tardy pollen
Anyone have any idea why my none of my Zigbee devices never show an RSSI value? I get LQI - but not the other. I have the Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB dongle - it is plugged into a USB 2.0 port (as I know USB 3.0 ports can introduce noise). The battery one is an Aqara Temp/Hum/Pres sensor -- the other is an old Zigbee Plug (SmartThings) . I am using the ZHA (I believe that is what it is called).
ebon tiger
have a look at this post. https://community.home-assistant.io/t/zha-sonoff-zigbee-3-0-usb-dongle-plus-no-rssi-values/410867/5
tardy pollen
have a look at this post. https://community.home-assistant.io/t/zha-sonoff-zigbe...
What other options do I have? I had read that the Sonoff USB 3.0 Dongle was the best option for Zigbee. My ZWAVE uses the Zooz 700 Series Z-Wave Plus S2 USB Stick.
What do you think of using Zigbee2MQTT over the ZHA that is built into HA ?
topaz crown
lol the Sonoff is absolutely NOT the best option at all. They are squarely in the "OK" range. Tube's and SMLight's adapters (Tube only does LAN, but SMLight has both LAN and USB options) are the best.
With that said, RSSI and LQI can be pretty much ignored. The calculations behind both values are point-in-time and vary widely on what is happening in the environment at that moment. They are also both highly misleading. For instance, I have end devices in Z2M with a LQI of less than 10. They have been less than 10 for years. They are also rock solid on my mesh.
Unless you are troubleshooting an issue and you're sure that it's due to interference and/or range, then RSSI/LQI might help diagnose it. But, generally speaking, they are pretty worthless metrics.
Case in point:
tardy pollen
Case in point:
Thanks for the image - but no idea what I am looking at (lol)... When I got into the SmartHome stuff in 2011, I was using X-10. Then moved to SmartThings...used that about 2 years and felt 'too limited on what they thought I could do' and went to HomeSeer (that is where I had the HS USB ZWave Dongle - and someone in their forums recommended the Sonoff Zigbee). I am currently running HA on an HP T620 ThinClient - but building a Promox VM to make more permanent. I want to separate things out - and it has a 4TB HDD that I will use for media and when I get cameras (for storage)....and it has enough space to put another HDD in it. I know-I know people think I am stupid for doing it this way. The T620 has no fans - and I always fear 'meltdown' Never really trust 'passive cooling' (just me). I also want it modular - so that should I decide to depreciate something, I simply shut off that VM.
I will look into the Zigbee options you mention. I want to wire my house with CAT6 and setup some PoE devices at some point, too. I also was looking at the ZooZ 800 series USB Dongle to upgrade my 700 series - as some of the new ZWave things I bought are 800 class.
At some point, I hope to get good at this...and maybe even start a little home business setting up other SmartHome for folks. I truly see a big need for that in my area. I have had so many people ask me about mine (a basic as it is at the moment). Thanks again for your insight.
ebon tiger
don't do commercial installs for zigbee.. that nightmare would not be worth it lol
tardy pollen
I wanna have NCC-1701(a1) - I'd like to have a PIR in every room, be able to have ceiling fans come on (if someone ever truly makes a "SmartFan" that is 100% smart) and adjust based on occupancy and temp. Be able to ask (some kind of SmartSpeaker - at the moment I have 2 Echo Shows and 6 dots around the house) "where is Hunter?" that is my dog...and get a response that he is in the Kitchen (blah-blah) I also have Bluetooth 5.3 in my setup. So I can use tags for too.
Not a huge fan of WiFi, and having to use 'cloud apps' - want it all "local".
And now I am trying to figure out MATTER and THREAD - as the last update to my Samsung Family Hub (fridge) has a Matter Logo on the "about page".
tardy pollen
don't do commercial installs for zigbee.. that nightmare would not be worth it l...
I would not be doing commercial anything - I wanna do a small biz for home users and make their homes "Smart"
ebon tiger
I wanna have NCC-1701(a1) - I'd like to have a PIR in every room, be able to h...
that doesn't exists in a flawless ecosystem currently. while all of that is possible, it's done so from various different companies and controllers that at best, are able to somewhat communicate with each other on a basic level.. meaning while it may work for x amount of time, something will always break
thats why companies do crap proprietary so they can better control the flow.. but that comes with the problem that no one company does it all
tardy pollen
that doesn't exists in a flawless ecosystem currently. while all of that is poss...
I agree - I refuse to use anything from HomeKit (APPLE bastards are rich enough - and the same for HUE). I was under the impression that is why MATTER and THREAD came about. But $$ makes the world go around, and until folks stop giving these greedy companies money - they will never change. Hell, even Microsoft is beginning to see the light (granted it is probably only 3-7 lux) that "they do not run the world anymore" and are beginning to 'play' with Linux.
topaz crown
I wanna have NCC-1701(a1) - I'd like to have a PIR in every room, be able to h...
I'm mostly there (yet still VERY far away from where I want it). But, in my system, most things are local save some devices that I just cannot find without a cloud connection. All of my sensors, curtains, blinds, fans, etc are all local though.
tardy pollen
As I tell my 'peepz' - "Change is the only Constant in the Universe" (once the world realize that - "we" can effect change, simply by not buying - we will begin to see it happen).
topaz crown
Matter is still too young in development to really be used reliably. It works, but until it's to a maturity where everything works as they have promised, I refuse to touch it.
ebon tiger
matter looks like a nightmare right now tbh
topaz crown
Pretty much
tardy pollen
I have not touched it - yet. I have ZW and ZB (nothing WiFi Smart) only. I got rid of my WiFi Thermostat - as it would only work with the 'cloud'. I have a Honeywell T6 ZW one now.
topaz crown
Thread isn't much better, tbh. More mature, but trying to set it up using strictly open-source, local only providers is a nightmare.
I have WiFi, BT, ZW and ZB. Hundreds of devices in ZB and Wifi... works pretty flawlessly.
tardy pollen
Just before I took my SmartThings hub out of the house - it was saying that it was a Thread 'broker' I think it said. I wish I could get my Samsung Smart Appliances "all" working. I have fridge, (with the big tablet on the door - wanna replace that with an HA dashboard at some point), a Washer and Dryer, Stove, Microwave and Dishwasher.
tardy pollen
I have WiFi, BT, ZW and ZB. Hundreds of devices in ZB and Wifi... works pretty f...
Do you have your WiFi devices on their "own" SSID ? and separate from the rest of the house?
topaz crown
It's mixed between an IoT vlan and a quasi-normal main VLAN (that's where my Apple and Sonos devices live because bounjour is a nightmare).
But 989% of my WiFi devices are on the IoT VLAN.
ebon tiger
vlan? wuss.. let those chinese in!
topaz crown
hahaha actually, the main reason I have an IoT VLAN in the first place was so that I could make it a /23 and not worry about filling up the pool on my main vlan.
tardy pollen
I soooooooo want a UDM PRO and some PoE APs in my home - but until I win the lottery (or Cost Of Living is back to pre-Pandemic levels....I am too old to work the pole any more for dollars <lol>).
topaz crown
lmao yeah... once my USG died I was like "time to pony up".
tbh, if it hadn't of died, i'd still be rocking the USG.
tardy pollen
I have been told I can run the UDM software as a VM - just need the APs - but I get mixed answers to that one.
topaz crown
You can run the controller on anything Linux.
ebon tiger
applebiquiti
tardy pollen
Apples are for pies..... roflmao
topaz crown
eh, the performance is good and the management isn't super "I have to spend 40 hours a week managing this". Yeah, it's more expensive, but on a network my size, it works for me.
ebon tiger
now with the new U1 chip rebranded from M1 courtesy of apple
tardy pollen
So I am looking at these SmartLight devices - they all appear to have some sort of RJ45 plug - not a USB-A plug. Am I missing something?
NVM - I had to dig a little more.
So it looks like they have the P7 and P10 for USB (and one without a number). My home is one-level ranch style (2240 sq. ft) - currently nothing outside (but may be at some point) . Think I should gp with the P10?
topaz crown
I'd do the P10, but with ethernet instead of USB.
LAN coordinators have the added benefit of being able to be placed way far away from interference sources and also being able to centrally placed in the house.
tardy pollen
LAN coordinators have the added benefit of being able to be placed way far away ...
Yes... but I have no PoE - how would I do that?
patent lily
i think they support being powered separately (via a microusb plug iirc?) while using normal ethernet
oh, it's usb-c on the current models :)
topaz crown
Yes... but I have no PoE - how would I do that?
they support POE, and USB power (DC5V IIRC).
But, that way, you can put the coordinator anywhere in the house you can run an ethernet drop to. You could also just buy a cheap POE switch (like $30 on Amazon) and go with POE. Either way, it's usually an improvement over USB coordinators.
usually
tardy pollen
But, that way, you can put the coordinator anywhere in the house you can run an ...
Until I can wire the entire house - wanna stay away from Ethernet stuff. My house has only one cable port -- in the den where I watch TV. I have an ORBI system that has a satellite. It is in AP mode, as I have pfSense running as VM as my Router/FW. The satellite is in my office (other end of the house) and gives me 4-eth ports for devices in the office. The Master ORBI only has 3-eth.
I have no Cable TV - I stream. So cable port to modem >> VM Host (with 4-port card 1 is WAN, 3 as LAN (1 to ORBI, 1 to another VM host, 1 to NAS - but they are all 'grouped' and seen as 1 LAN (for the moment)).
topaz crown
Ahhhh gotcha. Ok. You could just put a 4/8 port switch between the modem and the Orbi.
But I get where you’re at. Yeah, go with the P10 USB in that case. It’s still an upgrade from the Sonoff.
tardy pollen
What does Z2M give me over ZHA ?? I have been reading some things and I see a lot of talk of Zigbee2MQTT and ZWave2MQTT (a little too). The processes I am using to build the Proxmox box for HA ( https://community-scripts.github.io/ProxmoxVE/scripts ) has some scripts and a few docs on MQTT
topaz crown
Z2M and ZHA are similar except for the fact that you can host Z2M outside of HA (fault tolerance) and there’s sometimes better device support for the more fringe devices. Also, it’s sometimes easier to write device handlers in Z2M than quirks for ZHA.
tardy pollen
Would I need a separate MQTT for ZB and ZW ?
patent lily
in my experience, the main downside of ZHA has been that restarting HA (for updates or reconfiguration) also restarts ZHA since it runs in-process, and with lots of devices that can take a while to finish starting up.
topaz crown
It's been a long time since I've run ZHA, but I thought that was now done out of band of the normal HA startup process? It's still a thing?
patent lily
it's asynchronous, iirc, but it still means that zha devices won't be immediately available after a restart
topaz crown
Ahhh, gotcha.
tardy pollen
It's been a long time since I've run ZHA, but I thought that was now done out of...
I think so -- I have a tendency (I know it is not needed) when I get a CORE or SUPERVISOR update in HA - I reboot (not just restart). Blow out the pipes.
I am running currently on HP ThinClient (the x86-64) --- the Proxmox I am building I think is the same, just as a VM.
spring siren
in my experience, the main downside of ZHA has been that restarting HA (for upda...
That sounds like a bug. How many devices do you have and how long of a startup are you seeing?
patent lily
i don't have that many devices, and it tends to be under 10s before the devices become available after ha has restarted. so not that bad.
like, it's not something that's ever caused problems for me
tardy pollen
Thank You all for the insights and conversation. Much appreciated. ❤️
tardy pollen
But of course..., 😦 and Amazon does not even list it
topaz crown
Yeah, the P10 might be hard to find. They haven't made many. What about the P7?
tardy pollen
I can get that one -- I have emailed them to get a comparison chart (I never will understand why vendors/mfg. do not do that) the differences in the P7 and the P10 - and possibly other common ones (like the Sonoff). I am a virulent researcher before I buy anything now-a-days.
topaz crown
There's really not much difference between the P7 and P10. A small increase in ram/cpu and that's pretty much it.
tardy pollen
There's really not much difference between the P7 and P10. A small increase in r...
...but I want 'latest/greatest' lol There is even one on their site - states "soon" SLZB-07Mg24 but nothing about it. 😦
topaz crown
The MGM24 is freaking awesome. I have one from Tube that I love.
tardy pollen
I put my name on the list at https://cloudfree.shop/product/smlight-zigbee-usb-adapter/
topaz crown
BUT... unless you are going to be running a BIG, noisy mesh... The P7 is plenty.
tardy pollen
Right now I only have 2 ZigBee in my home - as I switched everything over to ZW (all the plugs and switches I had under SmartThings / HomeSeer). I have one ST Zigbee Plug still left, as I did not sell it - it had a mind of its own....did not want to put that on someone else. <lol> and one Motion Sensor that I never got working.
topaz crown
Go with the P7 🙂
It's more than powerful enough and should last you a few years at least. I ran on my P2 for 4.5 years.
ebon tiger
what no slzb recommendations?
tardy pollen
what no slzb recommendations?
The P7 and P10 are SmartLight -- https://smlight.tech/product/slzb-07p10/# and https://smlight.tech/product/slzb-07p7/
topaz crown
what no slzb recommendations?
Duh! hahaha
lucid bay
I'm hoping to have usb only mgm24's soon. time is always the issue for me
tardy pollen
I'm hoping to have usb only mgm24's soon. time is always the issue for me
What is the difference in them? I am not set on any mfg. at the moment. I am looking for something 'better?' -- if you see this whole chain.
lucid bay
mgm24 is the best imho right now.
I currently only sell network connected PoE version, hence my comment about usb soon.
tardy pollen
I currently only sell network connected PoE version, hence my comment about usb ...
Do you have a site?
tepid cedar
Have you tried visiting their profile?
