I have a good Z-wave network in place but no experience with Zigbee. I’m adding Zigbee to a large home, starting with two SLZB-06 devices and Zigbee2MQTT. Each SLZB-06 will have an ethernet connection back to the network switch. Each will be in a closet (so walls surrounding) and they’ll be about 50 feet apart, mostly open between them aside from the closet walls. I don’t know yet whether the signal from one will reach the other with adequate strength for one to be a coordinator and the other a router (if I’m right that it works that way for a coordinator + router configuratiob), but I’m wondering whether that’s even a consideration or instead I should just configure Z2M with two coordinators.
I presume, but am not sure, that having two coordinators would mean two distinct Zigbee networks. If so, and if the two areas being served are not close enough for a single mesh to work well without a router at one end, it seems like having separate Zigbee networks would be fine, maybe even desirable from a routing perspective. But I don’t know whether Z2M does a good job of determining which devices are on which network/coordinator or whether that would mean both coordinators firing every request, doubling the network traffic unnecessarily. Or maybe I’m not thinking about this correctly at all.
I believe that in a configurator + router setup, ethernet to the router doesn’t help anything (aside from POE) whereas with two coordinators and a solid ethernet network, Z2M would feed traffic to each coordinator (or maybe to both coordinators simultaneously) via ethernet, making the distance between the two SMLight devices immaterial. Am I on the right track with that?
I know I could keep this simple and just use a bunch of Zigbee smart plug repeaters from a single controller to reach the other end of the house, but that many hops can’t be efficient.
I’d appreciate any advice as to pros and cons of using two coordinators with Z2M versus having a coordinator and a router (or a coordinator and a couple of routers if needed to get signals from the coordinator to the farther router).
z2m only supports a single coordinator, so having two coordinators means having two z2m instances, which sounds like a PITA to me (not just having two z2m instances to manage, but I’m not sure how, or if, that would work on the MQTT-side of things).
The idea behind Zigbee is that you extend your network with router devices, which most mains powered devices are (typical exceptions are “no neutral” switches/dimmers), and other devices (both routers and end devices) will be able to communicate with the coordinator through them. The amount of “hops” isn’t really an issue since Zigbee is low-bandwidth.
50 feet is quite a distance, you shouldn’t expect a single Zigbee device to have a (stable) range of at most 15 feet, but range very much depends on external factors, like the type of building material, interference from WiFi, etc.
1 Like
I JUST ordered two SLZB-06 earlier today. We have a fairly large, two level house, so I will be setting up the two antennas in each of their part of the house and ONE is coordinator where as the other one is router (ie. one single Zigbee network but with better signal quality than if I only set up one antenna).
Many thanks. I see my misunderstanding now; didn’t realize that multiple Zigbee networks require multiple instances of Z2M. Definitely not interested in going there after watching Bearded Tinkerer’s very good video on how to do this; way too many moving parts.
I have read several suggestions to use dedicated Zigbee routers for more assurance of a stable Zigbee signal in the other part of the house, but I’m not sure that I understand why that’s better than just having enough always-powered repeater devices like smart plugs if the number of hops isn’t particularly relevant. Maybe it’s because, at least for the SLZB-06 as a router, it has a much better antenna system? But what benefit does that provide if I have adequate repeater devices scattered about?
Or is the benefit just not having to buy a few repeater devices for areas where I don’t otherwise need them if a second SLZB-06 as a router is close enough to communicate directly with the SLZB-06 coordinator (since it has more range than typical repeater devices given its antenna system)?
I don’t have any dedicated routers in my network of more than 100 devices. They are all light bulbs, smart plugs, etc.
Antennas aren’t miracle devices, they trade off directionality for range. It could be that the SLZB has more transmitting power than a regular router, but transmitting power is also a double-edged sword.
Tbh, that video does make it look pretty complicated to maintain. Then again, he’s showing how to have six separate instances as opposed to just 2.
You still have other options available to you though:
- Use Z2M + ZHA (assuming the devices you intend to use in the ZHA network are fully supported).
- Use Z2M + Z2M Edge. Note that Edge is the development branch, but it’s pretty stable. Can’t remember if it creates a unique mqtt topic or whether you will still need to change it to avoid conflicts with the release version’s topic.
- Use a single Z2M instance and move your coordinator out of the closet and place it somewhere more central. A single ethernet cable and a slim coordinator isn’t going to be much of an eyesore, even if it’s visible. Even moving it just outside the closet and away from those walls should give you a decent bump in signal strength.