Everything Xbee

Windows 10x64.

I've had a few of my zigbee endpoints drop off randomly, and then come back later. It could be the heat.

Previously I've not had any issues on HE. I did on SmartThings earlier though.

I unplugged my 7 zigbee Xiaomi sockets. Immediately I saw a few of my endpoints return. So far, only four, but that's enough evidence for me.

So, next question. In Australia, the only zigbee power sockets are Xiaomi. That means I have to move to zwave. Currently I dont know much about zwave. Do powered zwave devices operate as repeaters, or is it not that simple?

Yes. Pretty much all powered zwave device act as a repeater. They are supposed to, per the spec. I have found a couple exceptions to that though, but it is very rare.

It's also worth it to get more xbee modules and use them as routers. The pro model is strong in signal and routes many devices.
I like Z-WAVE but it's so limited in battery operated devices and price range.

Thinking about getting a 2nd HE hub for only ZLL bulbs, to replace my Hue Bridge. Can anyone verify XBee's capability to communicate ZLL commands?

If your Hue bulbs are paired to Hubitat, they will use ZHA instead of ZLL (I think the ZLL spec calls for such devices to "fall back" to ZHA 1.2 if they can't find a ZLL network to join). The instructions I've seen here for setting up the XBee also make it a ZHA device (that's the "key" you put in), so it definitely wouldn't work on ZLL--but since that's not what would be happning, it won't be a problem. :slight_smile:

As for an XBee routing packets for ZHA devices that are only paired as such because they "want" to be ZLL but couldn't (a loose interpretation of the original question in light of the above information), I doubt there'd be much of a problem but don't know that anyone's tested. The only known problem is with the forced-ZHA bulbs themselves dropping packets from "regular" (non-bulb) ZHA devices. I know Mike has a hub set up like you are planning, and last I heard he didn't notice problems with bulbs dropping anything routed through them from other bulbs (the key, presumably, is avoiding putting "regular" ZHA devices* on that network--so doing exactly what you plan on doing if you're considering it a Hue bridge replacement).

*except, of course, the XBee. I guess I should say "regular" devices where you might care if something doesn't make it to them, but it's not like the XBee is a smart switch you'd be sending commands to...though now that I think about this more, I guess you'd want to make sure the XBee is in direct range of the hub and not routing through a bulb, lest the bulbs cause problems with it.

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Aha, yes I suppose this would be the only main caveat, though the XBee should theoretically assume superiority in the network in terms of being a preferred router. Better thing would be to pair the XBee to the bulb hub first, followed by all the bulbs, and hope they don't change their minds.

My reasoning for this is I have 2 XBees which is overkill for the size of my home, and I'd like to utilize the other to strengthen (and map) my bulb mesh. I do like the idea of using HE instead of Hue, as it should open up more options and unify things.

Maybe one day a future HE hub will have the capability to use 2 Zigbee sticks, or better yet, the option for many multiple internal meshes. :crossed_fingers:

I seem to have a "ghost device". It's showing as a router, but I have no idea what it is. Usually the only thing it's connected to is the Xbee, but I have seen it latch onto another router once before. It shows "Unknown" status, with "? LQI". I can see the MAC address, as well as the 4-digit 16bit address, but there is no match in my Zigbee details. Sometimes the 16bit address is different, but the MAC stays the same. Oh, and it's pink in color. Seems very odd... I don't know what to make of it.

As long as it's not on the zigbee list. The hub will eventually delete it.

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Was wondering if anyone else finds this spectrum analyzer useful. I think it's displaying which channel has the best signal?
anyway it seems to vary from the last test yesterday when I had 2 xbees on my computer. I not sure if it's only between my xbees or in my actual zigbee mesh that its displaying info for

That's a cool feature; essentially its displaying the results of the 802.15.4 ED Scan (energy detect scan) that a Zigbee coordinator would do when it is trying to find the best (least active/noisy) channel when establishing a network. It's not looking for beacons (like a device does during a channel scan when joining a network) so you don't need a transmitting device. Ideally the channel your Hubitat is using would be the one highlighted in green, but as the conditions are dynamic your Zigbee network may be running on a different channel. There's a nice overview of the 802.15.4 PHY layer here: An Introduction to IEEE 802.15.4 (Zigbee)

I can't get this feature to work on my Digi XStick2; I get a "Device protocol or working mode not supported: Zigbee - API mode without escapes". Seems that my Xstick settings show API 1 iinstead of API 2; I haven't found a way to change it.

@kilowatts it could also be a bad device creating a ghost device and could be indicating a cause of other problems. The only way to be sure is to power down 1 device at a time and do a fresh scan each time.

@Rxich spectrum analyzer can also be useful to check for noise on your network and you can adjust your wifi settings to improve it as well as showing you which zigbee channel to choose if you are having issues with devices falling off.

Can anyone here recommend an XBee with Spectrum Analyzer capability? I don't need it to repeat, just to troubleshoot a mesh, so a cheap one is fine. I have the Pro S2 but apparently this one is not capable of the spectrum analyzer...Thanks for your help.

Edit, I suppose any XBee3 PRO will work? The XBee3 non PRO is about $10 less

I have Xbee 3 Pro, spectrum Analyzer does not work.

Thanks for the info, I suppose I will have to wait and see which model has it.

I am at work but I finally setup a remote connection and wanted to be sure before I answered as it had been a few months since I used the spectrum Analyzer but it works fine on my Xbee3 pro
XB3-24Z8ST and XB3-24Z8PT

Thanks so much!

Any difference between XB3-24Z8PT and XB3-24Z8PT-J ?

sorry should have read your post better

Sorry, maybe be I was unclear:

XB3-24Z8ST has external antenna
XB3-24Z8PT has internal antenna
XB3-24Z8PT-J has internal antenna but is cheaper? Why?