Hi folks!
I’m an Apple Home, and I got a simple E1 hub for what was my first Aqara product, the T1 mini switch (adore this). Since, I have gotten an M3 hub to automate or electric fireplace by IR blast.
Do I still need both hubs? Granted the E1 is on the top floor and the M3 is in the basement, but it seems a little superfluous.
Thanks!
It depends. You probably need only one hub and a strong Zigbee network, but without any devices with neutral (like smart plugs) between the basement and the top floor, the signal will be too weak.
The Zigbee network is automatically extended by any device with connected neutral wire. This includes lightbulbs, smart plugs, smart switches (with neutral) or relays (with neutral).
So if you have any devices with neutral between - you only need one hub. But if you don’t - you need the second hub. You can try pairing the button with the M3 and check in the app if the signal strength is ok.
On interesting! My other devices that are prominent are (with neutral) Meross switches and plugs, but they are all wifi/HomeKit/Matter, and not, to my knowledge Zigbee, so I’m pretty sure that’s not what you mean haha.
But yeah, I guess the signal strength is the key consideration, and trying is probably the only way to find out.
Thanks so much for the reply!
I believe Matter (over Thread) also works in a similar way, I just assumed it was Zigbee for some reason.
Matter over WiFi just uses your WiFi network so as long as you have the WiFi signal, it should work