New to Zigbee

CuriousB · January 31, 2026, 6:04pm

Had a few Zigbee devices but one contact sensor (357) has been intermittent I think due to poor signal strength.

I bought a Zigbee smart plug (388) to use as a repeater. I paired the smart plug and it is working fine. I installed it in a location roughly 1/2 way between the hub and the contact sensor.

I notice the contact sensor (357) is still a weak signal, what will cause that sensor to route via the repeater (smart plug)?
How will I know if 357 routes through a repeater? Will it show in the log?
Can you trigger the network to reform via a command? Rebuild network button?

I've been very ZWave focused so Zigbee is a little foreign to me still.

Any help appreciated.

WarlockWeary · January 31, 2026, 6:44pm

Sometimes it's just easier. To shut down this whole system. And wait approximately 10 to 15 minutes. This will sometimes make. The Zigbee devices reroute themselves. You give it a try. And see what happens.

Rxich · January 31, 2026, 7:16pm

The signal on all your sensors looks fine, however that plug has a poor signal(red line), so it has potential to make things worse.
These old iris plugs are both zig&z-wave, excellent Zigbee repeater

oldcomputerwiz · January 31, 2026, 8:43pm

To force a Zigbee device to use a specific repeater you can pair it with "Zigbee Pairing Helper." I added it using HPM

TArman · January 31, 2026, 9:22pm

Hmm, I don’t see it in HPM. Any thoughts?

danabw · January 31, 2026, 9:42pm

Doesn't appear to be in HPM...

EDIT: see @TArman's post just below.

Dan's Zigbee pairing helper is now integrated into the Zigbee Map app.

oldcomputerwiz · January 31, 2026, 10:13pm

Interesting. It's still showing on my hub as being in HPM and I'm not getting any errors when doing updates so I believe the manifest has to be intact

TArman · January 31, 2026, 10:38pm

Found it! The pairing helper has been incorporated into the Zigbee map app.

danabw · January 31, 2026, 10:48pm

I thought I knew that (sounded familar)...

"Advanced Zigbee Pairing" option in the Zigbee Map app. Good catch.

CuriousB · February 1, 2026, 4:51pm

Thanks to all.

I loaded the Zigbee Map app and it seems to work fine. Nice bonus is the CPU/memory tracker.

In the end I unplugged Hubitat for 25 minutes and then went and triggered all the battery powered devices a couple times. The two that should have reconnected via the repeater did so, so now they are a much stronger connection (I think, log only shows last hop so not sure device-to-repeater signal strength/quality).

Anyway sorted now. The intermittent contact sensor seems to be behaving better with the repeater in the path.