I’m new to Homey and am having the following problem, which is driving me crazy.
I have a total of 5 Aqara window/contact sensors. All of them exist in Homey and are also displayed. However, 3 of the 5 sensors are no longer accessible at some point. They are exactly the same sensors and they worked perfectly in Homebridge before – even when I connect them to the Aqara Hub, they work without any problems.
I got Homey to improve my skills, and I’ve read and tried a lot, but I’m stuck here.
What have I tried so far?
Deleted and reconnected.
This works, but only for a few minutes or hours.
Router (added lights and sockets in the rooms used.
After adding the routers → repaired, deleted and reconnected → for the purpose of a new route.
Repaired.
This also works, but only for a few minutes/hours.
This is one of those issues that are caused by Homey’s Zigbee simply being unreliable. You can try some other things, like making sure your WiFi and Zigbee channels don’t overlap, or doing a full reset of your Zigbee network, or doing a full firmware restore, but there are no guarantees that any of this will actually work.
You should definitely report the problem to Athom support.
And please don’t let them fob you off with the standard response, “This is not an Athom app, please contact the app developer.”?
Okay, I’ll give that a try. I agree that a solution is needed. I’ve been a fan of Homey so far, but it’s sad if my experience deteriorates because some of my sensors no longer work.
I have now opened a case, I will keep you informed.
But Homey advertises that it can do “everything” (connections in this case Zigbee). So the answer or solution can’t be that Zigbee is unreliable on Homey and that you have to transfer Zigbee devices to another solution (e.g. Home Assistant). I find that difficult to justify.
My networks do not overlap; I have already checked this, and I believe it would also contradict the fact that my other 10 Zigbee sensors are working without any problems, correct?
Yes, I tried that too. I specifically created a flow that always plays a sound when a contact sensor is triggered so that I know which one is working – and of course I also checked this again in the app to make sure it wasn’t the flow that was causing the problem.
Long story short → The sound is played when pairing.
What I can’t explain is why 3 out of 5 always disconnect. My motion sensors (also Aqara) are also working perfectly.
Hmmm, you believe commercials to the letter?
Don’t wait for a “fix”, the quickest way to solve it, is to lose the sensors and buy something else.
Zigbee is not Homey’s best part.
But Aqara / Xiaomi combined with Homey, is proven to be problematic. The forum is filled with it; Aqara tends to use their own zigbee flavour, like f.e. Tuya does as well.
Yes, the zigbee standard is more like a guideline, so not “everything just works”
And yes, it does work fine with zigbee2mqtt.
Other possible fixes, some already mentioned:
How did you build the zigbee mesh?
After you paired all router devices, pair the end-devices close to router closest to their mounting point.
Aqara contact sensors tend to stick to their initial chosen route: when you move them around, or when you mount them (a lot) further from the place you paired them, they start to act exactly as you described.
Don’t use Ikea zigbee lights on the same mesh network. When an Aqara sensor starts using an Ikea light as hop, it just quits sending events AND it stops looking for other routers…
Did you put new batteries in these sensors? That’s the first thing to do, even when you use “brand new” devices;
If that doesn’t work, set the wifi 2.4GHz channel to either 1 or 6 or 11;
Then reset the zigbee network. I had to do that 4 times in a row with a new Pro 2026 before an Aqara blinds driver got paired
Additionally, a factory reset. I’ve seen many posts with problems solved by just factory resetting a new Homey.
Of course, I believe what is written in the description, otherwise it wouldn’t be a selling point, would it?
I see your argument about buying new sensors a little differently. It can’t be right that I buy a Homey for 400 € and then, because it can’t do what it promises, I have to spend several hundred euros on new sensors. Just because they are more compatible with Homey, even though the existing sensors are functional. My quality expectations for a 400€ device are somewhat different. Then, unfortunately, the question is whether Homey is the right choice.
It’s similar with the incompatibility of certain companies. If this is known, why isn’t it pointed out?
Sorry for being so honest, but I work in a software company and if I can’t combine a with b, then the software has to tell me or at least inform me.
Finding out all this after everything has been set up is very tedious. I have paired all the devices and created flows → now I have to reset everything to factory settings and invest another 8 hours, which I honestly don’t like. That would be my last resort.
Don’t get me wrong, I am very grateful for all the feedback and the community is great.
But the fact that such an expensive device is supposed to be able to do “everything” and then so much doesn’t work is incomprehensible to me.
I have a question about the post you linked to. Perhaps you can answer it for me.
Point 7 states that you should reset the Zigbee network and then import a backup.
Will my devices still be paired?
If so
won’t the memory and routes that were deleted be imported again?
Thank you so much for your support, I really appreciate it, even though I’m a bit annoyed with Homey .
This is interesting. Do you know where I can find confirmation on this behavior (thus that the devices are not deleted and repairable)?
I am awaiting a response/fix from Athom on not being able to migrate my Zigbee network from my HP23 to HP26. A reset of the Zigbee network is a last resort that I don’t want to try out without knowing the consequences.
I tried replacing two devices with new ones.
(SONOFF SBMINL2 zigbee and NOUS A1 smart plug zigbee )
I have the same problem:
The device connects and then disconnects after a few seconds… I’ve tried several repairs, but it’s the same.
I’ve also tried repairing them from different locations in the house, with the same result.
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