A Ton of New Aqara Devices Released in Europe Today
It would seem either Christmas has come very early, or perhaps a little late for European (and UK) smart home fans, as Aqara has just released a ton of long awaited products specifically for them, and not the US for a change.
SMART BULBS
Starting with lighting, for the first time Aqara has released smart bulbs outside of China. Not only that, but these bulbs offer two methods of communication – Zigbee 3.0 for use with any Aqara Hub, but also Matter over Thread, for use with either the company’s own M3 hub, or directly in any Matter platform of your choice.
These include the following types;
- An E26/27 bulb capable of 16 million colours, including warm and cool whites. Capable of a maximum of 1100lm.
- An E26/27 bulb designed for colour temperature only – cool to warm whites. Also capable of a maximum of 1100lm.
- A GU10 bulb capable of 16 million colours, including warm and cool whites. Capable of a maximum of 450lm.
- A GU10 bulb designed for colour temperature only – cool to warm whites. Also capable of a maximum of 450lm
E26/27 bulb colour bulb on Amazon.de | E26/27 bulb colour temperature bulb on Amazon.de
H2 SMART SWITCH
Following on from Aqara’s H1 switches, the company has now released new H2 switches that, like the bulbs, offer both Zigbee 3.0 or Thread connectivity. These come in two options;
2-button 1 channel switch on Amazon.de | 4 button 2 channel switch on Amazon.de
These switches offer either a single or double wired switch, and 1 or 2 wireless switches. Both can be used with or without a neutral wire.
DISPLAY SWITCH V1
The V1 Switch EU, previously released in China, offers a slick interface that includes a thin display in the centre. This switch differs in that aside from the full colour LED screen, it offers not only control over two separate switches, but also 4 configurable buttons, all exposed to Apple Home. This switch requires a neutral, and uses Zigbee 3.0, so it requires an Aqara Hub.
V1 Switch EU on Amazon.de
TOUCHSCREEN DIAL V1 EU
The Aqara Touchscreen Dial V1 EU, also originally released in China, offers a slightly different take on a display, with a circular screen surrounded by a rotary dial. As with the V1 Switch EU, this can replace two light switches, and also offers dimming via the dial, but can also control up to 18 Aqara devices via the display. It also comes with six wireless buttons via the display, all of which are exposed to Apple Home etc.
Touchscreen Dial V1 EU on Amazon.de
AQARA PANEL HUB S1 PLUS
For panel displays, the Aqara Panel Hub S1 Plus is a very welcome addition to Europe, with control over various Aqara devices in your set up, along with six programmable buttons, and the option to have it wired in to replace two wall switches, or freestanding, with power via USB-C. It can also stream live video from any of your Aqara cameras, including the G4 video doorbell, which allows it to act as an intercom.
You can watch our video for this product below
In the aqara app on ios there is boards which i guess this just replicates on the wall. Does it allow the sonos integration controller to be added to a board like it does in the iOS app?
Hi Craig, the boards on the S1 Plus are separate from the ones in the app. Whether you can add control to the S1 Plus for the Sonos speaker I’m not sure, as I don’t have any Sonos equipment to test it out. Aqara Home does now offer the option to add Sonos devices though, as well as a Tesla integration.
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Aqara and indeed it seems pretty much all the Chinese manufacturers, still don’t seem to do wired dimmer solutions. This is rather perplexing as I am sure they have the technology.
So whilst there are various interesting, attractive and available smart panels like the Panel Hub S1 Plus, there are no matching dimmer solutions. (Same applies to Sonoff, Orvibo, Tuya, etc. etc.)
This is the opposite of the US manufacturers, they have numerous wired smart dimmers but not really anything similar to the Panel Hub S1 Plus or other brands.
Whilst here in the EU we have pretty much no manufacturers for either end of the equation if you (rightly) discount things like KNX, Control4, Creston. (Obviously this article is about the EU release of the Panel Hub S1 Plus.)
It’s odd, because Aqara does have a rotary dimmer, but I couldn’t see it listed on either the UK or EU Amazon sites. They even mention it on their Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/groups/267249817311678/permalink/1541916649844982/
I am wondering if the following might be possible.
Have a Philips Hue bridge setup with Matter support i.e. to expose devices via Matter. I have already successfully setup a Zigbee micro (dimmer) module in the Philips Hue bridge and exposed it via both Matter and HomeKit, it works in both Samsung Smartthings and Apple Home.
Link the (child) Matter devices from the Philips Hue bridge i.e. the Zigbee micro modules to an Aqara hub via Matter.
Link the Aqara Panel Hub to the Aqara Matter compatible hub e.g. M3.
Have the Aqara Panel Hub then display a virtual control for the matter connected Zigbee dimmer micro module.
Note: Whilst Aqara do some Zigbee micro modules – again these to not seem to include dimmers and the brand I am using does also officially support 2-way i.e. staircase type circuits as well which also seems a rare option.
Whilst the above would be an interesting and potential solution it clearly shows the absurdity of Aqara etc. not having their own suitable dimmers.
The Aqara bulbs – via the Hue Bridge connected to the M3 – do get exposed to the panel Hub S1 Plus, but I’m unsure if the micro dimmer will show up. You also can’t group Third party bulbs via Aqara at the moment, and I believe the wireless Hue dimmer switches are also not exposed to Aqara via Matter.
For the Zigbee micro dimmer module which the Hue Bridge exposes as a Matter dimmer device, I can currently control it via the Hue app, the Smartthings Hub and app (via Matter) and the Apple Home app (also via Matter). Plus I have it wired to a momentary wired wall switch.
I would therefore expect to be able to add the exposed Zigbee micro dimmer to the Aqara M3 hub but you’re right it is not clear yet if it could then be re-shared to the Panel Hub S1, nor is it clear if the Pane Hub S1 directly supports Matter or will be updated to do this. If it did directly support Matter then it should be able to add the exposed Zigbee module.
As I want to also have _wired_ wall switches/dimmers I am not using smart bulbs. I am not using currently any Hue compatible switches/dimmers which I agree would not be exposed to Matter but these would be able to control directly in the Hue system the Zigbee micro module if I connected a genuine Hue dimmer/switch or ‘friends’ of Hue switch.
What a relief! Nanoleaf is finally no longer the only game in town, when it comes to Matter over Thread light bulbs. Hopefully, Aqara’s T2 bulbs are much better.
Once my order arrives (gonna take a while from the UK to Taiwan…) I’ll be trying the E26/27 bulbs out, so I’ll be able to put them against my Nanoleaf bulbs. I think Aqara is already off to a good start though, with offering Zigbee or Thread.
Hey there, will these gu10 bulbs be compatible on Chinese server?
Thank you
Probably not, but I’ll know once the bulbs I ordered arrive.
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What about the FP3000 !?
I think you mean the FP300. That’s due for an international release later this year.
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Actually there is a 3 switch version S1 in Korea.
Thanks for the clarification. I know the Chinese model has three switches too. Not sure why the EU version doesn’t.
so 4 new types of devices … not quite a ton!
Figure of speech.
Hello, yesterday I received my Aqara Display Switch V1 EU, installed it and it works as intended. I am able to use all 4 wireless switches in HomeKit, so that the power for the hug lights will not be turned off.
The only annoying thing is: If the switch is in standby (time is displayed) and you press a button (which is configured as virtual button / wireless switch) the button press is not executed, the display switch is only “woken up”. This means that you then wonder why nothing is happening and have to press it again. Pretty unsmart, right?
I know that the display switch has a proximity sensor that wakes it up, but I want that the time is shown on the display for as long as possible (which seems to activate the standby mode and ignore the first button press). Is this a known problem and is there a solution for it?
I saw you mention this on Reddit I believe. I suspect this is by design. If the is display off, and proximity detection is also turned off, then it may well be a way of accidentally triggering a device or scene.