Wish you good luck, you will need it. My house is full with Aqara switches and sensors and originally I thought in the new house I will exclusively use them, as their look and feel is nice. But after using them for a while and other shortcomings I stay away. Here is why: 1. every now and then a sensor or switch loses suddenly connection, if I leave it, few days later it is back, totally random in regards to which one - unreliable 2. they do not follow Zigbee 3.0 properly and "stick" to repeaters/controllers, meaning, if your repeater goes offline for what ever reason, they do not connect to another repeater unless you reset them - tricky in bigger houses 3. Their lineup to be fully used in a house misses some important ones such as Dimmer switch, Fan control, curtain switch and most importantly sockets. I like their design and how tiny the sensors are, but due to that, I wont use them in our new house. That said, so far I struggle hard to find any brand that would offer all devices you need for a whole house...at least if you in Europe.
One of my newest automations uses an Aqara door sensor on the lid of the porch box i built for Amazon deliveries. When the lid is opened, an input boolean gets set to true. I used a conditional card to display that boolean on my dashboards as a button when it's set to true. Now when a delivery arrives, the button displays and i can press the button to reset the input boolean. I recently enhanced this with the help of a door sensor in the front door. Now if the porch box delivery input boolean is set and i open the box within 2 minutes of opening the font door the input boolean gets cleared automatically so i don't have to flip the switch on the dashboard at all.
Nice. I only have a few Door/Window sensors and a Motion Sensor (in the kids' room to turn off the lights!!!). Playing with a single Button. In HA I'm using Trigger ID's, a Select Helper, and Time Conditions to have the single-click run through the Nighttime Routine for the kids: Brush Teeth, Wash Face, Nighttime Meds, get in bed for Story Time. The click triggers an Alexa message, updates the Select Helper option, and changes the appropriate lights in the house. It's absolute overkill, but it's a good Routine Reminder for the kids and kind of becomes a game.
I'm using aquara temperature sensors and pir sensors. They are working great with zigbee2mqtt. I also use aquara smart plugs. They also works great as routers for my zigbee network.
Same here, just about to get some Aqara stuff for my HA build. So perfect timing for the video series, to give me ideas and to follow along with Mark's home setup.
Looking forward to it, I currently only own 1 aqara device and thats a temperature and humidity sensor. I used it my main bathroom so when a kid showers and does turn the fan on home assistant does it for them haha
Great video Mark- am just right in thinking if you have a HA running with a conbee II coordinator you don't need an aqara hub ? I'm really looking forward to the next episode - thanks for your hard work
Hey Dave. That’s correct yes :) Using the Aqara hub you get some niceties like super simple pairing and alarm features. But you are limited to just Aqara devices. Using the conbee you can add any compatible Zigbee device you like :)
I also use plenty of Aqara Zigbee products - they are cheap and can be made reliable. BUT: At the beginning they lost to often the connection to my hub. I have solved this issue by using an _Zigbee repeater_ in every room (BTW: I recommand the Ikea repeaters - very cheap and very reliable.)
So if I just wanted to test this out with a couple of Aqara devices. I'd order the devices along with the M2 hub, yeah? If my internet went down that means I couldn't use my aqara smart lights?
Hi Mark quick question haven't got started yet but it looking like Aqara in the main. We're all Apple Watches tablets etc so would my first purchase be an Aqara hub if so which one? Also should I be leaning towards Aqara or Home Kit to be operating from?
Nice video Mark! Especial for me, that I have the exact same devices as you (Sonoff USB dongle, Aqara sensor, switch and lights...) Waiting for you to share the setup and configuration, so I can have mine up and running soon. BTW, could you share one more integration? As I would like to use Homepod mini to control these devices via voice. Thank you!
Hey Samson :) I will be sharing the majority of stuff when it’s all done. I’m a little behind on filming for this series due to being ill. Unfortunately I don’t own a homepod mini so it’s not something I can play with.
Nice mini series Mark, looking forward to this. I came from hubitat realm to HA recently. I only have the QBKG04LM, QBKG03LM, buttons and motion sensors and found 2 annoying things coming from hubitat as it was working perfectly. 1. QBKG04LM doesn't show any temperature and 2. The motion sensor kept wanting to pair with the main zigbee coordination (I use the same one as yours sonoff usb dongle). Even when I initiate the pairing right next to a router (e.g. IKEA socket), it kept going back to the main coordinator. If you have fix for any of these issues, please do share. Besides these issues, they all work perfectly.
Looking forward to this series. I am currently swapping out many of my wifi devices and moving to Zigbee. I love the Aqara door/window sensors as they are so much smaller. I am about to install an Aqara motion sensor in my letterbox to tell me when mail has arrived. I will be especially interested on any thoughts you have regarding the Aqara cameras as I am looking to replace my Wyze units.
Hi Pat, just note that the motion sensors are based on PIR, so not any motion will trigger them. In other words - a letter being put in the letterbox might not trigger it. I would consider a door sensor instead for that purpose.
@@peejayw that is likely the same technology (PIR), so sounds like I’m wrong then :) give it a go and see what happens. Either way, even if it doesn’t work in your letterbox I’m sure you can find good use for the motion sensor elsewhere in your house.
Hello and congratulations on your fantastic channel, thanks to your videos I was able to do impossible operations for me....😉 but I wanted to ask you a question...If you set up an Aqara hub with HA's HomeKit controller integration you get lost on the home app The configured hub? I did it and it happened to me like this .... In a nutshell I would like to keep aqara and all its devices both on HomeKit and on Ha but I wouldn't want HomeKit to depend on home assistants for those native HomeKit devices.... 😉😢😅
Glad to have helped. Currently you have to make the choice of which main platform to use the devices with (HomeKit/HA). However with the Matter update for the Aqara M2 hub you can use any platform at the same time with no issues. The Matter update is slowly rolling out (and is still a little buggy). For now if you only have the hub I would recommend using the m2 hub and HomeKit Controller to use all of the devices in Home Assistant. Hope that makes sense.
Just got some Aqara products, using ConBee 2 and ZHA. Works like a charm! I like their sensor. But in order to expand the units to my garage what tips do you have? Do I need a smartplug close to the wall facing the garage and home the signal reaches the garage or what?
I will be taking about this in the next video :) But yes using a device that acts as a router will do the trick. However in my experience I have found if your not using the Aqara hub or routers, the devices won’t roam and will always just try and pair to the initial device/router they originally paired too. The best practice for adding your Zigbee devices is to put them in the location you want them, then pair them :) In your case a smart plug or smart switch (aqara switches are great) would work. Hope that helps :) give me a shout if you need more info and I’ll do my best to get back to you. Again I’ll be covering this in a future video.
Hi Mark, really enjoy your videos and subscribed! One tip that would make your videos much more pleasant to watch and listen to… Watch your emphasis on the last word of every sentence. Your last words are going up instead of down, which makes the video very tiring to watch because you never know when you finished your sentence haha. Keep up the good work! 💪🏻
My friend i have the g2h with many child devices on a China server. I try to connect Alexa (who is in American server) and it doesn't find it. it said that have to be in American server? If i change the Chinese server to American all these aqara staff will they work? Thank you
Hello Mark! May I steer your attention to Aqara FP1 sensor. I almost got my hands on few of these babies(still in transit), I think they will change smarthome sensing tremendously.
Great video Mark, and it’s great to see how your production skills have improved over the years - this looks very professional! One question on the Aqara hub: is the connection with HA local, or is it a cloud based connection?
You can use Dongle and also the hub to connect the devices. However only one device can be the parent device (have zigbee device binded to it at one time) If you use the hub you can use both the Aqara app and also HA to control the devices. The Aqara hub now uses matter so if your setup is Matter enabled you can use any app to control and pair the devices via the Aqara hub
Hi Mark, I too can't find the Aqara Integration you mention in the video . I have the Aqara M2 hub and a couple of door sensors (no HA dongle). Just trying to integrate in HA (and Node-Red as well) to no avail. Possibly removed with latest HA update(s)?
Heya, so it’s not an “Aqara integration”. You need to connect the m2 to HA via the HomeKit controller :) Any added devices just then pass straight into HA
@@rhosk HomeKit controller (not HomeKit) :) Basically the m2 advertises itself as a HomeKit device, it then links with HA. And then it’s good to go. Hope that makes sense :)
Connection wise you can use either Zigbee or WiFi (Apple HomeKit). Not having a broadband connection will not stop either of these methods working as they are both local.
nice. cant wait for another video. would like to know how it feels to press (qualiti of button and stuff) this buttons and sound of it. (light switches)
In the next part I will be running throughh each of the products im using and covering all the details (build qualiry, how well they work etc) :) Ill be sure to address that :)
Personally I find Amazon better. Google seems to be very inaccurate as of late. However in terms of control in HA its easier to do things with google speakers. Hope that helps :)
Very good video! Could you use a relay switch module rather than the switch to keep the aesthetic look of the light switches rather than the dull white ones?
I decided to try aqara and sonoff motion sensors. I had just installed the sonoff usb 3.0 zha. All 3 aqara devices that I bought wouldn't pair whilst the sonoff ones did. I purchase them from Ali express which might be different. I am reluctant to by any more Aqara stuff
There have been lots of fake or dodgy "Aqara" products on Ali. I have had a few before where they claimed to be Aqara but aren't. They are often priced cheaper for a reason :S Buying directly through Amazon or Aqara have been the best and I haven't had an issue. I previously also used them with ZHA and they worked great. The Sonoff sensor on the other hand are very temprimental.
Hey good video as always, can you link the pro camera with built in ZigBee hub to Home Assistant and still use the ZigBee hub section for devices into home assistant? If not can the pro camera ZigBee hub be used with a ZigBee communicator to extend the ZigBee network?
Great vid. Looking forward to this series. I'm about to convert my whole house to a smart home (for the first time), and after a lot of research was leaning towards Sonoff. I'm curious as to why you chose Aqara instead? Any obvious advantage?
Thanks Adam! From my personal experience the Sonoff sensors have been very temperamental. The Aqara products right down to the packaging have a much more premium look and feel. Again for me personally the Aqara range of sensors and devices have been solid and had no issues. My only real gripe is that not using Aqaras hubs with the devices prevents the devices from roaming around (moving to other routers). I will be covering more of my pros and cons in the next video :)
@@MarkWattTech Thanks so much for the quick response Mark. Really appreciate that. I've been watching reviews for the Aqara ecosystem again for the last hour after watching your video. You may have convinced me to change my mind and switch to Aqara from Sonoff! Looking forward to next week's video 😊
Indeed. I have purchased many from Ali before (you can see some of them in the background images). Not all of them on Ali are legitimate Aqara ones though and they are often cheaper for a reason. That being said though if you are happy to wait on the delivery it is an option :)
