Zigbee channel change from default 15 worth it? How to do it?

Configuration Zigbee
1

I have a zigbee network that works fairly well but I was considering changing from the default channel 15 to something like 25 as recommended (to improve reliability) but not sure how to properly do it on a HUSBZB-1. I was told I may need to factory reset my stick.

I am running Home Assistant Core under Linux in venv.

Thank you.

2

If itā€™s working its probably not worth it and definitely not one of those things you ā€˜just doā€™ as a preventative.

With ZHA and Zigbee2MQTT at least I believe its a reset for your entire network.

3

Thatā€™s what I thought as well. Even the documentation suggests changing Wi-Fi channel before messing with zigbee channel. One question though, is it typical to once in a while loose a device or two?

4

Itā€™s possible. Typical - prob not. Btu I wouldnt go rearranging my whole network for one device. Figure out why - or - MORE repeaters! (AKA - ā€œhon, I gotta order a few more plugs from Amazon - k?ā€)

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5

I think thatā€™s what I may need after all. Any recommendations?

6

THAT Purely depends on where youā€™re located. Although Zigbee isnā€™t region specific - Power is. Iā€™m US. Iā€™m using GE wall sockets (HATE wall warts) and Peanut pocket sockets for temp-ish installs where I havenā€™t gotten around to replacing the outlet. They form my repeating backbone and I have 1-3 in every room. Everything else I have Zigbee-wise is not a repeater. Mostly battery devices like Nyce hinge sensors or Keen vents. Notable exception - Sengled for RGBW bulbs. First Iā€™m a switch not bulb person - and I SPECIFICALLY chose Sengled because theyā€™re NOT repeaters even though line powered. (It is a specific design decision on the part of Sengledā€™s engineering group) Too many bulbs get accidentally turned off. I tend to agree with them.

7

Iā€™m facing a very similar dilemma. I have Smartthings, Hubitat, and Home Assistant hubs each with ZigBee devices connected. Recently a few of my Hubitat devices dropped off which I believe was due to the fact that I had only one repeater that was very poorly located. I moved the location of the repeater and also put the hub in a central location. I donā€™t know why but it took about a week for the devices that had dropped off to join the network again again.

I thought about updating the channel for my Hubitat hub because Smartthings and Hubitat ZigBee radios default to channel 20. Instead, Iā€™m going to try going for the low hanging fruit and add a few more repeaters to Hubitat and Home Assistant. A fairly cheap repeater that I found is SONOFF Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle. Here is link to the one I grabbed from ebay:

Iā€™m still concerned about two different hubs being on the same channel but will try avoiding changing channels because I donā€™t want to create bigger problems for myself messing with changing channels.

8

That is a reason tonchamge channels. Two coordinators same channel WILL cause issues and definitely is a reason to change one. Ops network is functioningā€¦ Yours will fail like that.

9

Which hub should I change the channel on? I believe Smartthings and Hubitat are both on channel 20 and Home Assistant is on channel 15 (although I havenā€™t confirmed Home Assistant channel myself).

And what channel should I change it to?

10

That purely depends on your system m how many nodes are on each. What other stuff do you have? How many other coordinators? What wifi sources do you have? What chamnels so they use for 2.4ghz?

Unfortunately for you itā€™s probably time to pull out some graph paper and a spreadsheet and do a network planning exercise to answer that one. Its just not an easy answer like that.

Also, Hubitat Elevation AND SmartThings AND HA (do you also have Hue?) Iā€™d probably also be looking at simplifying things?

11

I started with Smartthings and when certain z-wave devices (Zooz) failed I moved them over to Hubitat. Most of my Z-wave devices were consolidated to Hubitat and whatever else that was not broken stayed on Smartthings. I bought Home Assistant Blue at the end of 2021 to tinker and added a dongle a couple of days ago. I donā€™t expect Home Assistant to have many zigbee/z-wave devices at all. For me Home Assistant is used to bridge the gap when I need to connect between Smartthings, Hubitat and and WiFi/Cloud devices.

Just off the top of my head I have:

  1. Smartthings (16 connected Zigbee Devices)
  2. Hubitat (27 connected Zigbee Devices
  3. 3x Hue Hubs (7 connected Hue lights)
  4. Home Assistant (Nortek Zwave/Zigbee combo stick) (1 Connected Zigbee Device)
  5. I have an Eero Pro 3x mesh. The app settings wonā€™t tell me the channel they are on for 2.4 or 5 ghz. I also have a single eero pro 6 which I have not installed yet. I believe only the pro 6 has a zigbee radio.

Another thing I forgot to mention is I eventually plan to move Smartthings zigbee devices to Hubitat to consolidate everything Zigbee. If I do this, should I still consider changing channels? Also, is there a good resource you recommend about network planning for my case?

12

Zigbee channel 25 is great if all your Zigbee devices support it, but do other things before changing:

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