ZHA Network Visualization - missing links/lines?

Configuration Zigbee
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First dabble with ZigBee (conbee ii stick, and 2x Sonoff BASICZBR3’s).

I got them all going in ZHA in a matter of seconds (It’s super nice in 2012.12.0!)

I was interested to see if they had built a multi-path/mesh so looked at the new Network Visualization feature in ZHA… But oddly I only see a single link rather than 2 or 3 links that I expected.

Is this normal? How is it that I can control both devices, if one doesn’t have a link? or have I missed something here?

Screenshot 2020-12-14 at 18.20.54
Screenshot 2020-12-14 at 18.20.54767×486 40.6 KB

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Jumping on this thread as well with a slightly different ask.
How often does ZHA Visualization update/refresh ?
Can we force a refresh or is this dependent on when the end devices/routers report in ?

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Good point though… I left it for a while and my lines appeared - so it sounds like the map refresh or topology discovery is only periodic. (Restart of HA didn’t force it either!)

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Services->zha_map.scan_now
Best, JR

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not sure if it’s just me but that service call doesn’t appear in developer tools - > services. on 2020.12.1

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My bad, it is custom one:
ZHA Map :slight_smile:
As I am on core venv not sure about other HA install methods :frowning:
Best, JR

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ah ok makes sense. latest release has inbuilt visualisation already. i had the previous zha map but it ate alot of mem so uninstalled it. the new native zha map seems to work like a charm

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Just found this thread! Seems a lot of people having problem with the network map Problem with ZHA network visualization

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Does that means that now you cann see all the links?
In my case the connection of the end devices to the coordinator do not show up even after two weeks.
But the links between one router and the end devices took about one or two days to show up!

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Yeah, all links there now, and it didn’t take 2 weeks… I didn’t have to take any action either, so don’t know about debugging this

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I’m just getting started with Zigbee, having been dependent on 433MHz devices for a while so thought I’d give Zigbee a go.

My map loooks like this:

Screenshot 2022-01-17 at 08.51.35
Screenshot 2022-01-17 at 08.51.352528×1988 294 KB

Both my repeater and coordinator are showing as offline but everything still works.

What does the number 3 on the line mean? Sometimes it’s showing 45/61, or similar.

Is this still a work in progress?

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I started to work with Zigbee for the first time and I have the Controller with 2 water leak sensors. I only have 1 green line between 1 sensor and the controller.

I’m hoping I get the lines soon?

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I’ve noticed that it can takes hours/days for the visualisation to complete itself.

The numbers on the lines seem to be signal strength.

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I’m finding no matter how long I wait, there are two nodes that never appear to attach to the network. They are both Aqara/LUMI nodes (1 thermometer + 1 leak sensor)

Is there any debugging I can enable to figure out why these particular nodes never attach?

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Before you start troubleshooting the software side any further, be sure to set up hardware properly first.

Zigbee and especially the Zigbee Coordinator are known to be very susceptible to Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) / Electromagnetic interference (EMI) caused by different signal interfering sources, so all the tips to try to reduce interference are extremely important to follow even if they may sound silly.

https://community.home-assistant.io/t/guide-for-zigbee-interference-avoidance-and-network-range-coverage-optimization/515752

As standard with any Zigbee Coordinator adapter today, try to follow all the best practice tips and tricks posted in PR https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant.io/pull/18864 as well as those here https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/zha#best-practices-to-avoid-pairingconnection-difficulties

Short summary:

  1. Upgrade to the latest firmware on the Zigbee Coordinator adapter (whichever adapter you have).
  2. Connect the Zigbee Coordinator adapter to a long USB extension cable to get it a bit way.
  3. Be sure that Zigbee Coordinator adapter is connected to USB 2.0 port (or via USB 2.0 hub).
  4. Shield any computers and USB 3.0 peripherals like hard drives by using metal enclosures.
  5. Make sure Zigbee Coordinator adapter and devices is not close to WiFi router or access-points.
  6. Zigbee devices do not have long-range (or good radio signal penetration) on their own so begin by successively adding more mains-powered Zigbee Router devices (a.k.a. Zigbee signal-repeaters/range-extenders) closer to the Zigbee Coordinator adapter and then in each room building outwards to form a stable Zigbee network mesh before adding devices further way.
  7. Afting adding mains-powered Zigbee Router devices pair all the other devices where you plan to have them permanently installed and do not move them around afterwards.
  8. If still have issues change Wi-Fi channel(s) on your WiFi router or access-points to do not conflict with Zigbee → https://www.metageek.com/training/resources/zigbee-wifi-coexistence/

PS: Appreciate if tumbs up PR → https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant.io/pull/18864

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To clarify: the hardware is working fine. I’m getting regular readings from BOTH the nodes that are unconnected in the graph. The nodes appear in the graph and are reporting values, they are just not CONNECTED to anything.

The reason I want to know how they are connected is precisely so I can figure out what the best topology would be. But without seeing the connectivity, I can’t debug the topology.

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Another person coming here to understand this weird graph… I’m reviving this since I find a waste to create new topics with the same old discussions.

Some suggestions of improvement points:

  • newcomers have no clue why some devices show without a connection line but yet, work great. Is this in any docs page? If so, a (?) button would work wonders.
  • in the same way, no clue what the numbers mean (worse when it’s X/Y), and line colors too.
  • the default zoom is way too far for being able to read anything, unless the main idea is to have a general visibility of how pretty your Zigbee network is. Similarly, the distance between nodes is too big and also doesn’t help with readability - even on small networks (mine has 10 nodes).
  • the shapes doesn’t have much meaning on themselves, and don’t help on readability either (since text inside a circle is an awful waste of space). It would be easier if everything was square/rectangular, and colors changed instead.
  • there’s a lot of barely useful information for newcomers in the nodes - such as IEEE and NWK (what’s that?). A “show advanced info” checkbox would be very beneficial.
  • this one I guess is more complex: sometimes, nodes render over lines and that makes it look like they’re connected together, when they’re not.

I’m open to writing a Docs PR ir someone can explain those questions :slight_smile:

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I’ve done so much googling to try to figure these things out, and this is the closest thing I’ve found to even a set of coherent questions about the graph! Thanks!

I second all of this. I’d also love to know why the “refresh topology” button on mine (2022.10) does nothing, but…in general, I think I’m trying to fix a hardware problem in software, and just getting stuck on the visualization curiosity. (I think I need more repeaters before my mesh will actually work reliably, but we’ll see?)

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Agreed, the “Refresh Topology” button doesn’t appear to change anything for me either on 2022.10. I do wish there was an official documentation source, as even the old github page doesn’t describe this very much.

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Anything new on this? Still having the same issue. The device works since days, but No line connecting to any other device.

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