this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2024
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I use zigbee and their sensors just keep dropping off the network
That's weird to me. I have 30 aqara devices and they only drop off the network when the controller is missing (ConBee stick).
interesting. theirs are pretty much the only reliable sensors I found
If you happen to use a Conbee II: I had this issue until I updated the firmware. Has been rock solid with aqara devices after that.
may wanna check your wifi & zigbee network collisions, your network map or make sure you don't something like a 2nd hub or something like that
My first zigbee device was Sylvania (73685) rgbw led strip. On it's own it worked fine but once I started trying to add sengled zigbee bulbs I kept having problems with pairing the bulbs or keeping them connected. Zigbee uses 2.4ghz so I thought maybe interference so lowered power output on wifi AP 2.4ghz band & even turned it off for testing but didn't help. I think I read somewhere that sylvanias caused that problem. I unplugged sylvania led strip, reset & rejoined everything else and had zero problems. Tried to add the sylvania back in and disconnect problems came back after awhile. It was past the return period so now I keep it unjoined and plugged into a zigbee smart outlet. I sometimes have to remove power from it to join new devices or when I restart zigbee controller. Currently have mix of sengled bulbs, thirdreality plugs, sonoff plugs & sensors, and single aqara tvoc all working together fairly reliably.
Aqara devices can be finicky with non-Aqara devices, especially router devices.
I've personally also had much better results with Aqara devices since switching to Zigbee2MQTT and a Sonoff Zigbee stick, I had a lot more dropouts with ZHA and a Conbee II stick.
I have your exact setup. Have you done any tweaking? What channel are you on? All I can think is, I have thick concrete walls. Changing battery also didn’t help.
I haven't done any channel optimisation so far, I probably should do. I have the P version of the Sonoff Zigbee dongle, I haven't tried the E version.
I've also been careful with picking router devices. I've tried to avoid router devices that have poor reported compatibility with Aqara. There is a page/thread somewhere online where people were compiling lists of devices that do or don't play nice with Aqara. IKEA devices apparently work very well with Aqara, I've been using their smart plugs wherever I can.
My Zigbee network also improved a lot when I set up some IKEA plugs in the loft. My house also has thick walls, but it seems Zigbee signal can propagate more easily through ceilings/floors.
Using quality brand batteries also seems to help a bit, at least from a battery life point of view.
When it comes to zigbee devices, don't combine the aqara wall switches with large (4 buttons) ikea remotes.
The wall switches tend to execute the commands from the remotes instead of just routing them to the coordinator.
I have similar experience with the ikea bulbs. More of them I connect, more stable the whole network gets.
Fortunately my thermometers don’t do that, because they are a good choice, Zigbee wise. Always on the lookout for replacements, if the need arises…