Aqara Introduce New ‘EU Style’ E1 Switches

Whilst the highly anticipated Aqara H1 switches for the EU are still largely hard to find and purchase right now, this hasn’t stopped Aqara from forging on ahead with another new range of switches under the E1 banner, which also reflects other devices yet to officially come out.

The newly unveiled E1 switch range is now available on Xiaomi’s flagship online third-party store xiaomiyoupin.com and shows both wired and wireless options, with single and double rocker variants for each, with the wired switches being offered in both neutral and no-neutral options.

What’s of interest is that while these are only currently available in China, the wired switches sport dimensions and design suitable for EU standards, which is to say the ‘back box’ has rounded corners, as well as 4 slots for screws that are designed to ‘turn and lock’ into place. The dimensions of the switch are 86 x 86 x 30.15mm.

The rear of these switch does not reveal any EU certification as such, so if you were thinking of buying one, despite them only having just been launched in Mainland China, you would ultimately be better off waiting for the H1 switches to become available. Aside from this, the H1 has a higher power rating, at 100-250VAC, 50/60Hz, Max. 8A, compared to the E1, which is listed as 220VAC at 50Hz, with a maximum of 5A.

It goes without saying that the E1 switches are HomeKit compatible, and aside from also working with the Aqara Home app, are also compatible with Mi Home, for those that use it, and use Zigbee 3.0, which in this case means they are incompatible with the original Aqara hub, only Aqara’s Zigbee 3.0 certified hubs, at least officially. This includes the Aqara M2, M1S, P3, and the G2H and will almost certainly include the forthcoming E1 USB hub we reported on earlier this week.