Can anyone tell me if the Aqara hub is needed with hubitat or can the sensor talk directly to the C8 HE?
This sensor in particular
I think that's model WSDCGQ11LM, which you can search for here and find some reports of. In general, many Aqara devices are picky -- at least older ones needed specific Zigbee routers (sometimes informally called "repeaters") to not drop off your network, were picky about being moved far from their current routers, and had other quirks not typical of standard Zigbee devices. This generation of devices wasn't, by the way, which is probably why Xiaomi/Aqara says you need their hub -- they don't officially support anything else. Unofficially, many people have been able to pair them to other hubs/controllers, including Hubitat, but may have quirks lie the aforementioned ones. (Some of their newer devices are standard or reported to not be problematic; I don't know if this particular model is one, but searching for the specific model you can find if it's not this will probably give you clues.)
Personally, I avoid this kind of device in favor of standard Zigbee (ZHA 1.2 or Zigbee 3.0 -- or Z-Wave or maybe even Matter, probably Matter over Thread, nowadays) devices from reputable manufacturers. But some of these are more expensive, and I understand that can be concern for some people. This particular sensor isn't as absurdly cheap on Amazon as others from them have been in past, which I think was part of the appeal, so my suggestion would be to find something else. Sonoff and ThirdReality have some in the same price range, to name a couple. Neither is going to win a design award (though the newer Sonoff aren't quite as industrial-looking as the previous model...), or there are things like the Zooz ZSE44 if you prefer Z-Wave (Amazon is usually not the cheapest place to buy this brand) .... among lots of other options you can probably find.
Just my opinion, though. I'm sure others will tell you they've made it work, possibly with no cares. ![]()
Good advice. Some people run the older generation of Aqara devices just fine, but it's common for these devices to be picky about repeaters and have problems staying connected to the mesh.
I'm just looking for a temperature sensor that i will be modifying to hard wire a transformer to connect in a outbuilding. The closes Wifi AP will be 10' away the closest zigbee devices would be 30' away. im not locked into Aqura. its jut what came up in my search for zigbee sensors.
my only restrictions are it has to work without internet and without a vendor app or bridge/hub/repeater
.
I think that pretty much any zigbee temp sensor on the hub’s list of compatible devices should work.
ETA: it might depend what’s in between the sensor and the next zigbee device 30’ away though, if you’re unable/unwilling to add a zigbee repeater that’s closer.
I really like aqara motion sensors and had ten of them plus 6-7 aqara temp humidity sensor running at my old house.
I had them running on an old C5 that I have dedicated to aqara only devices on their own zigbee channel.
Zero issues after moving them to their own hub. And I never had issues with the aqara devices loosing connectivity but they would boot other zigbee devices off.
Yes I did bring this C5 and all the aqara devices to my new house (plus I bought some more), but I am nowhere close to setting up motion yet.
Robert gave you some options to consider...
I have used sonoff plugins outlets. Not as dependable as thirdreality.
I tried Sonoff temp/humidity sensors and they are garbage imo.
Thirdreality motions - I had two to play with and I opted to leave them behind.
Good examples of the Aqara "finiky" behavior...needing to be separated, seeming to cause issues for other devices. I run a bunch of Aqara contact sensors and they have been stable overall for a while, but I have had three needing to re-paired over the past year.
Never used any Third Reality or SonOff sensors, so can't comment.
Another option could be to use a cheap Aqara hub like the M100 for $20. Connect the Aqara Zigbee sensor to the M100 and then bring the M100 into HE using matter. I did this for a couple sensors in my backyard that wouldn't stay connected due to a range issue.
I think you should consider purchasing a cheap used Hubitat hub, and pairing that sensor to it and sharing via hubmesh.
I do have good luck for the most part with Aqara devices. I think the key to them working is like others have mentioned is the mix of devices on your hub, and even the amount of Aqara on your hub.
Yes I forgot to explicitly add that part. Thank you.