NodOn is a smart home brand from France that any Zigbee fans should know about. They’ve built a solid reputation for producing high-quality, reliable devices that focus on performance and energy efficiency. Their lineup covers a range of Zigbee modules, switches, relays, and sensors, all designed with durability and long-term use in mind.
The NodOn Zigbee Solar Temperature & Humidity Sensor is a perfect example of their approach. It combines a sleek, compact design with some quite clever engineering, using solar power to extend battery life while delivering accurate readings. I encountered NodOn’s new solar-powered devices at IFA in Berlin this year.
In this article, I’m testing and reviewing the NodOn Solar-powered Zigbee Temperature & Humidity Sensor, model STPH-4-1-00. This device is quite new and very interesting. You can get it on Amazon.de, Amazon.nl, Domadoo or NodOn’s Website.
Device Overview and Disassembly
The NodOn STPH-4-1-00 ships in a small box containing the device itself, a user manual and a sticker for installation. You can also use screws to mount this sensor on a door frame or wall, which are not included in the box. The top of the sensor is all solar panel, designed to absorb as much sun as possible and power the device. The bottom has the sticker pre-applied, which should hold the sensor on a wall or a door frame.
Once the cover is removed, you can see the battery holder. This device can carry a single CR2032 and use it as a backup, if solar is not enough to power the sensor. There’s a small pairing button underneath the back cover and a small toggle flip switch. This switch needs to be set to ON before you can pair the device.
The solar panel of the NodOn STPH-4-1-00 charges a small supercapacitor, model HSL2059. This capacitor has a rated voltage of 3.8 V and a capacity of 10 F. For a compact Zigbee sensor of this size, my research tells me it should store enough energy to power the device for several days in normal indoor lighting conditions, and considerably longer when exposed to sufficient sunlight.
The NodOn STPH-4-1-00 uses the Silicon Labs EFR32MG22 [Datasheet] module for Zigbee communication. This SoC is built around an ARM Cortex-M33 core and features an integrated 2.4 GHz radio optimized for ultra-low-power IoT devices. With a typical transmit current of around 4–5 mA at 0 dBm and deep-sleep consumption below 1 µA, it only bolsters the case for this solar-powered temp sensor.
For temperature and humidity measurements, the device integrates a Sensirion sensor from the SHT40 series, known for its high accuracy, fast response time, and long-term stability. I’ve encountered this sensor on many occasions, more recently in Sonoff’s latest temp and humidity sensors, the SNZB-02WD & SNZB-02LD.
Home Assistant Integration
The NodOn Solar Temperature and Humidity sensor is supported in both ZHA and Zigbee2MQTT. To pair it, you need to hold the button on the rear for a few seconds until the LED starts blinking red. This resets the device, but you enter pairing mode with a single button click afterwards.
However, I was unable to pair the device when it had no solar charge, even with a CR2032 battery installed. If this happens to you too, leave it for a bit in the sun so it charges, and try pairing it again.
Zigbee2MQTT
Once paired, the device is identified correctly as model STPH-4-1-00 by NodOn. It’s an EndDevice, so no routing packets from adjacent devices back to the coordinator. Interestingly, the battery level was reported immediately after pairing in Zigbee2MQTT.
The exposes tab of this sensor is very simple. You get the temperature, humidity and battery level, along the default link quality sensor. It has a reporting interval of 100 seconds and automatically transmits the information to HA as soon as a variation of 0.5°C or +/- 2% humidity is detected. From the Zigbee side of things, the device operates and works like it should out of the box.
Sun Influence on Temp Reading
One of the things I wanted to check was how the sensor handles direct sunlight. Since the NodOn STPH-4-1-00 is solar powered, it needs to be exposed to light to keep charging. That naturally made me wonder if the warm sun would affect the accuracy of the temperature readings. To test this, I mounted the sensor on a door frame with steady sunlight and collected data for a few days. I compared the results with another sensor placed indoors and away from direct light.
It turns out that NodOn seems to have accounted for this behavior by applying a small internal offset. During the strongest sunlight hours, the reading was around 2 °C higher than the shaded sensor in the same room. This is normal for a solar device and not a real issue in daily use. The good news is you can fine-tune it by applying your own offset in Home Assistant using a simple template sensor:
template:
- sensor:
- name: "NodOn Temperature Adjusted"
unit_of_measurement: "°C"
state: >
{{ (states('sensor.nodon_temp') | float) - 2 }}Final Thoughts
The NodOn Solar Zigbee Temperature and Humidity sensor is quite an interesting device. It is meant to eliminate the battery from the equation, relying on solar for power. To get reliable results this, you need to install in a well-lit room or near a window, where it would get at least a few hours of sunlight each day. The CR2032 is a nice addition, as it allows you to install a button battery to be used as backup power.
From Zigbee side of things, the NodOn follows the specification and integrates out out of the box with both ZHA and Zigbee2MQTT. Everything you expect is exposed in both integrations and it works well in Home Assistant.
With all that said, the NodOn Solar Zigbee Temp sensor is expensive. It costs almost €50, which is way too much for a Zigbee sensor of this type. Which is a shame, since it’s a well made device that deserves some recognition. But at that price tag, I would not consider it a viable option for my own smart home. If you have a use case for it and don’t want to fiddle with batteries, here’s where you can get it:
