In general I am very happy with the Xiaomi sensors as they are working accurate and are barely consuming any battery life.
Although I have an issue that a three of them (2 motion and 1 door sensor) lost heir connection and are showed as unavailable in the app. The strange thing is that in the first 3/4 weeks after pairing they were working fine.
Is there a way to have them reconnected automatically or is the only possibility to pair them again?
What is the cheapest zigbee extender which I can use to extend the range for my Xiaomi devices?
I would like to have Xiaomi door sensors on my car to use it is an auto alarm but I assume this will not work because when I leave the door sensors will be disconnected and when I arrive (back in range of the hub) they will not be automatically re-connected. Or does anyone has a solution for this?
I tried the Samsung presence sensor before but the issue with that sensor was that when it misses one time the communication with the hub the hub will think the presence sensor is out of range and will trigger the alarm.
With the Xiaomi Motion Sensors I have known a short button press, intended to put them into range testing mode, to suddenly wake things up but more often than not they seem beyond help and all I can do is bring them close to the hub and remove and re-pair them. It is frustrating that there isn’t a ‘replace’ option to save having to set up SmartApps again.
I don’t know which Zigbee extenders work with Xiaomi devices but I’m pretty sure the ones I have don’t.
I’d be tempted to take the door sensors for a car trip to see what happens but I suspect you’d get more mileage with a different brand of sensor, if indeed the idea is sound.
My understanding is that the Presence Sensors simply check in with the hub every thirty seconds. If the hub Presence Timeout is two minutes that means a sensor has to miss the check-in four times before it is marked as away. Since I installed a repeating plug near the front of my property the range has gone from barely making it to the front door to about fifty yards away. So I’ve found them quite robust. However as having one in the car only told me if the car was there or if it had gone too long ago to do anything about I decided the security potential was limited in my case and it might as well be attached to the car keys.
A sensor that is missing like the Xiaomi door/window sensor doesn’t trigger an alarm in SmartThings when connection is lost. I see a red dot next to the Thing, but no alarm (push or text message).
In the settings of the hub you can select in the Zigbee Utilities settings:
Unsecure Rejoin: true
That will make a lost sensor easier to rejoin, without help.
I use an Ikea Tradfri bulb as a repeater / range extender. The bulb is powered in a lampfixture and the bulb is off/0%,but still working as a repeater for the Xiaomi door switch that lost connection before I used the Ikea bulb. If use the cheapest Tradfri GU10 ledbulb.
The bulb can be controlled, but I turned it off / 0% and never use it as a light, only as a repeater. When I disconnect the bulb from the 220v, almost immediately the Xiaomi door sensor drops off. It works well for me.
Thank you for your swift response. You also have the UK version of Smartthings Hub? Which device handler did you use for the Tradfri GU10? If it works for the Tradfri GU10 it probably also works for the Tradfri E27, I might buy that one and replace one of my ceiling bulbs.
That’s great it works out of the box with the standard driver. I am also Dutch, so will also go for the cheapest option .
The GU10 (400 lumen) costs €7,- at IKEA and the E27 (1000 lumen) costs €10,- . Not sure of 400 lumen is enough for a ceiling light, so I may go for the E27.
Do you also have experience with the IKEA power outlet? I wonder if it also can be used as an extender Xiaomi Aquara devices. As it is also 10 euro it might be a better option. I saw this topic but the answer is not there yet.
Hi Nico, I don’t use the bulb for lighting, so the amount of lumen doesn’t matter. The lamp is in a corner on the floor at my loft.
I haven’t tried/bought a Ikea outlet. Is a nice option, can be placed anywhere, even if you don’t control it, it could be a repeater. Can’t confirm that. Are they already available in NL?
The Ikea outlet is available in Netherlands since a couple of weeks, although it looks like only a few locations have them in stock. (Breda, Delft)
For me the Ikea outlet would be ideal if it works as a repeater for the Xiaomi Aquara devices, otherwise I will need to go for the E27 bulb but then I would also need to have also a Xiaomi light switch.
If you order it could you let me know if it works as a repeater? I am very curious . Posting is indeed now much cheaper then it was before.
That Xiaomi Aqara button looks very nice as handhold. I have one round button of Xiaomi which is not that good (it is very light sensitive)
As fixed button I might take off my current switches of the wall and replace them with the Xiaomi Aqara light swith, although I need to check if the size is large enough to fit over the ‘hole in the wall’. I probably go also for the single button version as from what I read it is not (yet) possible to have 2 functions with the 2 button version.
driver.
). There are E27 to GU10 adapters, if you would try.
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. Posting is indeed now much cheaper then it was before.