I’ve been working on my Zigbee build out for months and I think it’s as good as I’m going to be able to make it.
Looking for guidance on bulbs: I have five bulbs for lamps that just are not performing. I’ve tried Sengled, tried Innr. Both brands seem to stop responding. Sometimes, they show “Unavailable” in HA; but usually, they don’t. They just don’t work. HA updates the State “off/on”, logs show the commands are sent - but, the bulbs stay off (or on). I don’t get a “device failed to respond” message back.
It’s sporadic; all bulbs do it. Some are less than six feet from coordinator with 200+ LQI.
I updated my Sonoff P with the latest firmware this weekend; just in case.
Turn them physically off and on and they’re good to go (for about 12 to 24 hours).
Anyone else experience this behavior and discovered a fix?
that is strange. i don’t think that’s “normal” and the best that zigbee can do in general… do you have redundant connections (multiple zigbee router devices)? perhaps interferance?
There are tons of routers. It looks like a mess in the map; but most have a fairly decent path. The structure is my home, office and business workshop; so I’m covering 7500 sf on 3 1/2 stories; so it’s a challenge. But, there’s usually no more than 8 to 10 feet between mains routing devices.
Wi-Fi routers are located center of structure; so the coordinator is 20’ish feet off center; on a 15 foot USB 2.0 extension cable, away from PC’s, etc. Every bulb is less than 3 feet from an Inovelli mains switch with strong LQI; actually most are within 3 or 4 feet from multiple mains routers.
Other weak devices like motion sensors, temp sensors (battery devices) are fine; even those on the far reaches of the network.
I’ve not really enough knowledge to give any real input, but maybe this is simply to much for some bulbs? I mean older Zigbee dongles, like the Conbee II can only handle up to 25 devices. Maybe this is the same for some bulbs?
Anyway, my main reason for posting was that map, so don’t take my comment to serious.
I can say you’re not alone in the lightbulb struggle. I went from a large house with 30 or so Eaton Halo Zigbee LEDs which never had any issues. They were routers as well. I had about 10 additional Sengled bulbs constantly screwing up. I had many additional routers, too. Fast forward a year and I have downsized. I now am down to maybe 5 Sengled bulbs in use with 4 mains powered routers and I still struggle to stay connected.
In my struggles, I think the culprit may actually be a router device. One Centralite plug seems to go offline at times and knocks out most of my network. Unplugging it and back in fixes the whole network.
I run a very small, separate Hue Hub with just 3 bulbs attached. They work great.
I’d personally recommend unplugging routers one at a time for a few seconds to see if it restores the bulbs connections. Could be a bad router. Also, Hue bulbs on a Hue hub seem good. I think Eaton is or has discontinued their Zigbee line, but those were amazing.
Edit: Totally forgot to mention, if whatever is powering your Zigbee coordinator is being fed internet via ethernet connection coming from a network switch, try to get it on its own wired line. I have found network switches kill Zigbee coordinators randomly including my Hue Hub and my other coordinator.
Hi Nameless, thank you for responding; I’ll try to search for Eaton and see if I get anywhere - I read a post elsewhere about some generic Ali Express bulbs so I’m going to give those a shot too. Heard great things about Hue, but I’m hubbed out at this point. Not getting anything else with proprietary hubs - I’m out of room on my “hub shelf”
