Several of my bulbs will simply drop off my network- ie, HA cannot turn them on or off… Power-cycling those bulbs brings them back online, until they drop off again some hours later. They show up on the mapping, but with no solid or dotted lines connecting them to anything. I have installed anti-tamper devices so the wall switches cannot be accidently turned off- which makes it mildly more difficult to power-cycle them. Seems like having to pre-wash dishes before loading them into the ‘dish washer’ for them to get clean… I’ve included as much of what I think is relevant information to the issue, but not sure how Zigbee actually works under the covers, so a lot of it may be of little or no value in the trouble-shooting.
My HA is on an Intel NUC i7, Zigbee2mqtt – Sonoff dongle ‘P’ version. Also, i have implemented a powered USB 2.0 hub for the Sonoff dongle, as the NUC has only USB 3.0 ports. Bulbs are almost all Sengled, buttons are Sonoff Third Reality and Aeotech. I have 3 Sonoff 31 smartplugs, and a TubesZB repeater.
I added most of the lights and buttons prior to adding the repeaters (aka smartplugs and TubesZB router). I am using a 2m USB extension cable, and my wi-fi is not using Channel 1 (Zigbee is on zigbee channel 11) (I can see neighbors’ wi-fi on channel 1 - but i cannot ask them to change thier channel assignments-
I am quite frustrated/confused as to why the devices work, then they don’t, without me changing anything. All of the devices paired reallly quickly, and without any hiccups. I live in a 2 storey free-stanind home, with exterior brick walls and mostly plaster/lathe interior walls.
Do zigbee networks adapt and ‘self-heal’, or do they simply pick a path and stick with it? I am nt sure what the inner workings are, or if there is some setting i can apply to ping or poll (not sure what the correct term is) those offending devices more frequently so they do not get orphaned. (it is pretty much the same ones every time (All Sengled E-11 bulbs in ceiling -surface light fixtures (one is in a table-lamp, where the lampshade clips onto the bulb itself.
First make sure that do not have any other sources of interference, such as ex. USB 3.x/4.x devices.
Since you seem to have already followed at least some of the best practices it will probably be enough if you add a couple/few more “known good” Zigbee Router devices to act as a stable backbone of your Zigbee network and get improved range and better coverage. Zigbee signals are low-power and have very poor wall penetration.
TubesZB repeater and converted Sonoff ZBDongle-P or Sonoff ZBDongle-E dongles are obviously the best for this, however, I can personally also highly recommend IKEA Trådfri Signal Repeater, and some others have reported that Aeotec Range Extender Zi is also as good as it.
Also make sure that you do not turn off and on any Zigbee Router devices on purpose. Zigbee Router devices should always be powered on to be always available, as they really at best should only be without power when you have a complete power outage in your home.
It will for example cause issues with your Zigbee network if you have Zigbee lights/lightbulbs that are Zigbee Router devices connected to dumb wall/-cord-switch that you turn off and on relatively often.
Almost all devices do switch to closer Zigbee Router devices to move to better routes (usually once every 24-hours and/or when power-cycle the devices), but unfortunately not all devices do so due to bad/faulty or poorly written firmware, with older Aqara/Xiaomi devices being infamous for having to be manually re-paired in place in order to connect to a closer Zigbee Router device that was added later.
Thanks for the link- i’d already seen it and found it helpful, but am still having some issues. This is a challenging puzzle, and I am enjoying it, in spite of the occasional frustration and (inexplicable-to me, at least) failure.
I am willing to experiment, and trouble-shoot, but it is a challenge to not be able to swing by the local ‘Radio Shack’ and grab a gizmo or two in real-time, to see if they help.
It is also intermittent, which makes it harder to trouble-shoot. The devices drop out in a matter of hours, not minutes- and there seems to be no specific time interval-but the flakey ones work when i am hesding to sleep, and are NOT working when I wake up the next morning…
My wi-fi is not on an offending channel, and I have no say in what channels my neighbors have their wi-fi running on. The wifi networks my app spots on Channel 1 have signal strengths in the -80dB and lower. I live on a fairly quiet suburban street, with only single-occupancy free-standing homes (most built n the 1940s-60’s it would seem (probably post-WW2 construction for Americn GI’s back from the war), so lots of brick and plaster/lathe interior walls. my home is 2-floors plus a basement, and has approx an 800 square foot foot-print. Center support beam in the basement is a metal I-Beam, and I have metal ducts for my HVAC- and have been mindful of those structures in placing devices and antennae where possible.
Thanks for the info and your assistance.
I repositioned both the Sonoff dongle/antenna and the TubesZB router, and removed all of the Sonoff smartplugs. As a result, the LQIs of all my devices have gone up, the drop-offs are down to one bulb, which I’ll replace if it happens again.
In the spirit of NOT quitting while I’m ahead:
1.Would adding another TubesZB router or two make worthwhile mesh improvements for me (most LQI are in the 100-120 range, none below 50)
2. are all/most of the smartplugs created equal, i.e., are there better ones than the Sonoffs? (I just got a 4-pack of the Thirdreality ones, but have not tried them yet. Not sure how to navigate the waters of whether more is better (which the sonoffs showed NOT to be true) or if it is only more TubeZBs will get my mesh into the 180+ LQI range (and if it matters).
I have a really strong mesh with about 50 IKEA bulbs (all routers) and even some IKEA extenders, but I still find some bulbs drop off when powered on/off and need to be re-added. (Typically only 1 or 2 every few months, though.)