Aqara is one of my favourite smart home brands, making smart tech solutions to various problems. I use Aqara sensors to circulate air when windows are open, to open and close curtains automatically and have some cameras and lights from them too. Today, Aqara announced that there are two more products, a smart smoke alarm and smart water valve, entering their eco-system which will be available in the Irish market via Amazon.co.uk.
I haven’t got to test these just yet, but wanted to let you know they’re available in case you seem them going for a good price somewhere!
This article contains links to Amazon. If you purchase from Amazon after clicking this link, it won’t cost you anything extra but we might get a small commission for sending you over there. Thanks for supporting us! The author has a mix of other Aqara products he has bought himself and some have been sent by Aqara for testing.
Aqara Smoke Alarm
When it comes to home safety, few devices are as important as the humble smoke alarm. I’ve always looked at them as being something that’s so simple; maybe too simple. Yet nearly 40% of fatal house fires in Ireland take place in homes without any smoke alarm. A smoke alarm can save lives and connecting smoke alarms to smart home technology seemed such a logical step forward to even better safety. Yet it hadn’t happened. That was until now.
Aqara has announced their smart Smoke Detector, compatible with the Zigbee 3.0 Protocol. This is a battery powered smart device capable of alerting you to the presence of smoke in your home. As with traditional smoke alarms, you’ll hear the alert from the device itself through a 85dB siren. There’s also a visual indicator thanks to an onboard LED.
Naturally, because it’s smart, you’ll also receive alerts on your smart phone whether you’re at home or away from home. Armed with just this alert or coupled with the smart cameras and temperature sensors, you can know what’s going on in your home where ever you are in the world.
As important as smoke alarms are, thankfully most of the time we are aware of them is when they start chirping because the battery is dying. The Aqara Smoke Alarm promises to have introduced plenty of power saving technology and but better still, you shouldn’t have to change the battery for around 10-years according to the manufacturer.
Now, it’s not your average smoke alarm so it’s not your average smoke alarm cost. The Aqara Smoke Detector costs about €50, give or take a fiver and is available on Amazon.co.uk.
Aqara Valve Controller
Successful smart home gadget makers know looking after renters is just as important as home-owners. Aqara gets this. That’s why they created the valve controller. Now, this is a very niche solution that I’d argue most renters also wouldn’t bother with. But lets take a look anyway.
The Valve controller is designed to easily retrofit all plumbing fitting with either a lever or butterfly knob. The first thing to be careful of here in Ireland is making sure you don’t have a good old fashioned circular knob valve.
Once fitted, this is connected to your smart home again with Zigbee while also supporting Matter too. This battery powered controller has a few uses. The big example Aqara offers is that you can connect this to your outdoor water sources to control garden watering systems. Not so useful in Ireland.
More useful is if you combine with this a Aqara Leak Sensor. The idea is that you can connect both to your water systems at home. If your water tank leaks and the sensor detects it, you can now automatically shut off the water. It’s a genius and relatively cheap solution to a very expensive problem.
The Valve controller is a lot more expensive at about €85 from Amazon. And to get the most value from this kind of accessory, you will likely need more than one (for different water pipes) and a leak sensor. But, while it’s never happened to me I bet a quick questions to anyone who’s ever had a major leak while on holidays, that could be money well spent.
The Valve Controller T1 is available on Amazon.co.uk right now and may be available at reduced prices.
