But we did open the door a lot, and sometime for 3+ hours, but the sensor is still displayed as “closed”. I don’t see any option to calibrate or something like this.
Any idea what is going on, why I’m not able to see the switch of states?
What computer/appliance are you running Home Assistant on and how exactly are you physically connecting the Home Assistant SkyConnect dongle to it? Using USB extender cable to a USB 2.0 port?
Anyway. be aware that there are many known issues with Aqara/Xiaomi devices, like for example them having issues when the battery is running low on power and problems communicating through other brands of Zigbee Router devices, and most those apply to all Zigbee gateway implementations that are not the official Aqara/Xiaomi hubs, see → https://community.hubitat.com/t/xiaomi-aqara-devices-pairing-keeping-them-connected/623
Tip is to add a few “known good” Zigbee Router devices and then re-pair/re-join the Aqara/Xiaomi devices so they will connect through those. Personally, I recommend buying a few IKEA TRÅDFRI Signal Repeater and Aeotec Range Extender Zi. As one of the problems with Aqara/Xiaomi devices is that they will not automatically move to a closer Zigbee Router device if it added later you must manually re-pair/re-join the Aqara/Xiaomi device after to make sure it connects through the newly added Zigbee Router device. Again see this for even better suggestions and more recommendations → Guide for Zigbee interference avoidance and network range/coverage optimization
You also need to be aware Zigbee is extremely sensitive to EMF/EMI/RMI and the two most infamous sources of interference comes from Wi-Fi radios and USB 3.x ports/devices/cables so make sure you are connecting the Zigbee Coordinator via long USB extension cable and connect it to a USB 2.0 port and not a USB 3.x or USB 4.x port (so connect it via a powered USB 2.0 hub if your computer/appliance that runs Home Assistant only have USB 3.x ports).
It is quite common that a compatible Zigbee devices will not properly communicate, with corrupt mesages being dropped and sometimes not even being able to pair/join due to EMF/EMI/RMI interference.
Hi!
Thank you for your answer!
I’m using a Zimaboard, on which I did install the it with the Install Home Assistant Supervised.
I’m connecting it with the USB extender, straight to be the further away from the USB port.
I’ve the following values regarding my device:
LQI: 224
RSSI: -44 dBm
for what I understand, they are pretty standard values?
My zimaboard only have USB3, so maybe I will check if I can buy an USB 2.0 hub. But honestly, like 2meters from it, I’ve a siren which is also plugged into the wall that act as a big realy for everything around.
Here my door sensors are litterally 3 meters away from the router. I did baught one Aeotec Range Extender for the second floor, but I’ve limited success with it.
Yes those are very good values, but I would not bother looking LQI or RSSI as they usually do not help troubleshoot interference. Instead just add many more Zigbee Router devices to each room in your home, however, if you want to go down the rabbit hole then you can start by reading this → https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/zha#how-to-interpret-rssi-and-lqi-values
For the best you can get recommend to make yourself some semi-DIY Zigbee Router devices by buying and flashing the correct Zigbee Router firmware to good Zigbee Coordinator USB dongles and then using them as stand-alone Zigbee Signal Repeater devices in USB-chargers for power, like, for example, either the Sonoff ZBDongle-E (EFR32MG21 based) or the Sonoff ZBDongle-P (CC2652P) work great as dedicated stand-alone Zigbee Signal Repeaters when using Zigbee Router firmware.
I’m all in to add new devices(which I already started) but for this specific case, the sensor has a clear view of the router and is only 3meters away, so I’m not sure why repeater would help.
One thing that I see in your link is that I did do all the pairing next to the router and then moved the items to their final destination, it seems that it’s not the best scenario.
Also, do you know if you can use multiple ikea DIRIGERA in one single network? That could help because even with a lot of repeater, the signal strugle to go through the different floors.
effing finally someone else having the same issue. Nothing is wrong with your devices or how far it is and all that. I’ve been struggling to get 2 of these new T1 sensors working for the past week. Since it is a new line of products my guess is there isn’t any support for it. check out my ticket in github I’m pretty sure you are gonna have the same errors.
I’m currently setting things up and testing stuff, so if I’ve to change now, that’s not a big deal, it will be more painfull after if I have to switch but have already some automation setup. Thank you for the link, I will read it
The T1 is not new. I’ve had a couple dozen of them under ZHA for over a year now.
I did have an issue with them at one point - they would pair, just as you describe, and then they would never update their status.
They USED to work fine. So what changed?
When I rebuilt my HA server on a NUC (was previously on an RPI), I decided to “upgrade” my zigbee dongle from a Conbee II to a Sonoff. That Sonoff was a pile of trash.
Switched to a Nortek that has both zigbee and Z-wave and they paired right up and reported in real-time just like they were supposed to.
No idea what the issue was with the Sonoff, but I trashed it and have had zero issues since.
Both @spince and me are having the issue with the same controller (skyconnect), could be also a lead.
Today I should receive the ikea DIRIGERA, I should be able to see if it changes anything.
You can not use IKEA DIRIGERA Hub in combination with the ZHA integration, nor with Zigbee2MQTT or any other Zigbee gateway. And the IKEA DIRIGERA Hub can only control IKEA branded devices.
To clarify; IKEA DIRIGERA Hub (which replaces the older IKEA Trådfri Gateway) is Zigbee gateway, not a Zigbee Router device that can be used as a Zigbee repeater, (meaning that the IKEA DIRIGERA Hub is a Zigbee gateway/bridge/hub/controller that has its own built-in Zigbee). Each Zigbee gateway will have its own isolated network (e.i. private area network.
You can not connect a Zigbee device to two Zigbee gateways, and only Zigbee devices on the same Zigbee gateway/network can communicate with each other. Two Zigbee gateways/networks also have no interactions with each other at the Zigbee level at all. So if you have two Zigbee gateways then they are not aware of each other in any way, thus all integrations have to be done at the application level (i.e. in Home Asssistant’s automations and scripts or such).
@Nargzul here is a copy of updated introduction to the ZHA integration which tried to explain Zigbee a little too (and the same Zigbee fundamental concept applies to all other Zigbee solutions as well):
ZHA integration is a Zigbee gateway implementation that supports the Zigbee 3.0 standard as well as supporting earlier Zigbee standards for home automation and lighting devices. It follows the Zigbee PRO specification, a low-power wireless communication protocol which uses small digital radios to create a private Zigbee network that can connect compatible devices within a local area.
A Zigbee network can have three different types of devices; “Zigbee Coordinator”, “Zigbee Router”, and “Zigbee End Device”. A Zigbee network always needs to have one Zigbee Coordinator (it can never have more than one), and Zigbee devices can never be connected to more than a single Zigbee network (or Zigbee Coordinator), however, a Zigbee network can have multiple Zigbee Router devices and Zigbee End Devices.
Before installing the ZHA integration in Home Assistant, you need to connect a Zigbee Coordinator adapter. Those normally come in the form of a USB dongle that plugs directly into the same computer that is running your Home Assistant installation. The ZHA integration is compatible with many different “Zigbee Coordinator” adapters from various manufacturers. Be sure to note the recommendations in the respective sections below before buying a Zigbee Coordinator.
Once ZHA has been set up with a Zigbee Coordinator it will automatically create a Zigbee network and you will be able to join/pair any Zigbee devices. With only a few limitations, most devices will join/pair directly regardless of brand and manufacturer. It is generally recommended to buy Zigbee 3.0 compliant devices if possible, though a new Zigbee Coordinator is also backward compatible with older devices. Zigbee 3.0 certified devices usually offer better interoperability. Still, not all functionality will always be supported out-of-the-box and devices that use manufacturer-specific extensions to add non-standard functions and features will need device-specific code to fully work with ZHA.
The Zigbee Coordinator will act as the central device in your Zigbee network. In the case of this ZHA integration, the Zigbee Coordinator has a microcontroller and runs the Zigbee stack which is used to manage the Zigbee network and communicate with all its devices. Its main responsibility is the joining/pairing of devices to the network and then controlling them. Being the physical network bridge interface for Zigbee, it maintains the Zigbee network topology and ensures secure and efficient communication between Zigbee devices.
Because a Zigbee relies on “mesh networking” technology it depends on its Zigbee Router devices to expand the network coverage and extend its size. These are always mains-powered devices that route messages to other devices that are located close to them within the Zigbee network mesh to improve the range and increase the total amount of devices you can add. You should therefore make sure that you have many Zigbee Router devices or else its network mesh coverage will be limited due to the short range and poor wall penetration of Zigbee radio signals.
Zigbee End Device devices will not expand the range of the network as they do not route any messages from other devices. These are usually all battery-operated devices, but not always as some Zigbee End Devices can sometimes be mains-powered devices. Always begin adding Zigbee Router devices before Zigbee End Devices when creating a new Zigbee network.
