After a device joins, the stack interviews it: it asks which endpoints and clusters the device supports and identifies the model. Battery devices often go back to sleep in the middle of this, which is the most common reason interviews fail.
Checklist (in order)
- Open the network. In Zigbee2MQTT, enabling joining in the frontend opens it for 254 seconds (or publish to
zigbee2mqtt/bridge/request/permit_join). - Use the device's documented pairing method. Check the device page in your stack's supported-devices list; otherwise factory-reset the device.
- Keep battery devices awake during the interview: press the button about every 3 seconds until the interview finishes.
- Fresh battery. Weak batteries fail interviews.
- Move closer: pair near the coordinator, or near a mains-powered router such as a bulb.
- Reduce interference: coordinator on a USB extension cable, away from USB 3 and SSDs.
- Retry two or three times.
After pairing
- Leave the device where it will live, or re-pair it there, so it picks a sensible parent.
- If a device paired but shows as "unsupported", it's a converter/quirk issue, not a radio issue: see the item on Tuya and manufacturer-specific devices.