Get Rid of Random ZigBee Disconnections Once and For All

Get Rid of Random ZigBee Disconnections Once and For All
Troubleshooting ZigBee networks and ZigBee device disconnections in your smart home can be one of the most frustrating things for you to tackle as a smart home owner. You don't need to waste your precious time troubleshooting.
There are a few tips and tricks I provide you here. 5, to be exact.
Now I also promised a few ZigBee repeater links:
1. SmartThings ZigBee Outlet (V3 - pick this nowadays): geni.us/0R6KgcE (Amazon)
2. SmartThings ZigBee Outlet (V2): geni.us/qz1w (Amazon)
3. Securifi Smart Plug (needs Almond and if you don't know what that is...don't buy it) - geni.us/BH9T (Amazon)
4. Want a Z-Wave Repeater? Aeotec Range Extender 6 - geni.us/2leyqqV (Amazon)
5. Sylvania ZigBee Indoor Smart Plug - geni.us/4dcJ (Amazon)
6. Tradfri Bulbs connected to a ZigBee Hub will work - Go to Ikea
7. Tradfri Outlet - www.ikea.com/u...
Details about ZigBee vs Z-Wave: • Z-Wave vs ZigBee in 2019
ZigBee and WiFi Coexistence Video: • ZigBee and WiFi Interf...
If you need any recommendations for home automation products, here's my Amazon Influencer Shop. It's a curated list of high-quality smart home products (and it's an affiliate link)
geni.us/3KzREP (Amazon)
Thanks for watching, and please subscribe below!
Brian
/ @automateyourlife

[@MeaganAmbacher]

So timely! My system is a MESS and disconnects all the time. My husband joked that he doesnt know how to turn lights on and off anymore, so we are just living in the dark ages

[@AutomateYourLife]

The worst! Employ a bit of this and let’s see if we can get you back to the Middle Ages at least ;)

[@tonyt5498]

Just because the radio antenna is on one side of the box or another side does not mean the signal strength will be any stronger on that side. The design and orientation of the antenna is a much more of an important factor. Even if the antenna is just on the circuit board.

[@jscsltd]

I'm in the EU and the ZigBee frequency here is 868Mhz. So for users of ZigBee devices in the EU, we have no need to be concerned with interference from WiFi at 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz frequencies. Sadly though, this is not the case in the US, where ZigBee does use WiFi at the 2.4Ghz frequency. Hope this helps.

[@AutomateYourLife]

Do all your devices use that? It’s licensed 2.4 GHz worldwide but you have a specific sub GHz option in the EU. Also, Z-Wave uses that frequency in the EU, so I’d be interested to understand the situation. :)

[@jscsltd]

@@AutomateYourLife I use Smartthings hub V2 and it does run ZigBee at 868Mhz. I have a mix of mostly z-wave but also some ZigBee and Smartthings V2 devices. I also bridge to a Hue hub, which also uses 868Mhz here in the UK/EU.

[@AutomateYourLife]

Good stuff :). Thanks for the insight!

[@ZillionPrey]

I'm in Germany and all my Zigbee devices use 2.4 GHz. Ikea Tradfri Bulbs and Xiaomi Aquara sensors.

[@AndrewGlasgow2020]

868 Mhz Zigbee is only useful if manufacturers make devices that use this frequency. Do you have any? I cannot find either a hub or any devices that are not 2.4 GHz. There are not even that many Z-Wave devices around these days so it seems to be a thing of the past?

[@rcarioca]

Are tuya /zigbee devices with hub supposed to work without internet ? I tried out my zigbee/ tuya PIR sensor controlling Zigbee outlet. Fails to control when internet disconnected.

[@WalkingEmDry]

Great video. I couldn't find documentation or pictures of the Aeotec hub v3 motherboard. I assume the antennas are in the same location as the smartthings v3 hub? They look identical, although Aeotec v3 has the back ports in reverse order with the Ethernet on the right. Any idea?

[@AutomateYourLife]

They're the same as the V3, yep

[@crecclestonable]

Thanks a million, I love you clear concise info, Im new to Smartthings having been a Vera Edge user, keep up the good work I watch loys of your Tubes.

[@AutomateYourLife]

Thank you!! Glad it's still helping folks

[@garethjones5068]

Great vid (again!) Bri, I've been lucky enough to have had a fairly smooth time of it with my SmartThings setup inspite of having 40+ natively integrated devices in that particular ecosystem,it's always good to know how to knit it together better though 👍

[@AutomateYourLife]

You’re clearly knitting at an expert level!

[@garethjones5068]

@@AutomateYourLife Sheer (slightly tactically assisted) luck my friend!

[@AutomateYourLife]

Mmmmhmmmmm

[@Ezanity]

Nice video.i have a question. I started with a sonoff zigbee bridge v3 and since added a zigbee gateway hub and connect all my devices to that. Will the sonoff v3 still expand my zigbee network?

[@AutomateYourLife]

Sonoff's bridge runs its own Zigbee network. Some of your zigbee devices might be able to directly pair to the Sonoff hub, but it's unlikely. This is why I usually use a bigger hub like SmartThings to aggregate my home. :)

[@Ezanity]

@@AutomateYourLife I found that all my devices works perfect on the smart life hub.being that wired device tend to expand the zigbee network, I though the old sonoff bridge would do that but your saying it's a different kind of zigbee is it. ?that's mad crazy if that's the case. The issue with smart things is that here in the uk it's 5 tines more expensive so I just couldn't bring myself to buy it. How about those small usb dongles that you have a small aerial ontop.you think the will expand my current network. I'm considering giving home assistant a try again when I know I can cover all my home with the zigbee network

[@romeozanelato401]

Hi Brian, I have a ST v3 .. and start to buy devices smart now. Whats better.. ZigBee or zwave ? I want use only one protocol.. about router .. itas better use mesh or normal to setup everything? Thanks a lot.

[@AutomateYourLife]

Honestly, if you have an ST3 hub, it doesn't matter which one you choose. Z-Wave is great if you need the range, but I personally think ZigBee has a better future in terms of overall compatibility

[@romeozanelato401]

@@AutomateYourLife thanks..

[@TristynRusselo]

Place the hub near the middle of home. After adding many devices you need to limit the number of "hops" from the hub to the furthest endpoint devices.

[@AutomateYourLife]

100% this will work if you have a spot!

[@Tom-hb1no]

Brian... I recently purchased a smart things water sensor which was not recognized by my echo plus 2nd zigbee hub. I have a 1500 square foot one level townhome. I also have some smart plugs and lights. Would it be best to buy V2 hub V3 hub smartthings mesh 1 unit or 3 unit mesh/ hub? Amazon talk groups say I need the smartthings hub that the sensor will not connect directly to echo plus v2

[@AutomateYourLife]

Hey Tom - I’m surprised by this.... at some point this week I’ll take a crack at a direct connection to my Echo Plus or Echo Show. I mean...it’s ZigBee so it should, but I could see Amazon holding back a bit because they can’t handle all the device types. I would go for a V3 SmartThings Hub personally, because it has a Thread transceiver. The wifi access points are a whole other story, and I think most just want the hub.

[@Tom-hb1no]

@@AutomateYourLife Brian. Thanks for the reply. I'll hold off on the V3 until you try to direct connect the sensor would alternate red and green like it was trying to pair and the echo plus was attempting. I tried moving the sensor right next to the plus. I reset the sensor many times. Probably an hour or 2 of attempts over three days. I only have a hue bulb directly connected. I think my other devices are on wi fi connection but I would not know how to tell

[@Alacaalam]

Brian. Which video does explain how to visualize my zigbee mesh?

[@AutomateYourLife]

This is probably as close as you can get with us. I haven't created something to show it visually: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nl6mhqF8g9ufo8U

[@bernardbredhauer1484]

Thanks Brian i am gradualy starting to understand some of these different devices.

[@AutomateYourLife]

That’s what I really hope for with videos like this...that folks can learn the tech piece by piece and then it all becomes more accessible for us all!

[@niravniel561]

Hi, thanks for the video , very helpfull. a question please, my hub is wired connect to my mesh router and its right next to him, so I guess I need to move the ST hub elsewhere , but if I'll do that, I will need to connect ST to my wifi and not wired. Can I move it? or it will cause me issue? I heard that once I installed I better not move it so it can cause problems

[@AutomateYourLife]

It can cause problems to move your hub, yes. But you can rebuild your ZigBee and Z-Wave networks and they will rebuild on their own basically. It can cause some issues for a short time, but I've had my home even back out after a move.

[@niravniel561]

@@AutomateYourLife how can I rebuild my Zigbee network ?

[@AutomateYourLife]

It's actually self healing! So you just move and let it heal. 😃

[@niravniel561]

@@AutomateYourLife thanks

[@norcobf]

Great video Brian. Q - any problem with having a Samsung Smart Things v2 hub, next to Lutron and Hue hubs, all hard wired into network switch?

[@AutomateYourLife]

Hey Bruce! Nawwww, very little chance of any interference. 1 - I think the Lutron you’re talking about has no wifi or other transceiver. 2 - ZigBee Hubs send messages very infrequently, and so interference is very rare between ZigBee Hubs! Also, that’s basically what I have, except my number is 4 Hubs sitting together :)

[@norcobf]

@@AutomateYourLife ok smarty pants. How is my Lutron Hub wirelessly communicating with my many Lutron Caseta light switches, blinds and desk lamps? 🤓

[@AutomateYourLife]

I thiiiiiiiink...it’s through your router’s wifi :)

[@norcobf]

@@AutomateYourLife Lutron smart hub tech spec says "System devices operate on frequencies between 431.0 MHz to 437 MHz"... That's not WiFi, is it? 🤓

[@AutomateYourLife]

Argh! That’s like RF

[@magician560]

How do you ensure a device is acting as repeater to an end device? I’ve read somewhere that turning off the main hub for an hour will automatically force Zigbee devices to form an updated mesh that’ll eventually connect the end device to a suitable, nearest repeater. Is that true? I’m using Aqara system and there’s no way I can tell if my smart plug is repeating signal to my door sensor. Connection has improved when the smart plug has been installed but sometimes the door sensor still falls out of connection. Thank you very much if you can share your opinion about this :)

[@AutomateYourLife]

Great question! There are ways to do this, but it's usually moving your end device to enforce it goes through the repeater. So if there's somewhere you know the device won't connect to your hub, then you can put the end device there and it will go through the repeater. You can run network repairs at that time and usually it'll trigger it over. However, I'd just move it for a day or so and let the whole network "heal". Turning off the hub...that's actually something I can't answer. Come over to our community.automatelife.net boards and I think you may find some answers there!

[@Murhamdilah]

This really helps. Thanks!

[@Tom-hb1no]

Brian ... I mentioned this on another video ... That my Samsung Smart things water sensor would not connect to my echo plus on ZigBee. Were you able to connect using your echo plus second generation?

[@AutomateYourLife]

Ohhhhh sorry Tom! UGH...lemme set a reminder.

[@AutomateYourLife]

Hey Tom - So I've been trying for a bit...sorry it took so long but, no dice. It won't go. It's just the motion and contact sensors right now :(

[@Tom-hb1no]

Brian ... thanks for attempting. Like you, I was unable to get the echo plus gen 2 to connect to my SmartThings water sensor. I spent a significant amount of time attempting to connect figuring it had to be my error, but sounds like that was not the case if your experience was the same as mine. As a result of this problem I just bought a SmartThings V3 hub ... i haven't tried it yet but will set it up over the weekend ... hopefully that works but if SmartThings does not work with the Echo zigbee hub I think amazon should let consumers know that. I really want to have the zigbee capability if wi fi goes down, so at least some automation stuff works - can't go totally wi-fi, right?

[@AutomateYourLife]

Yep! And honestly I don’t think you’ll miss using the ZigBee Hub in the Echo Plus :) SmartThings is great and works when the internet goes out, too!

[@fabrizioricci4857]

excuse me sir, but I think that smart outlet works as a repeter just if is on.

[@AutomateYourLife]

Well it has to be plugged in, but most should not need to be turned on to act as a repeater. That would mean it's a sleepy type end device, and that's not what we want here. Or at least, that's not what is supposed to be the case.

[@ms7165]

Brian, is there a simple way to assign smart devices to the 5ghz on an Orbi router?

[@AutomateYourLife]

Hey Murray! You know, I haven’t worked with Orbi directly in a smart home. The easiest thing I’ve always done to re-organize my home is to just switch per device. I just unlink them from each 2.4 and relink them to 5...unfortunately because it’s a per device setup, it tends to be a per device adjustment. That’s because they’re actually using a different radio.

[@OfficialNewAndImproved305]

Will sengled plugs work as zigbee repeaters? My front door sengled blub keeps losing connection

[@AutomateYourLife]

Supposedly not.

[@OfficialNewAndImproved305]

@@AutomateYourLife hopefully they work because I just bought 3 sengled smart outlets lol

[@AutomateYourLife]

Oh I'm sure they'll work. Just won't be repeaters necessarily. You don't need so many either! Just a few, because you don't want to overload your network with too many repeaters.

[@OfficialNewAndImproved305]

@@AutomateYourLife from what I've read on forums, I need to pair the sengled smart plugs first with the sengled hub then the bulbs will link up to the closest zigbee plug and piggyback the zigbee signal. I know 3 plugs seem like a lot but I have 17 sengled bulbs lol

[@sarayumeewang4125]

Another amazing vid. Thank you

[@AutomateYourLife]

My pleasure!

[@garethjones5068]

Hey Bri, what game is it?

[@wvvollenhoven]

Hmmm.. my Aqara hub is round .. any idea which direction it's signal is going ?

[@AutomateYourLife]

Ooooh...based on the Orientation of how you plug those in, I'd bet it comes straight out the front. Haven't found a guide though

[@wvvollenhoven]

@@AutomateYourLife that makes then 2 of us... Would be a help if I knew if the signal got out sideways or the front and don't want to open one to check for wires.. just got him ;)

[@ronm6585]

Thanks Brian. 👍

[@mlixelplix]

Great video my friend. You helped me fix a disconnecting issue I was getting. I appreciate it!

[@AutomateYourLife]

I don’t believe that for a second! Your network is probably perfect! :)

[@MrBobWareham]

Ours is on the TV, so directions please??

[@AutomateYourLife]

Not sure what you're asking Bob

[@Saintathantwinpeaks]

​@@AutomateYourLifeNobody does.

[@vrslider]

well explained thanks

[@AutomateYourLife]

Glad you liked it! Thanks!

[@vrslider]

I have read that adding a hue bridge extends the signee range can you comment on this ?

[@AutomateYourLife]

In this case, the bulbs are repeaters and you just need those!

[@AutomateYourLife]

A second hue bridge is only necessary really when you look at going over 50 products on one hub

[@vrslider]

@@AutomateYourLife well i decided to buy a hue bridge 2.1 anyway and strangly enough since this time eveyrthing works without connection issues .. not sure why but it seems fixed my connection and range issue i had earlier.

[@josebustamante4276]

Could you explain the difference between zigbee 3.0 and ZLL please? if a bulb is "zigbee 3.0", will it work as a reliable repeater?

[@AutomateYourLife]

Hi Jose, great questions: ZLL is just something that was specifically made for lighting. It's like a subset of the overall ZigBee protocol and companies creating lighting can use it to get a little more out of their devices. ZigBee 3.0 is intended to be the newest protocol, and to allow the uniting of all the subset protocols like ZLL. Companies should be able to use 3.0 going forward and this should make it easier. Repeating the signal is possible as a ZigBee 3.0, BUT it has to be attached to the same ZigBee network. Also, it has to be implemented properly by the manufacturer...all of this isn't likely if you're working within a ZLL system and now trying to put in a 3.0 bulb. Care to explain what you're doing?

[@josebustamante4276]

@@AutomateYourLife thanks for the response! we live in Chile, and we reacently bought a smartthings v3 hub, hopefull to (automate/remote control/ voice control) lights, a samsung tv, and some outlets. Therefore, we want to create a zigbee mesh that eventually will contain, at least on our current flat: 1 tv, 6 to 10 lights, 3 buttons, 2 motion sensor, 2 outlets, all running locally throught the smartthings hub. All the "smart" stuff are crazy expensive down here, so we are looking forward to import from aliexpress and amazon, but we also want to avoid the gambling whenever this or that is going to work or not. Now, we are looking on aliexpress, and many lights claims "zigbee 3.0" capabilities on the tittle, but the in the descrition says "uses ZLL" or "works with phillips hue and echo plus". It would be great if that lights could work with our ST hub, and even better if it is does as router on our mesh, but we are not sure. More over, almost all the cheap sensors can work with the ST hub, but not so much if there is a "not so smart router". Regards!

[@rjmiller2553]

This question zigbee about 3.0 and zll is something I get a lot of us would appreciate a video on

[@youcenon]

ZigBee is a failure technology. I just want to say it. It's a struggle 😢 really really disappointed

[@cassio2999]

zzzzzzzzzz