So I recently jumped into the smart home game—not totally new, but still figuring stuff out. I started playing around with the Aqara Motion Sensor (the P1 model) to make life easier at night, and holy crap, it’s been a game changer.
At first, I just had it turning the hallway lights on when movement was detected. Cool, but meh, pretty basic. Then I realized I was totally underusing it.
Here’s where it got interesting: I set it to only activate between 10pm and 6am, dim the lights to like 20%, and only in certain areas. So if I get up to grab water or whatever, no blinding lights—just a soft glow guiding the way. I also linked it with my bedroom door sensor so if I open the door during night hours, the motion sensor skip-checks, making it even smoother.
Using HomeKit + Aqara hub made these automations super easy to build, and I was surprised by how reliable it is. Also learned that sensitivity levels matter a lot—had to tweak that a bit because it kept turning on even when the cat passed through. Pro tip: set low sensitivity or carve out zones if your setup supports it.
Curious if others have done cool things with theirs? Any tricks you’ve found that take the night-time automation to the next level?
Let’s swap ideas! This little sensor’s got big potential.