The upstairs bedrooms get quite hot on a summer afternoon as the sun beats down on the windows. Adding a temperature sensor upstairs that can detect if it’s too warm at a certain time of the day and then trigger the thermostat to cool the home is a great way to fix this. Adding an Aqara TVOC connected to Home Assistant seemed to be a great solution while I was adding other Aqara devices to Home Assistant.
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Aqara Temperature Sensors
Aqara makes two thermostats (at the time of writing). There are a plethora of other brands and devices that could have worked, but I was pleased with the quality of product from Aqara and thus they gained my trust already.
Temperature and Humidity Sensor
This device does not include a display, but will monitor temperature and humidity in a small device with a 2 year battery life. With the included sticker, mounting is quick and easy.
- Model: WSDCGQ11LM
- Wireless Protocol: Zigbee
- Battery: CR2032
- Learn More
TVOC Air Quality Monitor
Despite the name, this is a temperature and humidity sensor like the above device. It also has an E ink display for showing temperature, humidity, and a TVOC (total volatile organic compounds) or air quality rating. It cycles through 3 different display modes and isn’t much larger than the above device.
- Model: AAQS-S01
- Wireless Protocol: Zigbee 3.0
- Battery: 2 x CR2450
- Learn More
Choosing Which Aqara Temperature Sensor to Use
The price difference between the two isn’t great (and Amazon often offers discounts and coupons) and the display on the TVOC device was a nice feature. For those reasons I chose the TVOC temperature sensor. The display is crystal clear – I love it. The device is the perfect size, and works as expected.
In hindsight however, I learned a few things about this device and why for my personal situation it likely wasn’t worth the extra investment. When using the Aqara TVOC monitor without an Aqara hub, not all of the features are available.
Most notable feature lacking without the hub is that the temperate scale can not be set to Fahrenheit. It only displays in Celsius. While Celsius is a dominant measurement world wide, for those that prefer Fahrenheit this may be a barrier. That said, in Home Assistant it will show the temperature as Fahrenheit when the unit system in the global configuration is set to Imperial. (Configuration -> General or can be set in configuration.yaml).
An additional missing feature is that the battery level is not exposed to Home Assistant when integrated with either ZHA or deCONZ. Only the temperature and humidity level entities are exposed.
Lastly, the VOC (volatile organic compounds) rating is not reported to Home Assistant. If that is a sensor that is something desired, this device will not supply the desired information. The volatile organic compounds was tested and found not reported with ZHA and deCONZ integrations. On the physical device however, it does show the 1 through 5 leaf rating.
To contradict my testing, others report that the air quality rating does work in ZHA for them. [source] None of those reports stated that they were using the HUSBZB Zigbee coordinator that this testing was done with. This testing was done with Home Assistant 2021.9.7 version core-2021.9.7
| Sensor Entity | ZHA with HUSBZB-1 | deCONZ with ConBee II | Aqara Hub |
|---|---|---|---|
| Temperature | Yes | Yes | Untested |
| Humidity | Yes | Yes | Untested |
| Air Quality (TVOC) | No [1] | No [2] | Untested |
| Battery | No | No | Untested |
[1] Other users have reported that this sensor can be exposed under some hardware. [source]
[2] The entity shows up in Home Assistant but the value is always reported as Unknown
Zigbee Home Assistant Connection Stability
The Aqara TVOC temperature sensor has been a stable device on the Zigbee network whether using ZHA or deCONZ. It connects to the network without issues and for the features that work without the Aqara hub it has been a reliable device. The integration with deCONZ does seem to be more reliable, but both have worked well. This is based on “gut feel” – not measured connection data.
Aqara TVOC Temperature Sensor Connection Icons
The Aqara TVOC temperature sensor has a network connection icon to indicate the devices status on the network. This can be helpful to troubleshoot potential issues and monitor if the device is working as expected from within the home and without logging into Home Assistant.
How to Integrate an Aqara TVOC Temperature and Humidity Sensor to Home Assistant without an Aqara Hub
Aqara states in their documentation that an Aqara hub is required. That is true if you are going to solely live within their ecosystem. This tutorial will show how the Aqara TVOC sensor can be connected to Home Assistant without an Aqara hub using either ZHA (Zigbee Home Automation) using the HUSBZB-1 Zigbee gateway or deCONZ using the ConBee II Zigbee gateway.
ZHA (Zigbee Home Automation) Integration to Home Assistant with a HUSBZB-1 Zigbee Gateway
This tutorial is based on using a HUSBZB-1 Zigbee gateway with the Zigbee Home Automation (ZHA) integration. If needed, here is a tutorial for adding Zigbee with HUSBZB-1 and ZHA to Home Assistant.
- Click on Configuration
- Click on Integrations
- Click on CONFIGURE for the HubZ Smart Home Controller integration (or similarly named Zigbee integration if Zigbee is integrated differently in your Home Assistant)
- Click the ADD DEVICE button
- A screen will show indicating that Home Assistant is scanning for a new device.
- Press the button on the top of the device for about 5 seconds. The device will reboot and you’ll see the Aqara logo on the screen. That will clear to the normal display shortly.
- If all goes well, you’ll see Home Assistant recognize the device and start communicating with it.
deCONZ Integration to Home Assistant with a ConBee II Zigbee Gateway
This tutorial is uses a ConBee II Zigbee coordinator with the deCONZ Home Assistant integration. If needed, here is a tutorial for adding Zigbee with deCONZ and a ConBee II to Home Assistant.
- In the Phoscon App, click the three lined hamburger menu to expand it
- Click on Sensors
- Click the Add new sensor button
- Choose the Other button
- Press and hold the button on the top of the Aqara TVOC temperature sensor for about 5 seconds until the device reboots. You’ll see the screen start to flash and cycle through a few screens. When that process starts you can let go of the button.
- If after about ten seconds on the main temperature/humidity screen the Phoscon App doesn’t show a connection was made, repeat step 5.
Next, confirm that this new device is found by Home Assistant. If Allow automatic connections of new devices is selected under the deCONZ integration cards Configure menu there shouldn’t be any extra steps to take.
- In Home Assistant, click on Configuration
- Click on Integrations
- Click on the device ID
- Click on the Device link
- The TVOC device should be showing on the list of devices.
