CUSTOM Binary Sensor with Xiaomi Aqara Motion Sensor (RTCGQ11LM) + Zigbee2MQTT

Configuration
1

OK, I’m giving up on trying to figure this our on my own…

I have an Aqara motion sensor that’s connected to Zigbee2MQTT - it works flawlessly, BUT only has a 2 minute timer (I need much less). So I used this mod: https://community.smartthings.com/t/making-xiaomi-motion-sensor-a-super-motion-sensor/139806 now it actually reports motion every 5 seconds, BUT not if the motion stops under 2 minutes.

That’s why I would like to make a custom binary sensor

Zigbee2MQTT sends this mesage

zigbee2mqtt:info 6/17/2019, 8:33:06 AM MQTT publish: topic 'zigbee2mqtt/0x00158d000123456ab', payload '{"illuminance":141,"linkquality":31,"occupancy":false,"battery":100,"voltage":3065}'

An I tried to make a binary_sensor using this code:

  - platform: mqtt
    name: "Bewegungsmelder_02_x"
    state_topic: "zigbee2mqtt/0x00158d000123456ab"
    value_template: '{{ value_json.occupancy }}'
    payload_on: "true"
    off_delay: "6"
    qos: 1

It does not work…
What am I doing wrong?!

2

You shouldn’t need payload on or payload off. Just set the value_template properly.

  - platform: mqtt
    name: "Bewegungsmelder_02_x"
    state_topic: "zigbee2mqtt/0x00158d000123456ab"
    value_template: "{{ value_json.occupancy == 'true' }}"
    off_delay: 6
    qos: 1

That’s if the value comes back as a string from occupancy, if it’s a boolean then you just need.

  - platform: mqtt
    name: "Bewegungsmelder_02_x"
    state_topic: "zigbee2mqtt/0x00158d000123456ab"
    value_template: "{{ value_json.occupancy }}"
    off_delay: 6
    qos: 1
3

I tried your suggestions, but neither one is working :frowning:

4

whats not working? Also, what does the topic look like when you detect motion?

5

the binary sensor doesn’t report motion (but the motion sensor zigbee2mqtt creates, does detect motion)

What do you mean by that?

Is it this:

  zigbee2mqtt:info 6/17/2019, 4:17:43 PM MQTT publish: topic 'zigbee2mqtt/0x00158d000123456ab', payload '{"illuminance":78,"linkquality":28,"occupancy":true,"battery":100,"voltage":3065}'
6

you have the mqtt hub set up right?

7

I believe so - everything else works like it should :thinking:

However, I found an other solution - maybe even more elegant. It appears there’s the option to set the occupancy_timeout within Zigbee2MQTT (in share/zigbee2mqtt/configuration.yaml):

0x00158d000123456ab:
    friendly_name: '0x00158d000123456ab'
    retain: true
    occupancy_timeout: 6 # <---

This works exactly like I wanted it to

Still, thanks for your help!

But it’s weird that this custom binary_sensor doesn’t work - I tired to use mqtt messages for other sensors before and it never worked…

8

Yeah, but the only thing that wouldn’t work is if you aren’t connecting to the mqtt ‘hub’, which is in a different section of your config. The sensor had the correct information.

9

Doesn’t zigbee2mqtt just send the messages over the whole network?!

I connected it with the mosquitto broker with my mqtt credentials, like everything else (sonoffs for example)

10

It does, but if you use a mqtt sensor you need to add the mqtt hub component so that the sensor has an IP to look at

11

isn’t the

zigbee2mqtt

part in

zigbee2mqtt/0x00device0id0123

the “address” of the hub?!

I’m a little confused now

Iike I said, I believe zigbee2mqtt is set up correctly - every sensor/lamp/switch/whatever I add, work propperly. However, I never managed to “pull” variables out of the mqtt messages for custom sensors

12

Well - now I feel a bit stupid, but it’s all there, in the zigbee2mqtt documentation…

I have never realized, that you could click the devices in the “supported devices” list and get to a detailed documentation on how to configure them… :exploding_head:

13

Nope, that’s the name of the topic. The IP of your hub is wherever your mqtt broker is.

14

That got added recently I think

15

i just edited \share\zigbee2mqtt\devices.yaml and added “occupancy_timeout: 6” under my aqara motion sensor. it’s just works.

16

you could click the devices in the “supported devices” list and get to a detailed documentation on how to configure them… but you can’t find it now… Can you post it? Thank you