Zigbee network optimization: a how-to guide for avoiding radio frequency interference + adding Zigbee Router devices (repeaters/extenders) to get a stable Zigbee network mesh with best possible range and coverage by fully utilizing Zigbee mesh networking

[Hedda]

Home Assistant posted a video to clearly show Zigbee’s symptoms with electromagnetic interference:

Demo: Zigbee interference caused by USB 3.0

That does however not answer the follow-up question of the Home Assistant Skyconnect dongle and the short USB extension cable that it ships with is more susceptible to interference than other dongles and cables, as in do they have good enough shielding or not, nor if it the short length of the included USB extension cable is long enough. That is, the Home Assistant Skyconnect dongle is not EMF shielded and the USB extension cable that it ships is both very short and relatively thin so it could be assumed that it does not have a lot of shielding.

https://community.home-assistant.io/t/home-assistant-skyconnect-usb-stick-announced-will-be-compatible-with-both-zigbee-and-thread-including-matter-chip-over-thread/433594/158

Home Assistant SkyConnect - official radio USB dongle will be compatible with both Zigbee and OpenThread (including Matter/CHIP over Thread)

Updated to clarify questions regarding as Home Assistant posted video showing interference symptoms: [Demo: Zigbee interference caused by USB 3.0] @agners since it was released have read/seen quite a few reports from many users saying they specifically have serious issues with electromagnetic interference symtoms with he Home Assistant SkyConnect dongle, even when using the original 0,5-meter long USB extension cable that ships with Home Assistant SkyConnect to a USB 2.0 port as re…

For reference, Home Assistant SkyConnect website and FAQ on webpage where to buy it now contain some of this information:

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

https://www.home-assistant.io/skyconnect → FAQs → “Why include a USB extension cable?”

• “USB 3.0 ports (the ones with blue on the inside) are known to cause significant noise and radio interference to any 2.4Ghz wireless devices. This includes Zigbee and Thread. If you do not use the extension cable, it may not work at all, and if it does, it could be flaky at best with intermittent problems (issues with pairing, device dropouts, unreachable devices, timeout errors, etc).”

Issue with USB 3.0 interference for Zigbee was also mentioned in Home Assistant’s latest newsletter for Building the Open Home:

https://building.open-home.io/assisting-the-open-home/

Zigbee interference caused by USB 3.0

A lot of users build their smart home around a Raspberry Pi. It’s quite popular to expand the storage using an external hard drive connected to the Raspberry Pi via USB 3. What most users don’t know is that USB 3 causes enormous interference with any Zigbee device or stick that comes close, to a point that it no longer works.

Gabriela recently joined the Nabu Casa team as a technical documentation writer and has been focusing on documentation to help users avoid common pitfalls like these. She updated the documentation for the Home Assistant SkyConnect including this 30 second video that shows how bad the issue is: