Zigbee: it worked on my Raspi - but since switching to SSD no chance

Configuration Zigbee
1

Hello - I’m new around here. And the reason why I’m here is the following …

I had a working setup of a zigbee automation running Home Assistant on a Raspberry 3b booting from SD-Card connected to my local network through a wifi connection. For Zigbee I’m using a RasbBeeII module (RaspBee II Übersicht). This worked stable.

Now I changed my setup: my raspi is now booting up from SSD connected to USB (2.0!) - all else is the same. Well, ok, the Home Assistant installation is different: on SD-card I had HA running inside docker, on SSD I use the Raspberry Imager for a full fledge installation.

Problem is I don’t seem to be able to pair anything. Can it be a problem of intereference of USB or wifi? (but it worked with wifi before …).
Any thoughts?

Thanks :slight_smile:
Stephan

2

Put your Zigbee dongle on the end of a long USB extension.

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Well thanks - but unfortunately it is no dongle - it is a module mounted on the GPIO.

4

Ah, well it’s interference and the only solution is to move your Zigbee coordinator as far away as possible from the Rpi and SSD I’m afraid.

1 Like
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Ok - also with USB 2.0? Somehwere I read there might be a problem with USB 3.0 - but not 2.0 …

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Not sure - all I know is that both of my Zigbee coordinators are on extensions because the interference rendered them pretty much useless. Are you using ZHA or Z2M?

1 Like
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Read and follow these best practice guides for Zigbee interference avoidance and setup optimization:

One of the main points there is that you really need to get any sources of EMF/EMI/RMI (electromagnetic interference) away from the Zigbee Coordinator radio adapter/module, and SSD harddrives and their USB cables are infamous for emitting EMF/EMI/RMI.

I would recommend that you at least buy a shielded drive enclosure as for the SSD harddrive as well as a long shielded USB extension cable for it. Though an easier and better solution is probably just to buy and migrate a new Zigbee Coordinator USB adapter and put it on a ong shielded USB extension cable to a USB 2.0 port (or best connect via a powered USB 2.0 hub as then you secure the power too).

https://skyconnect.home-assistant.io/zigbee-migration-selection/

https://www.home-assistant.io/skyconnect/

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Hi, I’m having the same problem. Did you solve this?

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Update: 2m extension solved this issue