Just checking up on this thread and I didnāt know this. Sounds super useful. Unfortunately, Download Diagnostics seems to be broken for me. The JSON serialisation fails. Is it just me?
Failed to serialize to JSON: config_entry/bd15ef695cfdf244bf2b96a4b557fc06. Bad data at $.application_state.network_info.nwk_addresses<key: 00:17:88:01:0b:76:dd:b6>=00:17:88:01:0b:76:dd:b6(<class...
Edit: Restarting HA and then trying it again, worked.
Iām not having problems at the moment, but Iām always worried by that usage warning in the logs (e.g., channel 15 is 95.7%ā¦). Unfortunately the channels recommended (15, 20) are crowded (usage above 95%) and channel 25 (specifically not recommended in the current docs) is particularly empty (only 8% usage). Iām reluctant to try that channel.
Oh, ok, sorry man, I have a 14-month old child and my life is super stressful I was thinking this zigbee thing would be a hell lot easier, and now it seems it was a science of its own!
Iām gonna swap over to channel 25 on zigbee then!
I get it, but ignoring the guidance youāre given because you want to rush it just makes it harder on yourself, and things will take longer As the saying goes slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.
I just wanted to drop a note here about what worked for me. I have been following this thread because the logs have been screaming at me since I started using ZHA that my channel is around 95%-96% utilized. I was not having as many problems as the OP, but I was having to occasionally re-pair devices or retry API calls. I did what several posters have suggested (Download diagnostics) and saw that all of the usual channels were chuck full (>90%). In the end, I needed to do two things:
My Wifi router (Asus ZenWifi AX) was configured to use a 40MHz bandwidth for the 2.4GHz range, even though the benefits of widening it beyond 20MHz are dubious at best.
When I narrowed that down to the normal 20MHz, suddenly Zigbee channel 20 was showing lots of room in the spectrum. I switched from channel 15 to 20. I had to re-pair a couple of battery-powered devices, but it mostly just worked.
When I restarted, ZHA complained about the settings being changed, but I just clicked the āKeep these new settingsā button (I forget the exact wording) and it was happy.
No more warnings in the logs and Iāve stopped seeing those messages in the logs about failing to deliver messages.
Zigbee can be made easier if you first put a little effort into understanding its limitations (e.i. extremely sensitive to interference, + relative poor reception and low power transmissions on a high frequency) so I do suggest you read enough about it to grasp the concept of its mesh networking technology enough to know how to work around its quirks (i.e. relying on having many Zigbee Router devices to extend range and coverage).
It could also be easy by chance for some simply because they just so happen to start by adding loads of mains-powered Zigbee products that act as Zigbee Router devices and coincidently not place any device close to sources of EMF/EMI/RMI interference, and only after that added Zigbee End Devices (line battery-powered producs).
Personally, I do however not believe in that naive approach, and instead think that researching first before buying anything will give me less of a headache later.
Again, I highly recommend you read and follow this before troubleshooting deeper:
also suggest reading these community guides as well to some gain basic Zigbee knowledge:
@Hedda , I think you write some helpful and knowledgable posts about Zigbee, however I think a statement such as :
āZigbee ā¦ its limitations (e.i. extremely sensitive to interference, poor reception)ā
is quite the opposite.
To blanket say that a device in the Zigbee universe is any more susceptible to āinterferenceā and have bad āreceptionā is not a true statement.
A discussion on this could go on for many s.
I will just ask, how can a device that can be built on the same piece of hardware that runs, Zigbee, Bluetooth, WiFi or other 2.4 Ghz 802 protocol just with a change in firmware be as you say āsensitive to interference, poor receptionā with one firmware vs. another. All are using the same physical and lower level firmware for their same radios?
Sure argue that different approaches to power profiles of a device, especially a battery powered one can effect a universe, however again you can make any of the firmwares I point to suck, if you are not well versed in the design. But that is very different than saying Zigbee is going to be worse than one of the others just because it is Zigbee.
I think I might setup another Pi from scratch, attach the skyconnect, pair the always-on devices and see what happensā¦ Maybe some configuration is broken on the original Pi
Does the device work and report in when its triggered?
Some of the devices will sleep after a certain amount of time not triggered.
Dont get too caught up in that chart, youll never get past it.
as long as the device works and reports in when triggered, youre fine.
I did this to and also improved some things but in the end I werenāt able to get all my zigbee stuff working reliable despite having a router for battery powered devices at maximum 4 or 5 meters away.
Long story short: Sold all of my zigbee gear and went for esphome wifi devices. After a little on boarding (getting used to esphome) all of my 50 esphome nodes do work since the day installed and perform fantastically. Some esphome devices have a clear advantage over zigbee stuff (no lagging, real time updates) others ājustā work rock solid no matter what (also very refreshing after waisting money and to much time with zigbee).
Esphomeā¦ Thatās exclusively self-made, right? Iām not very proficient in soldering and all that flashing devicesā¦ I did at some point order a esp8ā¦ Which is no lying around somewhere.
Iām at a point where I would rather spent 30ā¬ on a working motion sensor than spending 10 hours to solder and flash stuff
No. I bought most of my stuff (plugs, etc.) with esphome already pre-installed (e.g. from https://athom.tech/esphome). If they also have bluetooth (like esp32 based devices) they can be auto discovered (and provisioned for your wifi) directly in/from HA
I was thinking this zigbee thing would be a hell lot easier, and now it seems it was a science of its own!
As the saying goes slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.
