Anyone tested if the sensor still works if internet connection is blocked? It should work, i know. but if anyone could actually test it i would appreciate it.
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Hi,
so, does this mean that you need to own an apple device? I’d really want to use these, but we don’t have any iOS devices, and I wouldn’t like to buy it without being sure, that we can integrate it into HA even without an iOS. Could anyone please confirm, if it is doable without an apple device? (+ it seems to be out of stock right now anyways 
)
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No Apple/iOs device required. Fine with HA and Homekit plugin. New stocks an the way I understand.
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Hi,
Did someone test it with HA SkyConnect?
Has anyone found a way to get the number of people in a room? This would be awesome for automations to detect when you have guests over
Yes and No. I blocked the internet from one of my test devices and from my quick tests I found the following:
- Local reporting still worked. So in HA I was still getting notifications of sensor updates. This is probably because homekit works locally.
- The aqara app that you need to configure it does not seem to function. I can’t edit the zones or even do a firmware update. It complains about the communication with the device. So that seems to go through their cloud.
So it looks like once you configure it you can cut it off, but anytime you need to make a change you need to get it back online.
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FP2 already sold out on Amazon! I’m glad my order just shipped! I wonder how many Amazon had.
When you removed the FP2 from the Home app (leaving it in the Aqara app) did it immediately appear in the HA Homekit Controller integration? For some reason I keep getting the no unpaired devices found message even though the FP2 is still connected to the network and to the Aqara app.
Yup. It picked it up almost instantly and auto discovered it.
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The new Aqara FP2 uses WiFi, not Zigbee or Thread. Thus, the SkyConnect is not applicable.
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This is what I call “The Harmony Model.” The Logitech Harmony hub works like that. It’s fine with no internet connection as long as you never need to change anything on it. I don’t like that, but I’m willing to put up with it depending on the functionality. In the case of the Harmony I’m actively waiting for a new device to finally ship that is local only.
For the FP2 (as long as it works as advertised), I’ll accept this to get rid of my Room Assistant bluetooth setup (that thing is only slightly better than having a random number generator determine room occupancy). But I’d much rather have something that is 100% local.
Thank you! About what i expected. Good enough for me.
I bought two and I’m not that impressed. It can’t seem to handle only shaped rooms well or when it doesn’t see the whole room. Also often it detects more people than there are. Also homekit link with HA is not working for me. Perhaps I haven’t found out how to install them well yet. Will keep at it.
I recommend you watch the automate your life video on these. He goes in with tips and tricks about location that may help. I have two setup and they are working great. Its only been a day though. I like to give it a full week of testing and see.
The video is long but covers a lot.
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Did you update it?
Great video and good food for thought. And yes I’ve updated the sensor.
I think so far the main problem is that my spaces don’t really seem fit for this sensor and it’s app. I live in a studio apartment.
The large open space downstairs just doesn’t seem to work at all. I think it might have to do with the area extending past the sensor’s range. Also, hanging lights are sources of interference for me.
The upstairs where my bed is is challenging at best. Although I’ve seem to have gotten detection for when I’m in bed successfully working, at least until I’ve reached the last few hours of sleep when it seems to not detect me anymore. Monitoring when I come up the stairs is something I can’t get to work, it seems there is something about coming from below that throws the sensor off.
Also the process of moving the sensor and resetting it is very confusing. It seems to be designed with the idea you know what the best place for the sensor is already.
Lessons:
- Homekit pairing works only when I’ve just installed the sensor for me. So do it first.
- Also in Home Assistant it is important to use the movement entities, the presence entities don’t work.
I’ll try to spend a few hours every day this week to tweak and see if I can get some improvements.
Happy hacking to all of you!
Hi Bo,
I’m getting mine soon and I am not on Apple ecosystem. Will it be okay to integrate it with HA via Homekit? Does HA get all the sensors including the mapping? or does it have to be done on their app?
I’m not too impressed that it still needs to communicate with their cloud for it to work…hope the DEVs can get this properly integrated with HA or even flashing it as it has it’s own ESP chip.
You can integrate the device directly with the Home Assistant Homekit integration. This will give you a illuminance sensor, a general presence sensor and 1 per zone.
The rest of the set up has to be done in the Aqara app.
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I don’t have an Iphone. How can i add it to Homekit?
It looks like the FP2 is being detected by Home Assistant for some people after it has been removed from HomeKit but not others. Unfortunately I’m in the camp where it isn’t recognised by Home Assistant.
I’m wondering whether the issue for me is that my IoT devices are in a different subnet from my HA server. It’s not been a problem for other HomeKit devices but maybe there is something quirky about the FP2. If I get chance this weekend I’ll temporarily shift HA to be on the same subnet to see if that helps.