After 20+ emails back and forth with support, I still seem to end up in the same place with my zigbee sensors. They work and then slowly each one drops off the Hubitat. The only way to get them back is to delete and re-add. Which of course means that they have to be removed from ever reference. I have tried lots of tricks, and even moved my hubitat to within 20 feet of one of them, but by the end of the month, it too has disappeared.
I thought it was the driver, as it never reported any change it the temp or battery. But support did not seem to think that was important to the diagnosis. It's got to be something from my config, because if Hubitat was this unstable the forum would be full.
As an experiment on DR, I am going to see about taking the backup and restoring it. Just to have a reference point.
Before I spend the weekend re-building my desktops, and adding in my devices - I thought I would as the world, any suggestions on approaches?
Maybe interference. What Zigbee channel are you on and what WIFI channel?
Brand of devices? Number of repeaters?
You don't have to remove Zigbee devices and add back. Just reset the device and run discovery again.
DON'T wipe it. No. Please no. That's just going to be more frustrating. Can you detail your system? I know you're frustrated. Screenshots will work. Let's just see if we can solve it before you redo everything. Screenshots of your devices list would be a great start. Thanks!
For Zigbee, this is not true.
Zigbee, you simply put the hub into Include and then 'do-the-dance' required by the device vendor to get it back into pairing. Hubitat will see the Zigbee device, see the exact same Node number and put it right back into it's slot. All your automations will work immediately.
For ZWave, yes, that is true.. for now.
I would say you have a mesh issue. Either you are using devices that can be picky about staying on the network (Xiaomi/Aqara come to mind) or you simply do not have enough line powered devices or repeaters. Another cause is some Zigbee bulbs seem to be intent on smashing the mesh to pieces.
Maybe if you list all your Zigbee device name/model and quantities, we can get a better idea what is going on.
April is correct, you probably would not accomplish anything useful by wiping.
The channel is 20, changed based on Support's suggestion.
All the devices are the same:
endpointId: 01
application:
model: 3320-L
manufacturer: CentraLite
No repeaters currently as all the sensors are within 30 feet ( line of sight) until I work thought the issues.
Keep in mind there was a zigbee change in 2.2.3 that may help with some problematic zigbee devices.
Might want to get on that here release and see if it helps.
Just saw that it was available. Will upgrade.
How many of these do you have? Line of sight is cool, but I'd still consider adding at least one repeater anyway. Even if it ends up having the same problem, it can only help (unless you have a bad one: many smart bulbs, some Peanut plugs, and probably others) and shouldn't be a big deal to add/remove if you don't use the device in any automations yet.
The reason I asked for the number is because if you have more than 32 non-repeaterss, you'll need a repeater or they either won't pair or will start kicking others off the network. But again, barring the exceptions, it could only help to have one (or more) regardless.
4 all the same sensors, and one GE Zigbee light bulb. I have been hesitant to add more until I get about a month with nothing dropping. Was going to add a Ikea repeater once I got that month. I am old IT so I introduce things over time.
This is almost certainly the cause of your problems. (Most bulbs are repeaters, and most of those are also bad ones that may cause problems like devices "falling off" or messages not reaching the hub or other devices. GE is often cited as being towards the top of this naughty list.) The "Tips for designing your Zigbee mesh" section in Hubitat's Zigbee mesh docs summarizes these problems, but you can find dozens of other posts on both this forum and many others about the same problems.
So, my suggestion: try this without the GE bulb. See if it makes things better. I suspect it will.
That is backwards. They will likely never stop dropping until you get a repeater.
Agree. Try without it. But I still believe a repeating device will help. It doesn't have to be something like the Ikea repeater, it could be a line powered switch or outlet.
My impression is that the Samsung Zigbee outlets work a lot better than many other devices as repeaters.
Also make sure if you are running any other Zigbee (type) hubs like a Philips Hue hub, that both hubs are not set on the same Zigbee Channel.
I used to have a bad Zigbee network until I moved my Hubitat hub to Zigbee Channel 14, and it been great since.
Add a repeater to ever room, if you can!
I personally have found:
- the best Zigbee repeaters are the Ikea Tradfri Repeaters (also the cheapest)
- The second best Zigbee repeaters are the Samsung V3 plugs:
Also, you need at least 1 between the devices and the Hub.