Aqara doubles the power to its motion detector

Aqara releases a new product in France, finally new, it must be said quickly. the motion detector P1 is a simple evolution of the old model, with a doubled power supply. Instead of integrating a single CR2450 battery, it uses two for a theoretical autonomy that is more than doubled. The Chinese manufacturer promised two years of autonomy for the old product, the new announces up to 5 years of autonomy. On the other hand, the detector is slightly larger, without compromising its general format.

Apart from the power supply change, the two products are almost identical. This new generation adopts the more recent ZigBee 3.0 standard, which implies that it needs a point compatible with this standard. Another novelty, it allows you to adjust the detection duration, that is to say the time during which it no longer reacts after detecting a movement. On older versions, Aqara locked this time at 60 seconds, which means it no longer reacted for a minute after the original detection.

This new model makes it possible to adjust this time, between 1 and 200 seconds. Be careful however, the shorter the detection time, the more the detector will operate continuously and the more its autonomy will be reduced. To reach 5 years, you must not go below 30 seconds, the default value which is thus twice as fast as on older generations. In the Aqara app, you can also turn on the blue LED hidden under the surface of the detector each time a movement is identified, but again, this will have an impact on the life of the batteries. Last parameter proposed in the app, a detection sensitivity on three levels, the average being the default.

Thanks to these new settings, you can consider much more reliable automations, especially if you want to use a motion detector to identify the presence of a person in a room. By making a concession on autonomy, you can set the detection sensitivity to the maximum and force the device to check every 10 seconds, or even less, if a new movement is identified. It’s not as sophisticated as the presence detector that appeared in China at the end of the year and which unfortunately isn’t planned in France for the moment, but it should be better than the old model.

Aqara markets a HomeKit-compatible presence detector

For the rest, Aqara has not changed the operation of its product, delivered with a small foot that allows you to adjust its positioning. And the autonomy of the old models is excellent, much better in my experience than advertised: I’ve been using one for three years now and its battery is still not empty. All of these devices are HomeKit-enabled and can be used in automations created with the Home app.

The P1 motion detector is on sale from today at 30 €barely more than the old model still on sale at 26 €, but it is very difficult to recommend now. For the launch, Aqara is offering a small 10% discount by entering the code EUMOTIONPI when ordering, which allows you to buy the product for €27 (code valid until April 29).