I’ve been having a lot of issues with Zigbee lately on zigbee2mqtt. I recently purchased a few Sengled bulbs that paired just fine, but were slow to respond since they were far from my stick which is a normal CC2531 without the bigger antenna (plugged in with a USB extension). As per recommendation, the stick with the antenna has better range so I bought one of those and swapped it out. Everything worked fine for a while, but the lights were still slow to respond (5-20s delay, while my zwave network remains instant across all devices with no hassle). In all, I have around 20 Zigbee devices on my network (3 routers). So, I changed my UniFi APs to use only channels (2.4ghz 802.11) 6 and 11 and set the Zigbee channel to 11 to avoid interference. At this point, all of my Zigbee devices have disappeared off my network.
Now, when I try to repair them, the interview will either fail or the device will show up as “unsupported” even though it worked before.
I’ve been going at this for a few hours now and just feel like I’m putting more in than I’m getting out of it and about ready to just go buy zwave bulbs, but they are more expensive. So, any help would be appreciated if anyone has any insight into what might be going wrong.
When you change channel you’ll loose all associations. That’s written in Z2M configuration : Configuration | zigbee2mqtt.io
# Optional: ZigBee channel, changing requires re-pairing of all devices. (Note: use a ZLL channel: 11, 15, 20, or 25 to avoid Problems)
# (default: 11)
Did you reset all your devices before trying to repair them ? if not they ‘think’ they are still associated to your controller on the former channel.
Did you check that all your devices are compatible with the new channel you choose ? Some devices can only use some channels (for instance Konke devices, or until recently Legrand devices).
You idea is good : separate properly Zwifi and Zigbee. You just made things in the wrong way, that’s it !
First : think about you channels allocation : Wifi 6 and 11, and Zigbee 11 is fine. I have personnaly chosen wifi 1 and 6, Zigbee 20, but the idea is the same.
To add a bit to what @Shaad said, you want as much separation in your channels as possible. If your WiFi channels are set to 6 and 11 [edit: pre-coffee… should be 1 and 6], then you’ll want your Zigbee to be on channels 15, 20 or 25 (personally, I’d go with 20 as it’s a fairly common channel to use with Zigbee devices). Also, you’ll want to look at your router placement; Are they spread about the house evenly? Did you pair the bulbs with the closest router or just with the coordinator?
Since you have to repair all your devices anyhow due to the channel change, I’d recommend pairing the bulbs with the closest router to them (Join menu drop-down: Select the router that is closest to the bulbs).
Should have installed an intermediate routing device instead. Zigbee is a mesh network and every routing device (usually any device on mains) improves range and reliability.
No
Take care that Wifi and Channels numerotation are not the same.
The only Zigbee channel that is totally available when Wifi channels 6 and 11 are taken is Zigbee channel 11. He’s correct
Zigbee channel 20 is the default choice when you use Wifi channels 1 and 6, and you want to be able to use Konke devices for instance. A liitle overlap with wifi channel 6 but seems fine in my environment (50 wifi devices and 60 zigbee devices).
I had a few of these working before. One cnetralite plug, an IKEA plug, and an IKEA bulb. Still was having some trouble reaching where I needed to go. I know IKEA sells a standalone repeater router, would this possibly work any better? Also @robertklep I would like to get a zzh but it seems they’ve been out of stock for a while. @Shaad I’ll try switching my channels around and then resetting all my devices and repairing them. It seems overnight some of my devices have found their way back, but others show as unsupported. I’ll try it out.
Also, I use IKEA, Aqara, Centralite, and Sengled devices. For the IKEA devices, it seems little documentation is available for what channels they are compatible with. Is there any way to find this out?
Gotcha. So one AP is on 6 and the other is on 11. Per the diagram 20 is the best choice for Zigbee to I set my ZB channel to 20. Reparing devices seems to work better now, but some are still failing and showing as unsupported when they worked fine before. Also, with the devices that double as routers, do I need to pair devices to those manually? I thought that process happened automatically over time but I could be wrong.
So I got one Sengled bulb working, when I try to pair my other one I get the following in the z2m log:
Zigbee2MQTT:warn 2021-02-23 12:13:04: Received message from unsupported device with Zigbee model 'undefined' and manufacturer name 'undefined'
Zigbee2MQTT:warn 2021-02-23 12:13:04: Please see: https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/how_tos/how_to_support_new_devices.html.
Zigbee2MQTT:warn 2021-02-23 12:13:07: Received message from unsupported device with Zigbee model 'undefined' and manufacturer name 'undefined'
Zigbee2MQTT:warn 2021-02-23 12:13:07: Please see: https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/how_tos/how_to_support_new_devices.html.
Zigbee2MQTT:warn 2021-02-23 12:13:10: Received message from unsupported device with Zigbee model 'undefined' and manufacturer name 'undefined'
Zigbee2MQTT:warn 2021-02-23 12:13:10: Please see: https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/how_tos/how_to_support_new_devices.html.
Zigbee2MQTT:warn 2021-02-23 12:13:13: Received message from unsupported device with Zigbee model 'undefined' and manufacturer name 'undefined'
Zigbee2MQTT:warn 2021-02-23 12:13:13: Please see: https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/how_tos/how_to_support_new_devices.html.
Zigbee2MQTT:warn 2021-02-23 12:13:16: Received message from unsupported device with Zigbee model 'undefined' and manufacturer name 'undefined'
Zigbee2MQTT:warn 2021-02-23 12:13:16: Please see: https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/how_tos/how_to_support_new_devices.html.
Not sure why this is happening, the other bulb paired fine.
Edit: Paired a brand new sengled bulb that went just fine, and then reattempted to pair the other, and now it works! Everything seems to be much faster than before. Haven’t tried the Centealite yet though.
Zigbee is all over the floor for me. I can’t maintain a stable network. Tried ZHA, Deconz, zigbee2mqtt, different sticks etc. Nothing seems to help. Devices drop off or stop responding. Over it. I don’t believe it’s the protocol’s fault as my Hue hubs are always rock solid.
Do you mix Aqara modules with routers from other brands like Osram, IKEA, Hue,… ?
Do you have dedicated powerfull routers ?
I have 55 Zigbee modules.
The only issue I have is that Aqara modules can not change of parent router. That’s why I now use powerfull routers that are always on, force Aqara module to use them, and then I add everything else. No problem for months now.
To be honest, I think there is an issue in the z2m Z-Stack that has issues with Sengled bulbs. I’ve got 3 light strips that constantly fall off the mesh. There’s been no rhyme or reason as to why they fall off. They just seem to stop responding for some odd reason. I’ve NEVER had problems with Sengled bulbs before moving to z2m, so that is why I’m inclined to believe there is an issue with the Z-Stack specifically with the Sengleds. None of my other devices have ever dropped, so it’s an oddity.
I have Aquara and IKEA devices, as well as one Centralite. The Centralite plug still fails the interview every time, and says it’s not supported even though it has worked before and is supported. I have one Aqara temp sensor that does not want to stay online: It interviewed fine but now the LQI is just N/A and repairing the device doesn’t help. I have many bulbs and plugs that are routers.
Now the one Aqara sensor says this in the log when trying to pair:
Zigbee2MQTT:warn 2021-03-10 12:17:09: Received message from unsupported device with Zigbee model 'undefined' and manufacturer name 'undefined'
Zigbee2MQTT:warn 2021-03-10 12:17:09: Please see: https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/how_tos/how_to_support_new_devices.html.
Zigbee2MQTT:warn 2021-03-10 12:17:12: Received message from unsupported device with Zigbee model 'undefined' and manufacturer name 'undefined'
Zigbee2MQTT:warn 2021-03-10 12:17:12: Please see: https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/how_tos/how_to_support_new_devices.html.
Zigbee2MQTT:warn 2021-03-10 12:17:15: Received message from unsupported device with Zigbee model 'undefined' and manufacturer name 'undefined'
Common sense. The CC2531 was introduced in 2009, which is a dinosaur in tech terms.
The documentation from zigbee2mqtt states that “Adapters based on the CC2530 or CC2531 chip are not powerful and not recommended for networks larger than 20 devices.”
Sure, it will work, but there are much better alternatives available.
If you have a couple of devices, sure. Because the device has limited memory, it cannot handle more than about 20 directly-connected devices. Since you cannot force routers or end devices to not use the controller directly, creating a stable mesh with a CC2531 is a hit-or-miss type of situation, where it’s mostly “miss”.
Also, the CC2531 in particular usually only comes with a PCB-antenna, which doesn’t do its range much good. It’s also, in my experience, quite susceptible to interference.
So if, like OP, you base your opinion of Zigbee on your experiences with a CC2531, my original comment stands: the CC2531 is outdated and very limited. There are much better alternatives available that can provide a rock-solid Zigbee experience.
I have a CC2531 with the external antenna, and it is connected to a USB extension so it can be raised up from my computer which is on the floor. I only have about 15 devices on my network, and only ran into all of these issues when I tried changing the channel. My centralite plug (last thing I need to get to work before I’m 100%) has given me the issue I described above before, but a Z2M update fixed it previously. However, I updated Z2M again today and unfortunately that did not fix my Centralite plug.
