Xiaomi & Aqara Devices - Pairing & Keeping them connected

Use the tradfri-test drivers firmware archive. You can do this by adding the line "ikea_ota_use_test_url: true" under the "advanced:" section.

EDIT: Also, I'm an idiot and put the wrong date in there. The release date was 2021-02-01, so it has only been out about a month!

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Cool - thanks!

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Hi all, I bought three Xiaomi Aqara Smart Wall Switch H1 (no neutral) with double rockers, but i can't seem to find a working driver. Has anyone been successful with this type of switch? I would be grateful for any tips.

I have Sylvania SMART+ Plug 72922 whitout "A" with 2 Xiaomi bottons 1 work perfect but the other disconnects a lot. both in different places, but I invert the places and is the same result, the one that fail, still fail :frowning:

@jgrement welcome to Hubitat community.

Some Zigbee device, like the Aqara, can be very sticky to its current route. Inverting the location may not change their route. Since one of the device connect through "potentially" an incompatible router device, that said device experience drop out regardless the location.

BTW, dropping Xiaomi device is probably one of the most known issue here. There are a lot of information in this thread. In summary, the most likely cause is due to routing to an incompatible Zigbee router especially if you have the device run stable for a few hours and followed by dropping off.

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Xiaomi/Aqara devices are inexpensive, but I am afraid they are no bargain. If you can get them to work. wonderful! If they don't, you are stuck.

I have been using these things for years and have had many frustrations dropping.
I have learned that you can't just rediscover them as they will eventually drop off as they don't reroute.
My problems are gone now as I always delete and re-add the device and use Ikea outlet repeaters within 5-8 meters.

I have also installed Ikea Outlets/repeaters in my house for these. I am getting an Xbee to map out my Zigbee network so I am wondering if I still need to have the Ikea repeaters in place as Xbee can also be used as a repeater and I have read is better at it than Ikea repeaters.

An XBee is a great tool for analyzing your network. I do not have one, but might get one some day. Fortunately, my Zigbee network is quite stable. (I wish I could say that about my Z-wave network.) Since the XBee devices are modular rather than a self contained device, you will probably still need some type of self-contained repeaters.

I do not have Tradfri devices, so I cannot confirm this, but I have heard that the devices work better as repeaters if nothing else is plugged into them. If you use them to charge your cell phone, for example, the repeater function is lessened. I guess it may have something to do with all the electronics crammed into such as small space.

Can you elaborate on this as I didn't understand what you mean.

Most of the devices we use for home automation are self-contained. For example a motion sensor has a sensor module, a radio module, and a power module such as a battery. Everything comes together in a neat package.

The XBee devices I have seen are simply a Zigbee radio module that has to be connected to other modules to make a functioning system. Some XBee modules come with an antenna, others require connecting an antenna to an SMA jack. There may be an XBee self contained device, but I have not seen one.

Anyone wondering about how many devices Ikea repeaters can route, look at this.

Looks like this is more than anyone else has reported before. I am replacing them with Xbee3s though for better signal strength.

Here is the comparison
image

image

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I'm venturing back into Xiaomi-Aqara-on-Hubitat land again. Why! Why am I doing this again? :sweat_smile:

I'm going to assume everybody's interested. Rant to follow.

So, IMHO the Aqara devices are still some of the most attractive, affordable, well-built and (in the case of the wall switches) easy to retrofit products for UK households. Sadly I am now entering at least year four of actually getting them working well enough. I've tried them on a few platforms including their native hubs, but there are such compromises on all fronts I'm back here with Hubitat again.

About a year ago the Aqara M2 hub became available in the UK with HomeKit support and I thought my dreams had come true. Ethernet! HomeKit! Homebridge! Hubitat!

The dream is dead.

First, HomeKit automations are a disaster. I have an always-on Apple TV, on ethernet as the "Home Hub" controller. Some days automations just don't work. I've tried iPads as backups, an extra Apple TV, still the best I get is about 85% reliable. This means I can't do two or three-way lighting control. Fail.

Why not automate through the M2 hub? Well, because I didn't really want to sign up and have it hooked up to an Aqara account all the time, but I had to succumb and it runs those automations locally, so that's great. But in the last few firmware updates I've had it will occasionally stop responding and show a blue flashing LED. The local automations continue to run... for a while, and then they stop too. Fail.

In all this time, the two Hubitat hubs have worked perfectly. And I mean flawlessly. One is dedicated to my AlertMe / Iris V1 gear, the other for general accessories.

So why not Hubitat in the first place? I tried, but two things happened. First, on my accessories mesh Aqara battery and Aqara wired (no neutral) devices would fight. Battery devices would stay on the mesh just fine, but as soon as a single wired wall switch was added they would become unreliable and drop, every single time. But the nail in the coffin were the Aurora AOne dimmers. These work great, come with an excellent FAF rating (Family Appreciation Factor) and work as repeaters which everything loves... except for the Xiaomi buttons, which once again become unreliable and eventually drop. :man_facepalming:

The solution this time? A third Hubitat hub and a complete removal of the M2 and wired switches, all to be replaced by wireless wall buttons and probably something like the Samotech SM308-S. My nervousness here is that there is no backup solution should there be a mesh failure, as the switches can only be operated remotely - unless I wire them for switched use with traditional facias...

That'll do. I feel better for the rant and Hubitat #3 is already up and running with test buttons. Sometimes it's just necessary to rant.

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At least you know what you are getting into.

These devices are just a pain. The best results I have heard is pairing them with an xiaomi hub that can be connected to Hubitat. I don't know all of the details behind this in terms of what hub etc but that was the most reliable.

For direct integration with hubitat I recommend the following,

  • change your zigbee channel (I use 20)
  • inventory any devices that are zigbee repeaters and remove them if possible (not all work with xiaomi). If you can replace them with Ikea repeaters. They work the best.
  • be patient

I've been running them for a few years now and have scripts monitoring them all as they all report in every hour so I know as soon as they start acting up.

For the most part they are well, but every now and then (about twice a year now) they have a tantrum and a hub reboot and wait for them to connect fixes it.

I have slowly been replacing them though with zooz sensors. So much more reliable in my setup.

I've never had a problem with them since dumping smartthings

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FWIW I hsve dumped my IKEA repeaters as I was still getting devices drop off. I also hear they are quite a weak repeater RF wise.
I now have 3 Tuya 3.0 ZB in their place so we'll see what happens.
They got good praise here for being compatible and much stronger RF.

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Thanks, I've got an '11LM button, a '12LM button and an '07LM double wall button attached to Hubitat #3 using an IKEA E1746 - those four devices are the only things on the mesh and they're all working right now. I connected a "sanity check" '11LM button to my normal accessories mesh... it's already dropped and unresponsive. So at least I'm not going crazy.

The accessories mesh is already on channel 20 and the AlertMe kit is on channel 25, so my Aqara-specific one I've set to channel 23. Too much wifi noise down on the lower channels.

Got a link? What are these Tuya 3.0 ZBs of which you speak?

I have a drawer with spare E1746s because they're so cheap and convenient. Routing table is exactly this exciting right now:

Parent child parameters
EzspGetParentChildParametersResponse [childCount=1, parentEui64=0000000000000000, parentNodeId=65535]

Child Data
child:[12LM, 18FE, type:EMBER_SLEEPY_END_DEVICE]

Neighbor Table Entry
[Main Repeater, C608], LQI:255, age:3, inCost:1, outCost:1

Route Table Entry
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [07LM, 8760] via [Main Repeater, C608]
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused

Don't know where my '11LM is on there, but it's still connected and working. Going to add on the sanity check one now too, may as well get this party started.

They are also much quicker on Hubitat than on the native M2 hub. Not as fast as the AlertMe / Iris V1 or IKEA buttons, they take a fraction longer to wake and transmit, but still mighty swift. And I can live with that because I don't think I have ever changed a battery in one of these.

I've also connected them up with no special driver, just the system "Device" driver, because I was very curious as to whether they need special response codes to keep them happy and connected, or make them report in. It would appear that they do not. Fresh out of the box the '07LM reports in about every 50 minutes with what I'm guessing is battery data.

Naturally if this is the case I'll roll my own @birdslikewires drivers, because I'm like that. With so many driver alternates out there I just wanted to know if they do need special driver treatment, or if they just need a very particular mesh environment. Right now it's looking like the latter.

Here's the Ali Smart Zigbee Signal Amplifier Tuya Automation Modules Timer - AliExpress
Link in the forum Recommendations for sensors? - #79 by Krishna

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First driver supporting the WXKG11LM is up on GitHub now. It has received pretty much no testing; in fact, less than 60 seconds ago I saw it properly parse the FF01 attrId for the first time, which is the approximately-every-50-minute report the device sends in.

I'm starting out doing these differently to other folk; the code is heavily based on all my other button drivers and I'll tailor them specifically to each device (so there'll be another driver for the WXKG12LM). I might change my mind, but I like doing this because I end up with exactly what I want - such as a momentary press of the reset button actually registering as a fifth button press. :slight_smile:

I'll do a post and push to the package manager once I'm convinced it's working right, but this was a nice little jigsaw puzzle for this evening now I know I'm not just tail-chasing them falling off the mesh.

Turns out a quintuple-press of the button actually triggers the same behaviour as one short tap of the reset button, so I was uncharacteristically accurate on this occasion. :smiley: