I have a range of Aqara Zigbee sensors (window/door and temp/humidity) which regularly disconnect. On a few occasions I have never been able to reconnect them, so they have become essentially worthless. I can usually reconnect a device by holding down the button for 5 seconds, then pressing it repeatedly for a while, but sometimes this doesn’t work and I just have to ditch the sensor altogether.
I also have a couple of Ikea Vallhorn PIR sensors which are a bit hit-and-miss sending signals to my zigbee bridge.
I think it’s time to look for a more robust solution for these sensors, and was wondering if anyone can recommend temperature and door/window sensors which are reliable and which maintain a steady connection to the network?
I have two Sonoff Bridge devices, both flashed with Tasmota:
Sonoff Zigbee Bridge SNZB-04
Sonoff RF Bridge 433MHz.
I don’t/can’t run ZHA, as I could never get ZHA to connect to the Sonoff Zigbee Bridge, so I use MQTT/Tasmota on the Sonoff Zigbee Bridge,
I’m open to replacing the Sonoff Bridge if there’s a much better option available, but a USB device would probably not be feasible for me as (a) my HAOS server lives in the attic, so range would be problem and (b) I run HAOS on Proxmox, and I don’t know how reliable USB passthrough would be.
Your issues could stem from the lack of enough router based devices causing a lack in signal strength between the end devices you have where you have them setup and the co-ordinator.
For a network based co-ordinator you can look into the SLZB-06 and the SLZB-06M based on the needs you have at the time and what you want out of each one.
Many thanks for your reply and recommendation. I’m not sure what you mean by “router based devices” - do you mean Zigbee coordinators linked to the router?
Router based devices are those like smart plugs, relays and switches and others that can act as mesh routers for the zigbee network, you need a decent ratio in some instance depending on the size of the home or location that you need to cover to make sure that you have a strong enough mesh network to support all the end point devices you need to setup.
The SLZB-06 lists an option of acting in router mode so if needed you can nab a few and have the primary one for the main co-ordinator and the others acting as routers based on where you are able to use them to take advantage of them.
Ah Ok - thanks for clarifying. Could my existing Sonoff Zigbee Bridge also act as a router in that setup, or would the mesh need to be based entirely on the same hardware?
Unless it states it can be used as a router and not just a co-ordinator or someone has managed to get it working as one I am not sure.
I currently use a skyconnect via a usb hub on my rack and have a decent amount of smart plugs, 3 hue lights and a relay that act as router devices in my setup at the moment.
I’m using a mix of certified v2’s from OZSmartThings and some generic ones that list as the exact same model in ZHA which show as TS011F in HA for both.
You seem to lack a fundamental misunderstanding of how zigbee works in principle. Please take the time to read up on how the zigbee mesh functions. I suspect the issues you are facing won’t be resolved by switching to a device from a different manufacturer - you need more routers in your house to strengthen your zigbee mesh, that’s all.