What could cause Zigbee radio to go offline?

[deserthillsdrive]

Hi,

What causes the Zigbee radio to constantly reboot? Running a C8 with the most updated software. 2.3.6.146

[csteele]

Heat is traditionally the first answer for this question. That might be room temperature heat, blocking of the vent hole heat, or a large load that over heats the Radio chip.

I have 6 hubs powered right now and they are all reporting cpu temps of between 35 C and 46 C (:= 96F to 115F)

[neonturbo]

Is this a new/recent issue, or have you been having it since owning the hub?

How old is this hub?

[deserthillsdrive]

This was a new hub when the C8 was originally released. It appears that it has been happening since I have received it.

[deserthillsdrive]

Thanks for the information. Where do I check hub temps? This sits in a well-ventilated room with A/C. The current room temp is 68. The C7 never had these issues located in the same location.

[bobbyD]

This is a great question but the answer is not always straightforward. There could be any number of things that might force the radio to go offline.

Here are some of the reasons we have seen in the past:

• overloaded hub: if hub is struggling to deal with an increased number of errors coming from a misbehaving app or device, the hub will shut down the radio in an effort to allocate more resources to better cope with the increased load.
• overheated hub: similar to the above case, if a hub is placed in an enclosed space, or near a heating source, the hub may attempt to shut down its components to reduce the heavy tasks that could otherwise cause the hub's internal temperature to rise.
• mix of devices: there have been cases where the mix of devices led to the demise of the radio. Some devices that have not been tested by our engineers can cause the radio to go offline. We have seen instances of this case specifically with Aqara devices.
• misbehaving Zigbee devices: if one or more Zigbee devices are bombarding the radio with an increased number of events, it could lock the radio.
• hardware malfunction: in rare cases the hub may be dealing with a hardware malfunction.

Here are some tips that may help eliminate or at least narrow down the root cause:

• screen the logs: Hubitat empowers users to investigate the activity happening in a hub. Screening the Logs (past logs) tabs for unusual activity such as errors, warnings or hyperactivity coming from an app or device, is the easiest way to determine if a hub is under stress.
• place the hub in an open and central location away from sources of intense heat.
• screen local environment for possible interference from other Zigbee controllers or 2.4ghz Wi-Fi band: see ZigBee and Wi-Fi Coexistence
• use tested or reputable Zigbee devices: you can avoid Zigbee problems by using Compatible Devices that have been tested by our engineers or community at large
• if the problem persists, user may want to create a warranty case by visiting the following page so that our engineers could evaluate if the hub is dealing with a hardware malfunction.

Warranty – Hubitat Support

[deserthillsdrive]

Thank you for the support information. The only other issue it could be is Wi-Fi interference. I will take a look around and see what channel everyone is switching to.

[bobbyD]

@deserthillsdrive

what channel everyone is switching to.

That greatly depends on your local environment and the Wi-Fi networks present within your location.

[deserthillsdrive]

Understood. Would running a scan on the Zigbee channels be beneficial to avoid conflict?

[bobbyD]

@deserthillsdrive

Would running a scan on the Zigbee channels be beneficial to avoid conflict?

If you are Android user, there are a few good network screening apps available on Google Play. The one I use is called: Net Analyzer Pro

[danabw]

@bobbyD

Net Analyzer Pro

Another is Wi-Fi Man by Unifi, which is also nice.

@bobbyD

depends on your local environment and the Wi-Fi networks present within your location.

[EDIT] Oops, just noticed Bobby had already linked to info on the Wi-Fi/Zigbee coexistence...

Here's more infon on the Wi-Fi/Zigbee potential to bump into each other. And this is both your and your neighbors' Wi-Fi channels if they are close enough...