Annoyed by Philips Hue and Aqara Sensors

Kawaii on 27/07/2022 - 20:49

I didn’t know or still don’t know how this works

My Philips hue bridge is definitely a Zigbee compatible device.

And I want to keep hubs minimal.

When it comes to Aqara sensors, I need to use Aqara hub to connect those sensors to my Home App.

Why????????

Aren’t they universal???

Then I searched and found out people use conbee ii for connecting zigbeee devices

My question is, can I disconnect conbee ii once the Aqara sensors are shown on my Home App (iPhone)?

Or how do I reduce the hubs to one?
I ONLY want to use the Philips one but it doesn’t support Aqara

Electrical & Electronics Philips

Comments

  • iamherenow on 27/07/2022 - 21:07
    +1

    I ONLY want to use the Philips one but it doesn’t support Aqara

    Then you have a problem.

    My question is, can I disconnect conbee ii once the Aqara sensors are shown on my Home App (iPhone)?

    No.

    Or how do I reduce the hubs to one?

    Use something that is compatible with all devices.

    • Kawaii on 27/07/2022 - 21:13
      +1

      Any recommendations? I’d like some device that has Ethernet port so I can control outside home faster

      • iamherenow on 27/07/2022 - 21:19
        +1

        I don't have an iphone, so not sure on that side.

        I have conbee stick with home assistant. That would control both. But setup isn't straightforward.

        • Kawaii on 27/07/2022 - 21:22

          What is a ‘home assistant’ any specific brand?

          • paulhaddon on 27/07/2022 - 21:56
            +2

            @Kawaii: https://www.home-assistant.io/ is software that runs on small Raspberry PI computer boards, or any kind of regular PC, that is a Home Automation platform.

            Give it a Zigbee dongle like the Conbee Stick and it can control almost all Zigbee devices natively. It will also do the same for a lot of Z-Wave devices.
            And it has 100s of integrations to cloud-based wifi devices so it can be a central control for those as well.

            Definitely not as easy as an iPhone App, but it gives the opportunity to control almost all of your smart devices without being dependant on proprietary cloud systems.

  • M8y on 27/07/2022 - 21:22
    +2

    Whilst Philips Hue uses the Zigbee protocol for communication, Philips Hue is a largely closed platform - think of it as the Apple of home automation - which by the way also supports Zigbee.

    If you want to use non-Philips Hue devices, then you are going to need a supporting platform such as Home Assistant or SmartThings that will aggregate all of your Zigbee devices for central management and control.

    Lots of info out there on the internet, you just need to invest the time to research it.

    For mine, I started with SmartThings (which supports Xiaomi/Aqara to a certain extent), added Philips Hue, and it has been 'okay' for the past two years+. I recently bought a Pi to take the plunge into Home Assistant in order to try to move away from the more proprietary systems like Philips Hue, SmartThings, et al. Haven't gone head-on into it yet, but the start seems sound so far, but a lot of time and effort to get everything working "just right"

    • narbe on 28/07/2022 - 08:21

      Would you suggest Home Assistant for people who don't want to tinker too much?

      From youtube reviews it seems HA has the best customization as its flexible due to coding. But for the average joe how little effort can be used to get simple automations happening?

      I have played with xiaomi hub before and the server time delay for lights was annoying. However the local physical switches for zigbee were instant. Does Philips or Smartthings have much lag?

      • DreadPirateRoberts on 28/07/2022 - 09:47

        HA definitely needs a lot of tinkering. People will tell you "no, it's cool just use the UI" which is okay for some things. But as soon as you get into slightly more complicated tasks you need to get into the code (i.e I can't do "while the motion detector detects someone, leave the light on" through the UI)

        • eug on 28/07/2022 - 21:49

          (i.e I can't do "while the motion detector detects someone, leave the light on" through the UI)

          Hmm, can't you turn the light on when the sensor detects motion, then wait for a trigger set to '… stopped detecting motion' and turn the lights off?

      • iamherenow on 28/07/2022 - 10:34
        +1

        No. It takes a good while to get it setup.

        It has cool functionality, but you need to work for it.

  • sini180 on 27/07/2022 - 21:40

    If you have a Conbee II you must be using something aftermarket? Home Assistant?

    I have Philips Hue, Aqara, Wyze, Tuya, whatever the hell and no issues. It just works. But you need to do some DIY and Googling to make things work sometimes.

    RPi with Home Assistant really is the go. But it isn't "plug and play".

  • singingwolf on 27/07/2022 - 22:51

    I have connected some zigbee non Philips items to my hub. It's a pain in the butt and you end up with a crap experience and the items never get firmware updates.

    Better off waiting for the hue item you want to go down and get Philips stuff. You'll be much happier, trust me…

  • EnergicAU on 28/07/2022 - 03:34

    I use Samsung smartthings hub for all my non hue stuff. They also speak to hue very well too. So I can get a sonoff motion sensor and turn on hue lights as well as tuya branded lights in one system. Interface is a lot better and easier than the home assistant route but more expensive

  • KeplersLaws on 28/07/2022 - 09:43

    my understanding is zigbee devices are generally closed - aqara works with aqara hub only, hue with hue hub only, mijia with mi home hub only.

    what you need to do is get the hubs to talk to each other ("bridge" them)- and this is done either as previously mentioned manually by going through the motions of setting up Home Assistant, or, alternatively both aqara and hue automatically work with (are 'exposed to' a.k.a. they can be controlled in) Apple Homekit and its Home app, so if you use an apple device (and have a homepod mini or AppleTV4K), that will serve as the bridge.

    currently, the best approach for home IoT enthusiasts is to tend toward purchasing devices that are in one ecosystem (e.g. aqara roller blinds, sensors, buttons). you get your money's worth back for the hub initial outlay. this may improve in future as the three big smart companies integrate the Matter protocol, but that's a can of worms (or candy) for another day.

  • trankillity on 28/07/2022 - 10:42

    If you want something that is relatively easy to use, but can use a variety of different Zigbee devices, Amazon Echo is probably your best bet. It will support Hue and Aqara on the same hub. However, I don't know how robust the interface/automations are on it, and you will lose the benefits of Hue's app and automations.

    I run Home Assistant using a Conbee II, but I also still run Hue for my lights due to some of the extra features it allows (Hue Sync on my PC for one). It's not really a problem running multiple hubs, provided you can ensure there's not too many overlapping network bands.

  • lint on 28/07/2022 - 11:27

    Even if you set up Home Assistant with Conbee, you will still want to have your Hue lights paired with the Hue Bridge to use features like Entertainment Area, Play Sync, etc so you might have no choice but to have a second hub if those features are important to you.

    If you haven't bought the Aqara motion sensors yet maybe wait for Thread to become widespread and then buy a Thread-supported motion sensor. They should be able to connect directly to your HomeKit hub provided you're using a recent one with Thread support (Apple TV 4K 5th gen or HomePod mini).

    • Kawaii on 28/07/2022 - 12:19

      Where can I buy thread motion sensor

      • EnergicAU on 28/07/2022 - 15:45

        Don't think there are many out yet. Older motion sensors might be upgraded via software to work with thread but I may be wrong

        • lint on 29/07/2022 - 10:43

          Eve's 2nd gen motion sensor is possibly the first one:
          https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/21/23271631/eve-motion-senso…

          Eve's smart home stuff tend on be on the pricey end though so you might even consider just getting the Hue one. Or if you're after something a bit more budget conscious, your only options are to get the Aqara and a hub or wait quite a while for cheaper options.

          I believe both Hue and that Eve motion sensor can take ambient light readings, not sure if any of the cheaper options have that feature.

  • jaydisc on 29/07/2022 - 08:55

    Hubitat and Homey are devices that purport to handle devices from lots of manufacturers. Or you can build your own using a Conbee II as many people have said.

    Home Assistant is likely the most powerful, but when used properly, it relegates Home.app to just being a kind of dumb client.

    Homebridge is another option, and it's HomeKit/Apple specific. There's an official Homebridge Raspbian operating system which includes not only an easy-to-manage Homebridge, but also an integrated install of deCONZ. deCONZ is made by the same people that make the Conbee II and will connect lots of Zigbee devices all the way into Home.app via Homebridge.

    Any of those Conbee solutions can be run via a virtual machine on a desktop/laptop, or on a Raspberry Pi. I used to do the former, than bought the latter (and connect it via ethernet) and it's worked really well for me.

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