I have a house with multiple floors, and my Z-Wave network works beautifully across all levels. However, the Zigbee signal is weaker on the ground floor. In the areas where the signal still reaches — I currently have a Zigbee temperature sensor and a water leak sensor operating there — I purchased a Homey Bridge to boost and extend the Zigbee signal.
Since battery-powered devices work fine there, I’m confident that the input signal is good. I was hoping that placing the Bridge would allow devices just one door away to work, but unfortunately, it didn’t — those devices still don’t connect.
On the Zigbee developer page, I can see the Bridge listed as a device, but I’m not sure if it’s actually connected and active, because it’s not pingable. For comparison, I can see that the Z-Wave network joined via a logical route without any issues. Even when I place the Bridge near the Homey Pro or in the target location I want, I still can’t ping the Zigbee devices, and they don’t seem to connect through the Bridge.
I added the Bridge in Satellite mode according to the guides, but when it didn’t seem to work, I removed and re-added it. Both Homeys are running the latest firmware.
Does anyone have tips on how I can check whether the Bridge is truly active on the Zigbee network? What else could I try to make it act as a proper range extender for my Zigbee devices?
Sensors are sleepy devices and will not respond to pings unless you explicitly wake them up first (usually by short-pressing their pairing button). Also, some brands will not change router devices after their initial pairing, so when you add a new router to the network (like the Bridge), you need to pair them again (without deleting them from Homey first, to keep the device data intact).
I don’t know if the Bridge is supposed to be pingable, but at least it should show as being added to your Zigbee network.
FWIW, for the price of one Homey Bridge you can buy 7 IKEA INSPELNING smart plugs, which will extend your Zigbee network much more than a single bridge will.
In the developertool you cannot give the ping command but the test command. The result should be: Node reachable. Also the last working route should show you a route from your Pro to your Bridge.
My bridge is reachable, but no connection is via the bridge.
For Z-Wave, I can send such a command and it works, but for Zigbee I don’t see any such option in the developer interface. The ping menu is greyed out.
Regarding the first paragraph, do you mean the “Try to repair” option under the Maintenance menu?
As for the second paragraph, yes, I can see it in the Zigbee overview, but even if I move it out of range, it stays in the same state as if it were next to the Homey, so that doesn’t really help.
The third paragraph is a good idea, but I was hoping the Homey Bridge would work better for this purpose, maybe because it has a better antenna or some other in-home advantage that improves communication. Luckily, I got it during a Black Friday deal.
I think so, yes. If that doesn’t work, you can also try and add it as a new device (again, without removing it first). It may give a “device already paired” error, but that’s to be expected and not a problem.
Zigbee isn’t a protocol that can instantly update device status when it moves in/out of range, it’ll take some time before the controller (HP) knows that it cannot reach the Bridge anymore.
The Bridge has an outdated Zigbee chip and its antenna isn’t any better (or, probably, worse) than modern smart plugs.
It’s only useful if you want to use it to extend multiple protocols. As just a Zigbee router/repeater, it’s simply overpriced.
Thank you for your quick support! I’m considering buying the Aeotec Range Extender Zi, but I’d like to avoid spending too much if possible. Do you have any experience with IKEA Zigbee devices, or could you recommend a Zigbee repeater to strengthen my network?
My experiences with IKEA devices are good. Dedicated repeater devices usually take up a socket (or a USB charger/outlet), which is a bit of a waste IMO.
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