I’m quite new to this topic and have already searched through hundreds of discussions, but there are still some points I don’t fully understand. I was hoping someone could clarify them for me.
I’m currently using Aqara T1 window and door sensors in my smart home setup, along with a Sonoff -E coordinator (which is set up) and an SMLight 06M (which is currently not set up). I’m trying to determine the most reliable way to integrate them.
I also want to have these sensors available in HomeKit. I see two main options:
Connecting them directly to Home Assistant via a Zigbee coordinator and exposing them to HomeKit.
My concern is that if my Home Assistant server goes down, my devices will become unresponsive.
I do have a UPS that works well, but I still worry about potential HA failures.
If I set up an alarm system in the future, I’m concerned about not being able to deactivate it if Home Assistant has issues.
Pairing them with the Aqara M2 hub, then exposing them to Home Assistant and HomeKit via Matter.
The downside is that this setup wouldn’t give me a fully unified Zigbee network.
I’d like to know from experience:
Which setup provides better responsiveness and stability?
Are there any known issues with devices dropping off the network in either approach?
Does the Aqara hub offer any advantages (e.g., better local automation, battery optimization, or improved range)?
My main priority is reliability, as I use these sensors for automation and security purposes. Any insights or recommendations are greatly appreciated!
I have the same device structure with aqara hub as you. And I use both variants, for security sensors, for example door sensors with access from outside and motion sensors I have paired with the hub for the Alarm system and these are further exposed to HA for further automation. Other sensors are paired via coordinator with z2m. And all these entity sensors can be sent to the apple home app.
I see the sense in having it paired to the hub for security reasons.
Now I have also some radio thermostats and if I pair them with z2m and bring it in via integration, doesn’t it diminish the use of HA?
I mean I could still, to my understanding, run automations on HA with the window sensors which are integrated via integration to trigger thermostats which are integrated via z2m.
But why then not run it directly on the hub?
I can’t tell you what will work best with your setup, but here’s a blurb about my experience.
I have about a dozen of these Aqara sensors, and I’ve paired them to Z2M via Zigbee. I wanted the information available in HomeKit, so I exposed them to HomeKit via the HomeKit Bridge integration.
I’ve found this to work very reliably, and I chose this route because I have a pretty robust Zigbee network at home. I don’t want to go the Matter route because not all of my sensors can do that, and so long as I don’t see the benefit (for me, I think there would not be one right now), I don’t want that extra complication.
Well, for me it was no problem to connect the sensor directly to the HA, it’s easy. The thing is that the aqara hub also serves as a siren. I’ve been looking for possible ways to automate the siren triggering, but no luck. The hub has an alarm_system domain in the HA, but it probably only serves to turn the alarm on or off, nothing more. So that’s why I left the alarm system in the default Hub.
It can work in different ways, someone wants to have a more stable network, so he creates a mesh over z2m in HA. I also have aqara radiators outside the hub, with better thermostat component with added external contact sensors works great.
