Since I have a variety of smart devices in my home and want to track power usage and set up automations, I prefer managing everything through Home Assistant. I started with HA deployed in Docker on my DS918 NAS, and eventually switched to a Home Assistant OS VM (mostly for Supervisor access). Unlike Xiaomi devices with MIoT, Aqara integration is a bit more involved—but there are several ways to get it working together.
Using Matter
This is the most stable method. For Aqara devices that support Matter, you can set up a Matter server in HA, bind it, and add devices via Matter natively. If a gateway supports Matter, you can also use it as a Matter bridge—depending on whether Lumi (Aqara) has enabled Matter on that gateway. Limitations include:
· Some Aqara sub-devices aren’t Matter-compatible yet.
· Gateways that double as smart hubs (like the Air Conditioning Companion P3 or the G3 camera) aren’t fully integrated via Matter yet.
HomeKit Integration
This method is super straightforward: pair the device with HomeKit first, then unpair it. HA will then detect the device under its HomeKit controller. After adding it, you can even re-export it back to HomeKit via HA’s HomeKit Bridge if needed. I used this to integrate my S1E with HA.
I haven’t tried this myself, but it’s another option: get a separate Zigbee gateway and use the Zigbee2MQTT addon in HA. It does require extra hardware and community feedback suggests there might be some compatibility quirks. If anyone’s tried this approach, I’d love to hear your experience!
edit just reminded me screen shot of this, I forgot to change battery in the back bedroom door sensor and motion when I done the others (60% of these were very low about 3 to 4% yesterday, but had done well at 18 months or so.
Sorry about late reply was camping for a few days, I use a combee 2 stick as its been the most repliable for me, in total I have 64 devices connected through zigbee2mqtt.
The setup was easy as I run Homeassistant OS, so a case of just ticking advance user to enable the addon menu, then zigbee2mqtt there, the instruction and setting config our pretty straight forward you start it and then start adding devices.
I add all the mains powered devices in each room first so that i can use the pull down list to add the battery devices to that router (closes one to the battery device).
Sounds like you had a great time camping, always nice to disconnect for a bit!
THX for sharing your setup. 64 devices is really impressive, and it’s good to hear that the ConBee has been solid for you. I’ve heard it’s very affordable too, which makes it tempting.
I’m curious though — do you find any feature limitations when using Zigbee2MQTT with the ConBee stick? I’ve read that some Aqara devices (especially lights) use proprietary Zigbee extensions, like special lighting modes or effects. Have you run into any issues with missing features or things not working quite as expected?
For now, I haven’t tried zigbee2mqtt myself, since my current devices are already working fine through three different integration methods. But I’m always interested in hearing about other people’s setups — yours sounds very well-structured!
I only have hue bulbs in my home, although all living room ones are connected by hue hub due to me having a hue sync box and strips on tv, the rest are connected via zigbee2mqtt as they act like no other bulb when it comes to being zigbee router/repeaters. the 2 aqara lights I do have ar connected to office and shared via aqara app then some wizadry to home assistant. Some not so smart devices (not aqara) are connected to amazon then a input button or switch is created in home assistant and then added to alexa so that switch can control a routine.
I would like to see that in the future with aqara 2 way with alexa so these switches can be imported into the aqara system or even 2 way with home assistant, although the software might have a crap out with my setup.
As far as I know, Aqara is trying to support third-party devices, mainly through Matter integration. In my setup, I don’t really use smart bulbs—instead, I use smart switches to control older lights. The main automation scene is in my master bedroom, where I’ve linked Aqara curtains, my projector, and a smart bed (not made by Aqara) through HA. I also have a baby monitor in the babyroom, but since Aqara currently doesn’t offer much in terms of baby-focused smart detection algorithms, I’m thinking of streaming the feed into HA and using other software for more advanced control.
Aqara are doing great things, they will get their one day, I reccomend them to anyone I would not want to try homeassistant (people not tech savvy enough for it). but I also recommend their devices for home assistant users.
Yeah, I totally agree.Home Assistant is still the best cross-platform smart home hub out there. I can import devices from any ecosystem and export them to any platform. Just for that flexibility alone, there’s no way I could ever give it up.
