Reset and wait 6 seconds is normal Trådfri behavior. They even document this.
You can even pair the outlets to the Trådfri bridge without a remote by putting them into pairing mode and holding down the pairing button on their bridge with their app running. You then quit the app and when you restart it shows the outlet under “disconnected devices”. You create a room, move the outlet to it and it’s then controllable from the app. Not remote needed. Unfortunately, for someone I guess, the outlet isn’t supported in HomeKit.
But while it was an interesting experiment, it isn’t really useful, and their bridge normal price is just expensive enough, and the software is so bad, as to not make it at all worth owning vs a Hue bridge if you’re a Hubitat owner. I only care that the Outlets work with Hubitat and seem so far, to be repeating my Xiaomi devices. No drops yet.
I actually only have a single Tradfri outlet (intended for use with a Christmas tree currently.) The extent of the included instructions are a couple paragraphs about pairing with a remote, and otherwise says push a pin into the pinhole for 5 seconds to factory reset.
I don't know if there are more extensive instructions with the hub/bulbs/remotes but the included
instructions for the bare outlet are pretty pitiful.
That said, its a fantastic little device for $15 once you get it paired.
So slightly more expensive, but that's life in Canada. Prices tend to get marked up to the next nearest "whole" dollar amount. or sometimes even higher. We do occasionally come out on the better end as the dollar fluctuates, but more often than not we pay a few bucks more (or occasionally, much more.)
Yep, that's all they say with the outlet instructions. The 6 second wait time I've seen in their steering device and dimmer instructions. I've found that many of their devices, if not all exhibit this same behavior.
I've just setup my XBee this evening, so I'm possibly reading this wrong, but it does look like the IKEA Trådfri outlet is indeed working well as a Xiaomi repeater.
Four of the devices on the right are all Xiaomi and they have decided the like the hub, or maybe it's just because that's where they were paired, and haven't dropped off. For all but one of them that is a Xiaomi motion sensor upstairs, this makes perfect sense, because they are closest to me.
The three devices in the middle are two Sengled bulbs and a Centralite leak sensor, and they have chosen my Trådfri outlet in the living room, which makes sense, because all three are closest to it.
The other five devices on the left are upstairs are all Xiaomi and are closest to the Trådfri outlet in my bathroom.
Three leak sensors are offline. Two are Xiaomi, but this is my fault for not checking them when I had the incident with the Trådfri bulb, so I should be able to just pair them in place with the Trådfri outlets.
Again, maybe I'm reading this wrong, but the Trådfri outlet appears to be an absolute success as a Xiaomi repeater and they are super inexpensive. What have you found so far?
[Edit] Confirmed. These do indeed repeat Xiaomi and other Zigbee devices. No more dropping devices since putting these in place.
So, I've got my Trådfri outlet all set up, but I can't get any of my Xiaomi devices to actually route through them. I even tried putting the hub in pairing mode, putting them near the outlet and far from the hub, and pressing the "pair" button on the side of the Xiaomi device. No luck--still on the hub I paired them through. I've always thought these things were reluctant to change routes, but I think that's worked for me before when they've "fallen off" and got added through a nearby repeater. I may try completely resetting it and pairing it near the outlet if the routes for either of the devices I have near it doesn't change in the next day or so.
Yes. It seems you need to reset them and re-pair to the repeater. A few of mine did change routes without my doing anything, but others didn't and are still connected directly to the hub. They're stubborn little guys. But I love them
Sorry that it took a while, but I can also confirm success with Xiaomi/Aqara devices staying connected via the Trådfri outlet.
While a couple of my Sengled Element Classic bulbs switched over on their own, in the past two weeksI did not once see any of my Xiaomi/Aqara devices move their connection over to the Trådfri outlet on their own accord.
So, I had to do the same as @SmartHomePrimer to "force" my Xiaomi/Aqara devices to use the Trådfri outlet as a repeater: reset and manual re-join (i.e., don't delete the device from the Hubitat's device list; just start "discover Zigbee & Z-Wave devices" mode, and go through the Xiaomi/Aqara device's pairing steps.)
Rated at 1800W/15A max output according to the manual, these are a total no-brainer at $10 (assuming you don't mind the size/design and the audible toggle breaker 'click' sound)!
Does that include the long/"reset" press before the short/"pair" presses? If so, doesn't that create an entirely new device in Hubitat? (I know ZigBee normally doesn't do that, but I swear I've had Xiaomi devices do it if reset, at least on another platform. I'll be less scared to try this if it doesn't. I only tried the short presses in pairing mode to see if maybe I could make it re-evaluate.)
Besides their slightly large size (mostly long and not too tall but not quite short enough to fit two on a standard US duplex outlet), the only other disadvantage I see is that they don't contain a physical on/off button. On the Trådfri platform, you can pair their external on/off button to the device, but I'm not sure you can do that if it's paired to Hubitat. (But of course, you can use any button device or automation of your choice in Hubitat to achieve the same--you're just out of luck if the hub is off/rebooting/etc.)
EDIT: But yes, I should say, these are dirt cheap for repeaters, especially if they work with Xiaomi devices. No physical button isn't a problem if you only use them to repeat, of course. They may replace an Xbee as my go-to recommendation if they continue to work this way (though the Xbee retains the advantage of being able to be powered over USB, being slightly smaller, and I suspect having a better range and being able to handle more child devices, though I don't know that for sure).
I actually could not get this to work with any but one of my devices. I had to remove my devices from Hubitat and re-pair. I couldn't get them to respond otherwise. Maybe I didn't do it right, or don't know the correct technique.
The lack of a physical switch is a minor inconvenience, but since I run Homebridge, it's available on my phone if I ever do actually want to use these as switches. They're just repeaters to me. The devices I have plugged into them are only that way because as you observed, in IKEA style, they didn't modify the shape for the US, just the prongs, voltage and UL/CSA requirements. So I can't get a power adapter and one of these in a duplex socket at the same time, other than plugging the power adapter into the Trådfri outlet. But a good point about them being uncontrollable when the hub is off or rebooting. Pulling them is the only option without a remote. They might be able to use any IKEA remote, but they won't use any just Zigbee remote. I tried with a Lutron Connected Bulb Remote and it wouldn't do it. Has to be one recognized by the Trådfri gateway (which I picked up just to play with). I have a feeling that we'll be able to pair their remote as Device and then also pair it with the outlet. Just have to do it in the right order. I plan to pick up one with a remote next time I'm at IKEA.
Pairing update: I tried leaving my "old" Xiaomi device on Hubitat, then re-setting and re-pairing it. The "old" device was replaced the the "new" device, and it's network ID changed, but it did not create a new device--it apparently just updated the "old" one to match the device I had reset. (I'm pretty sure on ST this just created a new device. Possibly older versions of Hubitat did the same. I don't remember.)
Unfortunately, even when pairing just a couple feet away from the Ikea Outlet and a whole floor plus a couple rooms away from the hub, it still tries to pair through anything other than the Ikea outlet (now the hub, before a stronger repeater I turned off before my second attempt). I may try with some other spare Xiaomi devices and moving the Ikea outlet to a more isolated space, but these things are tricky.
I wonder if channel plays a role with IKEA devices? I'm on channel 13 and the devices seem to have no problem joining through the outlet. All my Xiaomi devices are new version Aqara.
is always appreciated! Thank you.
