Constant loss of connectivity to Xiaomi devices

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1

To quote Queen….. “I’m going slightly mad”

Ok, for the past month I’ve been playing a game of whack a mole with my zigbee sensors. All of them were working brilliantly until about a month ago. Since then, everyday I will lose connectivity to some. I will have to run around the house re-pairing them. Then they work fine for anywhere from a few hours to a few days.

I’ve tried new zigbee channels (from 20 to 15 and then 26) but same behaviour. I have used a wifi analyser and those channels should be fine but there could be non-wifi noise on some channels so tried anyway.

I’ve looked at my mesh and LQI is good across the board, but I'm not sure on the other paramater meanings so maybe something there. I've added an export of my mesh below. I’ve also added and moved a couple of repeaters just in case. I did read that a bad repeater can cause problems. I since removed a Tuya smart plug that I got about then just in case but no help. I also read that a rebuild of the mesh has helped a similar problem with smart things. But I'm not sure on how to do that here. Do I just unplug the hub for a few hours?

I really just don’t understand it. Everything was fine and then everything went to sh!t. I even have one of the devices dropping that sits about 2m away from the actual Hubitat Hub and in line of sight. WTF.

What else can I try? Could it be a damaged Hub or Zigbee device? I am at my wits end and about to go back to a dumb house as my wife is getting extremely annoyed.

Thanks for any help.
Alan

Parent child parameters
EzspGetParentChildParametersResponse [childCount=1, parentEui64=0000000000000000, parentNodeId=65535]

Child Data
No information for Child 0

Neighbor Table Entry
[Plug (innr) - PC, 1698], LQI:254, age:4, inCost:1, outCost:1
[Plug (Ikea) - Bedroom, 5702], LQI:252, age:3, inCost:3, outCost:1
[Signal Repeater (Ikea) - Dining Room, 5BBE], LQI:255, age:4, inCost:1, outCost:1
[Plug (Ikea) - Kids room (spare) , 7099], LQI:255, age:4, inCost:1, outCost:1
[Plug (Samsung) - Perfectdraft power, 8DD3], LQI:197, age:4, inCost:7, outCost:5
[Switch (no name) - Garage Flood Light, 9338], LQI:252, age:5, inCost:3, outCost:7
[Plug (Tuya) - Test, 9F62], LQI:254, age:7, inCost:1, outCost:0 ---This is the one that I unplugged
[Plug (Samsung) - PC Power, 9F72], LQI:255, age:4, inCost:1, outCost:1
[Plug (Ikea) - Entrance Hall, D8DE], LQI:254, age:4, inCost:1, outCost:3
[Signal Repeater (Ikea) - Landing, F076], LQI:253, age:4, inCost:3, outCost:1
[Plug (innr) - Kitchen Perfectdraft Fan, FD6F], LQI:252, age:4, inCost:3, outCost:5

Route Table Entry
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Signal Repeater (Ikea) - Landing, F076] via [Plug (Samsung) - PC Power, 9F72]
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Signal Repeater (Ikea) - Dining Room, 5BBE] via [Plug (Samsung) - PC Power, 9F72]
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused

2

If I understand correctly, your note states that you have unplugged a router node? I strongly recommend not doing that, as it could cause problems similar to what you describe you are experiencing.

Other than that, if you have at least one device working as expected, it means that the radio is fine, from a hardware perspective. If devices stop working or dropping off the mesh the problem is with the health of your mesh and/or local radio interference.

Mind sharing more details about your hub? What model is it and what platform version are you running?

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3

Thanks for the reply. I'll get my details and let you know.
Just for reference, I experienced the problems before I removed the repeater. They started round the time when I added it, hence why I unplugged it to test if that device was the cause.
What I've tried recently is unpowering the hub for a couple hours to try rebuild the mesh. It seems a bit more stable. I still have a couple dropped sensors but I haven't had time to do a proper test.

4

Hi. My hub is the c-5 with software 2.3.3.123 (updated today).
I've re-paired all lost sensors after letting mesh rebuild. I'll check over the next 2 days how it goes. Next step if that doesn't work is to move the hub further away from my WiFi router. I changed that recently but after I started having problems (but not as bad as now so wondering if that could be influencing this).

5

Just as an update in case anyone with similar problems find this, I rebuilt the mesh by disconnecting the hub for 2 hours (one site said 20min is fine but another smartthings site said they needed 2 hours for the Smartthings hub, so I just played cautious). After that I went around and re-paired every single device. A strange thing on that is that some of the plugs would not show in logs. I reset them and went through pairing. Their lights indicated they paired but the hubitat pair page didn't show anything. They worked after so everything must have been good.
Since then, all has been stable again.

6

Ok, ignore my previous post. Back to the drawing board. Constantly losing connectivity to my Xiaomi temperature sensors and buttons. Every day I wonder round and repair them all. Such a pain. Plus I need to get to them before the wife tries and uses them :stuck_out_tongue: . I'm really stuck for what this could be. Can't be remote device as it happened to multiple at the same time. I live in a small town and not a big built up area where there could be a lot of 2.4GHz interference. My neighbours also aren't tech savvy so don't have a lot of wifi/other devices. I've also used signal analysers, moved my own wifi as well as tried 3 different zigbee channels. So I doubt it's that. I've moved location of hub and rebuilt mesh multiple times. Also added additional repeaters. But some of the devices are in same room and was even in line of sight. So again, don't think it's signal strength/quality. That leads me to something that is wrong in the hub or a change in protocol, or something along those lines. I agree with what bobby said in that it can't really be a broken hub/zigbee device as I would have trouble with all my devices.
Can anyone identify anything else I can try?
My next step is to dump hubitat and move to home assistant to try and use some more analytical tools to identify this (and also use new hardware which may solve the problem). I would like to avoid that but can't keep repairing every day or 2.

7

Unfortunately, there have been many reports of poor experience with Xiaomi/Aqara devices and is the main reason they are not on the Compatible List of devices. Some folks have had a better luck, so hopefully they'll share some tips on how they managed to use these devices without problems.

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8

I knew there may be problems setting up and was happy when I got them all working well. My confusion comes from the fact that they have been working well for over 2 years and then all of a sudden they all start giving problems. To me that screams a change or problem with the hubitat device.
Here's hoping someone else has had a similar issue with resolution :slight_smile:

9
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10

Sounds like one of your repeating devices died. Did someone unplug something, or are there any devices that no longer work? Did you add or change any devices on your Zigbee network? Any batteries dead in any device?

To me, your Samsung Powerdraft, Garage Flood Light, and Kitchen Powerdraft are struggling with those high incost/outcost.

That Tuya plug had a good signal, I am not sure if it is compatible or not with the Xiaomi devices, but it likely was helping rather than hurting things.

You also don't seem to have many devices in the Route Table Entry, which seems a bit odd compared to what I am used to seeing.

The only device I have that looks bad (Large Bath LED Controller) is inside a bath sink cabinet. On the back side of that cabinet is a refrigerator, stove, and kitchen cabinets, another side is an outside wall, and on the 3rd wall it has to go through a metal heating duct and a closet (dense objects and multiple layers of drywall). So I am not surprised it has such a weak signal.

zigbee routing
zigbee routing966Ă—772 303 KB

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11

Or a malfunctioning router as @neonturbo pointed out.

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12

Thank you for all the replies and sorry for taking so long to come back. You gave me a good steer to look into this and I think I found my problem. I originally had multiple ikea outlets working as repeaters. 2 of them stopped working (smart plug side at least) and I also needed to do some power management. So I swapped them for samsung smartthings outlets, not thinking to check the Xiaomi list (I had read it before but subsequently forgot over the last couple years where things have been working well). I also thought that those samsung plugs are not necessarily cheap and should be better quality, so didn't even consider that they may not work with some devices. Compounded with the fact that I didn't get the issue immediately so didn't link them back to it. It was only later when adding the Tuya outlet where I had the problem, which was probably due to the mesh behaving differently then with the new device and routing some Xiaomin through the samsung. I have still to test but that makes sense to me. Thanks again for the help.

But now I sit with a situation where there are no power monitoring outlets that are listed to definitely work with Xiaomi but I need for my automation. So I could consider replacing my xiaomi devices but that would be costly. Plus the fact that I have some wall mounted light switches (wireless ones and neutral free wired ones) that I would need to source
a replacement for. And most I've seen I don't like the look of.
While I sort that out, a question for you knowledgeable people out there please... is there a way of using an outlet but disable zigbee repeating. As in, can I use the samsung power outlets but not have them repeating the zigbee signals?
Thanks again
Alan

13

Short answer - no. As you've also discovered smarthings outlets don't mix with xiaomi sensors. Other options to consider - use a second hub or set up zigbee2mqtt on a raspberry pi to create another zigbee network for troublesome devices.

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14

:sob: Back to the drawing board. Everything was working relatively well for the start. 2 Hubs meshed, one with only Ikea repeaters and the Xiaomi devices, and the other with my other smart plugs. But just seemed to be getting worse since. Started with just a device or 2 losing connection every week or so, then a few more. Now this morning waking up to over 10 needing re-pairing. I'll give the Xiaomi thread another read to see if I can find the issue, else I guess it's back to the original plan of replacing all Xiaomi devices which I'm not looking forward to (more the problem of getting suitable wall switches (wired and wireless) that the wife will like the look of.

15

Some of us use a secondary hub for Aqara sensors, and bring them into Hubitat for automation.

For example, even a $15 Sonoff dongle on an always-on computer that can run zigbee2mqtt will do the trick.

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16

Sorry for the delay in response.... Christmas and visiting family.
I do have a second Hubitat hub, purely for Xiaomi devices. Or did you mean a different brand hub?

17

Just to expand on that. Would a Aqara hub be better than hubitat for those devices? I'm perfectly willing to buy one if you think it will end my woes.

18

This. Many of us pair these devices to something like Home Assistant, and then use Home Assistant Device Bridge to bring them into Hubitat.

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19

Sorry for the naive question, but why work with hubitat if you are already using home assistant? I read/heard that home assistant is a lot more powerful but not as easy. But if you are already using home assistant, wouldn't it be better to just stick with it?
Alan

20

That is a great question! I think people start with Hubitat but have a need for an odd service / device(s) that haven't been added aren't compatible (yet?) so end up with some sort of secondary "companion" server. Since they already have their rules and such in HE, and HE is great with the devices it does handle they would be inclined to keep their setup rather than having to go through the pain of re-including everything and futzing with a different rule engine & "paradigm". HE has proven itself very good at bridging to various platforms and systems thanks to the community AND the company (Lutron, HomeBridge/HomeKit,Node-RED,MQTT, "itself" via hubmesh, etc)

I certainly don't mean to disparage HA - it has some amazing capabilities as well. If you are starting with HA and are comfortable with the technical challenges that can occur then yeah probably better to stick with that...

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