I'm stuggling to maintain a solid Zigbee network. Not sure if it's my devices, the C8 hub, or both.
I have 6 Z-wave devices--2 Aqara door sensors, 1 Sonoff SNZB-05P Zigbee Water Leak Sensor, and 3 Ikea Tradfri outlets (2 of which nothing are plugged into, but are used as repeaters in an attempt to extend the range to the door sensors). The 3 Tradfri outlets are rock solid--never fail. The Aqara sensors have been hit or miss--often dropping offline with no warning or log entries.
Right now, only the 3 Tradfri outlets show in the Zigbee network diagram.
And the Zigbee logs are completely blank. The individual device logs don't show anything interesting.
So something is definitely amiss with Zigbee on my C8. I plan on changing out the lousy Aqara door sensors for a couple of Third Reality ones, but I'm concerned about that water leak sensor--that's more than just a convenience, it's mission critical.
I know many people have bullet-proof Zigbee networks, and I know that crappy devices can mess that up, but the weirdness described above makes me wonder what else is going on here.
Older Aqara sensors can be finicky. They use a non-standard version of Zigbee that does not always play nice. Newer generation Aqara devices should be Zigbee 3.0 compliant and should work with the C8 hub. Check to see which versions you have.
I only had a few Aqara devices in my mesh. I replaced all of them with other brands. No more wonky behaviour.
I do not own any Zonoff devices. i understand they have a mixed reputation for reliability. so I avoid them. Sometimes when you shop for low prices, you get what you pay for. Sometimes you find a bargain.
Yeah, I believe you're right, even though I just bought them less than 6 months ago, my sensors are model # MCCGQ11LM, which I believe is the pre-Zigbee 3 firmware. Model # MCCGQ14LM is supposedly Zigbee 3 compliant. So I'll ditch the Aqara's and install the Third Reality ones I bought.
The Sonoff SNZB-05P is actually pretty well reviewed, and as far as I can tell so far, I believe it's working (communicating with the hub, at least). I'm just wondering why it's telling the hub that battery is at 200% every other battery report.
Aside from the bad Aqara door & window sensors which I plan on replacing with a different brand, I'm still curious why some devices that are still communicating with the hub (as evidenced by the "Last Message" timestamps on the Zigbee device list) but do not show up in the device map.
Zigbee devices will sometimes only appear on the built-in Zigbee map tool if they report in while the tool is open. Many of my battery powered sensors will only appear on the Zigbee map tool if I walk over to them and cause them to send a status update (e.g. open/close a door, move in front of a motion sensor, etc…)
