Sorry if this sounds like a rant, but I’m really not sure what I’d doing wrong here.
I’m slowly trying to migrate from SmartThings to HA, and most of it has been great. Volumio support, Fronius solar inverter support, ESPHome, etc. All fantastic. I’ve moved Zwave devices over (GE outlets, motion sensors, water main controller, etc.) no issues. But Zigbee and ZHA has been giving me nothing but headaches. I’m use ZHA on Home Assistant on a Pi 4 with a HUSBZB-1.
Zigbee devices, ALL the issues, I routinely have to attempt pairing the devices multiple times as the add hangs during the interview step, or after interview it won’t enumerate devices.
I added a SmartThings Multipurpose sensor (with the magnet on the sensor as per the instructions) it added but none of the values change or populate with anything other than question marks.
Ikea blinds add but don’t work
Iris door sensor, added but temperature and open/close are just question marks
Sonoff Zigbee temp and humidity sensors, one works fine, the other dies after a couple days (had to pair them about three times each to get them to actually add and enumerate features)
Aqua motion sensor, added and random disappears
Not sure if I’m picking bad devices, or I’ve got some sort of deeper issue or this is just the state of HA zigbee support.
Part of what you’re describing soubds like device support issues but we’re going to skip those for now. Because the rest sounds like signal issues. (I’m having trouble pairing X or I paired it and a few days later it dropped for no reason.)
So how exactly is your hubusb1 connected to your pi? (usb cable? Usb hub? Both? Neither?)
What channel is yiur 2.4 Ghz wifi using, what Zigbee channel did yiu use for yohr zigbee network? How close is the nearest WiFi Access point to your Zigbee stick? Do you have any USB3 devices attached to this pi or running close by?
You mentioned a bunch of devices that are battery powered. Do you have any mains powered zigbee devices?
HUBUSB1 is connected directly to Pi over the USB 2.0 port
WiFi channel is 11
Zigbee channel hasn’t been changed from default which with ZHA I believe is 15
Nearest AP is 5 meters away
No other USB devices plugged into Pi (Pi is USB-C power from included AC adapter, Nortek USB stick, Ethernet cable)
The only mains powered Zigbee devices are the Ikea signal repeaters that I paired.
15 is a good choice if you’re on WiFi 11 - Just make sure your neighbors dont have an abnormally strong 6 or 1 nearby, as you’re sitting in the lobes of both of them…
First thing I’d change is moving the sitck to a usb 2.0 hub on a USB extension cable at least 1m from the Pi. (I’m learning myself that these zigbee sticks are even more sensitive than the zigbee radio in a ST hub…) Make sure your Zigbee AND Zwave add-ins are addressing the USB stick(s) using the BY-ID address before you move them else the address on the bus could change and the integration stops working.
THe pairing isn’t the problem and that’s why they’re dropping off. They’re not pairing through a repeater because you’re right next to the stick. When they move out to the end they drop - if they are too far from range of a repeater, they won’t come back. You should build out your network from the middle out - pairing in place to ensure you have good signal. If not add repeating device, try again.
I have a similar environment and similar experiences (yes, an extension USB cable worked wonders). On the Aqara motion sensors, I have found replacing the battery fixes alot even though the sensor reports the battery is above 60%.
I doubt this will fix the issue but updating the Zigbee firmware on the HUSBZB couldn’t hurt! You can update using a Docker container or running the Python code directly. Use this Github for instructions.
I had a similar configuration to yours (rPI4 + HUSBZB) and I didn’t have any issues pairing Zigbee devices, but the biggest issue I had were Zigbee sensors disconnecting due to the sensor being too close to a wireless AP or mesh point. Keep the sensors as far away from any wireless AP as possible.
