Narrowboat home automation – basic Aqara setup

Aqara home dashboard running on an iPad aboard a narrowboat

A neighbour’s narrowboat sank yesterday which is my worst nightmare as a liveaboard boater. I’ve been thinking about some light home automation after finding out about water leak sensors, and enjoying the Bluetooth monitoring on my Victron battery charger. I already have Apple phone/tablet for testing websites on, so after a bit of reading found out that modern home automation platforms can often talk to each other instead of being walled gardens.

Basic Setup

I bought the kit from https://www.aqara-shop.co.uk/ as it was on sale, and it arrived next day. I got the cheapest Aqara hub (the E1) which plugs into a USB socket on my router. This is paired with a battery operated water leak sensor to go in the engine bay of my narrowboat, and TVOC air quality monitor for the lounge. I wanted to check air quality while running my multi-fuel stove after seeing some scaremongering about such stoves being bad for us. Air quality as measured by this widget with the stove chugging away has been ‘excellent’ so far. Phew.

These sensors communicate with the hub via Zigbee and that then communicates with the Aqara Home iOS app. I’ve set up a critical alert push notification if the flood sensor gets wet as I want to know about that ASAP. It took five minutes to set up, with only minor wrinkles due to VPN running on the phone.

aqara e1 hub, flood sensor and tvoc sensor for narrowboat

Aqara e1 hub, water leak sensor and TVOC air quality monitor for narrowboat home automation setup

Next Steps

More flood sensors: I’d like a few more water leak sensors – one under my bed just in case the window leaks, one under the floor by the shower tray in case the gulper pump packs up and one by the water tank in the bow (front).

Homekit automation and remote access: There’s a basic link to Apple Home/Homekit in place already, but Homekit requires its own hub to set up automations. A Homepod Mini or Apple TV can be used as this hub, and it also offers remote connectivity which could be handy when I’m away from the narrowboat. Maybe a camera to keep an eye on Lizzy while I’m away?  I’ve got a spare 4g router so could perhaps set something up so if the 240v AC power drops, the 4g router comes on line to keep remote access going.

Audio upgrade: I’ve got an old Sonos Play:1 (non-Airplay version) which sounds amazing but drives me nuts with its terrible, slow software. Upgrading to the Homepod Mini would meet both my home automation and ‘lo-fi beats to work to’ needs.

Garish lights: Currently no desire to have LED lights everywhere but who knows what the future brings.. did think about having new downlighters controlled by the app though.