Trying to find a Zigbee repeater

@razorwing

You are correct. I remember asking and being told it doesn't work as a repeater.

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@aaiyar I just thought we would mention these so the OP doesn't buy one of them thinking it will repeat.

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Eh, depends on your definition of "better". They are lower powered than the outlets are, so not quite the same amount of range as a traditional wall wart, but for what they do, yeah, they are much better.

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Do I understand that the Ikea Zigbee repeater is two pieces - one piece is just a generic USB Power Supply and the other piece is the actual Repeater? Meaning you can put the Repeater on a USB cable if you want to position it some distance from an AC outlet?

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Correct and correct.
And, strangely enough, cheaper in the Great White North(Canada) than in the home of the free.

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The Hampton Bay Fan Controller (a hardwired module) is also an end device and not a repeater. The three that everyone has mentioned so far--Sengled bulbs, Sengled outlets, and this module--are the only three powered devices I'm aware of that aren't repeaters, but there could be more. However, nearly any other directly or indirectly mains-powered device (e.g., including USB) are repeaters, so this normally isn't something you have to think about too much.

Personally: there aren't a lot of in-wall devices and I don't like the GE/Jasco Zigbee switches (be careful if you do: most of theirs are actually Z-Wave), which are the only ones I can find, so I use a lot of smart plugs to repeat. I also like the Ikea USB repeater--it's small and can hide places their super-bulky outlet can't (and actually seems to do better on my network anyway--better LQI and RSSI and more child nodes--but that could just be my placement).

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If you're up for tinkering, head over to the everything XBee thread. They repeat , and can connect up to 32 devices. They are high power and also allow you to visualize your zigbee mesh and see signal strength.

MY FIRST REPEATER:
After reading this thread, I went to Ikea and bought my first Zigbee repeater (an Ikea Tradfri signal repeater). I plugged the repeater into an outlet near the Hubitat hub and, after resetting the repeater, the repeater and hub seemed to pair normally.
The repeater light glows steady green.
I do not see any response when I press the "get route table" and "get link quality" buttons in the device screen for the repeater. Is this normal?
There are no events logged for the repeater. Is this normal?

I then moved the repeater to the room where I plan to use it and, with a new device inches from the repeater, I paired the new device to the hub. Still nothing shows in the repeater's event log or route table.

The new device works properly but how can I know if it is connected through the repeater or simply talking directly to the hub?
Is the light on the repeater ever supposed to show anything other than steady green?

Any help or tips greatly appreciated.

http://<YOUR_HUBITAT_IP_ADDRESS>/hub/zigbee/getChildAndRouteInfo

Thank you for this information.
Do you know how often this route information table is updated?

I have two Sengled outlet plugs that work fine but do not appear in the table.

Also, do you know what actions, if any, are supposed to occur if I press either the "get link quality" or "get route table" buttons in the Ikea repeater device screen? Should I be able to see the results of these two actions in a log somewhere?

Thanks again.

Yes, they'll show up in the log.

Can you suggest a document or tutorial that I can study which might help me interpret these logs? The logs show terms like "this hub" and "permit joining" that I do not know how to interpret. Does "this hub" refer to the Hubitat or the Ikea Repeater?

Thank you.

Bill,

I'm a relatively new user too. This will provide a bit of info about the getChildAndRouteInfo page.

Note that not all devices are shown.

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Greetings Everyone,

This is my first post even though I have had my Hubitat for a while now.
Information provided by the community is awesome!!!
Thank you to all who contributed this post, it helped immensely.

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Hi

Saw these posts to bought a couple but I'm struggling to get habitat to connect to the Tradfri on a Zigbee device discovery. Do I need a driver particularly and, if so, do you have one please?

Many thanks.

J

I would try resetting the device first before doing a discovery. Check the manual and make sure you are putting it in discovery mode.

As @zarthan has said, reset the device then try again.
There is an inbuilt driver for the device so there is no need to define one.
Good luck.....

I got this 5 pack from the same vendor you recommended. I was only able to pair 1 out of 5. I tried all on the same outlet, I even moved them 10 feet or less from the HE box. I also reset them by holding the button down while plugging it in and discover zigbee and I did others while discover zigbee was running then I plugged it in, been at this for about an hr now, it shouldn't be hard to pair zigbees out of the box. Have you had any of these experience?

I picked up a couple of the Jasco/GE/Honeywell Zigbee light switches to use as repeaters for my HBFC's, and while the HBFCs may or may not be routing through them, they seem to be good repeaters for a number of devices in my mesh. As far as their use as light switches, I certainly prefer the Zooz or Innovelli, but they work well, so I have no complaints!

Correction. 1 fan is using the Honeywell, the other is going through a marginally nearer Samsung Zigbee outlet.

S