Ikea’s push to democratize the smart home continues with the introduction of three new Zigbee sensors that won’t cost a lot of money. There is Parasoll, the door and window sensor; Vallhorn, the motion sensor; and Badring, the water leak sensor. All will be priced under $10 when they go on sale globally in the first half of next year.
Parasoll is a typical window and door sensor that can be discreetly mounted to trigger an automation when an open/close event is detected. It can also be paired directly with an Ikea bulb right out of the box without having to purchase and configure an Ikea Home smart hub. It is priced at 9.99 euros in Europe, but the exact price in the United States has not yet been confirmed for it or for any of the three new Ikea sensors.
The Vallhorn motion sensor can be used both indoors and outdoors (with IP44 protection against splashes and rain) to activate lights or other automations when movement is detected. It runs on three AAA batteries and can be paired to directly control up to 10 Ikea smart bulbs right out of the box. It costs just €7.99 and can detect more space than Ikea’s existing $14.99/€12.99 motion sensor, which is smaller, but can only be used indoors and requires its coin-cell battery. be replaced more frequently.
The Badring water sensor includes a built-in siren (60 dBA at 1 m) that can alert you when it detects a leak. You can also activate a mobile notification in the Ikea Home smart app for homes with an Ikea Dirigera hub ($69.99) installed. Sensors like these can save homeowners a lot of money before a water leak has a chance to cause real damage. It will cost €9.99.
Of the three, the Parasoll and Badring sensors are No Compatible with older Trådfri Home Smart gateways from Ikea. They’re all compatible with the new Dirigera hub, of course, which fully integrates the sensors into Ikea’s burgeoning line of smart home products and the Home Smart app. The center also allows Ikea devices to interoperate with smart home ecosystems from Google, Amazon and Apple, whether at home or on the go.
Even though Matter support was just “a couple of months away” more than a year ago, the company still doesn’t provide it. Ikea plans to eventually enable Matter by turning on the Thread radio inside the Dirigera hub to connect Ikea’s existing Zigbee-based devices with the next-generation smart home standard. In a statement sent to The edgeJonas Söderqvist, head of digital products at Ikea, says the company has “decided to delay this functionality” and will provide an update “when the time comes.” The current delay is understandable given that Ikea’s products already integrate well with other platforms, and the company is focused on keeping things as simple as possible for anyone who wanders into the smart home on a whim while shopping for a new bookshelf. And when you consider the hurdles required to get things up and running on Matter’s networks during this transition period, Ikea’s delay is more than justified.
Vallhorn will be available in select countries, including the US, starting in January 2024. That’s the same month Parasoll launches internationally, but its US launch won’t happen until April. Badring is scheduled to begin retail sales in April in some countries, but won’t arrive in the United States until July. It’s confusing, but these staggered releases are a byproduct of Ikea’s franchise retail system.
