Happy Saturday everyone!! My new Smart Home is so flipping exciting!! If you’d like to buy any of the products featured in today’s video then check them out below!… As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. By buying through any of the links below I will earn commission at no extra cost to you :) AQARA Amazon UK: amzn.to/3GyhluB Amazon US: amzn.to/4a9yokk AJAX Amazon UK: amzn.to/3tcEzDJ Amazon US: Not Available :(
Curious if you have any idea what kind of power draw all of these devices are costing you? I know even in standby they are sipping away. Might be interesting to cover this hidden cost of smart devices, especially as people might be struggling with energy costs over the winter. And I imagine some devices might offset their energy costs with smart home efficiencies
I haven’t tested the power draw of the sensors specifically, it’s an interesting thought as I have covered this topic elsewhere. I doubt they would cost more electric than they would save in turning off lights that kids left on. That said their initial outlay isn’t going to be cost effective in that regard for quite some time!
The question everybody asks me is when starting out on the Smart Home journey is to what devices should they buy? Aqara seems to tick a lot of boxes. As you covered previously you need hubs or gateways for every smart home system and associated apps. As a smart home enthusiast I have various hubs and gateways and my smart phone has dozens of different apps. If starting over again I would like to have one app and one eco smart system to connect with via Alexa. It frustrates me to buy a bulb or smart home device and you need another App or run gateway to run it. Aqara seems to have thought this through. Something I think I might invest in. Keep up the good work and good luck with the move.
I've had Aqara sensors and switches for a couple of years now. And have only changed one battery in that time. And that was not because a battery was indicated as dead. It was an attempt to fix a suddenly problematic TVOC sensor. And, it didn't fix the issue. Their battery life is amazing. At least to me.
Congrats on the new home, Paul. A big change like that is always exciting. I just popped in to say, yes, Home Assistant can be a bit like a Tamogotchi, but you likely experience a higher level of instability because your job requires you to make many and constant changes to the system. Average users, once set up, don't have quite the number of headaches in certain you do. Heck, I've gone months before realizing i haven't checked for updates and my days of tweaking things feel like they are over. None of this is meant to discredit what you've said, just to provide a little "other side" perspective. Cheers!
Well said, I wanted to chime in when viewing the video but my points would be similar lol. I think I went 6 months from March-September with literally not touching HA running on a NUC, besides using the app to turn things/on/off. Automations all ran fine. I go in cycles of tinkering, and completely updated and redid all dashboard this fall, but you can go very long stretches of time without changing anything, assuming you are using non cloud based gear.
Home Assistant is not so bad at breaking if you don't use custom integrations or bespoke configuration files. If you can do everything inside the UI, you don't really get things breaking as much. But if you want to be all in one ecosystem, then for sure you can ditch Home Assistant. Home Assistant is good if you have a bunch of devices from different suppliers. I think, having a bunch of Aqara stuff, it could be better for what you want to do . The issue with Home Assistant is a lot of people over complicate it, because it can be over complicated. The KISS principle works with Home Assistant too. If you keep it simpler, it doesn't break as much. This is coming from someone who has used Home Assistant since 2017 and also has a life, a partner and a child.
Gotta admit that you've convinced me a while ago that Aqara was the bee's knees, and it hasn't let me down yet. They do absolutely make amazing quality stuff, and I'm glad to have found them through your channel.
I got my Aqara items after Paul recommended them. However unfortunately, added 2 more sensors to the mix and it broke nearly everything. Sorry to say, I went back to the Philips hue sensors for the upstairs lights cos aqara didn't do it for us😢
The setup in our home is fully Nest (Google) and Ikea-tradfri based (due to cost). It works pretty smooth, Ikea's switches are an awesome-cost affective way to get switches in a rental property and also use nest-speakers without having to replace any stuff. If we ever decide to leave I just pack it up, build it up again and it works again.
Same, ikea stuff is cheap and can be used wirhout internet at all, they only sell you a hub if you want voice control, it's not even necessary for initial setup
I use both Homekit and Home Assistant. Love Home Assistant because it is so powerful so I am not likely to give it up. What I would like to see is a proper integration in HA for bringing in the Aqara hubs (integrations exist buy they are not great). If we get a proper integration then all the Aqara devices can be both in HK and HA without any fuss. Lutron Caseta works like this and it is quite handy.
I truly love Home Assistant, just I fixed yet another thing just yesterday afternoon and then at midnight I clicked my button to start my sleep sounds and nothing 😒
I moved cross county last year, and my HA server didn't mind at all. I labeled all of my lights as I uninstalled them, so it was just a matter of installing them in the new location.
I just got myself an exclusively Aqara home system too. Thermostats, tempature sensors and door/window sensors. Right now my smart home only controls my: * Thermostats OFF when any window is OPEN and Thermostats ON if all windows are closed. All thermostats have an associated external sensor for tempature detection. * Tempature/Humidity/TVOC sensors in every room automaticly remind me of when I need to air out my apartment. When I do that, it monitors all sensors and notifies me when all values is below a certain point. * Along with window sensors, all doors also have sensors on them, and if they change state during the time my alarm is ON, it raises an alarm and notifies me. * My Aqara alarm system then uses the sensors to monitor for change and too high/low values. Right now my tempature sensors is monitored for tempatures above 50C as that could indicate a fire. I'm planning to expand it with 5 waterleak sensors (one for under my dishwasher, refrigerator, sink in kitchen, sink in bathroom and toilet), 4 smoke detectors (one for each room), 4 pressense sensors (again one for each room) and 2 cameras (these can cover my entire apartment). Haven't done any smart lighting as I live in a rented apartment and am not allowed to rewire my electrical installation (even though I'm actually an electrician). I'm gonna have to be a little creative with the lighting part, but it can be done with the relays and just blanking off the light switches with a plate on top. 😉
I like playing with Home Assistant, but it can take a lot of work. This looks like a great option for my parents. I don't wan to be their tech support when things go wrong, so easier the better. =)
Dear Paul, thats one more amazing video. I am switching `slowly` to Aqara as well, as i have been babysitting home assistant for three years now and now i am busy with my hman baby 🍼 I only planned to keep home assistant for dashboards to check for my Dutch energy and water meters. Additionally, sniffing and vomitting API like our online supermarket deliveries and tracking our post parcels before the mailman throw them on the street. Few questions i had! Dimmers: why not a cheap RF dimmer switch and use the mighty broadlink instead of home assistant? Thermostats: I am personally in love with a vintage honeywell product called multizone evohome. It just works!! 😅 And opentherm friendly. Also very energy saving in terms of learning the patterns of each room. How long it takes to warm up and cool down. Again, excellent video ❤
Thanks dude, I love broadlink stuff too, but the plan was to keep as much stuff under one roof as possible and Aqara has a wider range of stuff, including the radiator thermostats which I’m a big fan of 😁
I have HA and I find it reliable. I have 12 Tasmota plugs, Aqura devices x 5, 3 x hue lights, 1 bellikn switch (first one I bought), nest connected… UDM cameras. I’m curious if your issues with it is because your testing so many different products all of the time ? Do you have a separate HA instance for testing. The biggest pain I have experienced so far is zigbee and pairing once paired fine, but the initial device discover is a pia!
The one small thing bugging me is that the kitchen lights turn off before the dinning room lights turn on. Can a delay be added before the lights turn off when leaving a zone?
Great piece, love the Aqara stuff I have, most reliable in my set-up. But, the lack of support for sockets, dimming, and bulbs is a real pain in the backside. Couldn't they just open up their ecosystem to other Zigbee devices? That would solve most of the problems. It seems the simplest solution is to move over to Homekit and use Aqara devices.
I'm just getting started with Aqara and finding my way. I do have the G4 doorbell camera and up to now I'm a bit disappointed with it. It misses quite a lot of things. I might need to study the settings a bit more to hopefully resolve this.
Hey mate, do you promise not to send Mr. Socky after me if I say you are overusing the phrase "changes everything"? With all these stuff changing everything every time you post a new video, then we are probably on a 360 degree change and back to the first place over and over again! I am literally starting to hump the air shouting "this changes everything, this changes everything, this changes everything!!!"
Just out of curiosity, what do you mean you need babysit HA? I've installed it, it works and unless I need new device, I don't need to do any updates or anything. So same as any other system, if you get it into working state, just don't touch it. How did HA then let you down?
I truly love Home Assistant, but I can literally give you 2 examples from just yesterday… Zigbee plug socket fallen off the Conbee stick and needed re-pairing, and then at midnight I clicked my flick button to start my sleep sounds via my Google speaker using webhooks and nothing 😒 I need to go through the logs and get some stuff tidied up I think
HA is constantly broken - After 5 years of use i see no hope for this platform. Problem with developers and community. After all this time they can't even implement simple scheduler, countdown timer, or ui customizable card - things which are basic for every home automation system. That is just ridicolous. And sorry there is no excuse for it also HA influencers do their job but you can't hide serious problems all the time. I'm also buing new devices with intention of switching system.
If I did it all over again I likely would go Aqara I don't get why Home Assistant seems to be such a hassle though. I mean all I do is install updates through the web ui a couple times a week. Mind you, I don't automate with Home Assistant, I just use HA to listen to my devices change state. I'm still a Node Red Nerd when it comes to automation. Haven't touched that stuff in months, stable as a rock
I do think Aqara makes great kit and they are my go to zigbee brand. The real issue is that HA is never going to run on Raspberry PI4 or lower without care and feeding. Yes using a USB based SSD will make it better. But after moving to a decommissioned Chromebox with a very average SSD; I've had zero issues in the two years since making the change.
Very healty and refreshing commentary. I'm also slowly preparing to leave HA - test other platform check other possibilities. HA after initial hype for tinkerers is getting problematic - many simple problems with overcomplicated solutions for each of them. Thanks.
HA is running smoothly for like 3+ years for me, updating it monthly and for like 1-2 years I had NO breaking changes to take care of. Now there is one regarding the Ping integration which I use, but nothing major. If you keep it relatively simple it works fine.
If you are starting fresh I do think that it is a great idea to keep with one company as you are more likely to have a more reliable system. Home assistant works well for those of us that have bought technology when it comes out "oooh shiny" approach so may have many different brands over the years. Then the problem with home assistant is they update to fix how they want something done and if youdid it a slightly different way it breaks. Then days of head bashing and hopefully all working again.
I use homey (2023) with a lot of aquara stuff and even hue... Homey makes up for the things that aquara doesn't do, in an very easy way (if this than that principle. And its not a tamagotchi. It doesn't work with some of your stuff though, so you're probably better of with home assistant. But for new smarthomers, homey is very good!
Bugger! Just bought a load of Tuya smart, touch switches (and yes, they do 4 gang switches). Really simple to install, needing only one live input and then one connection to each light (similar to a radial circuit, not a ring circuit).
@@paulhibbert been using the ph- Eugh, Philips Eugh, sorry Phillips hue for now but would prefer to stay in the same eco system. At least it has ohhh the zigbee!
Great loghts demo, BUT I would get pissed, and piss the sensors off if thse lights turning off imediatelly i leave, thy should only turn on imediately and turn off after cetrain delay and gradually dimm not shut off, then it feels smart.
Well done Paul. I moved to Aqara last year because they are easy to set up and use, they use Zigbee, are affordable, work well with Amazon products, and are covering matter. What they are missing though. 1. A speaker system like the Echos so I can finally ditch Amazon. 2. A Smoke detector (not here in Europe) 3. A clever frame to mount two wall switches together (you had that problem to) 4. they have announced a european wall plug several months ago but still not seen 5. A triple plug extension lead for Europe which allows all three plugs to be smartly controlled. 6. A real door lock system which is not a strap on. What I dont like a) the curtain control unit does not fully close my pair of full height curtains, full open no problem but it struggles to close them leaving a gap (they are not heavy ones) b) the radiator control needs to be calibrated on a regular basis otherwise it just goes into full power heating up the room. This happens on all six of mine which I purchased over a peroid of several months so its not a batch production issue. c) LED strip far to expensive for only two metres.
Good presentation as always. You are responsible for helping me choose Aqara for my automation needs in the future. Thanks for all your honest, fair and balanced reviews. Merry Christmas.
I'm currently having issues with Alexa routines with Aqara. All my routines have stopped working. I was having to relink the skill to get them working again, however this week even that hasn't worked. Currently switched to link n link sensors, and testing Aqara daily. Today is the first day for a week it seems to be working. Maybe it's the update just received has fixed the issue. I do love the aqara gear. I'm hoping to enable my routes soon.
On the temperature sensors is there any heat coming off of the switch below. Remember Linus from LTT had a slight issue as his thermostats were above over switches (can't remember what) but the heat coming off of them was tricking the sensor into thinking the room was warmer than it was. Looking forward to more video's on the new house 👍
I have that exact arrangement in my house, 90% with aqara. Been working for 3 years NO STOP. Just add some fp2 and it’s everything amazing and “its just works” 😂😂😂😂
Congrats on the new home - I'm so glad you've told us, I've been watching the last few weeks wondering whose house you were in 😂 When you reviewed the vacuums I was somewhat confused!
Any chance you can ask Aqara to make a smart lightbulb with a presence sensory built into the lightbulb? I ask this due to their presence sensor’s “fall down detection” only working if their sensor is mounted on the ceiling, so putting it into a light would mean it would be powered by built-in power for the lights (so no ugly wires or having v to change batteries), and would be in the right position for fall-down detection to work. It would be a game-changer for elderly and people living with disabilities. 💙
If you had philips hue bulbs you could map your house in the aqara app and then have the light literally follow you around the house. Only have the bulb directly over top of you on
Spot on... they all don't actually have a full range.... non do... In Australia they are actually just sensors no lighting bar led strip's. The in wall/roof smart relays are available at 70 bucks each 🤯🤯 Shelly's are under 30...
The Tomogatchi and Homeassistant comparaison is pure gold 😂 The issue is that if you don't buy a well preconfigured homeassistant green/yellow box, creating your own out of a raspberrypi can lead to serveral issues like you encoutered during all those years as you mentionned (mainly the sd card dying by constant writing, during initial setup i set it up as such so it writes to RAM first then the SD later, but you can't expect anyone to br able to do that)
I rewired my parents’ boiler’s programmer unit many years ago (it was in an inaccessible position where you couldn’t see the date, time or temperature settings and I was fed up being woken up at 5am when I stayed there because they couldn’t change it when the clocks went forward (it wasn’t a one of the units that can do it themselves). Anyway, only mentioning it because there were 79 connections to make. (There was a couple of metres of trunking and L-shaped angles having to get the wires out of an alcove round an external corner and navigate around awkwardly positioned surface mounted plug switches.) 79 connections. Best job I did for them (it worked). Did I mention there were 79 connections? (Only bragging because I can’t do that stuff any more and am heartbroken.) Love to the gerbils. And you both of course. 😘
I loved the Aqara motion sensors & Presence sensors too but then they stopped working for no apparent reason then they became tempremental and worked some of the time so now moved onto Kasa / Tapo
Hi Paul. I have a mainly aqara ecosystem but the reason I have been scared off from going all-in is that I have a bigger house and know that not all devices would reach a single hub. That's why I have gone Z2M on home assistant and used ZigBee powered devices to extend the network.... But it can be flakey. Have you needed to get around this? How? I don't use homekit and the only solutions I have seen use that to possibly join 2 aqara networks. I am looking for a way to ensure that I cover the house. Thanks
The only problem I have is that you are now dependent on Aqara for all of your stuff. Not that I think they're going to go under anytime soon. But when they do, or decide to stop supporting your older hub, you're going to wind up with a ton of work rejoining devices and reworking rules. And let's be honest, larger companies (*ahem, Lutron*) have fallen. Sonoff has a controller that can do all activity locally, or via network. It has an open API, and clearly marked hardware ports for flashing alternate firmware, like Tasmota, which can connect with NodeRed, FHEM, OpenHab, and yes, Home Assistant. Don't get me wrong, Aqara is a great brand. 1/3 of my home devices are made by them. But relying on outside services will always bite you. Ask any Sears, Walworths, Toys R Us, or Thomas Cook customers, and they'll agree.
Congrats on the new home. We have a lot of Aqara devices in our home and I completely get the attraction of a single platform controlling everything. However, there are so many things that Home Assistant can do that pre-configured systems cannot. Plus, our own Home Assistant instance takes very minimal maintenence to keep running smoothly. I spend about an hour once a week doing updates. The biggest time expense for me is if I add new functionality to Home Assistant, such as our TTS voice announcements over "she who must not be named". Anyway, keep up the good work and have a great 2024 when it comes.
Honestly...Aqara is great, as is Shelly as is Switchbot and also Homematic IP...but at the end of the day, none of them makes everything, so, Home Assistant, while it does require attention and tends to break things with Updates (though some of the issues are down to manufacturers changing the API or blocking it) it is the only system I know that can (relatively) reliably connect everything and make it work together. A Vaillant Heat Pump, Homematic underfloor heating controller, Huawei Solar system, Tibber electricity, a Tesla, some Switchbot stuff, Hue, Govee and other lamps? Ikea switches and so on and so forth...Home Assistant links it all up easily.
Great video, thank you. I'm heavily invested in zwave, but he ocntroller I use by vera, albeit good, seems to be on the decline. What do you suggest so I do not loose my zwave investment (10 baseboard thermostats, door locks and a bunch of light switches and sensors)? Home assistant?(probably not).
Few of you Smart Home youtubers (mostly you Paul, Lewis is just perv) convinced me to stick with Aqara, now i'm renovating my flat from zero (wasn't used for a while) and all I got for the start are only aqara switches, M2 hub, radiator thermostats and some smaller things like aqara smart button. So hyped to put it together and run homeassistant on my rpi4, would probably stick only with aqara but there isn't any option for smart door lock than Yale Linus when it comes to flats. love your vids, great job
Good advice Paul. Aqara makes very good stuff, and the écosystem is nice for starters. I've got plugs, switches and motion sensors to trigger lights everywhere in my place (like yours) and it is very reliable. It also works great with HA. I wanted to use it for my automations BUT... As it can't control my covers, radiators, energy sensors, presence sensors, media players, i would say HA is still needed if you want to make some advanced stuff. I have already installed an appartment and a house with HA + Aqara stuff, and it's fine : low maintenance needed. I think you start getting problems with HA when you put too many brands/écosystems in it and/or try to do too complicated things.
Based on your previous recommendation, I'm buying Aqara whenever i have a choice. The FP1 seems handy for lights but having lights flash off and on as I move around a space would drive me nuts. I use HA to keep lights on for 2- to 3-minutes in corridors and 5 or so minutes in busy areas like the kitchen. How are you getting on with your implementation now the novelty has worn off?
I have no trouble with my HA Setup since I run it in a VM on my Synology Nas. But I get where you are coming from, I was there before I had my current setup :) So, currently, I am using Aqara and HA in tandem too. All devices are present in both systems and through HA I am exposing certain devices to HomeKit because I use it as a sleeker UI interface an my iPhone. Automations get made in HA since it is my HUB for all the devices from different manufacturers. And the Voice assistant of choice is Alexa, since I am heavily invested in Echo Dots.
Very similar setup to how I will probably end up. Once I inevitably add more smart home gear from other manufacturers home assistant will be an unfortunate necessity.
I have a similar setup to yours, but, since I upgraded to the m2 hub, I can't connect the bulk of my ZigBee stuff, it's super annoying! How do I setup Aqara and Home Assistant to work together - as I have 20+ ZigBee bulbs and 10 ZigBee sockets that no longer are smart thanks to my new m2 hub... How do I fix this? Or do I need to scrap Aquara, and go back Lidl's hub?
Another great video ! However the reliance on Amazon Alexa is a frustration for me. I do use Alexa around the house just for music and a couple of routines. But mainly I use a cheap zigbee hub for everything to work locally. I have no neutral light switches and motion sensors (all zigbee) and zigbee current sensing plugs to activate routines. Been in place for 2 years and all works well even without the internet. Aqara is great - I have the curtain motors and a few sensors to ensure the little one closes the fridge properly 😂
Hi Paul I dont think you are far wrong, I am a big fan of Home assistant, but I find it infuriating when I do an update and a load of my stuff stops working. The reason I watch your vids(apart from the comedy value) is that you are like me nerdy but not quite as nerdy as the the home assistant nerds, and the fact that you do test lots of nerdy stuff that can work alongside HA. I am similar I use the Tuya smart life and the Ewelink apps along with home assistant for the more technical automations. I havent gone down the Aquara rout as I dont want a fourth app I already struggle to work out which app is controlling what thing in HA if I had another it would muddy the waters more.😉
I sold Aqara, Xiaomi, Others and went Tuya after struggling as early adaptor of the Chinese region locking that existed in them. I know Aqara have corrected this but I find their products seriously overpriced. I sample the devices (in the thousands), find the one device I need more 4 of and go with it. Contrary to opinion (those who do not realise it or even want to know the facts), Tuya has EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING. From Powerful split ACs to Robotic Mowers to Smart Watches to Presence Sensors, to POE based Cams to Temperature sensors for boilers to displays, to IR RF, to Matter capable Zigbee 3 Hubs and more. I means thousands. And there are more reasons: Tuya also has our countries compliant electrical embedded as well. You goto your electrical light fittings store, you can goto to your electricity component department and BUY off the shelf electrical certified Tuya ECO system devices for your country. Okay I can really think nothing that is already in this eco system. And they are snap away from being integrated into HA.
I personally love Homeassistant for the logging. I havent seen others like Apple, Alexa, and Google do things like that with their systems. Hell if apple went and sold a home cloud like they used to that enables the feature or enables it for apple icloud users id probably convert now!
Hey, it's your house, you can pick any Smarthome platform you like. I just hope you don't forget about home assistant compatibility, coz a lot of your viewers rely on HA as their main hub.
I don't understand why your home assistant keeps breaking. I'm going on 5 years now with it and am largely hands off. I do absolutely love all my Aqara products, but I love the ability to have HA do even more with them than simple IFTT scenarios, like IFTT with way more than a few conditions attached. For example, when I am watching a movie, there is NO way I want my lights to suddenly come on simply because my CAT decided to enter the room! But I love my setup. I've spent the time to build it, and now, it's generally flawless, and I'm pretty much hands off now. Not sure why the push to never use it again, but I feel the combo of HA + Aqara is a solid platform. For a non-techie, sure! Get the Aqara brains, just know that it's about as smart as Amazon's smart home setup using only Alexa, though Aqara being local is still better! At the end of the day, there are now lots of choices, so use the best one for *your* home. Good video, and I think more people should see it! 😁👍
I like the way... IT JUST WORRRRRRRKS! I'd love to do that to my house, ya know, the overkill of tech... I haven't the energy or the $$. Older homes are fun to rewire, aren't they?!
I regret changing all the light switches in a holiday let to aqara. If the cleaner, or anyone long presses a switch they go into pairing mode indefinitely and you have to visit the property to repair. Could they not program them to automatically revert back to the network they were previously part of!? Also zigbee is flaky, if I were to do again rather have wifi and modules behind regular switches or in ceiling behind lights.
I think you’re right that they ought to default back after a period of time, I’m surprised to hear they don’t do this. I don’t understand why a cleaner would be long pressing your light switches though. That’s just weird. As for Zigbee being flakey it’s working all over my house right this second, each light switch is a mesh point, so I’m confused as to why you’re struggling. 🤷🏻♂️
@@paulhibbert wiping the switch is long enough to reset and then maintenance think they're trackpads and they reset them too. People leaning against them etc. Either revert back to the network they're on or 15 rapid presses or something. The no neutral aqara wall switches do not act as routers and thus the mesh is weak, something else i didn't know when i bought them.
This was a seriously stressful week. I had window fitters in too whilst trying to make this video and the electrician was like “you want me to do what?!” 🤣
Can confirm that Home Assistant configs can get messed up. Mine recently got into a horrible state with the december update. I ended up just reinstalling from scratch and ignoring backups. I've ditched as much tuya stuff as I could, moving to Zigbee.
I've had the same problem. Went to a multiple backup system, normal backup, system image and config files so I've always got an alternate to backup from. I have a huge system now and can't imagine starting from scratch.
I only have Tuya stuff that I *dont* want in HA (Namely the plug that restarts my server) so I can access externally if something freezes and not trigger by accident. I've not had too much issue with the new Tuya Local Control but I try to stay away from it where possible. The issues with HomeAssistant have gotten miles better once when is in UI integrations. The main issue is that YAML files cant easily be converted when things get changed or depreciated, but the UI stuff can, but it can still be massively frustrating.
Good video as always 2 weeks ago i was decorating and clipping my fiber optical cable killing my Internet, turning my smart home dumb it was the longest 5 days of my life until it got repaired nightmare .
Actually having a "smart home guy" steering people away from home assistant is quite refreshing!, do you do any network segmentation between your smart home systems, your home life kit (personal laptops, phones ets) and your work life/production equipment? Congratulations on the new home!
I have an amplifi hd router that is capable of that stuff, but I’ve never been overly worried about it. I do love home assistant and will never fully quit it, you’ll see that at the end of the video 😉
Too late for me im already heavily invested in the little orange boxes. I had a hubitat c5 but that thing has a mind if ita own so Using a sonnoff bridge and amazon routines.
I have a love/hate relationship with Aqara. First, they make things that nobody else does (like my blinds rollers). Second, they look nice. Third, they have multifunction uses that I find very handy. The big downside for me is that they don't follow the zigbee protocal exactly, which means that sometimes they don't do what I want exactly the way I expect. Oh, and their vibration sensor is crap and won't stay connected to their hub even when it's only two feet away. However, I also love Home Assistant, even if it means I'll never have sex again :) So I do love the fact that it works pretty well with HA :)
I'm a big Home Assistant user and their 2023 12.2+ releases broke ZHA (zigbee integration) and all my zigbee devices stop responding a few hours after each reboot (Fixed in 12.4) which was not mentioned in the release notes. The coder mentality of treating issues like this as normal is totally infuriating. Commercial developers don't release unproven code into the wild and neither should HA. Unfortunately there simply isn't an alternative that offers the breath of support or configuration granularity so I'm stuck with it for the time being.
Hi Paul, what lightbulbs are you using with Aqara? Because I didn't quite get your old video, where in my own mind you misleadingly promised compatibility with Home Assistant for BroadLink lightbulbs and switches (never mind). Now, my Aqara sensors only communicate through Alexa with my lights. Unfortunately, Alexa is even worse than Home Assistant because when she's not working, I can't even fix it. I’m desperate enough to buy non-neutral Aqara switches (sooooo expensive 😳) but I have no idea what lightbulbs 💡 should I have. Please help
Hey, Paul. I've got a bunch of different smart stuff around the house, some of it is Tuya. I've been having issues with the reliability of routines/automation. I'm fairly sure it's because they are executed over the cloud. I was wondering if you knew or could test any of your Tuya compatible Hubs to see if any of them are able to take over the job of the cloud? The setting I'm referring to is in Scenes, then pick an automation, and then go down to more settings, and you'll see "Executed By" -> Cloud. Cheers.
IMHO I prefer the delay to be less between entering one area from another. IE Walking downstairs to the dining area. I want the new area lights to come on just a second or two sooner. Especially if I were in a hurry. And vice versa.
I just wish the radiator thermostats would come to the USA. Those would be a game changer for us. We have the manual ones, but having ones like yours would be awesome. I do love Aqara, but it doesn't always work as well as I would like with Alexa.
If you still want to leverage from your non HK accessories Homebridge whilst not as flexible as HA is relatively trouble free. Also I’d recommend Casambi (professional grade accessories) for dimming at the fitting with their tiny CBU-TED as an example. I have lots of them and HB helps to integrate. Also EnOcean switches require no power and no batteries!
Having the light turn off behind me and then switching it on in front of me after a second would drive me nuts. Can you make the zones overlap, so it turns on when you transition and turn off when you actually left?
![POLYCAT - ข้อความรูปยิ้ม [Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/lBhIgPGCgbI/mqdefault.jpg)
Happy Saturday everyone!! My new Smart Home is so flipping exciting!! If you’d like to buy any of the products featured in today’s video then check them out below!…
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. By buying through any of the links below I will earn commission at no extra cost to you :)
AQARA
Amazon UK: amzn.to/3GyhluB
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AJAX
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I have the same table and chairs! 🕺
(on my smallest yacht 😎)
wot was the video about again?
Happy Saturday! 🌞👍🌞
Curious if you have any idea what kind of power draw all of these devices are costing you? I know even in standby they are sipping away. Might be interesting to cover this hidden cost of smart devices, especially as people might be struggling with energy costs over the winter. And I imagine some devices might offset their energy costs with smart home efficiencies
Congratulations. On your move. Thank you for the en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Mudita
I haven’t tested the power draw of the sensors specifically, it’s an interesting thought as I have covered this topic elsewhere. I doubt they would cost more electric than they would save in turning off lights that kids left on. That said their initial outlay isn’t going to be cost effective in that regard for quite some time!
The question everybody asks me is when starting out on the Smart Home journey is to what devices should they buy? Aqara seems to tick a lot of boxes. As you covered previously you need hubs or gateways for every smart home system and associated apps. As a smart home enthusiast I have various hubs and gateways and my smart phone has dozens of different apps. If starting over again I would like to have one app and one eco smart system to connect with via Alexa.
It frustrates me to buy a bulb or smart home device and you need another App or run gateway to run it.
Aqara seems to have thought this through. Something I think I might invest in.
Keep up the good work and good luck with the move.
This time next year we will see Paul change all his batteries. Prepare for a full hour episode 😂
Oh god, I hope not 🤣
Naaaaa, Aqara will just send him all new devices 😂
I've had Aqara sensors and switches for a couple of years now. And have only changed one battery in that time. And that was not because a battery was indicated as dead. It was an attempt to fix a suddenly problematic TVOC sensor. And, it didn't fix the issue.
Their battery life is amazing. At least to me.
Congrats on the new home, Paul. A big change like that is always exciting. I just popped in to say, yes, Home Assistant can be a bit like a Tamogotchi, but you likely experience a higher level of instability because your job requires you to make many and constant changes to the system. Average users, once set up, don't have quite the number of headaches in certain you do. Heck, I've gone months before realizing i haven't checked for updates and my days of tweaking things feel like they are over. None of this is meant to discredit what you've said, just to provide a little "other side" perspective. Cheers!
Thanks dude, you make a good point!
Well said, I wanted to chime in when viewing the video but my points would be similar lol. I think I went 6 months from March-September with literally not touching HA running on a NUC, besides using the app to turn things/on/off. Automations all ran fine. I go in cycles of tinkering, and completely updated and redid all dashboard this fall, but you can go very long stretches of time without changing anything, assuming you are using non cloud based gear.
Home Assistant is not so bad at breaking if you don't use custom integrations or bespoke configuration files. If you can do everything inside the UI, you don't really get things breaking as much. But if you want to be all in one ecosystem, then for sure you can ditch Home Assistant. Home Assistant is good if you have a bunch of devices from different suppliers.
I think, having a bunch of Aqara stuff, it could be better for what you want to do . The issue with Home Assistant is a lot of people over complicate it, because it can be over complicated. The KISS principle works with Home Assistant too. If you keep it simpler, it doesn't break as much. This is coming from someone who has used Home Assistant since 2017 and also has a life, a partner and a child.
I’ve been using a few custom integrations for 2 years now with minimal issues
Gotta admit that you've convinced me a while ago that Aqara was the bee's knees, and it hasn't let me down yet. They do absolutely make amazing quality stuff, and I'm glad to have found them through your channel.
I got my Aqara items after Paul recommended them. However unfortunately, added 2 more sensors to the mix and it broke nearly everything.
Sorry to say, I went back to the Philips hue sensors for the upstairs lights cos aqara didn't do it for us😢
Did you mean to say Zig Bee? (I apologize profusely)
The setup in our home is fully Nest (Google) and Ikea-tradfri based (due to cost). It works pretty smooth, Ikea's switches are an awesome-cost affective way to get switches in a rental property and also use nest-speakers without having to replace any stuff. If we ever decide to leave I just pack it up, build it up again and it works again.
Same, ikea stuff is cheap and can be used wirhout internet at all, they only sell you a hub if you want voice control, it's not even necessary for initial setup
I use both Homekit and Home Assistant. Love Home Assistant because it is so powerful so I am not likely to give it up. What I would like to see is a proper integration in HA for bringing in the Aqara hubs (integrations exist buy they are not great). If we get a proper integration then all the Aqara devices can be both in HK and HA without any fuss. Lutron Caseta works like this and it is quite handy.
Hate to say it and will keep using HA. but you are right. thinks will break.
NEVER run an update before going to sleep.
I truly love Home Assistant, just I fixed yet another thing just yesterday afternoon and then at midnight I clicked my button to start my sleep sounds and nothing 😒
I moved cross county last year, and my HA server didn't mind at all. I labeled all of my lights as I uninstalled them, so it was just a matter of installing them in the new location.
I just got myself an exclusively Aqara home system too. Thermostats, tempature sensors and door/window sensors.
Right now my smart home only controls my:
* Thermostats OFF when any window is OPEN and Thermostats ON if all windows are closed. All thermostats have an associated external sensor for tempature detection.
* Tempature/Humidity/TVOC sensors in every room automaticly remind me of when I need to air out my apartment. When I do that, it monitors all sensors and notifies me when all values is below a certain point.
* Along with window sensors, all doors also have sensors on them, and if they change state during the time my alarm is ON, it raises an alarm and notifies me.
* My Aqara alarm system then uses the sensors to monitor for change and too high/low values. Right now my tempature sensors is monitored for tempatures above 50C as that could indicate a fire.
I'm planning to expand it with 5 waterleak sensors (one for under my dishwasher, refrigerator, sink in kitchen, sink in bathroom and toilet), 4 smoke detectors (one for each room), 4 pressense sensors (again one for each room) and 2 cameras (these can cover my entire apartment).
Haven't done any smart lighting as I live in a rented apartment and am not allowed to rewire my electrical installation (even though I'm actually an electrician). I'm gonna have to be a little creative with the lighting part, but it can be done with the relays and just blanking off the light switches with a plate on top. 😉
I like playing with Home Assistant, but it can take a lot of work. This looks like a great option for my parents. I don't wan to be their tech support when things go wrong, so easier the better. =)
Dear Paul, thats one more amazing video. I am switching `slowly` to Aqara as well, as i have been babysitting home assistant for three years now and now i am busy with my hman baby 🍼
I only planned to keep home assistant for dashboards to check for my Dutch energy and water meters. Additionally, sniffing and vomitting API like our online supermarket deliveries and tracking our post parcels before the mailman throw them on the street.
Few questions i had!
Dimmers: why not a cheap RF dimmer switch and use the mighty broadlink instead of home assistant?
Thermostats: I am personally in love with a vintage honeywell product called multizone evohome. It just works!! 😅 And opentherm friendly. Also very energy saving in terms of learning the patterns of each room. How long it takes to warm up and cool down.
Again, excellent video ❤
Honeywell, and no one other thermostat can do the same. I love my dumb T3R... it seems to be much clever than the smart ones
Thanks dude, I love broadlink stuff too, but the plan was to keep as much stuff under one roof as possible and Aqara has a wider range of stuff, including the radiator thermostats which I’m a big fan of 😁
Aqara is supose to sell dimmers in europe next year😊
I have HA and I find it reliable. I have 12 Tasmota plugs, Aqura devices x 5, 3 x hue lights, 1 bellikn switch (first one I bought), nest connected… UDM cameras.
I’m curious if your issues with it is because your testing so many different products all of the time ? Do you have a separate HA instance for testing.
The biggest pain I have experienced so far is zigbee and pairing once paired fine, but the initial device discover is a pia!
The one small thing bugging me is that the kitchen lights turn off before the dinning room lights turn on. Can a delay be added before the lights turn off when leaving a zone?
Yup, there is now a 20 second delay otherwise things get pretty trippy when you hang around the middle of the two zones 🤣
Great piece, love the Aqara stuff I have, most reliable in my set-up. But, the lack of support for sockets, dimming, and bulbs is a real pain in the backside.
Couldn't they just open up their ecosystem to other Zigbee devices? That would solve most of the problems.
It seems the simplest solution is to move over to Homekit and use Aqara devices.
I'm just getting started with Aqara and finding my way. I do have the G4 doorbell camera and up to now I'm a bit disappointed with it. It misses quite a lot of things. I might need to study the settings a bit more to hopefully resolve this.
Hey mate, do you promise not to send Mr. Socky after me if I say you are overusing the phrase "changes everything"? With all these stuff changing everything every time you post a new video, then we are probably on a 360 degree change and back to the first place over and over again! I am literally starting to hump the air shouting "this changes everything, this changes everything, this changes everything!!!"
This comment changes everything
@@sazshedevilYour comment about his comment changing everything changes everything!
Reading these comments has changed everything. Next weeks video title: “everything has changed”
... and nothing changes
Air humping changes everything
Just out of curiosity, what do you mean you need babysit HA? I've installed it, it works and unless I need new device, I don't need to do any updates or anything. So same as any other system, if you get it into working state, just don't touch it. How did HA then let you down?
I truly love Home Assistant, but I can literally give you 2 examples from just yesterday… Zigbee plug socket fallen off the Conbee stick and needed re-pairing, and then at midnight I clicked my flick button to start my sleep sounds via my Google speaker using webhooks and nothing 😒
I need to go through the logs and get some stuff tidied up I think
@@paulhibbert Have you tried the Hacs retry integration? Not sure when it came out but BeardedTinker has a new video about it.
HA is constantly broken - After 5 years of use i see no hope for this platform. Problem with developers and community. After all this time they can't even implement simple scheduler, countdown timer, or ui customizable card - things which are basic for every home automation system. That is just ridicolous. And sorry there is no excuse for it also HA influencers do their job but you can't hide serious problems all the time. I'm also buing new devices with intention of switching system.
@@asdkjh4370 What do you plan to switch to?
I am running HA only for a year by now, so far only one integration from HACS was problematic.
If I did it all over again I likely would go Aqara
I don't get why Home Assistant seems to be such a hassle though. I mean all I do is install updates through the web ui a couple times a week.
Mind you, I don't automate with Home Assistant, I just use HA to listen to my devices change state. I'm still a Node Red Nerd when it comes to automation. Haven't touched that stuff in months, stable as a rock
I do think Aqara makes great kit and they are my go to zigbee brand. The real issue is that HA is never going to run on Raspberry PI4 or lower without care and feeding. Yes using a USB based SSD will make it better. But after moving to a decommissioned Chromebox with a very average SSD; I've had zero issues in the two years since making the change.
Very healty and refreshing commentary. I'm also slowly preparing to leave HA - test other platform check other possibilities. HA after initial hype for tinkerers is getting problematic - many simple problems with overcomplicated solutions for each of them. Thanks.
HA is running smoothly for like 3+ years for me, updating it monthly and for like 1-2 years I had NO breaking changes to take care of.
Now there is one regarding the Ping integration which I use, but nothing major. If you keep it relatively simple it works fine.
If you are starting fresh I do think that it is a great idea to keep with one company as you are more likely to have a more reliable system. Home assistant works well for those of us that have bought technology when it comes out "oooh shiny" approach so may have many different brands over the years. Then the problem with home assistant is they update to fix how they want something done and if youdid it a slightly different way it breaks. Then days of head bashing and hopefully all working again.
I use homey (2023) with a lot of aquara stuff and even hue... Homey makes up for the things that aquara doesn't do, in an very easy way (if this than that principle.
And its not a tamagotchi.
It doesn't work with some of your stuff though, so you're probably better of with home assistant. But for new smarthomers, homey is very good!
Bugger! Just bought a load of Tuya smart, touch switches (and yes, they do 4 gang switches). Really simple to install, needing only one live input and then one connection to each light (similar to a radial circuit, not a ring circuit).
Really wish they had uk plugs and/or sockets. Also if they sold their door locks over here too! Great vid, thanks Paul
Yeah man, me too 😔 thinking of creating some using the relays!
@@paulhibbert been using the ph- Eugh, Philips Eugh, sorry Phillips hue for now but would prefer to stay in the same eco system. At least it has ohhh the zigbee!
Great loghts demo, BUT I would get pissed, and piss the sensors off if thse lights turning off imediatelly i leave, thy should only turn on imediately and turn off after cetrain delay and gradually dimm not shut off, then it feels smart.
Well done Paul. I moved to Aqara last year because they are easy to set up and use, they use Zigbee, are affordable, work well with Amazon products, and are covering matter. What they are missing though.
1. A speaker system like the Echos so I can finally ditch Amazon.
2. A Smoke detector (not here in Europe)
3. A clever frame to mount two wall switches together (you had that problem to)
4. they have announced a european wall plug several months ago but still not seen
5. A triple plug extension lead for Europe which allows all three plugs to be smartly controlled.
6. A real door lock system which is not a strap on.
What I dont like
a) the curtain control unit does not fully close my pair of full height curtains, full open no problem but it struggles to close them leaving a gap (they are not heavy ones)
b) the radiator control needs to be calibrated on a regular basis otherwise it just goes into full power heating up the room. This happens on all six of mine which I purchased over a peroid of several months so its not a batch production issue.
c) LED strip far to expensive for only two metres.
Good presentation as always. You are responsible for helping me choose Aqara for my automation needs in the future. Thanks for all your honest, fair and balanced reviews. Merry Christmas.
Happy Christmas my friend!
I'm currently having issues with Alexa routines with Aqara. All my routines have stopped working. I was having to relink the skill to get them working again, however this week even that hasn't worked. Currently switched to link n link sensors, and testing Aqara daily. Today is the first day for a week it seems to be working. Maybe it's the update just received has fixed the issue. I do love the aqara gear. I'm hoping to enable my routes soon.
On the temperature sensors is there any heat coming off of the switch below. Remember Linus from LTT had a slight issue as his thermostats were above over switches (can't remember what) but the heat coming off of them was tricking the sensor into thinking the room was warmer than it was.
Looking forward to more video's on the new house 👍
I have that exact arrangement in my house, 90% with aqara. Been working for 3 years NO STOP. Just add some fp2 and it’s everything amazing and “its just works” 😂😂😂😂
Congrats on the new home - I'm so glad you've told us, I've been watching the last few weeks wondering whose house you were in 😂 When you reviewed the vacuums I was somewhat confused!
Any chance you can ask Aqara to make a smart lightbulb with a presence sensory built into the lightbulb?
I ask this due to their presence sensor’s “fall down detection” only working if their sensor is mounted on the ceiling, so putting it into a light would mean it would be powered by built-in power for the lights (so no ugly wires or having v to change batteries), and would be in the right position for fall-down detection to work. It would be a game-changer for elderly and people living with disabilities. 💙
If you had philips hue bulbs you could map your house in the aqara app and then have the light literally follow you around the house. Only have the bulb directly over top of you on
Spot on... they all don't actually have a full range.... non do...
In Australia they are actually just sensors no lighting bar led strip's.
The in wall/roof smart relays are available at 70 bucks each 🤯🤯
Shelly's are under 30...
The Tomogatchi and Homeassistant comparaison is pure gold 😂
The issue is that if you don't buy a well preconfigured homeassistant green/yellow box, creating your own out of a raspberrypi can lead to serveral issues like you encoutered during all those years as you mentionned (mainly the sd card dying by constant writing, during initial setup i set it up as such so it writes to RAM first then the SD later, but you can't expect anyone to br able to do that)
Why wouldn't you use an SSD? lol
Damn man. Those sensors are awesome. I’m hooked and you haven’t even baited me yet
That is the true sign of a master!!
@@paulhibbert A master of what though, a master of what?
… it’s a secret, tune in next week to find out the answer!
(On the fly)
I rewired my parents’ boiler’s programmer unit many years ago (it was in an inaccessible position where you couldn’t see the date, time or temperature settings and I was fed up being woken up at 5am when I stayed there because they couldn’t change it when the clocks went forward (it wasn’t a one of the units that can do it themselves).
Anyway, only mentioning it because there were 79 connections to make. (There was a couple of metres of trunking and L-shaped angles having to get the wires out of an alcove round an external corner and navigate around awkwardly positioned surface mounted plug switches.) 79 connections.
Best job I did for them (it worked). Did I mention there were 79 connections? (Only bragging because I can’t do that stuff any more and am heartbroken.)
Love to the gerbils. And you both of course. 😘
How is the "Ready Room" progressing? Or has it been put on hold due to the move.
I'm sure there was a black mask and a cape in the bottom of that box too. 😆 But the presence and temp sensors look pretty good.
Can you just swap out the plug from US to UK style? Or does it require voltage transformation?
I loved the Aqara motion sensors & Presence sensors too but then they stopped working for no apparent reason then they became tempremental and worked some of the time so now moved onto Kasa / Tapo
How well do the motion sensors work with HA as I had exactly the same issue.
I have only used with Alexa routine
@@seanmcdermott9546 How are they with Alexa as that is an option for me. I have seen some reports of slow to operate.
Hi Paul. I have a mainly aqara ecosystem but the reason I have been scared off from going all-in is that I have a bigger house and know that not all devices would reach a single hub. That's why I have gone Z2M on home assistant and used ZigBee powered devices to extend the network.... But it can be flakey. Have you needed to get around this? How? I don't use homekit and the only solutions I have seen use that to possibly join 2 aqara networks. I am looking for a way to ensure that I cover the house. Thanks
Aqara is hands down, one of my favorite smart home manufactures.
The only problem I have is that you are now dependent on Aqara for all of your stuff. Not that I think they're going to go under anytime soon. But when they do, or decide to stop supporting your older hub, you're going to wind up with a ton of work rejoining devices and reworking rules. And let's be honest, larger companies (*ahem, Lutron*) have fallen.
Sonoff has a controller that can do all activity locally, or via network. It has an open API, and clearly marked hardware ports for flashing alternate firmware, like Tasmota, which can connect with NodeRed, FHEM, OpenHab, and yes, Home Assistant.
Don't get me wrong, Aqara is a great brand. 1/3 of my home devices are made by them. But relying on outside services will always bite you. Ask any Sears, Walworths, Toys R Us, or Thomas Cook customers, and they'll agree.
Congrats on the new home. We have a lot of Aqara devices in our home and I completely get the attraction of a single platform controlling everything. However, there are so many things that Home Assistant can do that pre-configured systems cannot. Plus, our own Home Assistant instance takes very minimal maintenence to keep running smoothly. I spend about an hour once a week doing updates. The biggest time expense for me is if I add new functionality to Home Assistant, such as our TTS voice announcements over "she who must not be named". Anyway, keep up the good work and have a great 2024 when it comes.
Do you think that HA is the fastest evolving ecosystem right now? If not, what do you think is? Homey? Hubitat?
Try/test Homey, I think you will be suprised how well it works and what it can do......
So what hub is required to work locally when the internet is done? Does the USB one work in this manner?
11:09 Why an alarm system in Home Assistant would let down ? Does it break? Is not reliable?
Honestly...Aqara is great, as is Shelly as is Switchbot and also Homematic IP...but at the end of the day, none of them makes everything, so, Home Assistant, while it does require attention and tends to break things with Updates (though some of the issues are down to manufacturers changing the API or blocking it) it is the only system I know that can (relatively) reliably connect everything and make it work together.
A Vaillant Heat Pump, Homematic underfloor heating controller, Huawei Solar system, Tibber electricity, a Tesla, some Switchbot stuff, Hue, Govee and other lamps? Ikea switches and so on and so forth...Home Assistant links it all up easily.
Is it really automation if you aren't constantly making manual adjustments and tweaks?
would love to see how to get an LG tv to work with Alexa. preferably without HA. thanks
Nah I'm with you. Aqara are scarily good. I've done the same thing as you and now balance just 2 hubs.
Congrats on the new home! Looks amazing and starting your smart home from (almost) scratch must be fun!
How did you connect the fp2 sensors to get them powered on those places? With some additional wire or converter?
Great video, thank you. I'm heavily invested in zwave, but he ocntroller I use by vera, albeit good, seems to be on the decline. What do you suggest so I do not loose my zwave investment (10 baseboard thermostats, door locks and a bunch of light switches and sensors)? Home assistant?(probably not).
I got some GU10 Wifi light bulbs and they are rubbish. They wont connect to the router that is under 6M away.
Will try out the Ajax
Very cool! Did you set up all the lighting automation triggered with Aqara through the Alexa app?
Few of you Smart Home youtubers (mostly you Paul, Lewis is just perv) convinced me to stick with Aqara, now i'm renovating my flat from zero (wasn't used for a while) and all I got for the start are only aqara switches, M2 hub, radiator thermostats and some smaller things like aqara smart button. So hyped to put it together and run homeassistant on my rpi4, would probably stick only with aqara but there isn't any option for smart door lock than Yale Linus when it comes to flats. love your vids, great job
Good advice Paul. Aqara makes very good stuff, and the écosystem is nice for starters.
I've got plugs, switches and motion sensors to trigger lights everywhere in my place (like yours) and it is very reliable. It also works great with HA. I wanted to use it for my automations BUT... As it can't control my covers, radiators, energy sensors, presence sensors, media players, i would say HA is still needed if you want to make some advanced stuff.
I have already installed an appartment and a house with HA + Aqara stuff, and it's fine : low maintenance needed.
I think you start getting problems with HA when you put too many brands/écosystems in it and/or try to do too complicated things.
I love Aqara! They just work!
Thanks! I picked up two, and I know I'm going to immediately regret it (not buying more!)
Based on your previous recommendation, I'm buying Aqara whenever i have a choice. The FP1 seems handy for lights but having lights flash off and on as I move around a space would drive me nuts. I use HA to keep lights on for 2- to 3-minutes in corridors and 5 or so minutes in busy areas like the kitchen. How are you getting on with your implementation now the novelty has worn off?
I have no trouble with my HA Setup since I run it in a VM on my Synology Nas. But I get where you are coming from, I was there before I had my current setup :)
So, currently, I am using Aqara and HA in tandem too. All devices are present in both systems and through HA I am exposing certain devices to HomeKit because I use it as a sleeker UI interface an my iPhone.
Automations get made in HA since it is my HUB for all the devices from different manufacturers.
And the Voice assistant of choice is Alexa, since I am heavily invested in Echo Dots.
Very similar setup to how I will probably end up. Once I inevitably add more smart home gear from other manufacturers home assistant will be an unfortunate necessity.
I have a similar setup to yours, but, since I upgraded to the m2 hub, I can't connect the bulk of my ZigBee stuff, it's super annoying!
How do I setup Aqara and Home Assistant to work together - as I have 20+ ZigBee bulbs and 10 ZigBee sockets that no longer are smart thanks to my new m2 hub...
How do I fix this? Or do I need to scrap Aquara, and go back Lidl's hub?
Yep, got the exact same Aqara live and remote switches, works perfectly with HOMEKIT - no need for HA
Philips Xtra? Looks like we have the same TV. I'm devastated that it has no Hue Sync integration, not that it would bother you.
Doesn’t all the aqara stuff work in smartthings natively? Might be a good way to get the missing bits integrated into one system.
Another great video ! However the reliance on Amazon Alexa is a frustration for me. I do use Alexa around the house just for music and a couple of routines. But mainly I use a cheap zigbee hub for everything to work locally. I have no neutral light switches and motion sensors (all zigbee) and zigbee current sensing plugs to activate routines. Been in place for 2 years and all works well even without the internet. Aqara is great - I have the curtain motors and a few sensors to ensure the little one closes the fridge properly 😂
Hi Paul
I dont think you are far wrong, I am a big fan of Home assistant, but I find it infuriating when I do an update and a load of my stuff stops working. The reason I watch your vids(apart from the comedy value) is that you are like me nerdy but not quite as nerdy as the the home assistant nerds, and the fact that you do test lots of nerdy stuff that can work alongside HA. I am similar I use the Tuya smart life and the Ewelink apps along with home assistant for the more technical automations. I havent gone down the Aquara rout as I dont want a fourth app I already struggle to work out which app is controlling what thing in HA if I had another it would muddy the waters more.😉
I sold Aqara, Xiaomi, Others and went Tuya after struggling as early adaptor of the Chinese region locking that existed in them. I know Aqara have corrected this but I find their products seriously overpriced. I sample the devices (in the thousands), find the one device I need more 4 of and go with it. Contrary to opinion (those who do not realise it or even want to know the facts), Tuya has EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING. From Powerful split ACs to Robotic Mowers to Smart Watches to Presence Sensors, to POE based Cams to Temperature sensors for boilers to displays, to IR RF, to Matter capable Zigbee 3 Hubs and more. I means thousands. And there are more reasons: Tuya also has our countries compliant electrical embedded as well. You goto your electrical light fittings store, you can goto to your electricity component department and BUY off the shelf electrical certified Tuya ECO system devices for your country. Okay I can really think nothing that is already in this eco system. And they are snap away from being integrated into HA.
I personally love Homeassistant for the logging. I havent seen others like Apple, Alexa, and Google do things like that with their systems. Hell if apple went and sold a home cloud like they used to that enables the feature or enables it for apple icloud users id probably convert now!
Hey, it's your house, you can pick any Smarthome platform you like. I just hope you don't forget about home assistant compatibility, coz a lot of your viewers rely on HA as their main hub.
Don’t worry, the very next video I started working on after this one I was like “dammit, this will work really well in home assistant” 🤣
I don't understand why your home assistant keeps breaking. I'm going on 5 years now with it and am largely hands off. I do absolutely love all my Aqara products, but I love the ability to have HA do even more with them than simple IFTT scenarios, like IFTT with way more than a few conditions attached. For example, when I am watching a movie, there is NO way I want my lights to suddenly come on simply because my CAT decided to enter the room! But I love my setup. I've spent the time to build it, and now, it's generally flawless, and I'm pretty much hands off now. Not sure why the push to never use it again, but I feel the combo of HA + Aqara is a solid platform. For a non-techie, sure! Get the Aqara brains, just know that it's about as smart as Amazon's smart home setup using only Alexa, though Aqara being local is still better!
At the end of the day, there are now lots of choices, so use the best one for *your* home.
Good video, and I think more people should see it! 😁👍
The new place looks great!
I like the way... IT JUST WORRRRRRRKS!
I'd love to do that to my house, ya know, the overkill of tech... I haven't the energy or the $$.
Older homes are fun to rewire, aren't they?!
I regret changing all the light switches in a holiday let to aqara. If the cleaner, or anyone long presses a switch they go into pairing mode indefinitely and you have to visit the property to repair. Could they not program them to automatically revert back to the network they were previously part of!? Also zigbee is flaky, if I were to do again rather have wifi and modules behind regular switches or in ceiling behind lights.
I think you’re right that they ought to default back after a period of time, I’m surprised to hear they don’t do this. I don’t understand why a cleaner would be long pressing your light switches though. That’s just weird.
As for Zigbee being flakey it’s working all over my house right this second, each light switch is a mesh point, so I’m confused as to why you’re struggling. 🤷🏻♂️
@@paulhibbert wiping the switch is long enough to reset and then maintenance think they're trackpads and they reset them too. People leaning against them etc. Either revert back to the network they're on or 15 rapid presses or something.
The no neutral aqara wall switches do not act as routers and thus the mesh is weak, something else i didn't know when i bought them.
@@Paul_Munro 😮 wonder how I’m getting away with it! I still only use the one camera and it must be single handed covering the whole house then!
Yep I so luv Aqara also. Australia here. Got a few Aqara things.
Congratulations on your new place! I’m going through very similar pains getting rid of bl**dy dimmer switches and other insane wiring!
This was a seriously stressful week. I had window fitters in too whilst trying to make this video and the electrician was like “you want me to do what?!” 🤣
@@paulhibbert 😱🤣😆😍
Can confirm that Home Assistant configs can get messed up. Mine recently got into a horrible state with the december update. I ended up just reinstalling from scratch and ignoring backups. I've ditched as much tuya stuff as I could, moving to Zigbee.
I have some Tuya plug sockets that I REALLY love, but HA hates them 😂
Yes that's because Tuya have made it that way with their horribly complicated developer approach to making things work in HA.
Tuya is very clunky, no doubt, but keep an eye on things as lot's is happening in the background with the merging of tuya cloud cutting and esphome.
I've had the same problem. Went to a multiple backup system, normal backup, system image and config files so I've always got an alternate to backup from. I have a huge system now and can't imagine starting from scratch.
I only have Tuya stuff that I *dont* want in HA (Namely the plug that restarts my server) so I can access externally if something freezes and not trigger by accident.
I've not had too much issue with the new Tuya Local Control but I try to stay away from it where possible.
The issues with HomeAssistant have gotten miles better once when is in UI integrations. The main issue is that YAML files cant easily be converted when things get changed or depreciated, but the UI stuff can, but it can still be massively frustrating.
Good video as always 2 weeks ago i was decorating and clipping my fiber optical cable killing my Internet, turning my smart home dumb it was the longest 5 days of my life until it got repaired nightmare .
Oh man 😬
Actually having a "smart home guy" steering people away from home assistant is quite refreshing!,
do you do any network segmentation between your smart home systems, your home life kit (personal laptops, phones ets) and your work life/production equipment?
Congratulations on the new home!
I have an amplifi hd router that is capable of that stuff, but I’ve never been overly worried about it. I do love home assistant and will never fully quit it, you’ll see that at the end of the video 😉
@@paulhibbert Time to start playing with the VLAN settings and go down that rabbit hole especially for the camera network :)
I wish there was Aquara outdoor motion sensor.
Too late for me im already heavily invested in the little orange boxes.
I had a hubitat c5 but that thing has a mind if ita own so
Using a sonnoff bridge and amazon routines.
I have a love/hate relationship with Aqara. First, they make things that nobody else does (like my blinds rollers). Second, they look nice. Third, they have multifunction uses that I find very handy. The big downside for me is that they don't follow the zigbee protocal exactly, which means that sometimes they don't do what I want exactly the way I expect. Oh, and their vibration sensor is crap and won't stay connected to their hub even when it's only two feet away. However, I also love Home Assistant, even if it means I'll never have sex again :) So I do love the fact that it works pretty well with HA :)
I'm a big Home Assistant user and their 2023 12.2+ releases broke ZHA (zigbee integration) and all my zigbee devices stop responding a few hours after each reboot (Fixed in 12.4) which was not mentioned in the release notes. The coder mentality of treating issues like this as normal is totally infuriating. Commercial developers don't release unproven code into the wild and neither should HA. Unfortunately there simply isn't an alternative that offers the breath of support or configuration granularity so I'm stuck with it for the time being.
Having just done my annual X-Mas viewing of Die Hard, I really smiled at the your choice of music @ 1:00 ish... 👍👍
Aqara is one of the best product I have no issue at all
Good use of skits, Paul! Usually you tend to overdo them, but this was proper
I love that you're so easily amused. It reminds me of when I wasn't dead inside.
🤣🤣🤣
If I were to buy that box of Aqara goodies you showed near the start of the video, how much would it cost me (assuming I buy from Amazon)?
Hi Paul, what lightbulbs are you using with Aqara? Because I didn't quite get your old video, where in my own mind you misleadingly promised compatibility with Home Assistant for BroadLink lightbulbs and switches (never mind). Now, my Aqara sensors only communicate through Alexa with my lights. Unfortunately, Alexa is even worse than Home Assistant because when she's not working, I can't even fix it. I’m desperate enough to buy non-neutral Aqara switches (sooooo expensive 😳) but I have no idea what lightbulbs 💡 should I have. Please help
“It just wooooooooorrrks!!!” 🤣
Hey, Paul. I've got a bunch of different smart stuff around the house, some of it is Tuya. I've been having issues with the reliability of routines/automation. I'm fairly sure it's because they are executed over the cloud. I was wondering if you knew or could test any of your Tuya compatible Hubs to see if any of them are able to take over the job of the cloud? The setting I'm referring to is in Scenes, then pick an automation, and then go down to more settings, and you'll see "Executed By" -> Cloud. Cheers.
I just installed a home assistant on a pi3. But all the sensor are aquara so mixed feelings?
IMHO I prefer the delay to be less between entering one area from another. IE Walking downstairs to the dining area. I want the new area lights to come on just a second or two sooner. Especially if I were in a hurry. And vice versa.
Good timing. A friend is just getting started with home automation, so I’ll be steering her to this video
I just wish the radiator thermostats would come to the USA. Those would be a game changer for us. We have the manual ones, but having ones like yours would be awesome. I do love Aqara, but it doesn't always work as well as I would like with Alexa.
If you still want to leverage from your non HK accessories Homebridge whilst not as flexible as HA is relatively trouble free. Also I’d recommend Casambi (professional grade accessories) for dimming at the fitting with their tiny CBU-TED as an example. I have lots of them and HB helps to integrate. Also EnOcean switches require no power and no batteries!
Paul... Did I see a philips hue device at 1:48? 😂 (don t worry, got the same as a night light in my kitchen)
Having the light turn off behind me and then switching it on in front of me after a second would drive me nuts.
Can you make the zones overlap, so it turns on when you transition and turn off when you actually left?
Absolutely, it was only programmed this way as a demonstration of the accuracy. It is now set for 10 second delays around the house 😁