[Official] Home Automation Thread

[comcrepe]

Anyone here running home assistance with aqara products? Was setting it up tedious? Am thinking of doing so - just not sure if it is worth the effort

It’s quite simple if you follow the instructions online.
I have aqara switches, Philips hue, ikea tradfri lights and some third party hue compatibility light strips. I tried home assistant out of curiosity on my Synology NAS and it worked well but decided to go with Homebridge on a raspberry pi as I use HomeKit on my iPhone and iPad.

 

[ho_kuku]

It’s quite simple if you follow the instructions online.
I have aqara switches, Philips hue, ikea tradfri lights and some third party hue compatibility light strips. I tried home assistant out of curiosity on my Synology NAS and it worked well but decided to go with Homebridge on a raspberry pi as I use HomeKit on my iPhone and iPad.

Your current setup is similar to mine. Just curious if the home assistance experience will be better than homekit/ homebridge. Guess will stick to homekit and homebridge for now. Thanks

 

[hellvolhardzelinsky]

I bought some lighting with dimmable led from taobao. They have a remote control to control the lights. Same for ceiling fans with lights.

Any way I can use my phone to control the lighting brightness/colors and ceiling fans with lights?

Do I need a special smart switch?

 

[tangle]

Hi,

I recently received a smart things hub as a gift and have no idea what is it for ? Is it like a central hub which I can use an app to control the items connected to it ?
And is it good ?

 

[quarkz]

Hi everyone, I have read some posts here and watch some youtube recommendations from MADS and Alex. I have decided on aqara switches + samsung smartthings for my new house. I checked online and they can be used together. Pls correct me if I'm wrong.

Another thing I would like to add is cctv. I need 4 cctvs - 2 outdoors and 2 indoors. Prev, I was looking at IP camera + NVR, like HIKvision or Dahua. However, now I'm thinking using those smart cameras from xiaomi etc.

So is there recommendations as to which option is better? As the house will be renovated, electrician will be installing them. Wonder if it is necessary to make them all run wired...

Hope someone can help. Thanks.

 

[SgHouseHelp]

Recently i came across Orvibo smart switches which is similar to Aqara. Very interested in the new Aqara S1 digital switch. Anyone has install the S1 in their home?
Wondering if the dimmer and the changing of light colour function can be compatiable with other brands of lights? I saw the demo of Orbivo which they use the function to control magnetic light strips.. thanks

Which Orvibo smart switches are you using? I have an old Orvibo All-in-One hub to replace all the IR remote controls. But they stopped the firmware update/support hence can’t get it to work now

 

[comcrepe]

Hi everyone, I have read some posts here and watch some youtube recommendations from MADS and Alex. I have decided on aqara switches + samsung smartthings for my new house. I checked online and they can be used together. Pls correct me if I'm wrong.

Another thing I would like to add is cctv. I need 4 cctvs - 2 outdoors and 2 indoors. Prev, I was looking at IP camera + NVR, like HIKvision or Dahua. However, now I'm thinking using those smart cameras from xiaomi etc.

So is there recommendations as to which option is better? As the house will be renovated, electrician will be installing them. Wonder if it is necessary to make them all run wired...

Hope someone can help. Thanks.

Actually if you decided on Aqara switches, you can use their hub and ditch the Samsung smartthings. Unless you plan to use other non Aqara devices apart from their switches.

I have Aqara switches and philips hue for my lights. For the bulbs, i have a mixture of philips hue, ikea tradfri and some third party hue compatible light strips i got from aliexpress as philips hue lightstrips are too expensive.

I'm mainly use iphonne and iPad so i have homebridge on a raspberry pi to have everything show up on homekit. you can consider home assistant if you are an android user.

For cameras, I'm eyeballing the Aqara G2 camera. Apparently, they can act as a hub and that might help to expand the zigbee range in your home.

BTW, i think Samsung don't make the smartthings hub anymore. It's now branded as aeotec

 

[storm913]

Actually if you decided on Aqara switches, you can use their hub and ditch the Samsung smartthings. Unless you plan to use other non Aqara devices apart from their switches.

I have Aqara switches and philips hue for my lights. For the bulbs, i have a mixture of philips hue, ikea tradfri and some third party hue compatible light strips i got from aliexpress as philips hue lightstrips are too expensive.

I'm mainly use iphonne and iPad so i have homebridge on a raspberry pi to have everything show up on homekit. you can consider home assistant if you are an android user.

For cameras, I'm eyeballing the Aqara G2 camera. Apparently, they can act as a hub and that might help to expand the zigbee range in your home.

BTW, i think Samsung don't make the smartthings hub anymore. It's now branded as aeotec

Looking to set up automation for my new place soon and looking at aqara products since it's on the more affordable side. Looking to learn how to use home assistant in future.

Any recommendation on smart curtain and smart blinds? Like somfy but it's so expensive.

 

[comcrepe]

Looking to set up automation for my new place soon and looking at aqara products since it's on the more affordable side. Looking to learn how to use home assistant in future.

Any recommendation on smart curtain and smart blinds? Like somfy but it's so expensive.

Sorry man. i have no recommendations for smart curtain or blinds.
i have manual curtains cos it's too expensive and need to have a power point for smart curtains.

The alternative I'm looking at is those battery operated smart curtain bots you can find on aliexpress.
But I read some reviews and some users say they are not powerful enough to fully close the curtain.

Maybe just need to oil the curtain track to make it smoother. But the cost per device is quite cheap so I might just buy one to try.

 

[Evilbear]

Hi everyone, I have read some posts here and watch some youtube recommendations from MADS and Alex. I have decided on aqara switches + samsung smartthings for my new house. I checked online and they can be used together. Pls correct me if I'm wrong.

Another thing I would like to add is cctv. I need 4 cctvs - 2 outdoors and 2 indoors. Prev, I was looking at IP camera + NVR, like HIKvision or Dahua. However, now I'm thinking using those smart cameras from xiaomi etc.

So is there recommendations as to which option is better? As the house will be renovated, electrician will be installing them. Wonder if it is necessary to make them all run wired...

Hope someone can help. Thanks.

I will recommend having them wired if you are already very certain of the placement of these cameras. Benefit of having them wired is of course you don't need to worry about charging the battery and no ugly cables sticking out. But you have to do in such a way that it is easy to replace the cameras should they go down one day. My personal recommendation is tplink for budget and arlo for branded.

 

[Evilbear]

Actually if you decided on Aqara switches, you can use their hub and ditch the Samsung smartthings. Unless you plan to use other non Aqara devices apart from their switches.

I have Aqara switches and philips hue for my lights. For the bulbs, i have a mixture of philips hue, ikea tradfri and some third party hue compatible light strips i got from aliexpress as philips hue lightstrips are too expensive.

I'm mainly use iphonne and iPad so i have homebridge on a raspberry pi to have everything show up on homekit. you can consider home assistant if you are an android user.

For cameras, I'm eyeballing the Aqara G2 camera. Apparently, they can act as a hub and that might help to expand the zigbee range in your home.

BTW, i think Samsung don't make the smartthings hub anymore. It's now branded as aeotec

The purpose of having smartThings hub is the same concept of using a raspberry pi to have your devices all on homekit. Same applies for other hub-based solutions like hubitat, homey, home-assistant. If you don't need your aqara devices to communicate with other brands of devices then having the aqara hub is good enough. But today aqara hubs come in various forms as well, now they have with camera, IR, night light, USB.

Oh and you can consider home assistant even if you are an iPhone user, it's not just for android.

On Aeotec, they basically OEM smartThings hub, software is still the same. My guess for samsung to get aeotec to OEM is mainly to resolve logistics and getting all the necessary iso certification in the US and EMEA region. Our local distributed smartThings hub is via the company call samjin, which is a korean company.

 

[Jordan]

Hi Alex, would like to ask you about Aqara hub. I am currently using M2 hub global version, and successfully paired all the switches on Aqara app under "Others" server. Problem arises when I tried to connect Alexa as my voice assistant. All my 3 gang switches can't seem to be added.

Was really toying with the idea of having another Aqara hub m1s to control the 3 gang switches, which hopefully will get discovered by Alexa voice assistant.

Just to check, which hub are you using for your home? And connected to which server?

Thanks so much!


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[Evilbear]

Hi Alex, would like to ask you about Aqara hub. I am currently using M2 hub global version, and successfully paired all the switches on Aqara app under "Others" server. Problem arises when I tried to connect Alexa as my voice assistant. All my 3 gang switches can't seem to be added.

Was really toying with the idea of having another Aqara hub m1s to control the 3 gang switches, which hopefully will get discovered by Alexa voice assistant.

Just to check, which hub are you using for your home? And connected to which server?

Thanks so much!


Read HWZ Forum Rules!

You mean other aqara devices are alright except for the 3gang switches?

I am using the SmartThings hub for my aqara switches, but I do use the M2 as IR blaster and to connect the E1 smart blinds via Europe server.

 

[Jordan]

Thanks for your reply. How do you connect Aqara switches under Smartthings? I can't find it under the brand name. There is no Aqara in their supported brands in switches.


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[quarkz]

Actually if you decided on Aqara switches, you can use their hub and ditch the Samsung smartthings. Unless you plan to use other non Aqara devices apart from their switches.

I have Aqara switches and philips hue for my lights. For the bulbs, i have a mixture of philips hue, ikea tradfri and some third party hue compatible light strips i got from aliexpress as philips hue lightstrips are too expensive.

I'm mainly use iphonne and iPad so i have homebridge on a raspberry pi to have everything show up on homekit. you can consider home assistant if you are an android user.

For cameras, I'm eyeballing the Aqara G2 camera. Apparently, they can act as a hub and that might help to expand the zigbee range in your home.

BTW, i think Samsung don't make the smartthings hub anymore. It's now branded as aeotec

Thanks . The camera sounds like a good suggestion. Well, i didn't know smartthings has changed.

 

[jimm99]

I have an additional 2 gang switch and would like to install it at the outlet by the main door that turns on only 1 light.

Can I configure the spare un-used switch in the 2 gang to activate automations such as turn off all lights at home?
How should I go about wiring this switch to work without controlling a light?

TIA

 

[comcrepe]

I have an additional 2 gang switch and would like to install it at the outlet by the main door that turns on only 1 light.

Can I configure the spare un-used switch in the 2 gang to activate automations such as turn off all lights at home?
How should I go about wiring this switch to work without controlling a light?

TIA

i guess you can do it but it depends on what switch you have. i have the same scenario as you and I use aqara switches. i used the spare switch (1 out of 3) to act as a master switch to turn off all the living room lights. I programmed it in the aqara app to make it work. i use homekit and I think it's possible to do it in homekit too but I've not tried it yet.

 

[120602]

Anyone tried linking smart life into mihome? I tried adding as a 3rd party apps but when I try to sign in, they keep prompting that my smartlife account does not exist.

 

[jimm99]

i guess you can do it but it depends on what switch you have. i have the same scenario as you and I use aqara switches. i used the spare switch (1 out of 3) to act as a master switch to turn off all the living room lights. I programmed it in the aqara app to make it work. i use homekit and I think it's possible to do it in homekit too but I've not tried it yet.

I’m using aqara d1 switches. Any idea where can I find resources on how to wire it?

 

[bean9]

If I want to program light dimming, or slow on/off via HomeKit, can a normal smart switch with neutral like Aqara Smart Wall Switch workable? What other solution are there for such purpose?