Zigbee repeaters (How does it work) - problems

Configuration Zigbee
1

ZigBee Hubs:

  • Philips Hue Bridge (newest)
  • ConBee II ZigBee USB-Stick (into Synology Nas, with Home assistant (Hass.io) and the ZigBee Home Automation integration.

Repeaters (i think)

  • 12 Philips Hue Lights (Connected to the Philips Hue Bridge)
  • 3 Aqara Lights (Connected to the conbee stick)

I have a problem with 2 of my Aqara lights that are unable to connect and show up in Home Assistant as “unavailable”. but they worked the first hours. I troubleshooted but cant find a way to let it work.

  • My Home assistant (ZigBee master Conbee II) is on the 2nd floor (because of noise from the HDD’s in the nas)
  • Then i use the 3 Aqara light bulbs on the ground floor. The one in the most straight line to the Conbee stick works flawless. the other 2 are showing unavailable (only 1 wall between the one that works).

Tried moving one Aqara bulb to the first flore so i have a repeater between the 2nd floor and ground floor. Now the Conbee/Home assistant shows the Aqara light ass available but the 1 aqara light on the ground floor that say’s unavailable is still not able to connect and stay unavailable.

Do the Aqara Bulbs have a zigbee repeater function in them?
Do the Philips bulbs not help the Aqara/Conbee zigbee network?

How does my ZigBee network work now?

  • There are 2 sepperated zigbee networks (1 Philips and 1 ConBee)
  • There is one big Zigbee network (Philips and ConBee repeaterer devices work together)

I’m confused why this is happening, do some of you have a idea what could be the problem?

2

Your Hue Zigbee network does NOTHING to improve the mesh of your conbee network. They are 2 separate networks, and the Hue lights don’t act as a repeater for your aqara bulbs.

3

Ok sounds normal.

But still strange that my 1 Aqara lamp that works flawless at the ground floor (Getting connection from the zigbee stick @ 2nd floor), is not giving cover to the other Aqara lamp that is only 4 meters further @ ground floor with only 1 wall between them.

4

Aqara devices are known to stick to the device they were originally paired with. It is difficult to make them change route.

5

With difficult i hear; not impossible. what are the tricks to make it happen?

6

Re-pair close to the desired router.

1 Like
7

Yep, I had to do this as I expanded my Zigbee network. Getting two Aqara (not all) sensors to drop their connection to the Coordinator and pick up the routers was a faff, had to reset them multiple times until it took. All sorted in the end though.

The Aqara bulbs will act as routers but only when they’re powered, so if you use a switch they’ll lose power and not be able to route anything.