GE 45856 Zigbee Switch won't pair

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1

I just installed my second GE 45856 and I cannot get the Hub to find it. It is a brand new switch. The switch LED blinks correctly and the Devices Zigbee pairing mode counts down but the switch is not discovered. I have tried resetting the switch (press top 10X method), but that does nothing.

I suspect the problem is my stone house. While the switch is only about 15' from the hub, there is a two foot thick granite wall between the two. I have a working Iris V1 contact sensor on the door right next to the switch. I also have a plugged-in Zigbee outlet in the hall at the end of the room which will act as a repeater.

With the contact sensor, I paired it in the same room as the hub, them attached it to the door. I have no way of checking, but I assume that it connected through the repeater to the hub once it was mounted.

Unfortunately, since the GE switch is a wall mounted AC device, I do not have the same option for pairing.

Any suggestions for pairing this switch? Is there anyway to pair via the repeater?

2

If a Zigbee device can't pair in place, it's unlikely to work in place, either. Zigbee devices do pair through the mesh, so there's no reason to do anything special there. Do you have any other repeaters, especially ones between the hub and your device? (That being said, Zigbee routes aren't easily human-predictable so one farther away may also be fine and one closer is no guarantee.) Your smart plug would probably be fine, assuming it's also Zigbee.

Does the device work at all? Is it possible it died? (Some people have seen this on the Z-Wave ones.) I'm not sure what to suggest besides the reset you've already tried. I'm assuming you're confident in your model number and protocol, as the Z-Wave ones are different but much more prevalent.

3

I don’t know your layout, but is it possible to put a repeater upstairs or downstairs that could more easily get around the wall? In my house I put repeaters close to the hub, but one floor above, and that has worked well for me.

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4

Just as another example, I have several devices that route through repeaters that are actually further away from the Hub than they are or than other repeaters are. But they either have line-of-sight to the repeater, have fewer obstructions (especially duct work, that seems to be a real killer) or their antenna is oriented more towards that repeater. The Hampton Bay Zigbee fan module is famous for this. That zigbee antenna has to be almost pointed at a repeater but if you do, it's rock solid. So, if you don't have a strong mesh, I would definitely advise picking up a couple more repeaters. Zigbee sensors are definitely my preference as they have faster response times so investing in getting a strong mesh now will save you headaches in the long run.

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5

Since the sentences follow one another, I would like to clarify, Zigbee sensors are fine but I am sure Ryan was not suggesting that they are good repeaters. Only wired/plugged in devices can repeat.

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6

No, I was saying that since Zigbee sensors are far superior to Z-wave ones (IMHO) that building your zigbee mesh is a good investment that you'll thank yourself for later. I guess I could have put a paragraph break in.

7

I know what you were saying. I was just making sure the OP didn't think you were recommending Zigbee sensors as repeaters.

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8

That's why I clarified.

9

The two sentences and the grammar in the second still suggests it. For someone who might read the first and not follow on to your clarification, you might edit your post and we can both remove our back and forth.

10

As well as building a better Zigbee mesh using better router devices.
To ensure your switch is working correctly you could take an old extension cord and cut the end off and attach the wires to the switch (put in a PVC plastic electrical box to be safe). Then plug it in next to the hub and pair it there first.

11

Unfortunatly this is not best practice currently, if you do this with a zwave device one must do a repair once the device is in place, you can't do this easily with zigbee. With both zigbee and zwave devices one is much better off in the long run by pairing them in place, that way the will select the routers they will use long term and nothing else need be done.

I can't repeate this enough, with modern devices if they won't pair in place, chances are they wont work in place.

Some older zwave locks require pairing near the hub, but there are fewer and fewer of these as well.

12

I only meant to do it to ensure it is working correctly.
Even brand new it could be dead out of the box.
Yes he will likely have rejoin it once in place.

He can also Reset the Smart Switch
To manually reset and remove the Smart
Switch from the ZigBee network, Tap Top of
Rocker (ON Switch) 10x quickly (short presses)

@magnells what zigbee channel are you on? try changing to 20

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13

While true, I've probably joined close to 1000 discrete devices over the past 5 years, and out of that?, only one dead one...
So from my own personal practical perspective?
Pair in place...

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14

thought the GE 45856 sounded familiar.

15

Mine have worked well on channels 15 and 20 and seem to be okay repeaters. My Hue dimmers and Lightify switches seem to pair through them okay as well.

16

Thanks for all your comments.

I am using channel 20 on my hub. I assume there is no channel swapping at repeaters.

The switch model is 45856GE made by Jabsco

I am using an Iris V1 smart plug in my hall as the repeater. It is less than 20 ft from the hub in my office and visible to the hub through a doorway. That repeater is about 15 ft from the GE switch and in direct line-of-sight. There is an Iris V1 contact sensor on a door right next to the switch and it is working fine. There is another Iris V1 smart plug in the office on the opposite side of the wall between the hub and GE switch. It is about 10 ft. from the hub and 2ft through the granite wall from the switch.

I don't know any way to determine the routes from hub to devices. If there was only a traceroute command in hub...

If there is a better device to use as a repeater, I could give that a try. I am not currently using the hall plug for any use other than a repeater. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

My house is a real problem for wireless. I have to have separate Wi-Fi routers less than 40 ft apart (connected via Ethernet) to cover most of the single story house, which is only 1800 sq ft. The house is a converted dairy and the walls are either 2 ft. thick granite or 4 in. thick concrete.

17

No there is no channel swapping
I am a bit biased :laughing:

@iharyadi also makes a very strong router device.

18

you can also trace your zigbee using Hubitat change xxx to your hub port number
https://192.168.1.xxx/hub/zigbee/getChildAndRouteInfo
not that it will help you much if you can not pair your switch but you can see your plug signal strength.

19

Nah, I'm good. Thanks for the suggestion though.

20

@NoWon, Thanks for both suggestions on monitoring.

At this time, I'm not able to do any DIY building of devices, either using Xbee or building my own sensors...maybe by next spring.

I also looked at the ChildAndRoute URL and I'm not quite sure that I understand all of it. The Child Data section is empty, so I am not sure what is supposed to be there.

The Neighbor table contains some, but not all of the devices that can act as repeaters.

The Route table is also incomplete in that it doesn't contain routes to all of my Zigbee devices and some of the device routing is rather hard to fathom. Some of the routes are from the repeater closest to the hub to contact sensors furthest away through several thick stone walls, which seems unlikely. Does the route only show first and last devices and no intermediate hops?

Is there any documentation on the generated page? Also, is there any documentation on any other diagnostic URLs that exist. It seems like there are secrets only know to the illuminati.

Here is the page, if anyone is interested in commenting on what is on it.

Parent child parameters
EzspGetParentChildParametersResponse [childCount=0, parentEui64=0000000000000000, parentNodeId=65535]

Child Data

Neighbor Table Entry
[Front Hall Outlet_, 13F7], LQI:253, age:5, inCost:3, outCost:1
[Front Porch Light_, 5799], LQI:254, age:3, inCost:1, outCost:1
[Office Lamp_, 7AEA], LQI:253, age:4, inCost:3, outCost:1
[Living Room Outlet_, 8555], LQI:253, age:3, inCost:3, outCost:0
[Hall Outlet 2_, 923F], LQI:247, age:4, inCost:3, outCost:3

Route Table Entry
status:Unused
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Hall Window Front Right, C698] via [Front Porch Light_, 5799]
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Key Fob, A4CE] via [Office Lamp_, 7AEA]
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Hall Window Rear Left, 4406] via [Front Porch Light_, 5799]
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Bedroom Outlet_, B479] via [Office Lamp_, 7AEA]
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Office Motion Sensor, D305] via [Office Lamp_, 7AEA]
status:Active, age:32, routeRecordState:2, concentratorType:Low Ram, [Living Room Outlet_, 8555] via [Front Porch Light_, 5799]
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Office Window Right, 1888] via [Office Lamp_, 7AEA]
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [TV Room Window, 0D54] via [Hall Outlet 2_, 923F]
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Back Bedroom Window Right, DD3F] via [Front Porch Light_, 5799]
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Kitchen Door, 2968] via [Front Hall Outlet_, 13F7]
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Back Bedroom Window Middle, 37A2] via [Front Porch Light_, 5799]
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Hall Motion Sensor, 8579] via [Front Porch Light_, 5799]
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Back Bedroom Window Left, 54FB] via [Front Porch Light_, 5799]
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Hall Window Front Left, 88A3] via [Office Lamp_, 7AEA]
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Living Room Window, DB2D] via [Front Porch Light_, 5799]