After several stable months, in the last month, I've had a few Xiaomi sensors fall off. Every time this has happened, it has turned out that the Tradfri signal repeater that the sensor or sensors have been repeating through has fallen off.
Unpowering/re-powering the Tradfri signal repeater is sufficient to get it back online and along with it, any sensors that repeat through it.
I have now been able to verify that although the signal repeater power supply is supposed to put out 1A at 5V, USB draws through the signal repeater that are under 1A can knock the signal repeater off-line. So I would recommend:
If your Aqara sensors fall offline, first make sure that all your zigbee repeaters are online
Not using the passthrough USB in the signal repeater to power anything
No, this is a limitation of Xiaomi devices and not Hubitat. They're not standard ZHA1.2 or ZLL or Zigbee 3.0.
That being said, there are two possibilities. Some people, myself included, have all of our Xiaomi devices on a separate Hubitat that only has Xiaomi-compatible zigbee repeaters (I use Tradfri outlets and USB repeaters). The other possibility is to use a Mi hub and bring them into Hubitat using an RPi and the Mi Connector app.
Edit: Just checked gearbest - the Aqara sensors are $18 a piece. Completely compatible Samsung flood sensors are just $19 a piece on Amazon. I would recommend getting the Samsungs.
I am vey new here, Cloud you pleae advise I see that [TRÅDFRI Signal repeater] as a Zigbee repeaterswork with Xiaomi devices I but not sure how it work, from the manual it have to pair with TRÅDFRI devices but to work with xiaomi devices just plug in then that all or need to do something else.
Thank you in advance.
You need to pair it with HE using Device Discovery for Zigbee. There is a small hole on the Tradfri Repeater where you can fit a paperclip, when inserting a paperclip (not on the LED indicator light side) you can feel there is a small button inside. Hold that button (about 5 seconds) until the indicator LED starts to slowly blink. If you had put HE in Pairing mode as instructed you should now see the device being discovered.
FWIW, I have a Xiaomi leak detector and it works fine connected directly to my HE. I do have their motion detectors drop off time by time but the leak detectors and buttons have been fine for me (so far!). Having said that, since the Samsung device is only 1 dollar more as posted above I'd go with that!
Hi, I have ordered 3 Tradfri repeaters to replace my Sonoff ZRB devices as I found these kept causing the Zigbee devices to hop around and would disappear all together. What I wanted to ask is what is the "best" way to integrate these new repeaters. My thoughts are, remove the current Sonoff Zigbee devices from Hubitat, unplug them and wait 20 min for the other Zigbee devices look for another route. Then add the Tradfri repeaters, one at a time in the locations I think they will do best. What I want to know is, should I then turn off the HE for 20 min to force the devices to us the Tradfri or should I just let "them" sort out the mesh.
Unless you have current and constant Zigbee mesh issues I would add the new repeaters before removing the old ones, once you've added them you can turn off the hub for 30 minutes and then just wait for new routes to settle for 24 hours or so. Once everything seems steady you can remove the Sonoffs, either one at a time or all at once. You could end up with some devices falling off, just pair them again without deleting them. If you just want to get rid of your Sonoffs quickly, during the time you turn off your hub for 30 minutes you could remove the Sonoffs, but the risk is higher that you will have end-devices drop.
As for placement of the Tradfri repeaters, I highly recommend putting one rather close to the hub, that is the basis for how I build my meshes and they work really well.
I do the exact same thing - one of my repeaters is within a few feet of my Xiaomi HE. Same way, I have a Centralite zigbee repeater and an Aeotec range extender 6 very close to my other HE.
@markus and @aaiyar, thanks. Just wanted to ask why one near the hub, would the "further away" repeaters connect to this one before they connect directly with the hub or is this to do with number of devices the hub can handle directly?
However, be careful - if you add additional devices to that mesh that are not Xiaomi devices or Ikea Tradfri Repeaters (or plugs), you run the risk that some devices will fall off the mesh.
What's even more insidious is that it may not fall off right away - it may happen next week.
Taking @aaiyar advice, I have all my Xiaomi devices on a separate Hub, with only Tradfri Repeaters. None has fallen off in the last 8-10 weeks.
yes, I am aware, I have 1 light bulb extra that is only powerd occasionally, All my other devices are wifi (Shelly relays). I keep my fingers crossed for the mesh😃
