I have a Smartthings Motion Sensor v4 (the one with the magnetic base) in my cluster mailbox - directly in front of my house. I installed an Enbrighten Zigbee outlet in my eaves specifically to allow this device to have a solid repeater within 30 feet. It had been fairly consistently reporting until last week. It went offline and after re-joining it it won't report when the mailbox door is closed.
I have tried factory resetting it and joining it and it does join quickly - but once the door is closed it stops talking. I suspect it is joining directly to the hub or through a weaker repeater and then loses connection once it is in the closed box.
I thought maybe adding another Zigbee outlet outside my front door might give it a better path - but after trying again today it just won't talk.
Is there any way to find out who it is communicating with or to "force" it to communicate with a specific device?
I have an Iris v2 contact sensor in my mailbox and struggled when I first installed it. I then bought an Xbee and put a high gain antenna on it from an older router and problems went away. Zero issues in over 2 years since. Nice thing with the Xbee is you can hook it up to a computer and see your Zigbee mesh too. Mine is in my network closet under stairs in front center of my house.
@NoWon includes a picture of his mesh in the first post. It direct connects just like any other Zigbee but in my personal experience it has a stronger range to work as a repeater. Especially with a high gain antenna.
Caution on "New CR2", I purchased a 12 pack from Amazon of a cheap brand, and had a similar issue with one of my sensors (so I thought) Turns out 3 of the 12 batteries were already dead.
You have a "good" source for batteries? I've had fairly good luck with the Amazon Basics in various sizes... but I've also had some that were dead on arrival and a few C size that had polarity reversed!
Not really, I just stick with Energizer for now, keep my eyes out for the deals on Amazon. My cameras ( Blink ) have been using Energizer Lithium AA's it's amazing how long they are lasting.
Polarity reversal, wow, first I heard of that. Definitely worth checking a "new" battery before using it.
I will have to defer on this a bit, but generally speaking I understand these devices somehow determine signal strength and somehow figure out the best way to phone home. There isn't much you can do to force something to be on that table if that is what you are thinking.
Maybe someone can explain this in more detail.
The other thread I would refer you to is the Zigbee packet viewer thread, especially if you want to see how things are routing. It is an off-board solution that takes additional hardware and software though. Zigbee Packet Sniffer-Cheap &Works
Zigbee Switch 
