I have been using six Zigbee devices via ZHA with no problems. I’m running Hass.io version 0.98.5 on a Raspberry Pi, with a HUSBZB-1 Zigbee Hub.
So I bought three more (already had one) IKEA Tradfri outlet switches, paired them up, and things looked great.
But the three new devices (and none of the original 6 devices) keep going to “Unavailable.” Two of them are within 10 feet of the RPi, so the problem isn’t range.
They all show LQI: 255 and RSSI numbers in the 52-54 range.
Any suggestions on how to troubleshoot this issue?
OK, after a reboot, Hass.io update, moving one of the devices to another room, a power failure, and another reboot, I’m not getting the “Unavailable” issue any more. No clue which of those fixed it.
I’m leaning toward spreading out the mesh by moving one device from the same room as the RPi (and two other devices) to a spot half-way in between that location and the most remote location. And maybe the power failure and reboots made the mesh re-configure itself.
I wish there were a way to see the network configuration on these things.
Another thing to definitely check is WiFi interference. By default the HUSBZB-1 is on channel 15 (Zigbee) make sure your home WiFi has as much separation as possible. Also recommend a USB extension cable to move the HUSBZB-1 away from the RPi. I recently posted what solved my Zigbee instability issues, you could apply some if you can,
Please see below:
I thought I would post an update as I now seem to have resolved my Zigbee instability issues with the HUSBZB-1 and hopefully this might help others.
After tearing my hair out I did a great deal of research and one of the things I realized I hadn’t checked was what Zigbee channel HA used by default. It is channel 15. I had my Asus mesh WiFi on Channel 6 because my Wink Hub 2 used channel 24 and it never occurred to me to check it, big mistake lol. I immediately changed my WiFi to 11 and saw a big improvement but still experienced devices going offline.
After more reading I also decided to use a USB extension cable to get the HUSBZB-1 away from my HA PC, then I relocated it too the most central part of the ground floor of my home. Again things improved further and I was happy that I was making progress, that was until my neighbour brought himself a TP-Link Deco M9 Mesh WiFi which I helped to setup. Damn the thing is powerful but it chose Channel 6 for the WiFi and it cannot be changed!! Then I started to see some more instability in my Zigbee network.
Fast forward and lots more reading I found out how to change the Zigbee channel in HA so I moved it too channel 11 (Zigbee) with my WiFi on channel 11. Since I have done this along with the other items I mentioned above I now have a really stable and fast Zigbee network. I added the awesome ZHA Lovelace card and have been monitoring my network closely for the last 2 weeks. Below is what I have typically been seeing.
Change Zigbee channel to 11 & moved my WiFi to give as much separation as possible
Relocate HA machine to as close as central in my house as possible
Use a USB extension cable (My HA machine is on the floor behind an upright display cabinet and the HUSBZB-1 is mounted at the top of the cabinet using adhesive clips, roughly 6 feet high)
I also added 3 of the Ikea Tradfri plug sockets, one on each floor to act as repeaters. I may grab a couple more as they are only $12 CDN
I also moved every wireless device that I could to the 5Ghz network
Sorry if this was long winded but I was determined to get too the bottom of my problems as I did not want too go back to my Wink Hub2 lol
One question: I found the ZHA Lovelace Card and copied the .js file to my www folder. I’m not really sure how to add it to my Lovelace page from there. I know this is a stupid beginner question, but little things like this keep slowing me down. The documentation leads you just so far, then leaves you hanging!
Did you add the following using the RAW config editor? Hit the 3 dots and then Configure UI, then the 3 dots again and then Raw Config editor, you only need the lines regarding the ZHA card
If you successfully added the lines and rebooted you next need to ad a manual card (First I created a new tab at the top). I just copied & Pasted the following into the manual card from the instructions
Thank you!!! I got it working about 30 seconds after reading your post.
I was good until the step to add the manual card. Just something I had never done before. Now that I know, it’s so obvious!
Also, thanks for the suggestion to start a new tab (or “view” as it’s called in HA) and setting it to Panel Mode. That definitely works best.
I don’t know why it would have been so difficult for the author to add those few words to the install instructions. Honestly sometimes it seems like this is a private club, trying to keep out the riff-raff.
Don’t be too discouraged, there is a pretty steep learning curve with HA, especially some of the custom stuff. It took me a while but here is a great community that will help and lot’s of great content on Youtube. That being said with each new version more & more is being added to the GUI which makes stuff a ton easier.
I find the stuff posted on github quite confusing too, best thing before you try something different is always create a snapshot so you have something to fall back on.
If you can simply change your own WiFi that is the easiest. I had no choice but to change my Zigbee channel to 11 and then move my WiFi to channel 11 (These are not the same channels)
Once I did this my Zigbee network became rock solid and I haven’t had any devices drop off for no reason and I did this back in Oct 19
Hi, Would you be able to assist me in changing my Zigbee channel on RasPi4 with Hass.io? I’ve tried a few suggestions by people but cant seem to get it to work. Newb here so please be as descriptive as possible if not too much effort. Will be greatly appreciated. Kind regards.
I’ll be honest it has been quite a while since I did his and it is not for the faint hearted. If you think you are getting Wi-Fi interference try switching your 2.4Ghz Wi-Fi channel.
There is a link in my post above how to change the channel. You need to be using a HUSBZ1 stick though
