Hi all! It’s been a month that I’ve been successfully building up my zigbee network at home with up to 20+ devices so far. While there haven’t been any major issues, some devices tend to drop off or respond really slowly, given that they are spread across two floors.
My coordinator (Sonoff Zigbee Dongle Plus-P) is on the first floor and while I tried installing as many routers as possible between the floors, the strongest LQI between the floors is around 40/35 (router-router) and 2/27 (router-coordinator).
Network map is below - devices to the right of the coordinator are on the first floor and left are on the ground floor. Any advice here? Is it worth installing a second Zigbee network for the ground floor - I have a spare rpi3 and can pick up another sonoff dongle.
What devices respond slowly and drop off? Battery devices? I have 80+ on the same dongle in my network and the only time I have issues are if I use off-brand cheap devices (which I dump as soon as I see they are garbage) or battery devices that might be on the very edge of being able to reach a mains powered device to properly route. In my instance, my Zigbee dongle is in the center of my basement and I have Zigbee at all four corners of the house and even into the yard with very few issues other than noted above.
At the moment it’s a cheap off-brand battery powered door sensor that regularly drops off, it’s also the one with the lowest quality link to the mesh (I’ll need to work something out there) - but this I’m not too concerned about. The others are Ikea light bulbs. These don’t drop off but every now and then are slow to respond to automations.
I should mention the house I live in has thick concrete walls between all rooms & floors, which probably doesn’t help.
That’s a big one! You can try another Zigbee network but I would first try 90 degree angles first. A 6 inch concrete slab can become effectively a 12 FOOT slab for signals to penetrate when it’s trying to do so at an angle. A cheap way to do this is to get something like the Third Reality Zigbee plugs (which are quite good and cheap) to try to lessen the angles you are trying to get through the walls with. They become a backbone part of your network that other devices can use for an easier path.
In general it is better to add more routers to your already existing network.
There are special router devices, but most mains powered ones are routers too.
The extra devices will make the network more resilient against drop outs and pathing with poor connection.
Okay, will continue adding router devices and see how the network develops! I was just concerned that there isn’t a strong connection between the devices in close proximity with the coordinator and ones that are a floor away.
Just add many more and better Zigbee Router devices to your existing Zigbee network, (do not create a second Zigbee network unless have a very remote location like a different site). First be sure to read and try to follow all these best practice tips is this gouidw before troubleshooting any deeper, the guide also have recommend of ”known good” and ”known great” dedicated Zigbee Router devices, see:
Thanks Hedda! Will start adding more devices over the next few weeks. I also have a wifi point that can most likely be moved a bit farther away from the coordinator.
