So as of yesterday I am 3 weeks into running on channel 20 after my Zigbee stick reset, with 30 devices still connected, 21 of which are Xiaomi devices. Besides those, there are also 2 Bosch PIR sensors, and 6 Sengled bulbs, 4 of which are connected through my Securifi Peanut Plug.
I’m ready to move more Sengled bulbs over from my ST hub, so I finally did some testing of Xiaomi devices connecting via the Peanut Plug, and also via my XBee S2 module. During all these tests, I used my XBee S2 module to view my Hubitat’s Zigbee mesh routing map so I could confirm which devices were connecting through a router (repeater).
My preliminary tests seem to indicate the Peanut Plug won’t work as a repeater for Xiaomi devices, most likely because it has a device time out which is shorter than 50 minutes. I came to this conclusion after 3 attempts to pair / rejoin two each of “original” and Aqara devices. In all cases, their connection was dropped within 50-60 minutes after pairing/rejoining.
However, the XBee is showing great promise as a compatible repeater! I currently have 6 Xiaomi devices connected via my XBee, 4 of which have been connected for 24 hours and regularly checking in, and 3 of which were newly paired via the XBee (i.e., I removed them from my Hubitat’s device list before pairing).
It’s important to note that I have set the XBee’s device time out settings to well over 2 hours, so that is probably a good reason for the success I’m witnessing. I am so encouraged by this that I am going to purchase another couple of XBee modules to strategically place around my (smallish) home.