The More Routers I'm Adding The More Drop-Off's I'm Getting

Configuration Zigbee
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For the past few months, I’ve been replacing all of my ill-advised wi-fi devices with Zigbee and am hoping for some guidance from those have more experience than me with Zigbee.

I started building out the network with router devices in the same room as the coordinator - working outward (up and down, three floor house). As close to the center portion of the house as I could, I installed range extenders on each floor.

I’ve used the following devices that are also routers:

For Switches: Sonoff ZBMini’s (currently 30)
For Dimmers: Jasco (currently 8)
For Fans: Inovelli Fan Switches (currently 6)
For Fans With 2 Or More On Circuit: Inovelli Canopy Controllers (currently 5)
For Plugs: Sonoff S40 (currently 4)
Motion/Illuminance Sensors: Third Reality (currently 2)

End Devices:

Motion Sensors: Third Reality (currently 4)
Motion Sensors: Sonoff MS01 (currently 2)
Door Sensors: Universal Electronics (currently 13)
Bulbs: Sengled E11-G13 (currently 3)

All has been fine up to this weekend when I added four more ZBMini’s downstairs (may be just a coincidence). Some devices started taking 3 to 5 seconds to respond (randomly, different locations). Now, router devices are dropping off.

Restarting ZHA seemed to help with slow response. But, I had to flip a breaker to get the mains wired devices to reconnect (that’s not great).

I’ve checked to ensure my 2.4GH wi-fi channels are not 25 (they’re 1 and 6). My coordinator is in a horrible spot (far right exterior corner of the main floor, but I can’t move it; I did move the wi-fi routers out of that room). My “nework map” is full of mostly red and grey. I purchased antenna cable and am going to try to get the antenna completely out of the server room.

I was assuming that as more router devices were added, the connectivity would become stronger, not weaker.

Has anyone experienced similar?

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Who says it’s “weaker” ? , have you in fact verified this, or just assuming ?
Have you looked at a “Route-Map” ?

The More Routers, the more “optional” Routes for the various Devices
So When you turn of 1 Of your Tons of Routers, Then Device which currently use that “Router” have to find Another Route !, and so it keeps on, and on, So the More Routers which you “switch on/off” the more Re-Routing/Traffic , which you will be able to verify by taking snapshots of your “Route-Map” morning/noon/evening and several days … Yes you will most like get Confused by comparing these Route-Snapshots … Just like your Devices/Routers are, Confused by re-routing, changing routing-tables every now and then … Total chaos/anarchy

I thought

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Hi Nathan, have a look at Zigbee networks: how to guide for avoiding interference + optimizing using Zigbee Router devices (repeaters/extenders) to get best possible range and coverage

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By routers do you mean access points? And you are using WiFi extenders? With extenders every additional hop cuts the speed by 50%. I have strategically placed access points which are each hard wired with Ethernet back to the router for optimum speed. I avoid any additional wireless hubs and everything is WiFi, no latency. I prefer to avoid Zigbee and Zwave, every device has a static IP address. I’m not saying my way is any better than others but I find it easier to troubleshoot. When something has a latency issue it’s not hard for me to determine why and resolve it with this kind of a setup. Sounds like you have a very interesting setup, but I would think connectivity and latency issues would be hard to troubleshoot in such a scenario.

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Problem is, they sell ZBMini’s with 2 different chipsets (TI and Silabs) The TI’s use an older CC2530, and might be a reason why your routing is disturbed.

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