I am using ZHA with a Conbee II, and have so far successfully added some IKEA Fyrtur, a Paulmann light, and some IKEA remotes. I have always added new devices via the Coordinator (“Add devices via this device”), as I had read somewhere that this is what one must do.
My latest addition, a Philips Hue light, is too far from the Conbee however, and cannot be found.
Are there any actual drawbacks adding devices via another device instead of the coordinator? Or would that be a tried and safe method as well?
It’s quite common to add devices to another “extender” device. As long as it’s plugged into mains power and it can act as an extender, you shouldn’t have any issues.
But what if that device isn’t reachable for some reason? Shouldn’t the mesh nature of Zigbee allow the devices to regroup anyway?
I don’t understand why it should make a difference at all, but I found it as advise some time ago.
Battery powered Zigbee devices do not repeat signals. Conversely mains powered ones generally do. End devices (sensors, lights) only transmit to their controller (the main USB controller or the extender). That’s why it’s best to pair the Zigbee device at or near its final location.
So as far as I know, my Fyrtur blinds can and will connect to my Paulmann light in the same room, which then connects to a range extender and from there to the Conbee stick. But I wonder whether it makes a difference on initial pairing whether I pair with the Conbee or e.g. the Paulmann light? Don’t the devices search for their optimal path anyway?
Hope you don’t mind me hijacking this thread, but I do have a general question on adding new devices to a Zigbee network:
Imagine I have a coordinator and a first device already joined. Next, I want to add a 2nd device, which will be out-of-reach for the coordinator once installed, but in reach of the first, already paired device.
Do I
a) have to temporarily move it next to the coordinator for pairing, then move it to the final location afterwards or
b) install it at the final position first, then introduce it to the net using the first device as a router?
Reason is: I prepared a Zigbee setup in home lab with all devices being paired to the coordinator (Raspee II using ZHA integration). Once installed at the final location, all devices lost connectivity and became unavailable.
In theory, Zigbee is self-healing and forms a mesh network where the devices can talk to each other and relay messages. The coordinator is the central node, and end devices as well as routers can connect to it. Routers can relay messages to end devices. Devices that have plug-in power (power plugs, light bulbs, led panels) typically can be used as routers, while batter-powered devices (switches, sensors) only work as end devices, and do not forward messages.
If a device becomes unreachable, the mesh should rebuild automatically.
For me it only was a question of “is there any benefit to always do the initial pairing with the coordinator, or does it not matter at all, as any router can be used for pairing and there won’t be a difference later on?”.
Depends on the devices. In my experience, Aqara devices should generally be paired with the network at their final location, because they tend to “stick” with the router (/coordinator) they initially paired with. Sometimes you also get interoperability issues between brands, where devices of brand A don’t like to route devices of brand B (for some reason).
