Aqara Hub M3 and Smart Video Doorbell G4 - are they any good?

[@Appmyhome]

Hi nice video. Curious how stable the doorbell video is. Also how many watts was the power adapter you used? Thank you.

[@BeardedTinker]

It's very stable if you keep it in range of chime. There is link quality inside app where you can see if it's ok or not. For chime power I've used standard USB charger from phone - nothing fancy like 20W or 60W - just some old one I had around. And Doorbell was powered via batteries. But you can hook it up to I think 24V (this is from the top of my head - maybe 12V is max - can't remember)

[@Appmyhome]

@@BeardedTinker thank you. I tried a larger power adapter and it helped. Still get some video stalls but much better than before. Link quality is 89%.

[@filipefernandesmusic]

how did you add the doorbell to Home Assistant? I've had this device for almost a year and I'm still waiting for the matter integration... you mentioned the Homekit integration. in my home assistant, when I click "Add integration > Apple > Homekit Device", the list is empty :/

[@danielmyburgh1242]

Following as I also want to know!

[@BeardedTinker]

Hmm - looks like my answer is missing. I was using just HomeKit Device integration in Home Assistant. Doorbell was automatically detected by HA. www.home-assistant.io/integrations/homekit_controller/

[@filipefernandesmusic]

@@BeardedTinker Weird, mine doesn't detect any of the devices connected to my Apple Home 🤔

[@MightyDetail]

@@BeardedTinker If you add it in Homeasistant like you mentioned Apple Home is not able to Record Videos. I have tested this month ago.

[@arronlindsay-peach2998]

@@filipefernandesmusic I am exactly the same it does not exist on HA but it is in the home app perfectly fine ?

[@Tntdruid]

Can you use the doorbell without the hub? I dont want any ☁️ stuff 👍

[@BeardedTinker]

Fun fact, the hub is local first/local only. And no, you don't need a hub for the doorbell. It can also be local "only" - though if you're outside and using an app, it will use servers, but with SD card or Nas no cloud is needed

[@Tntdruid]

@@BeardedTinker Thanks thats cool :)

[@YT-ge6vl]

I've used the G4 camera with Home Assistant without the hub. It just uses the Homekit HA integration.

[@praveshkhatana]

@@YT-ge6vl can you use 2-way audio/call in HA?

[@PeterPavlik72]

Can the M3 hub be a part of existing Z2MQTT network as a router only (use other zb coordinator)?

[@BeardedTinker]

No, not really like this. It would required third party firmware and and as far as I know nobody so far has created it.

[@PeterPavlik72]

@@BeardedTinker that's not good. Can the zb network at least be disabled so it doesn't interfere with wifi/z2m if not needed?

[@BeardedTinker]

@@PeterPavlik72 unfortunately, no - as far as I know, you can't disable it - haven't seen any option for it. But also, I haven't noticed any impact and at my home, there are at minimum 5 different Zigbee networks + so many access points from neighbours.

[@thomasjefferson3552]

any way to make the button more obvious? no one is clicking mine

[@Claudiu.]

:) it's beginning to be weird how often you post videos about the same items I have on my to-do list. I am still considering buying "Reolink Video Doorbell PoE D340P" based on what reviews I saw online. Curious to watch your thought on the G4, which I was also considering. Thank you

[@BeardedTinker]

Uf, I'm not sure really - if I would need to select Reolink vs Aqara G4 - this is really tough call. They both are really good. And with ability to get it in HA, the are very similar. Local face recognition on Aqara is really awesome, something that Reolink doesn't have. And also, smart chime - Reolink doesn't have it. Somehow, scale is tipping towards Aqara - and I never would have thought I would say that ;) Negative for Aqara is PoE - it does have power connector, but 6 AA batteries for 4 months is a lot.

[@Claudiu.]

Indeed that connection method is what I would have preferred to have as an option, but with pros and cons for both, I'm probably going to give the Aqara one a try then. Looking to see more details about the HA experience and connection, since that seems to be a very strong point for Reolink. Didn't own any of these brands before, so nothing else to tip the scale for me. Would be cool to see the people detection exposing events to HA to maybe do a gate unlock or something unique if a person got detected successfully. Thank you!

[@filipefernandesmusic]

hey! in the video timeline it says "Aqara Smart Video Doorbell M4", instead of G4 :)

[@BeardedTinker]

Fixing it right now - thanks for spotting it!!!

[@GarNelson1]

I do have an M3 hub in a drawer. Is there any benefit to adding it to my Home Assistant? I had initially thought to use Aqara H1 switches with Philips WIZ lights, but the Aqara app can't see the WIZ lights for any sort of control automation. HA can see parts of the wall switches and parts of the downlights for automation. An imperfect situation to be sure. Do you think there would be any benefit to me digging out the M3 and installing it again? I appreciate your video since this is the first mention I've seen of bringing the M3 into Home Assistant.

[@BeardedTinker]

This really depends on your scenario - for people that use Aqara hub already and have a lot of devices added to it, that could be the easiest way to get them exposed to HA. But yes, third party database of devices is not substantial - so it's hit or miss, mostly miss unfortunately.

[@obi1998]

Can you use this hub to trigger Aqara scenes from Home Assistant? For example, the various T1M light ring animations are all scenes. It would be nice to trigger them with HA automations.