Feature Request: Zigbee & Z-Wave Network Mesh Map / Table

I know there are several ways to map the network using third party software and devices. All of these methods seem complex and require additional purchases. It would be great if this functionality was built right into the HE GUI. There have been several times I have spent an entire Saturday trying to run-down a funky node on the networks. Drives me crazy not having an easy way to way to see the path the nodes are using to get home.

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There is a zigbee routing table available.
Not sure if this helps you or not.

http://yourhubsipaddress/hub/zigbee/getChildAndRouteInfo

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This shouldn't happen that often. Did you ever figure out what it was or why it was happening? These documents may be worth a read if you're new to either protocol (not assuming you are):

As for your actual question, the above provides Zigbee information ("child data" are end devices connected directly to the hub and the "route table" will show you paths, though personally I always have a lot of devices--even ones that have transmitted messages recently, as this is often an explanation for why you don't see them--that don't show up).

There is nothing like this built-in for Z-Wave, but as you are aware, some third-party tools can do this (some of which are not cheap, but I think Zensys Tools has something built-in to it; in either case you'll need either an external Z-Wave stick or a secondary controller you can attach to whatever you're running this on). I have yet to find the reward worth the money or at least time it would take to do this, since in most cases it would just be neat to see and not actually helpful. :slight_smile:

Lots of my problems I had were due to a few of the Osram bulbs. Once I pitched them, the network became much more stable. I still run into little problems every so often. Last night I had a smartthings presence sensor that was going crazy. Every 30 minutes or so it would miss its 3 minute timeout and trigger my actions. It has been rock solid since I moved it to HE up until this point. My thought is that something changed just enough to change the signal levels to cause message errors. From my understanding of Zibgee, the only way to rebuild neighbor tables is to force the node to "go searching" by eliminating all of the routers in range for 20 minutes or so. That's easy enough to do with a presence sensor and we will see what happens when I get home today.... Other devices are not as easy to remove from the environment. My thought is that by having a good map, it would be easier to figure out what routers I need to unplug to force a rebuild. The table linked above is very useful and will by my go to for Zigbee problems in the future but it would be great to have a visual representation.

For Z-Wave, I had an issue a couple of weeks ago where messages were getting dropped somewhere along the line. A couple of repairs did not fix the issue. The issue resolved on its own after about a week. Still have no idea what went wrong but have to assume it was a signal problem along the path or a bad node that will eventually wreak havoc again. Would be great to know the path it is using.

Those are my use cases. Completely understand that its a ton of work and probably won't be on the road-map for the near future, but keeping my fingers crossed that it will be kept on the radar for a future update.

Say no more. :slight_smile: (See: Search results for 'osram bulb' - Hubitat, but also the end of the Zigbee docs page I linked to.)

Glad you got that figured out, in any case!

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I don't disagree that it would be cool and it might be helpful. If Zigbee interference (with WiFi) is causing any of your symptoms - good luck. I have watched the neighboring WiFi Access Points/Routers (typically around 25 of them) popping up and down and switching channels all day. The channels in use and the APs/Routers that are on-line (and transmitting) at any time change. I don't know how you could deal with that with your Zigbee devices. I think the best you can do is pick one of the channels that falls in the "valley" of the signals from the commonly used WiFi channels.

I suppose a valid question is "how much is this worth to you?". You can buy the Z-Wave tools (recently on sale, BTW). for between $150 and $250. I can think of other things I would like the Hubitat team to add if they are going to jack up the price of the hub - but it's a valid discussion.

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How much is it worth...... hmmmm.... That is a great question. You are right, there are lots of other things that I would like to see added to the HE platform. And feature adds like this are probably really only useful to a small percentage of HE users. Hard to justify the passing along the development time to the rest of the users. That being said, I would gladly pay an annual subscription fee that would give me access to a set of "pro-tools" for advanced configurations. Things like a network map, terminal access, enhanced hub performance reporting, etc. would be worth it to me. Personally, I would be happy to pay $25 a year or so to help cover the development time and keep the new stuff coming. I have no idea if something like that would fit into Hubitat's business model or not. Similar to Plex Pass subscription if you are familiar. Just a thought and speaking entirely for myself. Feel free to disagree.

Getting insights into the Zigbee and Zwave network can certainly be helpful but I don't necessarily think this needs to be a part of the hub itself. For one thing, how many people will actually understand what any of it means. For those with a need or want to see what is going on or have a troublesome network, it isn't hard or particularly expensive to add an Xbee for Zigbee. Adding a Zwave stick and Open Zwave Control Panel to a computer for insights into Zwave is pretty inexpensive.