ZigStar - ZigBee Coordinators and Routers

You might have to recreate your network. I had a lot of weird stuff happening when I was updating back and forth.

I deleted and started fresh to 20240315 and everything was very responsive. The upgraded to 20240316 and still the same, very responsive. I do still get the error above that you pasted, but occasionally, my network is still quite responsive.

With 20230507, it starts well, however within a few days it will slow down significantly.

1 Like

As it is quite a lot of work to re-pair all my Zigbee devices, I think I will try and wait for an updated official release before I do that.
In the meantime I am setting up a routine that is triggered when a number of Zigbee devices go off-line and then power cycles the Zigstar UZG coordinator.

ALl you need to do when updating up and down,is to clean NVRAM(erase NVRAM) and start Z2M.

2 Likes

That is useful as I didn’t know about erasing the NVRAM
Could that have explained my problems when I put on the 20240316 firmware and would you suggest I try it again?

@mercenaruss, So it seems I need to restart the device every 1.5 days. It is much more response compare to the older released firmware so makes no sense for me to go back to it so will try to have an automation that reboots the dongle nightly, hopefully this will get fixed soon.

@mercenaruss, I got another one of your UZG-01. It is also revision 0.5 but has a different revision of ESP (ESP32-D0WD-V3) compared to the older one (ESP32-D0WDQ6). It runs about 5C cooler somehow. Not sure why. Everything else seem to be the same.

Anyway I got it so I could try and split my network into 2 but before I do that, I though just to rule out any hardware issues, I swapped the old with the new and will monitor for a few days if I still need restarts. Will keep you updated.

Please update to 20240316.zip be sure to be for P7

Yeap done, first thing I did when I plugged it in :slight_smile:

image

I’ll keep you updated

@HarvinDhillon I am rather new to this - how did you add your UZG-01 to HA ESPHome?
If you just added it using the ‘Add Device’ option on ESPHome Integration what port did you use when adding it? FYI I am connecting to my UZG-01 via WiFi

You should try using wired, wifi is too flaky in general for any reliable communication for Zigbee Coordinator.

But to answer your question, I am using MQTT, in the web server for the coordinator, there is an option to enable it, just add your MQTT details and restart, it should pop up in HA

I have added it via Z2M and Zigbee is all working OK (with occasional hangs as discussed by many others) but I do not see the UZG-01 coordinator sensor details itself in HA (e.g. your screen grab above). Not very important but just interested when you showed your UZG

I started testing it over WiFi but has proven unreliable for production.

  • If for any reason the WiFi link is interrupted, Z2M stops and refuses to start untill the adatper is accessible again. This is worsened by the next point.
  • After link interruption my UZG won’t reconnect to WiFi until hard rebooted. I suspect this is due to me getting a cheap Chinese knockoff instead of an official unit. Will see how a legit one from Elecrow behaves.

My takeaway is that I have to hook up the UZG over Ethernet. Currently in the process of installing a CAT drop to that location.

The UZG-01 comes with its own MQTT producer, you just need to configure it to point to your broker, it should be the same one you have Z2M pointed to. Then you’ll just see it appear as a device on your MQTT integration.

Yea unfortunately wifi is always going to be like that, any device that functions on it will need to also accommodate the possibility of packet loss. I do not know of any zigbee coordinators that function solely on wifi, even 1st party ones like HUE bridge require a hard wired connection for reliability.

1 Like

Well I have moved it to an ethernet connection (although now not centrally located in the house) and I will see if that makes it more reliable. Some people think it is the 20+ Tuya devices that are probably to blame.
The location hopefully is not a problem as all the Tuya devices are routers and spread throughout the house (smart plugs).

@mercenaruss, so I havent had to restart in almost 2 days, seems to be stable. I will keep monitoring
image

It seems to be likely that the older one I have is faulty somehow, is there a way to confirm and what would you suggest the next steps? Should I log a ticket with support?

1 Like

Is many coordinators what are working solely on WiFi ,for example Sonoff,dont remember exact model.
I have a Wifi UZG-01 on Wifi and is working perfectly fine.

Better send me an email and I will follow there,is hard here to check all our discussions.

Ok will do, thanks Radu

Understood, yea the first sonoff bridge is wifi only, but its on the not recommended list for ZHA and Z2M.