Dealing with Zigbee Issues - Gotta love those Crees

I'd suggest doing nothing with the Xiaomi's right now; if they are still checking in (the device details report shows last checkin time) every hour, they are happy where they are. AFAIK the peanut should repeat OK for the Cree bulbs (I have no experience with the peanut plug).

They're random. Kitchen and dining. Steps. Bedrooms. Mixed.
I have to bring the hubby dinner. He's working late. I'll cone up with a map and show the layout. Maybe that will help.

Btw, there is a pretty good write up about a strong Zigbee mesh in the documentation

https://docs.hubitat.com/index.php?title=How_to_Build_a_Solid_Zigbee_Mesh

Definitely worth a read

So... what do I need to order for repeaters? Or do I ditch the cree? Or should I draw up a map?

These are my suggestions:

  • Ditch the cree
  • These repeaters work great for Aqara sensors and other zigbee stuff, including Sengled bulbs. At $9.99, they are the cheapest I found that worked with Xiaomi.

Edit - If you want something less big, then consider these USB repeaters. They are 30% more expensive, but you can stick them into any USB outlet.

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That’s a loaded question.... I have 5 Xbee’s acting as my backbone for my mesh. They are solid devices and work well with Xiaomi but they are also on the pricier side for pure repeaters.

In this post here is a list of repeaters that work with Xiaomi

The cheapest option are the IKEA modules.

Long term, I would think about getting those bulbs onto their own mesh (yes, 2nd hub). That will take away the headaches you get with them trying to be repeaters

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:+1: Very sound advice.

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@dan.t @aaiyar So you really think it's the crees? I returned home to a working house. I moved the peanut 11 feet exactly. I walked around the house and everything tripped like it should. My poor peanut ... was this the cause? My peanut? I think I'm gonna look into some options with this. I'll have to look at the links you posted. I have to mention that I moved peanut and walked out the door to meet my husband. Two hours later, I return to everything working EXCEPT my Iris desk sensor. But the IDE is way responsive.

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I ... must .... not .... power it on ... ...
Ordered 6 sengled bulbs. I have a friend that'll take the crees. It'll be a nice gift. She's on smartthings.

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Great that you got back to a working home. The Sengleds will make it easier. I’d still recommend to pickup one or two of those IKEA outlets as repeaters and distribute them in you house. That should make it pretty stable for you.

Yah. I think I will just because I like the xaiomi motions. They repeat with the ikeas, right?

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I figured out that my desk motion sensor had a dead battery! Just enough juice to pair to the hub, but nothing else. Silly me. Whoda thunk? It's not like I'm not putting my system through the paces!

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Ope, a dead battery!

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Turns out that it's probably my cree bulbs. I took a few of those out of the mix and the system starts working and responding. It's a good lesson to keep an open mind when troubleshooting issues. I can't say that any one person helped me come to this conclusion. But, in under 200 posts, we were able to figure it out. So the credit goes to the community. A big thanks to - @dan.t @aaiyar @Tony @gavincampbell @ogiewon @jon1 @bjcowles @bobbles @napalmcsr @stevebott123 jdjmailbox buzz corerootedxb Cobra stephack Navat604 bravenel- (It'll only let me tag 10 people in a post. Stupid rule!) I'd love to check SOLVED next to all of your names. Thanks for helping me. I had a hoot working with you guys on this. I appreciate your input and patience. You are all my heroes for sticking in this.
[Disclaimer] I dug a bit through the posts to try to mention everyone. If I missed you it was probably not intentional.

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I was having a similar issue with a handful of GE Link bulbs. I ended up putting them on a dedicated hub and everything has been working great. My GE Link bulb hub is on channel 25 while everything else is on channel 20.

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Awesome, now you can assist in preaching the do's and dont's of having specific bulbs on your primary zigbee hub!

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Oh @mike.maxwell you know I will try my best.
[EDIT] In my defense, I bought them when I was on smartthings. That OTHER platform. they were stable for me and remained as such until I tossed it up with two more. Although they really aren't number one on the list, I think that my setup is just on the edge of getting big. So, when I added the other two bulbs, the sh*t hit the fan. I think that the xaiomis are contributing to this, and I'll probably sell them off to someone that can keep them stable for a decent offer.

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Hey, I just wanted to check in an update. Yesterday I removed 4 Xiaomi motion sensors and replaced them with IrisV2 motions. My bulbs come on Tuesday. I have two more I can swap out. That will only leave three Xiaomi motions in my house. I also removed two Crees from the mix and replaced with dumb bulbs. Everything is running really well. I'll probably have four crees around for a few more weeks and those 3 Xiaomi sensors for a bit also, but I can already tell a significant difference in my functionality. It's almost like there's a wall that you can hit with these then watch out. I'm going to place the peanuts one upstairs one down and see how things run. Tuesday will be a telltale day for me as I'll be swapping out 6 Crees to Sengled. I just did the math and I had TEN not 8 crees. My limit must've been 8. I'll swap them out soon as well. My Smartthings friend said she wanted them. Since she doesn't have a large setup, they'll probably work with no troubles at all. (knob and tube wiring I think).

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It’s hard to imagine a house that has no ground wire, but has SmartThings. Quite a technology chasm. I’m assuming that’s why she uses the smart bulbs though.

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I recall way back in the ST days when folks discovered a magic number of Crees that seemed to provoke problems... I only have a couple that haven't caused issues but I've always kept that in the back of my mind. I dig some digging and found a more recent post (courtesty of @JDRoberts ) that suggests nine as the Cree breakpoint. Interesting that your experience seems to corroborate that: Disconnecting - General SmartThings Discussion - SmartThings Community

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