Zigbee, ZWave repeater

[GerryM (Gerald Marchese)]

I know that if you plug a zwave or zigbee device into an electric outlet it acts as a repeater. But what if the switch on the wall is off? By that I mean if you put a zigbee light bulb in the socket and flip the switch it will be on and light will be shining. But if you shut the switch on the wall will it still act as a repeater?

[kevintierney]

Zigbee light bulbs aren’t always repeaters. I believe few are. If the switch is off and it’s a light bulb, no it won’t. In fact, if you switch a bulb off, it is likely the bulb will not communicate the next time you turn the bulb on

[eric182 (Eman ym)]

Are wemo light bulbs zigbee repeaters?

[JDRoberts]

Lightbulb repeater FAQ. But I don’t know if the WeMo bulbs repeat or not.

FAQ: Are Smart Bulbs Repeaters? (Updated 2019: the new answer is yes, but may be inconsistent)

Hue Bridge Lightbulbs connected to a hue bridge are repeaters–but only for other devices attached to the same bridge. They essentially form their own mini network. So they won’t help with nearby sensors. Zwave bulbs Zwave lightbulbs like those from Linear and aeotec typically are repeaters – – but only for Z wave. These can actually be very useful in some specific use cases like getting zwave signal down basement stairs or across a garage. zigbee bulbs connected directly to the ST hub Zigbee lightbulbs like hue or Osram if connected directly to the SmartThings hub without using a bridge shift from the ZLL profile to the ZHA profile and then do typically act as repeaters for other ZHA devices. Or if they are Zigbee 3.0 devices, they will connect to the smartthing…

[JDRoberts]

@GerryM

I know that if you plug a zwave or zigbee device into an electric outlet it acts as a repeater. But what if the switch on the wall is off? By that I mean if you put a zigbee light bulb in the socket and flip the switch it will be on and light will be shining. But if you shut the switch on the wall will it still act as a repeater?

It depends on the type of switch. Most smart bulbs do not recommend using them with a switch that cuts all power to the bulb. This can shorten the bulb life significantly. These bulbs are intended to be kept always on power even when they are “off”.

As long as a bulb is drawing power, even if it looks like it is off, it will still act as a repeater if it is capable of doing so. If you cut the power completely, it cannot repeat.

For discussion of the best switches to use with smart bulbs, see the following:

FAQ: Philips Hue and Other Smart Bulbs - What sort of light switches to use with them? (Long FAQ)

Thinking on a big move to Hue lights, the real question is - what switches to use with them? If they’re all automatable via ST and other devices, do I really want to put them all on controllable switches too? There’s the advantage that I can arrange to ensure those switches are on so that the the Hue bulbs would be too…but it also leaves open the ability for folks to just turn them off and leave them off. Hmm. Thoughts?