Contact (door/window) sensor: what about the different Aqara T1 types?

Hardware
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1

I’m doing some research to buy new contact sensors since the Sonoff snzb-04 that I have isn’t reliable enough.

It has happened +/- 3 to 4 times (in 3 years) that, even if the battery level is reported as good, all of a sudden there is no connection/feedback anymore.
A few days ago, with 67% of battery for over 1,5 month, it fell off the mesh again.
It sits close (about 1m) to an IKEA bulb and there should be no interference.
Of course after resetting/repairing it works again.
My mesh is very stable/reliable.

I prefer to stick with zigbee and I’m looking at Aqara but discovered there are at least 3 different classic zigbee models:

  • Door and window sensor T1 / MCCGQ12LM / DW-S03D (white label)
    Exposes: contact, battery, voltage, linkquality

  • Door and window sensor / MCCGQ11LM
    Exposes: contact, battery, device_temperature, voltage, power_outage_count, trigger_count, linkquality

  • Door and window sensor E1 / MCCGQ14LM
    Exposes: contact, battery, battery_low, voltage, linkquality

Anyone that has more insight/experience with these?
TIA

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I know this is an old thread, but I have recently started having problems with one particular device which keeps dropping off the network, battery replaced, its literally 1.5m from the co-ordinator. My network is a SONOFF co-ordinator and zigbee2mqtt with multiple repeaters / lights providing a robust network.

The particular device is a MCCGQ12LM which is the only one of this particular model. All my other contact sensors are MCCGQ11LM devices which never fail.

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3

Same here; all older MCCGQ11LM work fine, but the one newer MCCGQ12LM I have is not reliable. No battery reporting, goes offline every few days. New battery did not help.

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4

24hrs now since re-pairing. Still connected but not reporting battery state. I think I will have to report this on the Z2M github.

5

Thanks for chiming in guys!

I went ahead and ordered 1 for testing so I also got a MCCGQ12LM and have the same issue with battery reporting (using Z2M).
Tried re-pairing multiple times but without any luck.

OTH: the sensor works reliably so far (using +/- 5 weeks only)

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I recently bought 2 MCCGQ12LM (at least that is how they are identified in Z2M). The sensors themselves work fine, but I cannot get a battery reading for either of them. :frowning: @Nick4, is that the same problem as you had? Did you find a solution?

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Found this:
11LM is the original version that runs zigbee 1.2 only

12LM is the T1 iteration that runs zigbee 3.0 similar to all the newer releases

13LM is the P1 version that looks different (like a cigar) and uses a different battery to allow for five year cycles between battery changes

14LM is the E1 revision of the original (which is also the one that runs into region locking and may only pair on specific region hubs)

In the meantime, I managed to get the battery values in HA by removing completely (HA + Z2M) and adding again.

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How is the reliability between 11LM and 12LM? Any further problems?

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I’ve been running the 11LM via Z2M at the farthest edge of my mesh without a single issue. Only installed one of them at the time since I wanted to see whether they’re reliable, but…

Went to check when I bought them, and it’s been 5 years of rock solid performance and still using the original battery!

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So I’m using the 12LM with Z2M for almost 1 year on the main entrance.

  • The battery level is still at 100%
  • Reliability is very good

The only thing I had: the battery level was not reported and only after upgrading the FW on my Sonoff P coordinator, installing the latest Z2M and removing/repairing solved this so the battery level is now showing in HA.

I will get a few more for some windows.

11

I’ve been testing the MCCGQ11LM and MCCGQ12LM for a couple months and based on performance the MCCGQ11LM is just all around better.

MCCGQ11LM has reliable reporting, includes temperature sensor, usage counts etc.

MCCGQ12LM (T1) has battery reporting bug as everyone else reported, no temperature sensor or counters.

I know MCCGQ12LM is Zigbee 3.0 and in theory has been security, but since MCCGQ12LM doesn’t implement secure commissioning, or other 3.0 features, I struggle to see the practical benefit of paying (usually more) for the MCCGQ12LM?

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Hi Aaron, good that you are adding your experience.

I don’t know about the battery issue with other coordinators or ZHA, but I did find out that in my case it was the Z2M version and most important that I had to pair it again to get the battery values.

Regarding the additional diagnostic entities: I wonder if measuring the temperature close to a door or window is an added value and the others can be somehow solved with HA.

Anyhow, good for you that you were able to get reliable detection of the state of your door/window.