background:
to renovate my 1st house (small condo)

idea:
to have smart home at low cost, dont want pay to "smart home vendor/contractor" to charge me additionally to reno company.
plan to purchase all smart home needed devices myself, then pay to the reno company to help install it when they do the electrical point and plaster ceiling.
then self software setup the devices.

existing info i got from DouYin (China tiktok):
xiaomi mijia smart home has the most widest sensors and smart home devices at affordable cost.
also, reliable xiaomi mijia apps at handphone.

questions:
1) the voltage for xiaomi mijia china is at 220V 50HZ, malaysia is 240V 50Hz, can it operate? anyone tried taobao BIG electronic appliance in malaysia? eg: Refrigerator? any issue?

2) can the china version phone app operate in malaysia to control smart home with china imported smart home hardware?

3) i see mostly fuse used in malaysia electronic appliances is 13amp, i see china mostly is at 10amp or 16amp. any impact?

4) any recommend if not xiaomi mijia smart home? any brand wide coverage at low cost? or any smart home brand famous in malaysia market?

1- even at 110v, can use converter or step down

2- can use. the device will speak chinese, but apps can change to english to operate. but bear in mind got delay since their server in china(im using xiaomi smart aquarium, very delay)

3- not sure.

4- i use google home certified. there's a china made cheap that works with google. they might ask you to download different apps, but can be centralized into google home for automation

1)220~240 still in the operation range for most devices.

for the rest of the question, i see you miss some of the Most obvious problem.

1) Google. There is tons of automation that might endup link with your google. ( Calender, Maps, Drive, Spreadsheet etc )
- iphone user can go fly kite. ( So if you are Android user, you are 3 step ahead of ios user in SmartHome )

2) U dont consider whether your China-import device can connect Google or not.

3) My experience with China-Xiaomi Product, they only work IF YOU Select SERVER = Mainland

4) if you do so, your smarthome = GG. Latency kill everything. Somemore, might not able to connect Google Service.

I am more interest how you going to design your Smarthome??
95% case, smarthome = annoyance after few months.

Are you able to Connect AI to your smarthome?
This is by far the best adaptation i can imagine. Just like jarvis to tony stark home.

"Jarvis, i feeling bad mood."

"Mr, cheer up, i am here. Lets me change the mood of this house "
- Lightning
- Aircond
- Music

This post has been edited by ifourtos: Oct 1 2024, 01:40 PM

your biggest problem is all Xiaomi smart home device is need China server.
which lag like hell and not really useable for international.

i have setup before and dismantle all of it.

if you got budget, go for Aqara or else use Tuya ecosystem

1&2) so did you use 240vto220v voltage converter to step down xiaomi smart aquarium? or just plug and play it has no issue?
understand from most comments, the delay of latency is a big no to go.

4) so at taobao just make sure the devices and sensor can works with Google Home app right?

im using Android phone. will drop the idea to implement full xiaomi smarthome using xiao ai.
so what brands you use currently in malaysia? can recommend?

noted, since you used xiaomi smart home before , just to validate ---> did you use voltage converter (240v to 220v) for the devices? or just plug n play at malaysia voltage?

so currently you are using Aqara or Tuya?
can your dismantled xiaomi sensor/devices work with other app ? if not, then i assume u scrap the dismantle parts.

can directly use without voltage converter.

normally , product design, will cover 220v to 240v (+/-20%)
no worry on this.

now using Tuya, cause Aqara is very expensive.
Tuya quality not so good, but with the price, no complain.



all those XM sensor, inside drawer waiting right time to throw, lol.

i have the XM smart aqua, and using it now.
super duper mafan, cause need to change server if need to connect to it.

as i use XM CCTV global version.


don't need to convert the voltage.

240V without issue.

I do automation for business

Mostly api, zapier, connection between platform

Home is normal home

Ifttt, this is wat i will use when i do snarthome

no converter needed for electrical appliance between china and malaysia, my house is running on 250v and it still working fine, my ceiling fan and lights is all from taobao, only a few downlight is from local

i suggest you stay away from xiaomi, you need to switch to china version in the app to be able to pair with xiaomi smart devices, and when you buy bluetooth/zigbee gateway it also need to be xiaomi china version, if you get those from local, you wont be able to pair them at all

stay with tuya zigbee if you want to buy from china, it is cheap and good, i'm using zigbee sensors to turn on/off my LED accent lights, some of the sensors i bought from local shopee, some from taobao and they pair without issue

for more advance smart home you can have a look into Home Assistant for integration between different brands, there is a facebook community group for it

My aquarium using 220-240v so no issues.

as long as apps inform compatible with google should be fine.

thanks all, will not proceed with xiaomi smart home !

Just get aqara global version , China version mostly u stop use after few month due to server crowded , condo won’t cost u much 1 hub and 20 switches around 2k can get already