I have a network with almost 40 Zigbee devices.
I used a Sonoff Dongle-E + Zigbee2MQTT and, in general, the network performance was very good. Rarely did any device drop below 150 lqi.
I bought a Sonoff Dongle-Max believing it would improve performance, as some annoying glitches occasionally occurred.
However, the opposite happened. The lqi quality of all devices dropped significantly! They all drop below 150 lqi and many are now below 70 lqi, which was unthinkable with the Dongle-E.
I’ve already connected the Dongle-M directly to the USB, I’ve connected it via TCP, I’ve repaired the devices, and nothing has improved the network quality, and I have no idea why this is happening!
Theoretically, the Dongle Max should be better than the Dongle-E, but in practice it’s the opposite. My hardware is as follows:
Raspberry Pi 4b
Sonoff Dongle Max
40 Zigbee devices (mostly Tuya)
Software:
Updated HA
Updated Z2M
Zigbee channel 25 (I made this change many months ago to improve the network and it worked).
I don’t know what to think:
Is my Dongle Max defective?
Is the new antenna (theoretically more powerful) not working on high channels (this is a theory that borders on esotericism)?
Could there be a conflict between a previous dongle configuration and the current one?
Has anyone experienced this and managed to solve it?
I had the same issues.
My setup is basically the same as yours. Never had any signal issues with my Dongle - E.
I tried to use the dongle max for a day but I just couldn’t handle it.
Another issue that I had is that devices would disconnect from the network and never reconnect… So I would need to keep repairing them.
Switched back to my dongle e and all of these issues vanished.
I might just wait for them to release new firmware updates.
I’m in the same boat, devices disconnecting and never coming back, dongle-e had no problems except some device not responding sometimes, I added another dongle max acting as a router to try to expand the coverage with no success.
I run both in PoE, it’s really frustrating, there are plenty of VIMAR devices acting as routers but no way to keep it connected.
I’m having a very similar experience. The Zigbee lights in the kitchen (two fittings with 3 bulbs each) either don’t all come on at once, or don’t all switch off. Very frustrating, given I had no issues with the Dongle E v3. I thought having a much bigger antenna would give me better performance, not worse.
Now I’m wondering whether to use the Max for Thread (which I only have one device for) and the ZBT 2 for Z2M.
Same here. I was hoping to get rid of a small Dell Wyse running Z2M with a Dongle-P. I did the migration from zstack via ezsp to ember and most devices were identified correctly, but some switches had to be paired again and it was much more cumbersome than before. The whole network was slow, the Dongle-M itself was busy most of the time even not allowing me to add new devices. I set the autodiscovery in HA to ignore for the Dongle-M to ensure it’s not accessed by concurrring apps. But still the whole experience with Dongle-M was dissapointing. I switched back to Dongle-P and the whole network (60+ devices) is running rock solid again. I don’t know what to do with this thing now. Maybe I try the matter/thread corner of it, but I bought this device with another purpose in mind…
Maybe I’ll try again after next firmware update, but the family is much to spoiled by the QoS we had before and I won’t risk the xmas automations etc.
Any hint for making this thing more reliable is appreciated…
Same problems in HAOS Z2M, approx 50 devices (half of them routers). Many devices has now 3 times lower LQI than before (with Skyconnect dongle). It’s pain to use some of them now with Sonoff Dongle Max as coordinator (connected via ethernet cable). I hope it’s a firmware issue and that the developers fix it soon.
Same here, HAOS running on a QNAP NAS with Z2M. Used Sonoff P as coordinator and a Sonoff E as Repeater. As I switched from ZHA to Z2m i wanted to improve my Network and ordered Sonoff Max as new coordinator. Terrible experience after 1 Day use. Light Groups not working properly, devices leaving and maybe never joining again, slow and laggy network performance. Connected via poe. Then Switched back to my Sonoff P and tried to use the max as router. Same useless, bad LQI everywhere. Replaced with my E-Router and will return the Max to amazon. How can they sell that? The net is full with bad experience reports.
Same here.
Bought two to use them as coordinator + router, signal is so low that I cannot keep devices connected outside of the room the coordinator is in.
This must be the worst performance by a zigbee coordinator for me so far,
I m hoping for a firmware update that can better the situation or I will have 2 paperweights.
I’ve changed Conbee 2 to SLZB-06 (because i want POE), and my LQI also dropped down (max 160, and lot of near to 0 or 0), so few days ago i buyed Dongle-M (cause when i’ve read about the best option for zigbee, they talked it should be the best option), and now i’m reading this, and in Z2M documentation it is “not recommended”. For now dongle-m still in the box, and thinking about returning it…i’am not testing it, but still thinking is it worth to test…
Of course i have best channel without interference with wifi, 40 routers of 60 all zigbee devices, and as i told, it works without any problem on conbee2.
I’am also changed 2 presense sensor which spams the whole zigbee web, and changed osram plugs, because i’ve read about poor routers functions (but not on conbee2). After this, LQI is better maybe about 10%…
Same here, I sent an e-mail to SONOFF about this, any alternatives for a fresh migration? In my case I just started with this device to switch an old tuya hub and to add the radiator of sonoff that don’t works with this hub. I have one floor and ~20 devices.
I went from a Sonoff Dongle P to the Max and at the same time used AI to analyse my ZigBee debugging logs to overhaul my network. Anyway my LQI seems to have generally improved but the Dongle Max has been crashing periodically and requires me to unplug the USB and reinsert. I use HA via VM running in Windows and disconnecting/reconnecting the dongle virtually didn’t fix the problem so I believe there’s a hardware or firmware issue.
I’ll stick it out for now but might try a Dongle E if it continues to be unreliable
No reset didn’t help here is another answer from support:Dear Dominik Průcha,
Dear Dominik Průcha,
Thanks for your shairng.
The screenshot you provided shows the device is not connected to the internet. Please check whether the device is experiencing difficulties registering with the router or if it intermittently goes offline or disappears from the router’s settings.
According to our current investigation, LQI values obtained by different chip models under the same conditions may vary and cannot be directly compared. We have also confirmed with the manufacturer that the Dongle-PMG24 and Dongle-LMG21 use different methods for measuring LQI. Therefore, we suggest you check whether this has a substantial impact on network stability.
The firmware version V1.0.5 has recently been released; you can try it to see if it improves the situation.
If you are using a Raspberry Pi or mini-PC, connect the dongle to a USB 2.0 port (black). USB 3.0 ports (blue) generate significant interference that can disrupt Zigbee range. I’m curious if it helped, let me know. I’m just starting to migrate from stack to sonofa, so it’s going to be a wild ride.
first of all, thanks for sharing your experience. Did the fw update help you? I can’t check it now. In my case, the problem occurred regardless of whether it was connected/powered via UTP or USB, and the problem was present both when used as a ZB coordinator and a ZB router. Sonoff’s advice like reset, check connection, just proves that they have no idea what’s wrong (I hope it’s only 1st lvl support who doesn’t know about the problem and solution).
