I was working on my electrical yesterday and had a circuit off for an hour or so. When I got everything back up and running, the battery devices in that area stopped working. I have an Aqara Motion Sensor and an Aqara Contact Sensor. I am guessing they lost contact with their router in the area and went to sleep.
My question is, what's the best way to "wake up" these sleepy end devices? Some of them are up a little higher and I was hoping to find a way to get them going again without having to physically access them?
Maybe it's not a possibility, but I thought I would ask what you all recommend.
Xiaomi/Aqara devices are a bit picky: they only like certain repeaters, and if they loose contact with one, they may just "fall off" your network. (Theoretically, they should be able to find another repeater or your hub directly, but ones I've looked at seem hesitant to change routes and would rather fall of my network than do so; others have said their experience varies from mine.) With "normal" devices, this isn't really a concern, but since these aren't quite standard, I'm not sure there's any good way around it. You'll likely have to re-pair them.
For regular use, if you haven't read this thread, it's pretty much a must-read if you use these sensors on Hubitat (or really any ZHA 1.2 hub):
But if they loose connection to their repeater, which sounds like happened here, all bets are off anyway. You just might be able to make it a bit better by using only "compatible" repeaters throughout, as discussed in that thread, if you aren't already (but again, mine don't really seem to care).
Otherwise, with standard devices, this really isn't a concern; they should re-join your network on their own in the event that they were not able to maintain a route in the meantime.
Thanks. I will read up. In the meantime, I used to use the Samsung Buttons, Motion Sensors, Contact Sensors, etc and love them, but you can't find them anywhere anymore. Is there another recommended brand for those types of devices?
I'm not sure what people use as go-tos for those now (though for buttons, Lutron Picos are my favorite--but not cheap to get started with). Sonoff has Xiaomi-esque prices but not Xiaomi-esque design, but if price is a concern, those work natively with Hubitat and, as a bonus, aren't subject to the same odd behavior as Xiaomi/Aqara. The Xiaomi "T2" devices have been long rumored but are difficult to find in the US as far as I know but might be well behaved standard Zigbee 3.0 devices, so there's some hope if you do prefer those. But Aeon--who seems to be taking most/all of this over--might have the former Samsung devices back in stock before that happens. I suppose there's also the secondary market.
But yeah, I agree--the Samsung sensors, both current and previous generations (particularly those made by Centralite, who also made the Iris v2 sensors may people love--both options you should also look into if you can find any)--were pretty good. Too bad they are hard to find now!
I looked into the Lutron Pro set up, but ultimately decided against it. I like going native Hubitat and didn't like the idea of injecting another hub and buying into a specific brand. I'll look at Sonoff and Aeon.
Is there speculation why the Samsung ones essentially disappeared? Just a supply issue or are they discontinuing them or what?
The Lutron bridges are a rock solid product (as are their switches) They talk via telnet and are incredibly quick. Honestly, it's no different that adding another HE to your system (which a lot of people do). Technically you are adding another failure point but in the 20 years ive worked with lutron products from their prosumer radio ra/ra2 lines and business lines, and the last 10 years with caseta, I've honestly never seen a bridge or switch fail. I have several clients I installed Radio Ra for with giant control panels and large remotes with antenna's and they still work today (even their web interface unit still works)
Totally get it. I honestly have zero issues with my Inovelli Z-Wave switches so to pull a Lutron bridge in just for the picos isn't really an option. Plus, I would still need motion and contact sensors anyway. Like I said, I weighed the cost/benefit and just decided not to go the Lutron route. I have heard nothing but good things tho!
I'd consider that a lost cause; the consensus is that they do not follow Zigbee (ZHA) specs closely enough, though they are close enough to pair and work well in many cases. But some (most?) repeaters have problems with them, and Hubitat (as in the hub directly) itself originally did too, but some Zigbee tweaks they did early on helped with that.
You just might be able to make it a bit better by using only "compatible" repeaters throughout, as discussed in that thread, if you aren't already (but again, mine don't really seem to care).
I suppose there's also the secondary market.
