My C8 went downhill from the 1st day I got it a month ago. After Mike's comment about lowering the power level and @kkossev comment on pairing Xiaomi devices closer to repeaters compatible with them, I lowered my power level to 8.
I'm using GE Embirghten in-wall switches with Tradfri plugs for my mesh.
After making that power level change things returned to normal. I'm 4 days in at this point and everything is staying connected. I did raise my power level to 12 yesterday and so far everything is hanging on.
I'm on channel 23 in a single story brick ranch that has lots of plaster and metal lathe under that plaster. One other change I made with the increase back up to 12 was to exchange 2 tradfris for smaller Tuya repeaters. Those Tuya repeaters seem to be out performing the 2 tradfri outlets.
Since the power level reduction I've had no problem pairing Sonoff and Xiaomi devices. So far I've not moved up to the .123 update and running under the notion, if it ain't broke don't try to fix it.
It works fine on 2.3.4.148 version. All my SonOff and Aqara zigbee discovers and initialize properly but If I try to add them on the to latest version then it stuck at Initializing. Even on the fixed version .123 it is the same.
Both sensors SNZB-02 and SNZB-03 were added and initialized quickly without any problems. It's not latest version and maybe I'll hit to other bugs or limitations, but at least I can play around while waiting for latest version fixes.
It seems that issues are different for many people. I have several Hue Gen1 motion sensors and one Gen2 sensor. They are all working just fine with the C8.
It seems there are variations in the Aqara devices. Your contact sensors are working. My leak sensor and vibration sensor did not work on earlier C8 firmware; I have not tried adding them since updating to the most recent update.
Just purchased and flashed a pair of these and put them into my Hubitat Zigbee mesh to test. Will watch my Zigbee routing to see what they do. The stats look good on them. Curious if the coordinator will put them to use. My Zigbee mesh seems to have settled though - haven't been dropping any devices lately even without these. Pairing is still sometimes janky.
Today I saw there is new version available (2.3.5.124). After upgrading C8 to the latest version I was able to add/initialize 3 new sensors (SNZB-04) without any issues. SNZB-02 and SNZB-03 also works OK.
I'm having this sand issue with my C7 and 2 new aqara contact sensors that i bought while reduced for Prime day. I have 3 of the same model sensor that have been connected for months. One of these drops off occasionally and reconnects without issue.
I also got an Aeotec extender since these are going to be relatively far from my C7 and the older sensor that drops off occasionally is the further from my hub.
Anyone else having there issues with the C7? The legacy pairing mode isn't available in the C7.
The sensors that have been connected in the past are still connected but when i try to add new ones, they get stuck at initializing like others experienced earlier per the OP.
Odd - I just joined an Aqara contact sensor to my C7, didn't have any issues. It wasn't particularly close to the C7, connected via a SonOff USB Dongle P repeater (Zigbee 3.0).
Is there a way to tell if a device is trying to connect thru a bridging device instead of directly to the C7?
As mentioned, i just got an Aeotec zigbee extender; after connecting it to the C7, I put it between me and the C7 and tried to connect the new sensors and got the same result as when trying to connect directly to the C7.
Unfortunately it's impossible to tell (unless you're directly sniffing network traffic) how the device is joining/trying to join, even w/a repeater between the device and the hub. I frequently find "wacky" connection paths in my house, w/devices connecting to repeaters in rooms on the other side of the hub, that then connects back across the house to the hub. Strange but true...
Not sure why you're having problems w/the Aqara...staying connected has been an issue w/Aqara for a while, getting connected wasn't an issue I remember seeing.
