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Disappointed with Aqara - Zigbee hub, but no 3rd party? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/homeassistant@lemmy.world
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but...

Buyer Beware! Aqara hubs use the Zigbee protocol, but lock out 3rd party devices!

A few months ago, I bought an Aqara hub and went deep into their ecosystem. I saw their hub and sensors had good reviews, plus they were using the Zigbee open protocol, so I figured I'd stick with their stuff. I had no reason to try other devices until recently.

I picked up a tilt sensor for my garage door from a 3rd party. I made sure it was also using the Zigbee protocol, so I assumed it would be compatable. Unfortunately, when I tried connecting it to the hub, I was wrong and it wouldn't connect. Turns out, Aqara uses the Zigbee protocol, but locks out 3rd party devices. [source]

If anyone has a workaround to integrate a 3rd party device with an Aqara Hub (IIRC, I have the M3?), I'd love to hear about it. But until then - I'm looking for a refund. I would have never picked up their hub if I had known about their shennanigans; and consequently, I wouldn't have picked up so many of their sensors.

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[–] 3 points 7 months ago (5 children)

Speaking of devices, I'm actually still using an ancient Conbee II and it's rock solid. I thought about changing it recently and ordered a ZBT-2 for a more up to date product, but then I realised I was insane and set it up as a Thread Border Router instead, so I have both now.

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago (4 children)

    I just got ZBT-2 for my first Matter/Thread device and hooked it up to my HA Yellow. This thing now does ZigBee, Thread and Z-Wave. 😆

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago (2 children)

    Nabu Casa's own documentation says the ZBT-2 does NOT support multi-protocols. The zbt-2 does work with Matter, but then won't support Zigbee.

    https://www.home-assistant.io/connect/zbt-2

    "Connect ZBT-2 cannot do both Zigbee and Thread simultaneously. This technology is often called “multiprotocol” or “MultiPAN”. Though it is theoretically possible with the hardware within Connect ZBT-2, in our experience, this functionality doesn’t work well, and we don’t plan to implement it. We previously thoroughly tested multiprotocol with our Connect ZBT-1 adapter and found its operation to be inconsistent, often causing device stability issues. We do not believe multiprotocol is suitable for operation in the home, and strongly recommend dedicating a device to each protocol."

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