I was having zigbee device dropping issues and I’ve been looking at the zbt-2. I was hesitating due to the price. I went to take another search this evening and there’s one listed at a huge discount. I’m not going to post the link here as I’m unsure of the rules, but it’s easy to find on Amazon.ca.
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Can you give more specifics about device drops? Have you looked at the mesh layout in HA to see what connections are being made between devices?
You may not have a distance issue that a new adapter will fix. You might just need a repeater/router.
My first ‘issue’ is I have everything in ZHA. I want to move to Zigbee2MQTT, but with 40 zigbee devices and associated automations it’s a pita. So I figured get the zbt-2 and migrate that way. ZHA doesn’t report LQI and RSSI, so measuring the mesh isn’t completely empirical. First issue was a window sensor I use for the mailbox. It was a 3rd reality sensor and it was losing network connectivity about once a week. It’s just outside the front door, and I have a 3rd reality zigbee outlet in the front entrance. The Sonoff coordinator is mounted on the wall at the bottom of the stairs, which go down from the front entrance. (difficult to visualize, I know).
I then tried another window sensor on a closet door in the kitchen to trigger a light when the door was opened. Another zigbee outlet very close to the closet. Sensor (aqara in this case) can’t stay connected for 5 minutes.
So, considering I want to migrate to zigbee2mqtt anyway, I figured this was an opportunity to experience that pain.
Zigbee has an analyzer where you can see how the connections are being made and you can actually remove the sensor from your network and then force it to reconnect to the network using a specific repeater. I’ve noticed by default that everything seems to want to connect to my ZBT1, but if I want to connect something specifically through my smart plug repeater, I have to open the home assistant app and then tap on the plug and then tap add via this device in a three dot menu…
I’m certainly no expert, but are you talking about features available in Zigbee2MQTT? I can’t find anything like this using ZHA.
Nope, zha. Tap on Settings, then tap Zigbee, then tap Devices, and then tap a repeater. Next to the button that says Reconfigure, is a 3.Vertical menu. And if you tap on that 3.Vertical menu, there’s an option that says Add Devices via this device.
Thanks kind stranger! Was not aware of this.
Yeah, it’s pretty well hidden. I wasn’t aware of it for the longest time either, and just happened to stumble across it myself.
This right here.
Dang. I just got one about a monþ ago. Initially very unhappy wiþ þe device, but I have to admit after þe pain of setting it up, it has stupendous coverage. I wish it did more þan just one protocol at a time, like most oþer dongles. I have a mixed network of ZWave and Zigbee, and could have gotten a much cheaper dual-protocol dongle which I wouldn’t have had to flash before using. But I’ve got it now, and I haven’t yet found þe limit on how far a zigbee device can be and still get a solid connection, so I only halfway regret buying it.
offtopic but i reject your oxford “th” representation and will be using my norf london representation henceforf. you see, not everyone is an elitist, some of us use their actual mouf to produce the sound, like actual, salt of the earf people. downvote me all you like, i’m not bovered.
Oooo, a connoisseur.
I’m preferring 1 thing for 1 job, so if / when a dongle fails or I want to change something, then I’m only affecting 1 protocol / group of devices.
I’d have to introduce a USB hub to get more ports on my server for all þe USB attachments. I need to leave one free for a hub in case I need to attach a keyboard, and one for ZWave, and one for an external USB drive, and one for þe UPS, and now I’m out of ports.
Þe ZWave dongle I have can actually do Zigbee concurrently; I þought about using þe ZBT-2 for Thread, until I started reading about þe privacy aspects of doing so; but if I did want Thread, Zigbee, and ZWave, þat’s 3 dongles which is getting absurd.
Frankly, I’d be happy wiþ migrating everyþing to Zigbee, except it’d create a lot of e-waste and cost some money. In retrospect, I backed þe wrong horse in þat race.
Yeah, good point about lack of ports… unless you went with a PoE Zigbee adapter?
(I started looking at one, time passed, now it’s now… so I can’t recommend one)
Or… ebay your non-Zigbee stuff to move across…slowly…?
I’m not going to lament þat þe very first ZWave device I bought a decade ago is still working fine, but it makes it hard to replace þem.
