Ikea has introduced three new affordable smart home sensors, the Parasoll (door and window sensor), the Vallhorn (motion sensor), and the Badring (water leakage sensor). All are said to be priced under $10, and will be available globally in the first half of 2024.
The Parasoll sensor can be discreetly mounted to trigger an automation when an open / close event has been detected.
It can be paired with an Ikea light bulb directly, without the need to purchase and configure an Ikea Smart Home hub. It will cost €9.99 in Europe, with exact US and Australian pricing still to be confirmed.
The Vallhorn sensor can be used inside or outside, has IP44 splash protection against rain, and can be used to activate lights or other automations when movement has been detected.
Powered by three AAA batteries, it can also be paired to directly control up to 10 Ikea smart bulbs. It’s set to cost €7.99, and is able to sense more of the room than Ikea’s existing motion sensor, which is smaller and only useable indoors, needing its coin cell battery replaced quite frequently.
Lastly, the Badring sensor includes a built in siren (60dBA at 1M), and can alert the owner when a leak is sensed. It is also able to trigger a mobile notification within the Ikea smart app for homes. It’s said to cost €9.99.
The Parasoll and Badring aren’t compatible with older Trådfri Home smart gateways from Ikea, however all three support the newer Dirigera hub. The hub allows Ikea’s devices to interoperate with smart home ecosystems from Amazon, Google, and Apple.
Ikea still doesn’t support Matter, but has plans to eventually enable it by turning on the Thread radio inside the Dirigera hub to bridge Ikea’s Zigbee based devices to the next generation smart home standard.
Digital Product Area Manager at Ikea, Jonas Söderqvist said the company has “decided to delay this functionality” and will provide an update “when it’s time.”
The ongoing delay isn’t surprising due to Ikea’s products already integrating well with other platforms, and the company is focused on keeping things simple for those jumping to smart home.
Vallhorn is set to be available in select countries, including the US, beginning January 2024. The Parasoll will launch globally that same month, however the US rollout won’t happen until April.
The Badring is set to begin sales in April in some countries, but won’t arrive in the US until July. It’s unclear if Australia is included in the select countries for the Badring and Vallhorn sensors.
