Hey All,
I received my HE on Christmas (Awesome wife) and have been testing and such ever since.
However, I'm at the end of my rope as it pertains to Zigbee devices.
I have a host of Sonoff devices. Motion, contact and outlets to act as repeaters.
The outlets never lose connection but everything else does. The contact sensors will pair and then drop off a day later.
All sensors have good batteries, brand name. Not the cheap crap.
Help!?
First, Welcome to the Hubitat Community! Lot's of very helpful and knowledgeable folks here that are always willing to lend a hand and help get things sorted out.
Second, sorry to hear you're experiencing issues with your devices. Hopefully we can help find the root cause.
Please specify the exact brand, models, and quantities of all your ZigBee devices. And tell us a little more about your overall setup. Is your home typical USA drywall construction, or European 120 year old stone/brick? Do you have any ZigBee light bulbs on your network? If so, what brand/model?
I have a house full of ZigBee devices (Iris 3210-L Outlets) and a combination of Lowes Iris v2 Motion, Contact, and Leak sensors...as well as a handful of SmartThings 2014/2015 MultiSensors. Everything is super stable on ZigBee channel 20, with my home WiFi 2.4GHz radios on channels 1, 6, and 11. This configuration of ZigBee + WiFi avoids common 2.4GHz interference issues.
Drywall home...30 years old.
The sensors lose contact with the HE within eyesight of the hub. The same room.
I changed the batteries thinking it was a battery issue. Still dropping.
I added 4 Zigbee plugs. Still dropping or not reading properly.
No Zigbee bulbs.
I have:
-Sonoff S31 Plugs (x4)
-Sonoff SNZB-04 Contact Sensors
-Sonoff SNZB-01 Wireless Switches
-Sonoff SNZB-03 Motion Sensors
Is it the Sonoff brand itself?
The sonoff sensors can be flakey. Do you have any Zigbee bulbs on your hub?
Possibly... I have zero experience with the Sonoff ZigBee hardware, so I really can't comment on its reliability.
What Zigbee channel is your Hubitat Hub using?
Do you have any other Zigbee networks running in your house? For example, a Philips Hue bridge, a SmartThings hub, a Wink hub, an Amazon Echo with built-in Zigbee hub (only some higher end models have this)... Any of these could be conflicting with your ZigBee network if they are trying to use the same Zigbee channel. There are even some electrical power meters that use Zigbee to make it easy for the power company to collect data with needing to physically read the meter. Some of those have caused some users grief in the past.
How about your WiFi network. How many wireless access points do you have? What 2.4GHz channel are they using?
I don’t intend to buy any further Sonoff sensors, although the ones I have are now stable. I don’t know how good the Sonoff powered devices are as repeaters. You might see better performance with some different repeaters.
@ogiewon’s suggestion about a channel change is a good one.
Zigbee operating on Channel 20.
Wifi operating on channel 11.
We have an extensive Wifi network. 1 router. 3 satellites. 69 devices.
No bulbs. Most of my light switches are Kasa or Wemo. No need for the bulbs.
I recommend reading this:
Is your WiFi band 20 MHz wide or 40 MHz? If it is the latter, I’d suggest shifting to zigbee channel 15.
20Mhz....
I think I'm going to get some new sensors. These just aren't worth my time. Such a pain in the a$$!
I find the Sonoff sensors to be very stable and have no issues with them.
are you using the Sonoff hub with the sensors or connected right to HE?
Connected to the HE hub.
Try channel 15 first ....
Trying it now and will see how it goes. Thanks!
I've only one Sonoff motion sensor right now (second is on the way). I run channel 13. I have been on that channel for three years with no issue. Some say it doesn't work well for them. I really think it depends on your building and what other WiFi or other radio signals around you might be adding noise. When I moved from a C3 to a C7, I tried channel 15 and for everything it worked well, except for the Xiaomi Mijia motion sensor I have at my front door. That is directly paired to HE and it would drop constantly on channel 15, but since switching back to 13, it is again stable and all my other devices are still happy.
I added the Sonoff Zigbee motion sensor after moving back to 13 and it has so far been solid, but only when close to the hub. If I pair it at the other end of my house and upstairs, near an IKEA Trådfri outlet which repeats just fine for my Aqara Temp/Humidity sensor in the bathroom where the outlet is, the motion sensor drops.
I haven't bothered to hook up my XBee to see what it routes through, or if it's just refusing to connect to anything but the hub, since the place I use the motion sensor is only about 15 feet and one wall from the hub. But it does seem that these devices need a repeater if they're not right next to the hub. I too would have thought the Zigbee Sonoff outlet was the right choice for routing, but maybe they're just crap at it.
Don't want to suggest throwing money at the wall to see what sticks. If a channel change doesn't fix the issue for you, maybe one of the good folks here with a Sonoff Zigbee sensor, and IKEA Trådfri outlet and an XBee could investigate for you. I'm willing, but short on time for extra help right now. Can't commit to a timeline for testing. Sorry about that.
I've tried many zigbee plugs and repeaters. The ikea tradfri signal repeaters are okay, but a little weak. The best zigbee repeater, based on signal strength in XCTU is the iris 3210L plug. I don't have a sonoff plug, but did just get a sonoff zbmini zigbee 3.0 relay, and its signal strength is weak compared to the Iris Plug. There was a link in these forums to a place selling lots of 10 Iris plugs for about 10 usd/plug. A few of these and your mesh will be very strong.
Channel 15 worked perfectly!
Thank you so much. All the devices have worked and remained stable.
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