Aqara Sensors with Home Assistant

The Aqara Door and Window Sensor and the Aqara Motion Sensor are sensors that can enable automations around the home.  These sensors are particularly interesting, especially since they are much smaller than the SmartThings sensors I have used around the house, so the automation support can be added discretely.

The boxes from the Aqara sensors state that the Aqara hub is required. But since these are Zigbee devices, they can work with Home Assistant, with the Sky Connect USB Zigbee adapter (without the Aqara hub). 

Pairing these with Home Assistant is fairly straightforward.  I was able to use these steps

1. Enable Home Assistant to scan for new Zigbee devices. 
   
   
   
2. Remove the battery tab on the sensor, and press and hold the rest button for 3 seconds (This may take several attempts)
3. When the device is initialized, set a device name and assign the sensor to a room. 
   
   
   

With the possibilities with the larger and devices, it will be interesting to see what automations can be set up.