I just added an Aqara smart plug and I do see it in the Zigbee2MQTT map as a blue Router devices connected to the coordinator.
My question is – will over time some of my existing battery powered aqara sensors, (which are already paired to the coordinator) automatically migrate to the closer smart plug router as it will have a stronger connection for them? Or am I expected to manually repair them to the smart plug router?
Thanks!
I’m afraid (once again) the answer is… It depends.
In theory, yes. It’s a Zigbee thing and it shouldn’t matter what integration you’re using - end devices should check their connections periodically and over time may migrate to better ones. Not necessarily closer ones though - some routers have a stronger signal than others, and there may already be a lot of traffic using the closest router.
In practice, I’ve read that some Aqara end devices may “stick” to the router they were paired with, but I don’t know which ones. In any event, you shouldn’t have to re-pair anything unless it actually stops working.
Thanks! I’ll give it a few days.
One thing I realized – do I need to put the router in “pairing mode” (the button in the Zigbee2MQTT addon), or since this will be internal the network of already recognized devices, this mode is irrelevant to auto-migration of devices? Talking in principle here not specific to Aqara devices. Thanks!
Permit join has to be set to “true” to add a new device (it’s false by default) - is that what you mean? I’ve only got a couple of Z2M devices, but I’ve always set it in the frontend.
Yes, sorry permit to join.
Right now what I do is, whenever I get a new device, I would click the Permit To Join button and it will stay in that mode for 5 mins.
So if I want the mesh to also (if I’m lucky with my devices), automatically shuffle around to the best routers, do I need to keep the routers in “permit to join” TRUE at all times? That would be very annoying not to mention unsafe. I don’t want new devices to join, I want the already existing mesh to stay healthy automatically…
No, that’s just for adding new devices. Existing ones will sort themselves out.
great, thanks!
Most of the older and still more prevalent battery models, basically anything with an “11” in the model number, are very sticky to the router they are initially paired with.
Some migrate more easily than others, but all tend to stay on the initial router if they can see it at all. All mine have rerouted if the paired router is completely offline, but may be slow to do so, think in terms of hours.
My reccomendation would be to re-pair older Aqara devices to what should be the best router geographically.
Note that when re-pairing it is not necessary to remove the device first. Simply enable joining for the appropriate router via the permit join dropdown and hold the pairing button on the device.
Interesting thanks a lot for the advice! I checked and almost all my aqara devices have “11” in the model name - I’ve bought most of them in the past 3-4 months (and have been super happy with their reliability btw which is why I kept buying more).
I’ll follow your advice and try that. Do you think I should give the opportunity to find the router for a few days first? The thing with going with geographic proximity is that due to pipes and cables in the walls, I cannot always be able to tell if my forcing the repairing would be better. I guess I’d need to repair, and then check the link quality first.
It won’t hurt to let things be for a few days and see how it goes.
Some devices re-route easier than others, in my case the temp/humidity sensors seem the most likely to roam. The door sensors almost never, unless the paired router is completely off line.
There are a lot of posts saying they never re-pair, but like everything else, there are no absolutes. I have at least one of most Awara devices, and they are sticky, but not necessarily anchored, to the inital router.
For example, during an extended power outage, all but the most remote devices found their way to the coordinator (my UPS is oversized and runs hours). After power restore, most found their way back to a router after a day or two, but I still found myself re-pairing a few.
Thanks for all the color!
Sorry more questions;
(1) if I get a 2nd aqara smart plug, can one router connect to another router, or they always go back to the coordinator?
(2) Unrelated but may I ask what your UPS is? I just got one that is also oversized but it will definitely not run hours, probably somewhere in the 40-60min range at best.
Don’t sweat the details. If you check the map, wait a few minutes, check again, and the mapped routes will likely be different. The more routers you have, the more likely that the map will change often. The map is only a snapshot of the router connections at that time- but they will always be changing. Sometimes a connection will go through a few routers and at others it will be direct. The only concern with the map is if a device is not connected to any router.
Routers talk to each other and build the mesh. They should route through each other if their direct connection to the coordinator is poor or nonexistent.
Not sure on my UPS model, had it for years. I think it is 2kVA.