Aqara Zigbee Vibration Sensor, Wireless Mini Glass Break Detector for Alarm System, Home Automation, Requires Aqara Hub (not 3rd-Party), Compatible with Apple HomeKit, Alexa, IFTTT, Home Assistant

Game changer for remembering when I took medicine
I have chronic headaches and often need to take an abortive medication but have to be sure I don’t take it too often, lest I start getting rebound headaches. I’m really bad at remembering when I took my last dose and even worse at manually tracking it.Then, I saw a YouTube short from Aqara showing this sensor being used atop a pill bottle lid to help track when a medication is taken. Bingo. It requires a hub, so I waited for the M2 to go on sale then got both. It’s super important to follow the instructions for setting up the hub first, then the sensor to a tee or you will find yourself frustrated enough to toss it out the window. But if you do things in the correct order, it’s simple and fast. The sensor works fine inside the Aqara app, but really shines in the Alexa app. I quickly created a routine to send a notification to my phone that says “headache medicine taken” when a tilt is detected. If I move the bottle around and haven’t taken a dose, I simply clear that notification from my phone screen.It does disconnect from the hub on occasion, but there’s a button on the side to reset it, and when pushed, the hub will tell me the sensor is online and working correctly, then it’s good to go. It still gets 5 stars because I’ve finally found a system that’s working for me and a simple way to track data to share with my doctor.Does this sound like a lot of money between the hub and sensor to spend on a medication reminder? Sure. But, it’s worth it to me, since it means I’m not taking too much headache medicine and that I can help my doctor more accurately treat my headaches. And now I can buy all the sensors…just because.

Not a Vibration Sensor (UPDATED)
Disclosure that I do not use an Aqara Hub, but have this connected to Home Assistant via a ConBee II ZigBee Gateway.(Original Post – Updated Below)As an On/Off binary sensor, yes, these work. But as a vibration sensor, that’s a bit of a stretch. As the device sends signals back to any connected ZigBee gateway, it is the function of the sensor to report action/inaction, and thus my experience is not due to missing some feature only provided by an Aqara hub. I was hoping for a true vibration sensor, but found that it didn’t pick up on vibrations so much as reporting jarring events. For instance, when attached to the frame my truck’s engine is mounted on, turning the internal combustion engine on did not cause a vibration alert. When attached to the internal mechanics of an automatic expresso machine that grinds and packs beans – no vibration. Same with a washer, a dryer, and the floor of my old school metal mailbox. In fact, it didn’t detect vibration when attached to the front of a running machine. I got a trigger when attached to the seat of a rowing machine, and if attached to the back under belt frame of said rowing machine. Even then, what I got back was sporadic at best. For instance, in a 30 minute constant rowing machine session, it toggled between “clear” and “vibration” almost every minute. In other areas where it was a jarring event, like opening a door/cabinet, or other single big movement object – it worked fine. But nothing more subtle, and not a true vibration happening – not a vibration happening sensor.This might possibly be a good replacement for an open/close sensor when you don’t have room to place both components, but it is not a vibration sensor.UPDATE:The sensitivity level can be adjusted programmatically using either Home Assistant’s Developer ToolsServices utility, or the deCONZPhoscon API. The device has a 21 step sensitivity range, and when adjusted to more sensitive, it picks things up as expected.Still not a 5 as you have to go through a few hoops that most users won’t want to try.

Does not work after about a week, or less!
I actually purchased two of these devices and have issues with both. After a couple of days they totally stop working. The first one I wrote off to just a defective unit, and since I did not have the original packaging anymore I could not return it. Plus the cost of the sensor wasn’t a big deal that I did not get a replacement. I really wanted it to work, so I purchased another one. On the first day I paired it to my Zigbee controller, it reported the battery at 35%, so I put a new battery in it. Then it reported the battery at 98% and it worked for about a week. Then the Aqara app showed it was offline and I cannot get it to pair again, not even with a new battery. I have Aqara sensors all over my house and they work great. For some reason this vibration sensor just does not seem to be up to the task. I guess I cannot recommend this sensor, but all the other Aqara sensors are a good by. Three stars because it is Aqara, but for this device, no star.

このセンサーは、新しい郵便が届いたことを知らせてくれる用途で使っています。郵便受けのフタに取り付けて、誰かが投函するとすぐに通知が飛んできます。さらに、HomePodと連携して、新着の郵便を感知したら1分間の自然音を流すように設定しています。スマホが手元になくても気づけるので、とても便利です。

Extremt bra komplement till att bygga sitt egna smarta hem.