Generic zigbee lights intermittent problem with iris and hue motion sensors

That sounds like a problem with the mesh signal to the bulbs. The motion sensors only show "active" or "inactive", they don't control anything that happens outside of that.

Hopefully the repeaters will improve the mesh connections. Bulbs work fine on just the time automation (ge bulbs did too). It only when I add in the motion detectors that the problems start. They are all battery powered. So the weak HE radio combined with battery sensors must indeed cause the mesh to be unstable. Hopefully the repeaters do the trick.

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So the IKEA smartplug repeaters still haven't shipped and it appears people are having major issues getting anything for months from IKEA. Found Wyze smart outletplugs https://www.homedepot.com/p/Wyze-Wi-Fi-Smart-Plug-2-Pack-WLPP1/310678611 and Commercial Electric Smart outletplugs https://www.homedepot.com/p/Commercial-Electric-Wi-Fi-Smart-Plug-No-Hub-Required-Works-with-All-Major-Voice-Control-Platforms-7HPLWA1/309051918 in stock at Home depot for about $10.

Does anyone know if they will work as repeaters for the zigbee mesh?

both of those are WiFi, not Zigbee, so they won't work, not as devices and not as repeaters.

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As a very good alternative...

You can still get 10 Iris 3210-L2 outlets for $75 at IRIS Products - Test Equipment and Machinery International Inc

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@drsdsmith

Here are a few other things that work well as zigbee repeaters with easy availability:

Samsung zigbee outlets:

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-SmartThings-Outlet-GP-U999SJVLDAA-Smart/dp/B07F96JB63/

Innr zigbee smart plugs:

https://www.amazon.com/Zigbee-Philips-SmartThings-Google-Required/dp/B07SQGG8Z7

@ihardyadi's zigbee environmental sensor: - these are really phenomenal

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Missed that. Thanks

thanks everyone .. These costs keep adding up. ugh.

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Just be careful and methodical. Most of us have a tech drawer of shame with many HA devices that were terrible. Money we spent, but might as well have set on fire.

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Ken. That is my fear. I obviously am in over my head. And I'm a cheap bas****d at heart. Wink was so much easier. I'm going to try the Innr plugs since they seem to be one of the least expensive without buying large numbers at once.

There are plenty of reviews on Amazon (and reports over here) that Innr plugs work well as repeaters with Hubitat. I just want to point out that the deal @ogiewon linked to is a better deal and will build a zigbee mesh throughout your house.

Also, in addition to being considered excellent zigbee repeaters, those Iris/Centralite outlets provide power consumption statistics.

Finally, the Iris outlets can be independently paired as z-wave repeaters to Hubitat - meaning each outlet increases the robustness of both your zigbee and zwave meshes.

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Aaiyar, I don't doubt you are right on iris / centralite but I switched from wink only because I had to. Had 4 bulbs on it that I was content with for years. Made the "mistake" (lol) of thinking it would be cool to add a few motion detectors. I am now over $300 into this and have 4 bulbs and only one working motion detector. I'm just not sure i want to mess with a whole house system. This seems like way too much work for the benefit. I want something I can set and forget about, maybe the occasional power down, power up. Yeah it's only another 30 some dollars but it feels like throwing good money after bad at this point. I don't think I will be expanding anytime soon with what I've experienced so far. Might reassess if things run smoothly for a year. But thank you. If I was driving in, I would go that route. I would definitely push building the mesh for new users before they buy any battery operated sensors or bulbs.

The thing is, mesh networks are much more resilient when one increases the device density. Thus, adding more devices (carefully chosen) will make the system more reliable.

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I agree, bearing in mind that only line-powered devices repeat (unless they are specifically designed not to).

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If all you really want is a few light bulbs and motion sensors, why not simply invest in a Philips Hue lighting system instead? You can even reuse your GE Link bulbs. The Philips Hue system is pretty bulletproof and may be all you need at this point in your home automation journey (based on your most recent feedback.) The nice thing about the Hue bridge, is that it can easily be integrated with pretty much any other home automation system, should you decide to expand your home automation requirements later on.

Sengled bullbs do not work with a Hue bridge. And you probably will need to mostly use Hue branded motion sensors ( I am not sure if other brands will work.) Hopefully you can still return some of the items you've recently purchased to recover your costs.

Just an idea :thinking:

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Ogiewon, That might have been an option I should have considered. Only looked at HE and Smartthings. Went with HE because of the ability to control without the cloud and didn't want to get screwed again if smartthings decided to go subscription based like wink did. Can Hue run local only or does it need cloud as well?

That is an excellent question. Unfortunately, I am not a Hue expert. Hopefully another community member knows which parts of Hue run locally, if any.

Here is some information I found online.

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While the hue mobile app needs an internet connection to work with the hue bridge, our hue integration does not.

Does this mean that HE will continue to work with Hue v1 bridges?