Does JowiHue & Philips Hue Smart Hub Work with Aqara and Other Zigbee Sensors

[mulu]

It sound like JowiHue & Philips Hue Smart Hub work not just with Philips devices but also other Zigbee devices like Aqara door sensors, Aqara temperature sensors, etc Does it work with any kind of Zigbee sensors? If not, is there somewhere a list what is currently supported and is the limitation from the JowiHue plugin side or the Philips hub?

[w.vuyk]

It does work with other sensors, but only a limited amount of brands (not the aqara sensors!). Honestly I lost sight on which sensors are supported and which not. Philips is strict on the switches/sensors and remotes which it support ("Friends of Hue") and certainly not all brands are actively supported. Up till now I have not found a 'official' list of devices. One list I have found is at https://iconnecthue.com/supported-devices/
On this list there are no aqara devices mentioned.

But with the JowiHue plugin the deCONZ gateway is also supported, which supports very many Zigbee devices (see https://zigbee.blakadder.com/deconz.html) and the response on a button press is (up to now) a lot faster when you use this gateway. It also supports all devices supported by the Philips Hue bridge.

Wim

[tenholde]

JowiHue and deCONZ gateway support lots of stuff, including the aqara devices.

[mulu]

Has anybody experience with both the JowiHue + deCONZ vs mcsMQTT plugin + dongle? I am mostly looking at how many devices are supported and the learning curve/complexity. I have mcsMQTT running now but it took some time. Michael, the author of the plugin, is also very helpful. And the plugin is free and the dongle very inexpensive. It's just there is some significant setup time. I am not so much concerned myself but more so if somebody else has to take this over. So in that regard how does the JowiHue and deCONZ compare?

[TC1]

While Michael is a great contributor to the community here, IMO, mcsMQTT is way too complex for simply interfacing Zigbee devices compared to running JowiHue and the deconz/Conbee2 controller. Using JowiHue adding new Zigbee devices is no more complex than adding Z-wave devices, pretty much plug-n-play. My time is limited (and I do technology for a living), I don't want to have to spend it figuring out messages, payloads, etc. I just want to plug in my devices and use them.

mcsMQTT is very flexible/powerful, but as you noted, there's a steep learning curve because of that flexibility.

[mulu]

TC1 Thanks a lot for your input.

[langenet]

Is there any reason why this device can't be added. Is there a difference between it (Tuyu zigbee) and this device ? I can't seem to be able to add in either Phoscon or through the plugin (HS3).

BTW I'm running 2.05.80 / 8/14/2020Firmware26350500 on Conbee 1.

Thanks,

Robert

[TC1]

Is there any reason why this device can't be added. Is there a difference between it (Tuyu zigbee) and this device ? I can't seem to be able to add in either Phoscon or through the plugin (HS3).

BTW I'm running 2.05.80 / 8/14/2020Firmware26350500 on Conbee 1.

Thanks,

Robert

This is just a guess, maybe because they stopped updating the firmware for the Conbee1? I know for the Conbee2 the firmware has been updated a few times in the last year in order to support newer devices.

Hopefully Wim has better insight into the reason.

[w.vuyk]

langenet Robert,

Your deCONZ version is almost 18 month's ago. I think this is why the device is not added. You will not believe the many changes that have been added in the past few months. So I would first upgrade the deCONZ and then try again. The current version of deCONZ is 2.13.04. Assuming you are running Windows check this link for the latest version: https://deconz.dresden-elektronik.de/win/ (scroll to the bottom)

PS the firmware is the latest for the ConBee 1 as far I know and will still work fine.

[langenet]

Thanks Wim. I upgraded deCONZ but no go. I also noticed there's no further firmware upgrades for the Conbee that I can see here. Or is this
deCONZ_R21_0x26520700.bin.GCF for Conbee 1? Otherwise it looks like I may need to upgrade to a Conbee II. Is there a procedure on how to do this? Will I need to re-add everything?

[w.vuyk]

Let's be stubborn first Robert I am quite sure you do not need to move to the conbee 2. I am here using a RaspBee 1 with the same firmware and it is stil working fine (same chip as Conbee 1)
I will explain later how you can move to the Conbee 2 so at the end it is your choice.

After you upgraded deCONZ, did you rescan the device? Because that is what is needed to refresh the info from the device to deCONZ. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Start a scan for devices from the bridge maintenance page of the plugin. (do not remove any device from deCONZ)
2. Reset the temperature device and check the deCONZ map. Do you see a blinking dot on the device?
3. If all is going well you will see the device name change in deCONZ from 0xnnnnn to something link Temperature nn.
4. If you see this change, check HS as the plugin should start creating devices..... If it does, done!

If this does not work select the device in deCONZ, do a double click on it and you will see a listbox unfolding on the device. Select the Basic cluster, again with a double click. This should open up the basic cluster on the left part of the pane. Take a hold of the device so the temperature will rise (communicating with deCONZ). then in the basic cluser, press the read button. You should see lines updating in the window... if it does, also the name should change from 0xnnnnnn to Temperature xx..... if this works, you should see the device appear in HS.

If you want to move to a ConBee 2, start with making a backup in Phoscon (on the gateway page) Save the back on a save place. Close deConz, remove the ConBee 1 and replace it with the ConBee2. Start deCONZ and in Phoscon, restore the backup through the gateway page. Once this is done, restart deCONZ again (to be sure) and you should be up and running again.

Wim

[langenet]

Wim, it doesn't complete the add properly - both is phoscon and your app. However, when I add it, I sort or see in in deCONZ. I see there's a later version of firmware - deCONZ_Rpi_0x26400500.bin. Do you know if this is stable?
This is what I see in phoscon. Any further suggestions?



Thanks,

Robert

[w.vuyk]

I am not sure of this firmware version. It seems to be stable, but you cannot change channel after that. If you think you might have to do this somewhere in the future (due to interference, new wifi signals etc) you should be careful using it. Other then that is seems to be good.

This might be an issue wit the Tuya identifier then? Tuya has a habit of trying to enforce users to use their cloud solution by using different modelid's for the same device. I am afraid this needs to be solved with the help of the phoscon forum. Make sure to point at both device and use the images needed for a new device request - be sure to check out this link as they are quite strict on following their demands on information they need.

They probably will help you to create a so called "DDF" file (Device Definition File) in deCONZ. There is not much help on this new function yet, but it enables users to create their own connection to a device without the need of updating deCONZ itself. I heard that especially for Tuya is is handy as you can copy the contents of such a file to the renamed model and all is working.

Wim

[langenet]

Thanks Wim. I did find this. Though, not sure if your being literal with "change channel".

Current Stable Versions

ConBee II	0x26720700
RaspBee II	0x26720700

ConBee I	0x26400500
RaspBee I	0x26400500

In any case, I just ordered the Aqara WSDCGQ11LM Temperature Humidity Sensor as I see it's on the supported list - should have checked there first.

Robert