Integrating Aqara with Home Assistant: A Beginner's Journey

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Hey ,

Share a bit of my noob experience trying to hook up my Aqara gear with Home Assistant. I’m pretty new to this whole smart home thing — just a few devices here and there. Got myself the Aqara M2 hub, some sensors, and thought, “Hey why not give Home Assistant a go?” Spoiler: it was not plug and play.

Biggest hurdle? Figuring out how to get everything talking — the Aqara Zigbee devices didn’t show up at first. I ended up switching to the HomeKit Controller integration instead of trying to go through Mi Home. Total game-changer! Suddenly all my sensors popped up like magic.

What really helped me was using the Home Assistant community forums (shoutout to the legends there), and realizing that not all Aqara devices play nice if you’re using region-locked hubs. Sticking with global firmware made my life so much easier.

Still working on automations — trying to have the lights turn on with motion detection only at night — so if anyone has tips on setting conditionals properly, I’m all ears.

Would love to hear how others got started and which Aqara devices you found most reliable with HA!

Cheers from a fellow tinkerer :smile:

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@GoogleHomeGuru It’s fantastic to hear about your journey with integrating Aqara devices with Home Assistant! Your experience switching to the HomeKit Controller integration is a great tip for newcomers, especially those facing similar challenges. The HomeKit Controller method is indeed a reliable way to connect Aqara products, as it ensures compatibility and smooth discovery of devices.

For setting up automations, particularly for motion detection at night, you might want to explore using conditional triggers in Home Assistant. This can be done by creating an automation that only triggers when certain conditions, like time of day, are met. The Home Assistant community forums are a treasure trove of information, and I’m sure other users would love to share their tips and tricks for optimizing these kinds of setups.

Thank you for sharing your experience, and I’m sure it will inspire others who are on the same path. Keep experimenting and sharing your findings – it’s a great way to learn and help build a supportive community. Cheers to more tinkering! :smile: