Zigbee ZHA - Network settings - Best Channel - Advice Please

Configuration Zigbee
1

Good Morning, Please could i have some advise as to what is the best channel for my Zigbee to run on. Its currently on Ch25.
I am setting up a new instance of HA and am building my Zigbee network with SMLight SLZB-06p10 running ZHA. (Texas Instrument Chip CC2674)
I have placed one as the Co-ordinator in the most central part of my house and have so far added another on the ground floor Living Room and another in office (Running as routers). I have added a few Zigbee smart plugs (Routers) to help build the network. My concern is that when viewing the Network through HA, I seem to have mostly Orange and red lines showing the connection between the devices on the Mesh network. Is this because the network is clashing with the wifi? or is this because i still need to build the network with more Routers? I have Ubiquity APs on each floor which are running on Ch1 and Ch11. Sorry if this is a stupid question but is it the 2.4 Channel I only need to worry about? I’m broadcasting 5.0 & 6.0 from these access points also, I don’t understand the channels as in the attached graph the channels only go up to 14?? Any help would be appreciated

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2

There’s a good guide about this here. It does sometimes take a bit of experimentation, especially if you have a complicated Wifi set up or close neighbours.

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Thank you, I will check the details in the link, Looks like a good overview.

4

The article was helpful bit doesn’t really explain about what’s the best channels are, I know this will be dependant on what’s using my 2.4 network.

Is anyone able to comment on my individual case from the above screen shoots and advise what you think the best channel would be for me. this is a new network with mostly routers and i haven’t added many end devices so if i have to start again, This would be ok. I really want to get this right to build a stable network that’s very reliable

5

First of all, if you aren’t having any issues, I wouldn’t worry about it. Second, it’s easy to change channels later. (Very occassionally you might have to re-pair some battery devices.)

I use channel 25. I have 40-45 devices and a router with 2.4 and 5 channels. It’s been working well for me for a couple of years now (knock on wood).

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6

Things to bear in mind:

  • The ZHA map shows all possible routes, not just the ones in use. There usually is a fair amount of orange and red.
  • Zigbee is designed to be a bit of a black box, and messages will pick their own routes “automagically”. As @eamonn says, if devices are working, don’t worry about it.
  • An extra router never hurts!

There’s an explanation of what the map colours mean, along with a diagram of how Zigbee channels map onto wi-fi channels here:

Not many people know that... A random collection of Zigbee trivia

Yes, it is 2.4 you should be looking at.

A good way of finding out how busy your channels are is to download diagnostics from the ZHA integration page.

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Somewhere near the end of a very long file you will find something like:

    "energy_scan": {
      "11": 68.14622793558128,
      "12": 75.96022321405563,
      "13": 70.89933442360993,
      "14": 39.90320178295578,
      "15": 96.64469941013013,
      "16": 4.69985354430736,
      "17": 8.631361812931262,
      "18": 8.631361812931262,
      "19": 4.69985354430736,
      "20": 80.38447947821754,
      "21": 80.38447947821754,
      "22": 92.0598007161209,
      "23": 93.76433891498253,
      "24": 85.82097888710312,
      "25": 4.69985354430736,
      "26": 97.39286236923465
    },

The numbers are percentages and give you an idea of the amount of noise on each Zigbee channel, including Zigbee traffic, wi-fi and anything else that’s going on. In the example above, my Zigbee is on channel 20 and perfectly stable, even though the number is quite high.

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