Zigbee channel 11 utilization is 92.06%!

Configuration Zigbee
1

I just noticed the following in my logs:

Zigbee channel 11 utilization is 92.06%!
If you are having problems joining new devices, are missing sensor updates, or have issues keeping devices joined, ensure your coordinator is away from interference sources such as USB 3.0 devices, SSDs, WiFi routers, etc.0

I have been having problems with my Zigbee mesh but I assumed that it was because I am using a Tasmota flashed ZBBridge (I wanted to switch to an ethernet bridge but haven’t yet).

How can I swap the channels ZHA is using and more importantly, how can I tell which channels might be more open than 11?

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2

OK, so I figured this out. I used the radio migration feature to build a new ZHA network after I updated the configuration to set to channel 15.

It’s odd that my network was running on 11 as I never selected that channel and 15 is the default. Regardless, we’ll see how this goes. I did have to repair everything but that’s ok. It actually exposed some additional features in some devices that I had never seen before.

3

Well now I’m getting this:


* Zigbee channel 15 utilization is 87.33%!
* If you are having problems joining new devices, are missing sensor updates, or have issues keeping devices joined, ensure your coordinator is away from interference sources such as USB 3.0 devices, SSDs, WiFi routers, etc.
* Zigbee channel 15 utilization is 85.82%!
* Zigbee channel 15 utilization is 84.16%!
* Zigbee channel 15 utilization is 80.38%!

So I guess I need to find a better channel but after all the work to swap to this one I might leave it for a little and see how things go.

Any reason my utilization would increase over time like that?

4

Believe that word ”utilization” is maybe a poor choice of word for that message since I understand that it is really only sensing the total amount of energy/power for that Zigbee channel as to indicate interference. See → Guide for Zigbee interference avoidance and network range/coverage optimization

5

OK, understood. Odd because the interference seems to be rising:

Zigbee channel 15 utilization is 98.79%!
If you are having problems joining new devices, are missing sensor updates, or have issues keeping devices joined, ensure your coordinator is away from interference sources such as USB 3.0 devices, SSDs, WiFi routers, etc.
Zigbee channel 15 utilization is 95.69%!
Zigbee channel 15 utilization is 97.39%!
Zigbee channel 15 utilization is 97.70%!

I don’t think I have an under utilized channel I can switch to.

6

I understand this new warning message turned up in 2023.4.x

I’m guessing that the threshold to display the message is 75%, because i never see it with a value lower than 75.96%, but often as high as 92%

However, it seems to be very inconsistent. Sometimes if I restart HA or ZHA, I get the error, and sometimes not at all, only a minute or two apart from each event, and with the coordinator in the same position, and nothing else physically changed in the environment.

Any ideas whats going on ?

7

Did you, by using migration, need to re-pair all your devices? Am also facing issues on default channel 11 and want to move all of it to channel 25, but would prefer not having to re-pair all devices in the house…

8

FYI, ZHA integration in the upcoming release version of Home Assistant will include a UI for changing Zigbee channel. It will still depend on your Zigbee Coordinator and your specific Zigbee devices if you need to repair some devices (especially battery-powered Zigbee devices are known to be bad at changing channels so some or all of those may need to be re-paired if you change the channel).

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9

Are you talking about 2023.6? Because its currently not mentioned in the beta release notes

10

Yes, see PRs, (they usually do not update Home Assistant release notes until just before the release).

This new experimental feature that puddly added now allows users of the ZHA integration to perform Zigbee channel migration directly from the UI for all supported radio types without the need to re-pair all devices or have any entities changed.

ZNP (Texas Instruments) based devices currently has the best implementation of Zigbee channel changing as it allows the Zigbee Coordinator to change Zigbee channels after having a few chances to send out the broadcast to all the devices. Other Zigbee Coordinator adapters (e.g. Silicon Labs EZSP and Dresden Elektronik’s deconz based radios) instead migrate/change the Zigbee channel almost immediately, giving Zigbee End Devices (e.i. battery-powered devices) a smaller window of receiving the channel change request broadcast, however, such devices still have a chance of finding the network again if they detect that they have been orphaned.

Modern mains-powered devices should normally all change channels without any problems. After waiting a while for all devices to change channels automatically the general recommendation is then to perform a power cycle of devices that did not automatically change channels (usually simply by removing and replacing the battery) before just re-pairing those devices in the ZHA integration.

“Currently, ZNP implements the best version of this API because it allows the coordinator to change channels after having a few chances to send out the broadcast. Other coordinators (EZSP and deCONZ) directly react to the loopback request and migrate almost immediately. This rudimentary version has been implemented in zigpy-cli for some time and has been used by a few people to migrate their networks. From what I can tell, if an end device does not react to the channel change broadcast, it definitely won’t with a unicast request. But it still might find the network again after detecting that it has been orphaned.”

Before

before

After

after

image

PS: You should however note that changing the Zigbee channel is not a magic bullet for reception/transceiving-related issues, so users probably want to refer to ZHA integration documentation’s new troubleshooting section on interference and range/coverage optimization tips as well as this related discussion → Guide for Zigbee interference avoidance and network range/coverage optimization

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11

I moved the first devices from ZHA channel 15 to Z2M channel 22 and am very satisfied with the result; no more devices going unknown and very fast respons of devices.

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12

Upgraded my install to the beta to try out the Zha channel migration feature yesterday. The majority of my devices (apart from a handful of battery devices) automatically followed the coordinator to the new channel, pretty smooth switching experience imo!

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13

I did have to. I would wait for 2023.6 if I were you. Honestly, once I moved the channel I still got the message so not sure what I can do now.

14

@jjross are you still having this issue with the current version?

15

I am, yes. Seems all channels are full.

1 Like
16

Hello,
just dropping this here, because it may be useful to people on congested zigbee networks. This tool is like a DIY wifi scanner tool, it should help you decide which channel to use. It is experimental, any feedback is welcome.

17

Further to niker’s post -

This will produce a sensor for each channel enabling a better view of utilisation over time.

~Brian