#ZigBee range issues

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

inland dagger
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I'm having quite a lot of trouble with ZigBee range in my small flat. I have a sonoff USB stick as my only coordinator right now, connected to my HAOS instance.

WiFi gets around perfectly fine through the rooms. ZigBee however dies basically as soon as I leave the room.

I have a front door sensor, a button, a PIR and a socket all running on ZigBee. I hoped the wall socket would act as a router and boost the signal a bit, but in its required location, it can't even join the network. If I move it into the same room as the stick it will join.

I'm in the UK looking for either advice to fix this issue or a recommendation for another coordinator which will work better, thanks!

molten verge
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Zigbee is not wi-fi - it's very low powered and the signal is easily blocked by walls and even furniture. This is by design, so that battery-powered devices don't run out of juice.

The signal is not intended to travel far, and not in a straight line - it bounces around between routers until it reaches its destination. But for a stable network you need a lot of routers to form a solid mesh.

You need to fill the house with them. Every light and every socket.

inland dagger
molten verge
inland dagger
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otherwise I would install something like the sonoff boxes behind the switches

inland dagger
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One of the reasons I got a smart plug was to act as a powered router which was between the office and living room in the hallway

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It seems that since moving to channel 25, repairing everything (the smart plug wouldn't still, until I moved it into the same room as my coordinator and then relocated it to its resting location after) everything is talking... Hopefully that will continue

buoyant jungle
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Was going to guess WiFi interference, going to channel 25 should help

daring notch
inland dagger
inland dagger
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I am questioning whether my Sonoff ZBDongle-E is just rubbish. It was hell to flash (web and CLI utility never worked, had to XMODEM)

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Wondering if a WiFi connected coordinator would work better as I can place it in various locations. If they are, I would be open to recommendations.

buoyant jungle
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My network was fine with the same Sonoff coordinator but I now use the SMLIGHT SLZB-06 with PoE

inland dagger
buoyant jungle
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Yeah I went official since it’s still a reasonable price but they might work too, can’t vouch personally

inland dagger
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even the official stores are cheap

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the UK reseller is taking the mick!

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Ordered one from the official Ali store. At the very least, I will now be able to use the ZBDongle as a router and I can place the coordinator in a more convenient location

inland dagger
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Was more of a pain to migrate the few devices I have so just reset everything and rejoined it all

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Working well so far, we'll see if its still stable and functional over the next few days

buoyant jungle
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Hope it works out

inland dagger
inland dagger
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Thanks again for your suggestion. PoE powered the unit and have it in a convenient place and its awesome