General recommendation is not change Zigbee channel since not all Zigbee devices support all Zigbee channels. The advice is to instead only change Wi-Fi channels on your WiFi router/access-points.
Note that the recommendation is, however, not to change the Zigbee channel from default as not all Zigbee devices support all channels. If you have issues with overlapping frequencies, then it will generally be a better idea to change Wi-Fi channels on your Wi-Fi-router or Wi-Fi Access Points.
That’s great but not really an option. My Wifi is on channel 1 and my SonosNet is on channel 6. And my Hue is on Zigbee 25 (i.e. in the 11 range). And this is the setup that least hurts my wifi. As I’m being blasted on all other channels basically.
The main thing is, did I change it or not this way?
If I do run into issues with pairing will keep your advice at hand @Hedda. But if I can keep it shifted to this channel. Just saves me a lot of headache with Wifi stability.
But Zigbee channel 20 is still interfering/overlapping with WiFi channel 6.
(Look at the picture in the MetaGeek article.)
Better use Zigbee channel 23.
Just to clarify; Zigbee radios are so very weak and send so little data at a low bandwidth so in practice a Zigbee radio will never interfere with Wi-Fi devices or make your Wi-Fi network work any worse.
It is only ever the Wi-Fi radios which have stronger radios and send much more data with much higher bandwidth that will interfere with your Zigbee devices which will make your Zigbee network work worse.
So another reason that you only want to switch channels of WiFi devices is to not interfere with Zigbee devices as Zigbee devices are extremely more susceptible to interference than any WiFi device ever is.
I know. The Wifi is setup to be able to avoid being blased to death by neighbors Wifi mainly. I realise it’s a tradeoff, will my Zigbee devices suffer or my Wifi. I’ve picked my Wifi to suffer the least. As I am too depended on it for music (sonos), streaming and work. And had regular wifi drops before.
Thnx… If I ever switch routers it will be towards Ubiquiti probably due to all the good things I’ve seen and read about them. But since I am currently invested quite deep into Asus high-end (gaming) routers it’s not on the top of my list. The Wifi issue is also a very complex one here that I never totally could figure out. And of course a bit separate from this original topic.
I started experiencing problems around the time the pandemic hit. But I’ve had a total network meltdown, which I blamed on my routers and turned out to be a network switch that was malfunctioning. I thought I had excluded all devices (turning things off/on and seeing if it disappeared) and even had already switched to another router system (just whatever was available as my network went 100% down wired and non-wired every 15 minutes). Switching out the switch (ha!) solved this, but the network never has never been fully stable, with me hunting for channels to use and wiring more and more devices instead of using Wifi. I have also been pulling out some wifi IoT devices of lower-end brands / one that was really going insane in how much traffic it caused when monitoring it. In the end the most dependable thing has been the current channel setting. Sadly my Internet provider also got involved into the mix, with forcing on me a new modem that the install guy actually gave me his condolences on as it had been known to cause internet-connectivity issues. And since then whenever the ‘wifi doesn’t work’, it sometimes isn’t actually the wifi but just the internet-connection.
Long story, I have so many variables to take into account it’s leaving me a bit mystified. But overall the channel setup as it is now works. This is why I started this topic. I realized I will be adding another channel (second Zigbee channel) and if that could cause for any interruptions.
That’s still not taking into account the other signals on different wavelengths going through my house, like how Tado communicates or BlueTooth of things like my Flic buttons. But I don’t think they really factor into this (or do they?).
I do think its really good to know that not all devices will work if I move from the 15 channel. I got an Aqara sensor just to check it out, and that does seem to work. Which is good as I had planned to replace some of my sensors that come from brands all over the place and sometimes are wifi-based to Zigbee based Aqara devices. If only because those Wifi sensors on batteries run out way to quick.
I‘m using Zigbee channel 18 and so far did not find a single Zigbee device which would not pair to my coordinator on that channel…
Tado is completely separate on 868MHz talking the IPv6 capable low-energy WiFi protocol named „6LoWPAN". I love my Tado devices (using 17 smart thermostate valves and room thermostats on the Internet bridge) although I really dislike that the functionality is cloud- / internet-dependend and stops working during an Internet outage. All that’s left then is the ability to manually turn the valves. (At least that’s possible on the other hand.)
If the system worked locally and unaffected by an internet-outage I‘d give it five stars.
But getting off-topic here as no Zigbee-talk any more…
Currently waiting for a few Tube SZ CC2652P coordinator and routers. Will hopefully be fun
Any other Zigbee hubs, Bluetooth IoT sensor devices, and other non-WiFi proprietary IoT protocols on the 2.4GHz band designed for battery-operated devices usually all transmit so few messages and normally uses low bandwidth that they commonly cause no interference issues with other devices.
Understand that most of them only send messages on state changes so sensors should only send very short updates about “open”, “close”, “temperature”, etc. then go into sleep mode to save their batteries.
So it is really Wi-Fi routers / access-points and other strong sources electromagnetic fields (like computers, USB 3.x peripherals/devices, appliances, different power supplies, and any cables/wires with electricity running through them) that commonly cause serious radio frequency interference (RFI) / electromagnetic interference (EMI) around 2.4GHz frequencies to interfere with Zigbee signals.
Note! Don’t get a Ubiquiti “router”. Only recommend getting their Unifi WiFi access points and switches.
Ubiquiti is famously known for making great WiFi access points, but they are also infamously known for only making average routers. So if want advanced router capability get pfSense or OPNsense instead.
By “routers” I mean Ubiquiti Security Gateway, Ubiquiti EdgeRouter, and UniFi Dream Machine series.
Echoing this. Ubiquiti also has started asking everyone to register an account with them, before you can start using their gears. So not 100% cloud-free.
That’s a big no-no to me - they could have make that optional, or at least after you start using their gears.
There were alleged breach events and alleged cover ups also.
That has been changed recently, at least when you are using a CK2/CK2Plus as controller.
The new firmware allows setup with a local account.
Can’t speak for the integrated UDM/UDM-Pro/UDM-SE though.
I’ve switched from ZHA to Zigbee2mqtt and noticed this allows you to build a map of your Zigbee network including seeing the signal strength. Which is probably quite helpful for channel selection. (esp. as I am in test mode with just 1 device I would need to pair again when changing channels).
Anyway the map only shows you which end-devices are talking back to your coordinator through which routing-devices - in short: what you are seeing is your personal Zigbee-mesh, no matter which channel you have chosen for your coordinator to use.
Regarding checking your signal strength: Instead of repeating that even with one device on all 26 zigbee channels I‘d rather check WiFi 2.4GHz channels 1, 6 and 11 signal strength around your environment.
Yes, but I personally found this one way more clear and informative. Overall the Zigbee2mqtt addon just feels a bit more fleshed out. Without anything negative about ZHA.
Regarding checking your signal strength: Instead of repeating that even with one device on all 26 zigbee channels I‘d rather check WiFi 2.4GHz channels 1, 6 and 11 signal strength around your environment.
Yeah, I’ve done that. 11 is clearly the weakest. 1 is being blased by my own Wifi, 6 by my SonosNet (and neighbours) and some neighbors wifi are coming through at 11. But at the -90ish dBm. So focussing my Zigbee channels based on that. It’s not equal all the same in the house. But at least atm this seems to be the best setup.
