Alright folks, just had to share this because I’ve been geeking out over it all weekend — finally got my Aqara motion sensors talking to my Raspberry Pi, and let me tell you, it’s a game changer.
I’m kinda midway between newbie and full-on home automation nerd, and I wanted to see how far I could go with Aqara sensors without buying more hubs. Spoiler: Raspberry Pi is your best friend.
Used Homebridge on my Pi to connect my Aqara sensors through Zigbee2MQTT (using a Zigbee dongle). Set everything up via HomeKit, and now I’ve got lights turning on as I walk into rooms, temperature monitor alerts when it gets too hot, and even a lil’ script that notifies me when someone opens the mailbox. All running smooth and very local.
The real beauty? No cloud delay. It’s super fast. Plus, way more tweakable than if you just stuck with the default apps. Definitely recommend if you’ve got an extra Pi gathering dust.
Anyone else playing around with this setup? Would love to hear other creative automations you’ve pulled off!