Xiaomi & Aqara Devices - Pairing & Keeping them connected

Thanks for the links. I'll check them out.
In the little bit of research I've been able to do, I've seen it mentioned several times that if you can get something with true pass-through circuitry, you'd be better off. That will help avoid heat issues. Unfortunately, those few items I've found have been too big or too expensive for my use case. I may just get another $25 APC UPS, but I'm still looking for alternatives.

Where is the thread (or documentation or whatever findings) that reports the 72922-A Sylvania Smart+ Plug doesn't work as a router (with Xiaomi devices or without)?

I did some digging and the LEDVANCE team was extremely helpful. SO helpful in fact that I'm voluntarily trying to help them clear the bad rap the "-A" model has gotten. You might find parts of this message copied and pasted around different spots on the interwebs. They provided information and assurances that both models are repeaters. The "-A" model is supposed to be an improvement in every way over the first model.

They also said they would do some testing with the Xiaomi Zigbee devices to see if their device has any fault in not repeating those signals. They are not doing anything that would cause some devices's signals not to repeat. They said they would work on posting some official documentation on their product page but in the meantime feel free to contact them.

I think what has happened is that it isn't repeating for a handful of Xiaomi devices and people have summarized incorrectly that it doesn't repeat for any device.

I don’t believe anyone said they were not repeaters, they just don’t repeat reliably for the Xiaomi devices. It’s not the Sylvania plug’s fault. In my testing, Iris plugs, Cree bulbs, Osram bulbs weren’t reliable repeaters for the Xiaomis either.
Regardless, this should get you started.
https://community.smartthings.com/t/sylvania-smart-plug-is-it-a-repeater/130149
Edit: Well, I feel foolish linking a thread that you already commented in. Sorry

Testing by users here as well as ST community suggest to avoid the A version.

Yeah, that post says the non "-A" version works but it doesn't talk about the "-A" version not working. I couldn't find somebody that actually found the "-A" version was not working. I didn't find anything over at the ST forum either except a thread that said they weren't repeaters at all. They are definitely repeaters. The fact that somebody, some place, somewhere said that they don't repeat Xiaomi's weird, cheap, grey market, non-certified Zigbee devices seems to have snowballed a bunch misinformation about them.

I'm looking specifically for the thread(s) that shows "-A" doesn't work and what the test setup looked like. I want to forward it to the LEDVANCE team so they can reproduce it in case there is anything they can do about it.

I don't have direct experience with it, but @gavincampbell and @NoWon do. This thread is about Xiaomi devices, so I thought that's what you wanted them for.

The A version apparently do not repeat Xiaomi devices, which do not not comply with Zigbee standards. Several of us (me included if mine ever arrives) have purchased Xbee to audit our Zigbee networks and repeat Xiaomi devices. Although I will tell you from personal experience, if you have Xiaomi devices in close range (around 30 feet or less) of the hub, you should not need a repeater. I currently don't have any and they work fine. No drops, except for twice after unexpected power outages, but then I just press the pair button once on any that are no longer reporting, and they've been fine from there on.

I bought Xbee for the ability to map my Zigbee network and experiment/test with. Here's a thread dedicated to Xbee.

I don't think anyone is claiming that the -A version does not repeat (certainly not in this thread or anywhere I've seen on this forum; if people misread and are now saying elsewhere that they don't repeat at all, that is a different story). People are just saying that, like with most other ZigBee repeaters, Xiaomi devices do not work well with them. Furthermore, the Xiaomi devices use a custom ZigBee profile--they take a lot of work to get paired and sometimes stay paired with both ST and Hubitat, which of course use the standard HA profile, and both had to make firmware changes (guessing ST's may have even been accidental) before the devices actually "worked" on their platforms. Being non-standard, it's no surprise that some repeaters might have problems with them as well.

The biggest problem with Xiaomi devices seems to be with end-device timeout settings. The ZHA specs recommend checking in with the controller once every 60 seconds. It appears the Xiaomi devices only do this about once every 50-60 minutes (though note that the 60 seconds interval isn't a requirement, and many devices--especially sensors that don't usually receive information from the controller, don't check in every minute). There are additional issues with the Xiaomi devices in that if the controller/repeater's timeout is exceeded--which shouldn't really be a problem because the end device can request to rejoin--the Xiaomi devices also exhibit nonstandard behavior and don't complete the rejoin.

When people set up an XBee as a repeater, they are sure to set the end-device timeout (or "child device timeout" as XBee calls it) to a value greater than 60 minutes/360 seconds. I have no idea how Sylvania makes or configures their hardware, but a reasonable guess would be that their end-device timeout is set to less than 60 minutes, which causes it to think Xiaomi devices have dropped (and they won't successfully rejoin due to nonstandard behavior on the Xiaomi device itself, so keeping it joined is better). Sylvania wouldn't have to intentionally do anything to "drop" or "not repeat" Xiaomi devices--this is obviously not a problem unique to them, as most off-the-shelf ZHA devices also suffer the same problem (the earlier revision of their hardware being the rare exception, probably due to sheer chance of how they decided to set the timeout).

Of course, there could be other reasons, but Hubitat and Home Assistant/bellows users have, I think, both found the timeout to be the issue with their ZHA controllers (and Xbee users report it works well with homemade XBee repeaters--myself included), so it's a likely guess. They can read this thread or a couple others linked to here or in the ST Community forum for a wealth of information of what people have discovered about these devices.

@SmartHomePrimer and @bertabcd1234, excellent information. I especially appreciate the breakdown of what your guess of what the problem is. I would have to agree that is very likely what is happening (the time out on the device check in and the inability to rejoin).

And, yeah, unfortunately, the information about them not being able to repeat for Xiaomi devices has propagated and morphed into the "-A" device not repeating at all. Sadly, one of the biggest indicators of whether or not somebody buys a product are the Amazon reviews. The most helpful answer to a repeater question on Amazon about this device states it doesn't repeat. I hate Amazon reviews. So many reviews being bought and so much bad information in general. User sourced information is a double-edged sword.

Anyway, thank you both for your responses. I'll refer them to this thread.

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Are there any plans of supporting Xiaomi smart bulb and outlet as I have few of them? Would be nice to be able to use with my Hubitat which arrived yesterday.

Officially, no Xioami devices are supported and probably never will be because of their non-standard Zigbee protocol and temperament toward weak signal and tendency to drop off in such cases. The support added is via custom driver by @veeceeoh.

P.S. Your username is funny. Trying to out-smart us all are you? :wink:

All Xiaomi smart bulbs are wifi-based as far as I know, so I won't be making any device driver for them, sorry to say.

As for the outlet, if it's the ZigBee one, the SmartThings device handler could be adapted, but I don't have any way to test it as I don't own one and have no plans to purchase one.

Would you do it if you received one as a gift? :wink:

I'm in the U.S., and since all variants of their wifi or zigbee outlets are rated for 180-220V output, I don't see how I could properly test it.

But thanks for the offer (?)

I have actually found these on Amazon which are 110V - 240V . Would you be able to do it if you found one in your mailbox.
https://www.amazon.com/Original-Detection-Overload-Protection-Control/dp/B0779B8GXS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1537509062&sr=8-1&keywords=xiaomi+plug
https://www.amazon.com/Original-Detection-Overload-Protection-Control/dp/B0779B8GXS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1537509084&sr=8-2&keywords=xiaomi+socket

These are wifi not zigbee.

They would connect to the xiaomi cloud. You would need a smart app to then pull data from xiaomi's cloud.

I believe someone has written one over at ST.

Ohhh. I didn't notice that. I own the ZigBee version.
Actually, there is a good news. I just copied Smarthings drivers as is and Hubitat found the Outlet. The only thing is the power consumption does not work though.

For me, Xiaomi sensors have proven very unreliable with Hubitat. The very same setup worked fine for 1.5 years with SmartThings.

With Hubitat, Xiaomi and Aqara door/window sensors, Xiaomi buttons and Xiaomi motion sensors are dropped off the network on a daily basis. Putting the hub into discovery mode and pushing the connect button a few times usually restores connectivity - until it's gone again.

  • I recently changed the ZigBee channel to one where interference with WiFi networks should be minimal (there are only ~ 10 WiFi network here anyway).
  • I added a ZigBee plug that should work as a repeater

Doesn't change anything.

On the other hand, my Hue motion sensors are staying connected.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Jan

Yeah I am running into same problems. Spent 30 mins today trying to re pair one motion sensor :confused:

no issues with Xiaomi sensors get an Xbee sensor or a multi sensor from Iman
both work great as repeaters.
Lots of tips starting at the top of this thread.

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It's not the same setup. You changed the hub. If you have any ZigBee devices that act as repeaters, the Xiaomi devices may now be attempting to connect through them instead of directly to the hub.

The main likely reason for Xiaomi devices dropping their network connection - not rejoining the mesh after being booted for going past the hub/repeater's end device aging timeout period - is well known and documented:

In normal operation, the Hubitat hub (and SmartThings hub) allow Xiaomi devices connecting directly to the hub itself to remain connected. But there are factors that may make it difficult for Xiaomi devices to make their regular 50-60 minute check-ins every time, such as wireless signal strength and interference.

But the thing that seems to bugger up the ability of Xiaomi devices to remain connected the most is the presence of ZigBee repeating devices which have an end device aging timeout length that is shorter than 50-60 minutes. There's no way to know what that setting is on most repeater devices, it can only be discovered by testing repeating devices. There is a list of repeating-capable devices that work and don't work with Xiaomi devices in the very first post of this thread.

My guess is that you may have already had another repeating device (or devices) on your ZigBee mesh before you got the outlet you added. Any mains-powered ZigBee devices besides smart bulbs are most likely repeaters. As for the Osram outlet you added, I'd have to guess that it won't play well with Xiaomi devices, based on this post:

Remember in all of this that the problem lies squarely on the Xiaomi devices, in that they don't follow the normal ZigBee operation of re-joining the mesh when the coordinator(hub) or repeater requests them to. They probably don't do this because it isn't necessary when used with a Xiaomi-branded hub, which is required for use of their sensors, according to the manufacturer.

They don't have the same issue of not re-joining the network, and probably have a much shorter end device aging timeout length than Xiaomi devices. In other words, an apples and oranges comparison.

This is not related to the end device aging timeout length issue. Xiaomi devices are also notorious for being difficult to pair for some users.

Personally, I have over 30 Xiaomi devices connected on my Hubitat's ZigBee mesh which rarely drop their connections. Some of them connected via Xbee and other via one of Iman's multi-sensors, and I had to stop using a couple of repeating devices that just wouldn't allow the Xiaomi devices to remain connected. I will readily admit that I've had difficulty pairing a small number of them, but in all cases I was ultimately able to do so.

Bottom line - Xiaomi devices can work, but your mileage most definitely will vary.

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