Hi guys.
I am facing a problem here and I need your advise.
On my town we suffer blackouts all the time and because of that I have 2 ups running with the more important devices of my network (2 because of the distance between them). Now, when I face the electricity failure/cut the ups work great but my zigbee network got "damaged" because (I guess) some repeaters between the hub and the distant devices stop working.
That situation drives me to the problem that some rules do not execute correctly because some commands never arrives the distant devices.... so I have to restart the hub and all start working again (I guess the zigbee network make new connections based on the working repeaters and that's why all start working again)
Is there a way to make a device get connected to an specific repeater to assure it always get connected to hub even during the blackout?
Or maybe there is a way/command to automatically rebuilt my zigbee network without to reboot the hub?
No... Zigbee pairs to the best route. Edge devices (battery) especially rarely go right to the hub.... This is the one thing that is a pain. What I would do is get something like a Ring extender v2. Plug it in anywhere (it's z-wave so it might help your z-wave mesh as well). It has it's own backup batter and status in attributes can change from mains to battery. What you could do is a twofold rule. If that device switches from mains to battery pause all rules. on change>mains set reboot of hub then on reboot unpause all rules. This would stop the chaos of the existing rules not firing properly and having your router reboot automatically getting everything back on line so you don't have to manually intervene.
Thank you rlithgow1 ... all my network is zigbee but I got your point: To reboot the hub automatically when the blackout is detected (that is not a problem,, is solved ).
My post was intended to find a "faster" solution because one of the goals is to turn on some lights powered through the 2nd UPS to be able to see at home when I got the blackout during the night... and wait for the reboot is tooooo long.
You are the only one replying so I guess is a actual problem with the network and the power outages. Thanks anyway
You can use Tuya USB repeaters plugged into a 5V backup (see the original post here DIY- Battery Backup Hubitat- under TEN bucks-NO soldering which will allow your network to stay up for quite a few hours if there is a power failure.
I've had similar problems with power outages. None of mine last more than 30 seconds (thank you Generac) but anything that relies on mains-powered repeaters - my zigbee and z-wave networks - is likely to take some sort of hit when there's an outage. My zigbee network seems to recover gracefully. My z-wave network sometimes needs some TLC.
The only solution I've found (and not implemented) is a whole-house UPS like a Tesla powerwall or equivalent. If I was running a data center out of my basement I might consider it.
That's pretty awesome. Do you have redundant internet providers? I think we have 2-3 at work and we had no idea all shared a common main switch point, which when that switch node got "backhoed" our internet was out for 5+ hours
I have a couple of mains powered plugs that don't reconnect easily when power is out to them. Like the OP I've had to restart my hub. Fortunately though power outages here are few...
Hum.. thanks all for your answers... to power all house with ups is kind of complicated and expensive
I have indeed some repeaters but as rlithgow1 said that will not solve the problem.
I guess the main problem is we cannot configure manually where our devices get connected on a zigbee network.
So let me reformulate my question: Is there any way to command HE to rebuilt the zigbee network?
On the settings I saw I can Disable/Enable the Zigbee network but no idea if that will make new connections (during blackouts some repeaters will be off).
So my question will be: Is there any way to accomplish this?
There are more reasons than a data center to get them.
We just had a very bad power outage: 50 mph wind gusts hit just before the temperature went to -10°F overnight. The wind pulled this tree down on the wires, which took out multiple utility poles and several transformers. This was a small outage that affected about 80 houses. It took them 28 hours to get the power up, during which time we had record low temps and wind chill
I have Powerwalls. My Hubitat gave me the notification that power was out 5 minutes before the Tesla app (thanks to a nice local integration). We went out and saw this down the road. Thankfully our house faired the outage without an issue; the Powerwalls were at 40% after 14 hours (*) when the sun hit out PV panels and started recharging them.
Some of my neighbors reported their houses were at 40°F inside at the 24 hour mark of the outage. Several people suggested everyone drain their pipes, but at least half a dozen had frozen and burst pipes, so they are still dealing with the fallout from the outage long after the power is back.
My wife said "I'm really glad you insisted on the Powerwalls".
This is all separate from the fact that I run a datacenter in my basement. That's one reason why I use so much power.
(*) I really need to work some "off grid" optimizations to reduce my power draw
Shutdown the hub from settings, unplug power to it for 30 mins. This will throw all zigbee devices into panic mode. Power back up. Zigbee devices will start rebuilding. Let settle for a couple of days.
I was expecting a response to this:
On the settings I saw I can Disable/Enable the Zigbee network but no idea if that will make new connections (during blackouts some repeaters will be off).
So my question will be: Is there any way to accomplish this?
if with a button on the browser we can do it manually I guess we can programmatically but no idea how... if I reboot the hub all is ok... but the idea is to not reebot the whole thing..only the zigbee network.
You need to throw the zigbee devices into panic mode. This is done by unplugging power to the hub for 30 mins. Being without it's coordinator does this. No way to accomplish it through the push of a button.
Ever since you're first post got me thinking and @thebearmay I think has a solution app wise for power outages. In essence it does what I outlined earlier. If your hub detects power outage (I picked my switch as the ring v2 extender when it switches to battery) it will pause all rules (as well as some other stuff) will wait (provided ups has enough power) for that device to switch back to mains. When it detects it switched back to mains, it will reboot the hub cleanly. Upon reboot re enables the rules it paused. He added a bunch of other useful things. I'm testing now. You can probably contact him to help test. Another option for you would also be to add a wifi smart outlet to the hub. That way you can shut down the hub if need be remotely for whatever time period then use the wifi outlet to cycle physical power to kick the hub back on again.
Hi all.
I am writing while facing a blackout.
I am not specialist on zigbee networks and I read carefully all your messages but the true is when I face a blackout I just click on settings, disable zigbee and then enabled again and all come back to normal.
So respectfully, Can anyone explain how to accomplish exactly that inside an action rule? I mean: Disable and enable zigbee network.
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