Zigbee repeater (europe)?

[SLKDK]

Hi, got so many Zigbee devices that my Smartthing Hub can’t cover my whole house.
How can I cheapest extend the Zigbee network?

[JDRoberts]

The only zigbee repeater I know of right now for the EU that is compatible with SmartThings is the SmartThings-branded smartplug. Maybe someone else has seen one.

@aaron ?

[brumster (Paul)]

I’m using the Orvibo relay discussed here:

Orvibo Zigbee Relay RL804QZB

I bought one of these from BangGood (I’m in the UK). It looks like an interesting piece of kit. For less than £25 quid delivered it seems to be a lot cheaper than the Fibaro alternative. It has 3 operational modes and can handle loads up to 5A. Here’s where I need some help. It’s detected as a Thing and I have changed the device type in the IDE to ZigBee Switch and it’s working well. My next challenge is to use it as a momentary switch in a Garage Door solution. Does anyone feel like helping me out with a modification of the SmartThings code to allow a momentary push???

It’s a wired device and I’ve assumed that’s it repeating. That could be foolish on my part!!

[SLKDK]

Hi Paul,

That would be a nice solution for me. I have several Orvibo contact and motion sensors already.
Could you check some how if the relay is repeating the signal?

Is there somehow you can check the mesh network?

[SLKDK]

Hi JDRoberts,

Thank you for your suggestion. Unfortunately the Samsung UK Plug is out of stock and I can’t find it in an online shop with delivery to my country (Denmark).

[SLKDK]

Do anyone know if buying the Orvibo Mini Smart Hub would work?
It is Zigbee HA, and it is powered - well, it is a hub. But can I pair it with Smartthings and use it as a Zigbee repeater?

[JDRoberts]

R[quote=“SLKDK, post:6, topic:57328, full:true”]
Do anyone know if buying the Orvibo Mini Smart Hub would work?
It is Zigbee HA, and it is powered - well, it is a hub. But can I pair it with Smartthings and use it as a Zigbee repeater?
[/quote]

Unfortunately not. Zigbee doesn’t allow for more than one coordinator on the same network unless they’re using proprietary encoding, in which case it wouldn’t be the zigbee home automation profile. (CONTROL 4 can have multiple coordinators but they’re the only ones I know of, and of course that’s a very expensive system. )

But the Orvibo relay sounds like a good idea. Based on the ZHA certification, it definitely should be a repeater but I don’t know if that’s been verified with SmartThings.

[brumster (Paul)]

I’ve just pinged the guys at Orvibo an email (support@orvibo.com) asking them is the appliance relay and the RGB relay act as repeaters. They normally reply within 24 hours, I’ll post the response when I receive it.

If anyone can tell me how to confirm it’s a repeater (which I think will be far from straightforward) then I can investigate!

[SLKDK]

Thank you very much Paul. Looking forward to hear from you

[JDRoberts]

@brumster

I’ve just pinged the guys at Orvibo an email (support@orvibo.com) asking them is the appliance relay and the RGB relay act as repeaters. They normally reply within 24 hours, I’ll post the response when I receive it.

If anyone can tell me how to confirm it’s a repeater (which I think will be far from straightforward) then I can investigate!

You cannot do it just with the tools that smartthings provides. I think smartthings support can tell from their side. Some people get a separate device and use the mapping tool that comes with that and then they can see what the repeaters are on their network, but I wouldn’t do it just to answer this question.

FAQ: Mapping your ZigBee network with Digi's XCTU

I have had several request about how I map my ZigBee network with Digi’s XCTU software so I thought I would share a quick how to: Caution: This is not a Digi supported procedure if something goes wrong during the firmware upgrade you could brick your Digi USB xStick and have to send it back to Digi to be recovered. What is this and why would you want to do it? ZigBee mesh networks are self configuring and self healing and in larger networks it helps to know what nodes are routing who’s information. You can’t really control the network configuration but it helps to see the relationship between your nodes if your troubleshooting a connection problem. The screen capture below is how my SmartThings ZigBee network looks when it is mapped out by the XCTU software. The SmartThings hub is th…

The other way to do it is just with a range results test. Take a battery powered zigbee sensor and place it about 3 m away from the relay on the side away from the hub. Do a network heal so that the sensor is probably using the relay as a repeater. Pick up the sensor and start walking, checking the mobile app every 15 m to see if the sensor activity is still being detected. When you’ve moved out of range, note the location.

Walk back to your starting location and leave the sensor there. Take the relay off power (not just turned to off status, but actually off power all together). Now walk the same path that you did the first time. If the sensor had been using the relay as A repeater, the range should be significantly shorter.

Obviously this test can be affected by the other devices on your network, so it’s not always a certain diagnostic, but it usually works pretty well.

[brumster (Paul)]

Thanks @JDRoberts. Let’s see if the Orvibo support guys respond before I devote my time to that instead of a much needed increase in SAF

[JDRoberts]

@brumster

Thanks @JDRoberts. Let’s see if the Orvibo support guys respond before I devote my time to that instead of a much needed increase in SAF

Might be worth dropping a note to SmartThings support and asking them. It may be something they can answer very quickly without your doing anything at all.

[brumster (Paul)]

Good point. Email sent.

[brumster (Paul)]

Response from ST (fast huh)!

Hi Paul,

Unfortunately, there isn’t a way for us to confirm this through our back end. if it is a device that’s on our compatibility list, found here, we will likely mention if it acts as a repeater. If it is a device off this list, it may be worth checking out the devices product page to see if it mentions for definite if it is.

Kind regards,

They did also say this:

Hi Paul,

Thanks for getting in touch.

We normally find that any device that is mains operated, such as an Outlet etc, will generally act as a repeater. This is also something you should be able to find confirmation of in the devices manual.

If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to get back in touch.

Kind regards,

I’ll update the thread when the Orvibo guys respond.

[brumster (Paul)]

@SLKDK quick as you can:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Samsung-SmartThings-Power-Outlet-Plug-Control-lights-and-small-electronic-device-/121888438652?hash=item1c611df97c:g:fZcAAOSwsB9WCrHn

2 available from Currys, they are therefore supported under warranty by ST!

[SLKDK]

Bummer Won’t ship to Denmark

I really appreciate all the effort.

[brumster (Paul)]

Shame, let’s see what the Orvibo boys come back with.

[SLKDK]

Hi, anything new here?

[RInkelk (Rinke)]

Anyone experience with this as a repeater?

[SLKDK]

Yeah any (good) news?