Apologies for this newbie question, but searching on this topic did not locate a solution.
I bought a Digi XBee Sensor (P/N (1P) XS-Z16-CB2R) thinking it would be compatible, but after putting in batteries and seeing its LED flash to show it’s advertising its presence, I get nothing when I try “Connect Now” from within the SmartThings app. What I did see on other posts/threads makes me think I may need to do some additional config. Do I need to install XCTU somewhere and tweak the device?
Or perhaps I should just buy a different sensor. The ones that came from SmartThings (that I use inside the house) work fine – I bought this one because it’s more rugged and is going in a hot attic.
From the docs the device does have a zigbee pro chip, but that does not mean it is running the zigbee ha 1.2 stack which is required to connect it to the SmartThings hub. You will need to look at the devices datasheet and build a custom device type that can recognize its fingerprint and detect it automatically.
FYI I put the SmartSense? SmartThings? Centralite? Temp+Humidity sensor in an HVAC duct which sees 55-120F with no trouble. CR2 Battery life has been ridiculous, I think installed appx Jan2015 at 100% and it’s reading 88% now - maybe unbelievable.
Zigbee has several different “profiles” and they are not all compatible.
Smartthings uses the Zigbee home automation profile (ZHA 1.2), so devices that use that same profile are the most likely to be able to work with smart things.
The sensor you have uses the zigbee pro profile. Some devices using this profile can be successfully used with SmartThings. Others will pair OK and work for a few hours or a few days, but keep dropping off the network. That’s because they are expecting a response from the zigbee coordinator which is not part of the zigbee home automation profile and so SmartThings doesn’t send it. You will find a lot of discussion of this issue in the forums on various zigbee devices.
In addition, there is a security option in SmartThings which allows you to do what is called “secure pairing”. This can also cause problems keeping some devices connected.
So the short answer is you might be able to get the sensor you have to work, but it’s going to require a custom device handler And you may still run into the drop off problem.
When you’re looking at new devices in the future, if you stay with the ZHA profile everything just works much more easily.
If the sensor you have now has the option to shift to the ZHA profile, then that would be my recommendation as a place to start. some devices can be upgraded in this way and some can’t. You just have to go back to the manufacture site and check.
Mike, there is a pretty good chance we could get this to work but I’m not sure it is worth the effort. This device is designed to work with Digi’s propriety cloud service. The last time I looked into the Digi cloud service they were using the ZigBee network for transport but not a public profile or public clusters. That being said Digi radios can be reconfigured to adhere to the HA public profile (XCTU will do that) and you could write a custom device handler to talk to their proprietary clusters (after you figure out what they are).
Normally I would be excited to help put it together or even put it together for you. But in this case the sensor is around $100 far more than sensors that do the same thing that already work with SmartThings.
I like Digi’s hardware and I just need motivation to buy one of these units and put together a configuration. Sell me on why you need this unit over the ones from SmartThings?? It may be best to just send it back.
Thanks for the guidance - I think I’ll just send it back. But I’ve been having trouble finding a humidity sensor that works with SmartThings - I searched the SmartThings site, and Amazon, and found a couple of options, none branded SmartThings (which is weird, because a humidity sensor came in the starter kit I got with my hub), and the other options all got pretty bad reviews (2 stars or less) on Amazon.
Are you in the US or the UK? Most US members just use the $45 smartthings-branded temp/humidity sensor which is sold in the smartthings shop on this site. A lot of community members use those in bathrooms to detect whether a shower is running, so I think they’re pretty rugged. I don’t know if they made a UK version of it or not.
Thanks, I just ordered a couple of these. Strangely they are only available on the SmartThings site, not Amazon where I have done most of my other purchasing (including of the original starter kit and hub). I thought they were no longer on the market, appreciate your pointing out they are still there on the SmartThings site.
