About Aqara devices and the hub

Configuration Zigbee
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Hey everyone, I’m dropping this kinda open-ended question here because I’m still not totally clear on it, and I’m sure a bunch of you have a better handle on it than I do.

So, all Aqara Zigbee devices say you need their hub to use them. But I figured, hey, Zigbee is supposed to be a standard, right? So I went ahead and got three Aqara water leak sensors for my house. They do connect to my network (with an SLZB-06 as coordinator), but they’re kinda picky. They only seem to link to the coordinator, and even though I’ve seen them connect to other Zigbee routers now and then, they usually don’t — and they spend a lot of time offline.

Now I’m looking to get a smoke detector, and it seems like the only option that’s not Tuya (I’m aiming for something a bit more reliable this time) and from a halfway decent brand is Aqara again. This one plugs into the wall, so it should also act as a Zigbee router.

So here’s my question: is anyone here using this device without an Aqara hub? Does it work okay?

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My Zigbee coordinator is a Sonoff ZBDongle-P, and I use Zigbee2MQTT.

I have three Aqara WSDCGQ11LM temperature/humidity sensors and have just added a SJCGQ11LM leak sensor, and haven’t had any trouble with them connecting. I do have a lot of routers, mainly light switches (Aqara), dimmers (Samotech) and smart bulbs (IKEA), hopefully creating a strong mesh.

Looking at my network map, the sensors seem to be routing via some Aqara light switches. I’m not sure whether they’ve chosen to do this deliberately or whether those just happen to be the closest routers to them.

The Aqara sensors don’t seem to follow the Zigbee standard fully e.g. I can’t configure monitoring.

Sorry I can’t help you with the Aqara smoke detector but hope that might help to an extent.

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