I installed a Sengled bulb and was surprised to find they don’t act as Zigbee routers. A Neeva search revealed this is a known “limitation” of their bulbs.
According to Sengled’s documentation this was not an oversight, but a feature to stop endpoints from losing connectivity if the light switch is turned off. Correct me if I’m wrong, but assuming an end device was routing through the bulb and the bulb lost power, the affected end device would find an alternate path. No?
Seems like this decision is asinine considering that without routers integrated into the bulbs, a network comprised exclusively of Sengled bulbs would limit the effective range of your Zigbee network. You mine as well use WiFi since you’re not getting any benefit of going Zigbee.
This is the first mains powered Zigbee device I’ve come across that doesn’t have routing functionality.
Is their decision to not support routing as asinine as it appears?
Going back to when i was on Smartthings My understanding is zigbee bulbs (the ones that do repeat) are poor repeaters, as they have smaller antennas, and a limited buffer size in their processors. You have to pack a lot more electronics in less space in a bulb versus an outlet or switch. There was a decent writeup on these limitations here.
Combine that with many people installing them on “dumb” switches that kill the power to them, and then they go out as a router when power is cut
I’ve found that not to always be the case. I’ve had thermostats and devices drop out when I’ve shut off breakers to do electrical work. I think it takes time for the network to workout an alternate path when a device drops out.
I don’t necessarily agree with their decision, but given these limitations, I can understand why. I’ve added some inexpensive ikea tradri outlets around my house which work well as repeaters.
I choose Sengled bulbs SPECIFICALLY because they do not route and instead strategically replaced wall outlets around the house to build out my Zigbee mesh.
Thou shalt not require a user manual for the house.
Meaning that I won’t ever tell a visitor or guest HOW to interact with the home.
Sometimes people turn lamps off. I don’t want my routing infrastructure beholden to the actions of an end user (Turn off a table lamp / break my Zigbee mesh…)
End result, I simply don’t have issues with Zigbee routing now. It either all works or it doesn’t. And if my mom visits and turns off the lamp by the chair in the living room with the knob - so be it, the sensors in the guest room still work…