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Home Assistant is open source home automation that puts local control and privacy first. Powered by a worldwide community of tinkerers and DIY enthusiasts. Perfect to run on a Raspberry Pi or a local server. Available for free at home-assistant.io

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Devices continuously dropping off my ZigBee network (lemm.ee)

submitted 3 days ago by MrKurtz@lemm.ee to c/homeassistant@lemmy.world

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I recently setup my ZigBee network in Home Assistant, using a Conbee III with deConz on my Synology NAS.

I purchased a few Aqara Temperature sensors and a couple of Mini Switches.

I was able to get them to pair just fine, but they won't remain online for more than a couple days. They then drop off and I can't even reconnect them easily. I need to try to pair them again like 10 times before they come back online.

At this point I don't know if the problem is my network, the Conbee III, deConz, or the Aqara devices.

I don't know much about ZigBee, but a couple things that I tried so far were:

Use a USB extender instead of connecting the Conbee III directly to my NAS.
Bring the devices as close a possible to the gateway. I don't have a big home, so I don't think distance is a factor here, but still, I put of the sensors right next to the gateway, and it would still drop after a while.

Do you have any hints on things to try to get this fixed, or at least identify the problem?

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[–] phrogpilot73@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Do you have any zigbee routers (mains powered devices) scattered around your house? I had the same problem, then I strategically placed a bunch of smart plugs throughout my house. Haven't had any problems since.

[–] MrKurtz@lemm.ee 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

No, I don't have any ZigBee routers, just the Aqara sensors. My home is pretty small, so I didn't think I would need them, but I am leaning towards that being the issue. Last night I paired one of the sensors again, right next to the controller and left it there - literally 5 cm from it. It has stayed online so far, which is more than it usually does.

Weird thing is that I have another sensor in that same room just like a couple meters away and that one keeps dropping. Is ZigBee's range really that short?

What criteria should I follow to place the routers? One per room should be enough?

[–] phrogpilot73@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

My experience is that Zigbee's range is fine, but it is highly susceptible to interference/electrical wires/water pipes that might be in walls. I put my Conoff dongle on a 12 ft USB extension (my HA Raspberry Pi is right next to my router, modem, and home server). Then, as I was having issues with devices staying connected, I added routers. I tried to place them so they had clear line of sight with each other (or the dongle), or only through one wall. After that, I've had no problems. It ended up being about one per room. Ikea's smart plugs are cheap and I use them only as routers.