enter your access data, and the gateway will be connected to the WLan and set up. Finally select the installation room if you like, and then you will see the gateway in the main menu (see last picture).
If the gateway is not visible on the main screen, you will need to click on the Manage icon once and check the Gateway box.
Setting up the Child Devices
In order to set up sub-components, so-called child devices, you have to connect to the gateway (main menu/Gateway/Enter Device) and then click on Device in the tab at the top.
Child devices include the following components:
- Wireless Switch
- Door/window sensors
- motion sensors
- smoke detectors
- gas detector
- water detector
- temperature sensors
- light switch
- Wlan sockets
- Smart door locks
- Roller shutter motors
For the guide I have set up the following things for you
- wireless switch
- door sensors
- motion detector
- smoke detectors
- temperature sensors
In principle, it's a very simple thing. You go into the gateway, click on Gateway in the upper tabs and click on "add child device". Then select the component and click your way through the installation, similar to the gateway. You can then also use the Location Manager again, so you have a nice overview of where what is activated afterwards. There are some sub-components like the smoke detector, which only has a logfile, or the standard temperature sensor, which shows you the temperature and humidity when you click on the sensor, as well as when you are in the main menu. (Screenshots are exemplary).
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