Am I correct in assuming that certification means that they will generally operate “normally”? I’ve tried the non-standard Aqara Humidity sensors which were flaky enough on their own, but kept binding to one of my SmartThings plugs, taking them completely offline.
Given that they’re not on Amazon yet, and I’ve only seen these for sale on Chinese sites (might take my chances with eBay), I suppose not many have been able to try these yet, but wanted to open the discussion, if only to make sure my expectations are accurate.
Hopefully the new Tuya devices being ZigBee 3.0 certified means they won’t follow in the footsteps of all the Xioami / Aqara devices’ troubles. But since these seem to have a requirement of use with the Tuya gateway/hub, I’d guess it’s not 100% guaranteed that they will work when used with other hubs.
I’m particularly interested in the ambient light level sensor in this thing. All I’ve read are some horror stories about Xioami/Aqara devices, but nothing specifically about this one. Any guidance/info would be appreciated!
They look the same as the zigbee 3.0 Lumi/Aqara/Xiaomi devices. So I’m assuming they are a white label version of those. None of them are on sale yet I believe. Aqara calls them the T1 version.
I have a few of them. They’re well made devices and work well, but have the same issues as all Xiaomi/Aqara devices when it comes to repeaters. If you have any incompatible zigbee repeaters on your network I would advise against any Xiaomi/Aqara devices. If not, and you understand that you can’t add any incompatible repeaters to your network without causing these to drop off, then they’re all pretty good devices IME.
Should also be noted that these particular sensors have a default cool down/blind period of 120 seconds, and without hacking that can only be reduced to 60 seconds.
Mine too, but I had to change that in the settings, and it can’t be set to less than 60 seconds. The factory default is 120 seconds (after the initial couple hours after pairing when it’s only a few seconds).
I meant incompatible with the Xiaomi/Aqara devices, not with SmartThings. Unfortunately I don’t think the GE/ST/Iris zigbee switches and plugs are compatible. There are only a couple zigbee repeaters that are compatible, the Ikea Tradfri devices being one of the more popular compatible options.
I think we’re confusing the current Xiaomi sensors vs the zigbee 3.0 ones. The current ones only work with limited repeaters, like Ikea plugs, due to their non-standard zigbee profile. The incoming zigbee 3.0 ones should work with all HA1.2 and 3.0 zigbee devices.
Yes, the ones John linked that I was responding about are the current/old ones which I have. I haven’t been able to find any of the new T1 zigbee 3.0 sensors for sale from any reputable sellers yet, so I’m not sure anyone’s had a chance to test them yet.
In addition to what @MinerJason explained, I want to add that the Aqara Motion Sensor only sends light sensor reports when motion is detected, and not when the light level changes. Also, it sends the lux value report some milliseconds before the “motion detected” message.
So the light level sensor aspect is somewhat limited in it’s functionality.
This is a very good point that I should have included.
In my experience it will actually send lux value reports on changes to lux during the 2 min period after motion is detected, and even further out if there are frequent and continued changes to lux (at least 1 lux change once every minute). I have a “sunrise” lighting automation in a room with an Aqara motion sensor, and get lux value reports once a minute for ~5-6 minutes after a motion event when that automation is running.
For all practical purposes though, it really only can be counted on for lux reports when it detects motion.
Well that’s pretty much useless for my use case then, unless I add more of these, which I don’t want to do (or will do). Thanks for letting me know and for saving me the headaches before buying one.
Xiaomi recently released a zigbee light sensor that’s supposedly zigbee 3.0. I don’t think anyone’s written a device handler for it yet though. Might be worth looking into if it’s just lux values you’re after.
Just ordered one to try and see how well it works. I can put together a DTH if need be, which I assume I’ll need to, but I’m up for another small project.