Who has a HIGHLY RELIABLE Zigbee network and what repeaters are you using?

[velvetfoot]

@garyjmilne

I think there are a lot of crap plugs out there.

Thing is, most all line powered devices are repeaters. So, if you want to do stuff, like switch electrical loads, you'll be adding repeaters.

[garyjmilne]

@velvetfoot

Thing is, most all line powered devices are repeaters

Indeed. Ironically, adding repeaters should strengthen the mesh and make it more resilient. But if they are low quality devices, the exact opposite happens. That is partly why I went with the dedicated Mini USB repeaters.

Hopefully with this new driver we can gather some information on the relative strengths of different plugs and all make more informed choices.

[SmartHomePrimer]

Probably white noise at this point, but I’ll share my experience.

I have three rules:

1. No lightbulbs on a network with other end devices. Sengled are the only exception, but I don’t have any in use anymore. My smart bulbs are all Hue on their own Zigbee network running off of a Hue Bridge.

2. I always test a repeater and see how it works out. I don’t just throw them in. If I experience reliability problems I try moving them, but if that doesn’t work they’re gone.

3. I don’t connect Xiaomi and IKEA devices on anything but my ConBee2 controller running on HA. I get it, some people have success with them on Hubitat. I didn’t, and I’ve tried many times over the years when someone came along and said I’ve now written the perfect driver and it’s all going to work great now. It never has for me, and it’s a lot of stress for me and the family when things are not functioning properly. The way I have it now works perfect, so I’ve no desire to change it.

Here are my two network maps for Hubitat and HA with the ConBee 2. All of the repeating on Hubitat you’ll notice Is via my Sinope thermostats. That’s just a nice side effect of a choice I made for my electrically heated home. One thing to note is that one of the devices on the Hubitat network map named Air Handler is an IKEA outlet and nothing on my Hubitat Zigbee network wants to use it as a repeater. Whereas the ConBee2 on HA is using one of them to repeat. The point being that you just don’t know exactly what’s going to work until you try, move things around if they’re not working well, and switch them out to get the best combination. I’m very glad that the Sinope have turned out to be such good repeaters for Hubitat.

[Eric.C.Miller]

C-8 Hub 2.3.6.146 with Z-Wave turned off. Zigbee on Channel 20 with Power Level 8.
45 Zigbee devices.
2 Unifi AP-AC-Pro Access Points with Channels set to Auto.
1 Unifi AP-BeaconHD with Channels set to Auto.
45 neighboring WiFi devices detected.
7 repeater devices (4 SmartThings/Centralite outlets, 3 Smartenit relays hard-wired to fans). 1 Smartenit relay (ceiiling fan) routes for 4 devices, 1 Smartenit relay (ceiling fan) routes for 8 devices, 1 Smartenit relay (attic exhaust fan) routes for 1 device. 2 of the outlets route for 4 devices each, 1 outlet routes for 3 devices and one routes for 1 device.
These routing devices are some of the oldest Zigbee devices I own.
Routing shifts a bit over time but about half of the devices are consistently directly connected.

[aaiyar]

@garyjmilne

That is partly why I went with the dedicated Mini USB repeaters.

I have also found these to be excellent. With both Hubitat and zigbee2mqtt.

[FrankT]

With the new zigbee map app, i see that my leviton plug in dimmer is a beast. Link quality above 250 with almost all of my network despite some distance and obstacles. Everything else (Third reality, sonoff, sengled) hovers below 100.