[APP] Aqara & Xiaomi Smart Home - A different kind of Smart Home solution (Zigbee App)

My experience with a tilt/vibration sensor on a Velux tilt window was at best doubtful. Your best bet is to act on the tilt and or vibration alarm, which proved more accurate than the tilt angle itself. I found the latter to be close to useless.

A door sensor will probably be way more accurate, but the parts need to be out of the way of the newspapers and other big deliveries so they won’t be pushed off by the postman.

Unfortunately I’m not sure that I will be able to align the door sensor and the magnet in such a way that both the flap being closed and the flap being open will be properly detected.

For reference: I have a flap on both the outside and the inside of the front door. Whichever sensor I use, I plan to use them on the inside, with a flap that resembles this one:

doorline

(because of the thickness of the frame I think I would need to glue something “behind” the door sensor to align it with the magnet)

Well, I guess I should not cancel my order and just try that vibration sensor first. Worst case I lost around €20, but had some fun tinkering with such a sensor.

BTW: Because I will use such sensors with a Homey I don’t need an Aqara Hub, right?

Maybe you could add an door sensor as well and only triger if there is tilt/vibration but no alarm on the door sensor?

I was thinking of using two vibration sensors (one on the flap, one on the door) and do something as you suggested, but using a (real) door sensor for reference is a better idea!

Thanks (though I hope it won’t be necessary).

At least you’ve got a backup plan now :wink:

Indeed.

All under the assumption I don’t need the Hub, if I have a Homey…

(because I’m not sure I want to buy two sensors and a hub just for this purpose)

No, they are both supported bij the app for Homey.
I have multiple door/window sensors directly connected to Homey.

Can’t you stick a doorsensor on the OUTside of the white flap that you posted earlier (on the inside of the door)? That way the sensor is not in the way of thick newspapers. The sensor is then lifted and can make contact with the magnet that you stick on top op the white flap (the part that does not tilt).

In Homey you might want to reverse the action (setting of the added sensor device), so the sensor shows as closed normally and shows open as the mailman delivers.

Might take a bit fuzzing with the right location, but should be doable.
And the flap won’t open so far if you slam the door (a bit). Especially with the extra weight of the sensor on it.
If the magnet is heavier, you can of course switch sensor and magnet too…

@prosumer

If I use an aqara door sensor and I hold them together on the long sides and lift the sensor part then I can lift it up to 2 centimeters and the contact is still not broken.
So there can be quite a bit of height difference in the magnet and sensor.
Don’t have to sit exactly against each other.

Exactly, so by varying the distance you can finetune sensitivity. I use that the opposite way: at a few windows I have two sensors, that that detects if it’s open even a little bit, and one less sensitive (placed more in the direction of the hinge) that won’t trigger until the window is further open. That way I can tell if it’s ajar.

If it’s wide open I can’t close the roller blinds, and I have Homey warn me when it starts raining, or when it’s really hot to open or close it to keep the house as cool as possible.

After an update from the app some flows dont work.
The flow where the Aqara device stands says: this card is unavailable.

But the Aqara device still exist.
After adding the device the flow works again.

Can you be a bit more specific? Which app update and which device / flow card do you mean?

I have based on cover text Aquara WXKG12LM but when I add it, it seems it’s added as WXKG11LM - as I can use only scenes : ‘Key Pressed 1 time’, ‘Key Pressed 2 times’, ‘Key Pressed 3 times’, ‘Key Pressed 4 times’ - and it’s added as lumi.sensor_switch.aq2 - I guess in this case it’s fake WXKG12LM without gyro, any thought ?

The WXKG12LM should identify itself as lumi.sensor_switch.aq3.

If it doesn’t and it’s identifying itself as lumi.sensor_switch.aq2 it isn’t a true wireless switch with Gyro.

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I did send you an mail in Dutch :wink:

Received the Aqara vibration sensor, but I’m unable to add it:

  • If I press the reset button for more than 5 seconds, as instructed by the App, the blue light flashes only twice, instead of 3 times. Nothing else happens.
  • If I only briefly press the reset button, the blue light flashes once. Nothing else happens.
  • If I first press the reset button for more than 5 seconds, release it, and briefly press it again, the blue light does flash 3 times. The App then says a device will be added, but it times out every time I try.

Tips?

Someone on Reddit mentioned repeatedly pressing the button. That seems to have done the trick!

I’m not sure how accurate the sensor is. Does not always seem to detect tilt, even I completely open the flap (move the sensor 90 degrees).

What’s the title reference vector in the advanced settings?

If you check “set tilt vector”, save the advanced options, and then tilt the device to the default position and leave it still, angles will reset to 0. The offsets are saved in the advanced options.

This was a great tip. I had some issues with 2 temp sensors. Now i pushed every second on the button (after 3 times blinking). And they are added!

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What do the 3 values for the tilt reference vector mean?

(Current values are 90,90,0)