Hey everyone, just wanted to share a few things I learned trying to get my Aqara stuff talking nicely with the rest of my smart home. I’m kinda in the “enthusiast but still learning” camp, and let’s just say…it wasn’t all smooth sailing at first.
So I started out with a couple of Aqara motion sensors and a door/window sensor, mainly because they’re super affordable and reliable. BUT—my setup was already mostly Google Home and a bit of Alexa here and there (don’t judge lol), so getting everything to play nice was a bit of a puzzle.
First big win? Home Assistant. If you’re not using it yet and like tinkering, HIGHLY recommend it. I popped in a SkyConnect stick for Zigbee and boom—Aqara sensors integrated directly. No more relying on the Aqara hub for everything, which made it easier to tie functions to other devices that aren’t in the Aqara world.
Another tip: if you’re staying inside Apple’s garden (HomeKit lovers, I see you), Aqara plays REALLY well with it out of the box. Super smooth automation setup there, especially for stuff like turning on the lights when the door opens or setting scenes based on motion.
One hiccup—When I tried linking Aqara sensors to control my Nanoleaf lights over Google Home, there was like a 5-6 sec lag. Solved it by creating the automation through Home Assistant instead. Much snappier.
Curious—has anyone had success integrating Aqara buttons with Philips Hue without noticeable delays? That’s my next experiment.
Happy to hear your setups too. Always picking up new tricks from here!