Just curious, what was your issue with deconz? I just switched back after dealing with stuff regularly needing to be re-paired to the coordinator while on ZHA. Granted the deconz interface is a bit…unique, I haven’t had too many issues with it. It also seems like the guys working on the HA deconz integration are really busting their asses to keep it fresh. I submitting an issue on githib and had a developer pingging me for info within hours.
Major problems with devices dropping off even though the mesh viewed through Deconz is fantastic.
Adding Sensors to the network, I get sensor ready, however never appears in Phoscon.
Sensors that have been added to Phoscon successfully disappear (not greyed out as unavailable) from the list although still working in HA.
Names not persistent between Phoscon and deconz so are constantly reverting after a reboot.
Deconz was stable for me for 12 months until about six months ago.
It has made my HA install nothing but a nightmare.
I didn’t have issues with having to re-pair in ZHA although devices do disconnect at times. A power cycle fixes however.
I have a spectrum analyser and these issues are not caused by WiFi interference however I do have a handful of Bluetooth devices around which do use the same spectrum.
Best radio; my guess would be that Conbee II / RaspBee II is.
But I’m not sure that’s the question you seek an answer to.
As a deCONZ user I do sympathize with the frustration. But I don’t think it makes sense to blaim that product in particular. You could just as well blaim the manufacturers of the devices you connect to it. It’s my impression from following them on github that most of the products “supported” by deCONZ have simply been reverse engineered. If you want zigbee that “just works” or as close as it gets, I can only think of Philips Hue. But that also limit the possibilities a lot.
Zigbee is a weird mess of a standard in my opinion.
Thanks for your response. Philips Hue has a limit of 50 routers. As I have around 90 that is an issue for me Plus the three items I have most problems with renaming themselves are the Philips Motion Sensors
The other issue is the same radio on different HA integrated platforms have different problems eg. Deconz and ZHA.
It is still a genuine question. The thing I like about ZHA are those items which comply with the standard just link where as with deconz it seems every new item has to be added.
Add a second hue bridge or a third. It solves that problem. If you want reliability, add wires. Every open protocol wireless is crap if you ask me. I use zigbee, zll and z-wave and I hate all accept zll.
If you add more hue bridges you cannot manage as one network. In the app you have to change between bridges to manage the devices connected to that bridge
I know this seems weird but i had some similar problems a couple of years back, but after separating my Wifi and Zigbee channels more (putting Zigbee on channel 25) have solved all my problems.
You said that deconz has been stable for 12 months until about six months ago, that’s why I’m saying it seems weird about the channel separation, but maybe its worth a try?
Personally i haven’t had any problems with deconz on Conbee II for the last 8-10 months with about 45 routers and 45 battery powered devices.
Also, from my understanding all devices should be paired in where they will reside and not moved around without pairing again as Zigbee does not “repair” the network in the same way Zwave does.
I use Chanel 1 for Wifi and channel 25 for Zigbee. My neighbours are both on channel 6. And I have no channel 11 or higher in the neighbourhood which I can see from my house at >-90dBm.
By the way, I’m not the only one on forums complaining about Deconz in the last six months.
Also having lots of issues with deconz since the last couple of months.
Sometimes after a reboot none of my devices are found. After creating a group and assigning a remote (hue dimmer) with button mappings, it works a few times than it fails to turn off the lights using the remote all of a sudden (while bright/dim still works). Day later, it miracly works again.
I think about dropping deconz and switch back to Hue completely, although my xiaomi sensors will be worthless then. But right now, it is an utter frustration.
I believe it to be a bit unfair to blame deCONZ for all your problems. I agree that Phoscon, which is only a front-end for deCONZ, is a bit of a hit-or-miss application. It does not show some sensors even though the REST-API shows them (which is why they do show up in HA).
But the problems you are experiencing can have a wide variety of causes, anything from:
Not having enough repeaters in the Zigbee network (only powered things are repeaters, eg: lights, wall sockets)
Having to many mix and match brands in the Zigbee network, not all brands can connect to all other brands. Meaning you may actually have multiple mesh networks rather then just one.
Interference with other 2.5Ghz hardware (like networks, microwaves, etc)
In my experience, after using deCONZ for more then 2 years, I’ve never experienced a major outage in my home. Sure I have had occasions where some devices were suddenly gone, but this was usually triggered by an issue in my Zigbee mesh network rather then deCONZ.
So if you want a super stable Zigbee mesh network then there is only one thing to do. Pick one brand, buy everything from that one brand and nothing else. If you want another brand then buildup a separate Zigbee network using that brand and link the two using HA.
I agree with you regarding Deconz and Phoscon. There are definite issues with Phoscon. Why can’t HA just use the REST API instead of having to deal with Phoscon.
On the other hand I can say it’s not my network I can swap between Deconz and ZHA using the same Conbee II radio I get an entirely different set of issues.
For 12 months Deconz addin was very stable and then after an update it all went to mush. The forums are littered with posts of issues after that time.
Devices that were super stable on ZHA now disappear constantly on Deconz.
Hence the original post. A genuine request for the best (most compatible) setup.
I must admit that I do not like the idea of using the add-on for HA.
I have used it in the past, but switched to a dedicated rapberry pi running only deCONZ with their image. So the deCONZ software is running native and not through docker.
Any important software needs to run on dedicated hardware to make it as stable as possible.
Was rock solid here as well. Then all of a sudden problem. 30 mains powered devices (hue bulbs), which act as repeaters. And then after some update it started going south.
I hear you but I should be able to use my NUC as a single hardware platform in a supported way and have a good result. I really don’t want a cupboard full of devices.
I would love to agree. I don’t like to many devices cluttering either, but in this case I did for stability sake. Note that I have a raspbee and I didn’t like HA to run on the same Raspberry PI after 3 SD-Card failures in a row. So I kept deCONZ on that pi and moved the rest to a NUC.
The only big issue I’ve had was when all devices were gone. But this is a known bug where the deCONZ (Raspbee, Conbee) suddenly pick a new network id or channel. Luckily this can be repaired through Phoscon though.
Is the ConBee stick attached directly to the NUC or on an extension cord? USB 3.0 ports can cause interference with the mesh as well, I had this issue when I switched from the ConBee to the ConBee II. Otherwise I also did never have issues with deconz for the last 3 years, and I’m always up-to-date with firmware and deconz software.
Plus the three items I have most problems with renaming themselves are the Philips Motion Sensors 