why does homeseer report zigbee plugs unreachable when you can turn them on / off?

[Dewcal]

Another newbee question! I now have two Zigbee Smart Plug,SONOFF S26R2ZBTPG Mini Socket which I have been able to add to deCONZ and JowiHue - so far so good! When I look at the device page in Homeseer web interface it reports these devices as unreachable. Yet I can use the on / off controls to switch them on or off.

As this does not seem logical to me, I am wondering what I am missing here?

Looking at the deCONZ neighbour links, they show very faint lines going to the Combee 2 stick.

Both of them are close to Aqara door sensors that link to the Combee 2. Am I worng to expect the plugs to be the stronger repeater and the sensors link to them on their way to the Combee2?

Still learning (I hope).
Thanks for any help.

[TC1]

Both of them are close to Aqara door sensors that link to the Combee 2. Am I worng to expect the plugs to be the stronger repeater and the sensors link to them on their way to the Combee2?

This statement doesn't really have a lot of detail... while they may be near the battery sensor endpoints, they could in fact be further away from the Conbee2 than the sensors.

Signal strength will be the same, whether the device is battery or mains powered. And since you always want your routers closer to your controller, so you can extend signal to further away battery sensors, network planning is important.

You need to bring up the network map in deconz and turn on the Link Quality Indicator. The first number is important, it's how the controller sees the endpoint. The second number is how the endpoint router sees the controller. Since battery endpoints don't listen/route, the second number is always 0. If the first number is around 100 or lower then you more than likely need a router between that device and the controller. The ideal/top number is 255.

[langenet]

I noticed that too. However, after waiting a couple of minutes they report fine. I'm guessing that the mesh is in the process of initializing.

[Dewcal]

TC1 - thank you for helping me define the problem. The network map should be attached. The two SONOFFS are closer to the ConBee2 than the sensors. I cannot see how the SONOFFs are linking to the Conbee2 - I cannot see any LQI data for these "connections".
The other image shows that one of the plugs is "unreachable" and while not shown, the other one reports "On".
Do I assume that as the sensors sow 255/0 they will never try to use the plugs as a node?
I wonder why the plugs do not appear to link up?
Also, one of the plugs only shows a single "dot" and not two - why would this happen?
Thanks again.

[TC1]

Maybe w.vuyk will have a better idea of what went wrong, but to me it looks like they never added properly. I would try to re-add them by putting the plugs into inclusion mode, then do a scan for new lights/devices in the JowiHue bridge maintenance settings.

Regarding your battery sensors, the signal is 255 (the best possible) so they have no need to go through a router.

[bdickhaus]

Yes, for sure the one dot means the plug has not been added correctly. The Aqara sensors will prefer the bridge as long as they can get to it, there is no way to force them to use a close by router. If you have enough routers spread across the area you want to cover, Zigbee generally does a good job of figuring it all out.

[Dewcal]

TC1 ,
bdickhaus
Many thanks for comments - will try to remove and re-add them.
Have a good festive season.

[jon00]

TC1 FYI, the latest versions of deCONZ color the lines depending on the LQI between brown/yellow (weak) through to green (strong).

[Dewcal]

jon00 - thanks for comments re line colours.
TC1 - have managed to delete and re-add the plugs. They appear to work fine insofar as they appear under devices but any form of network line is sadly lacking! I am finding that the lines seem to appear randomly despite none of the components moving around. Is this normal behaviour for deCONZ?

[TC1]

jon00 - thanks for comments re line colours.
TC1 - have managed to delete and re-add the plugs. They appear to work fine insofar as they appear under devices but any form of network line is sadly lacking! I am finding that the lines seem to appear randomly despite none of the components moving around. Is this normal behaviour for deCONZ?

Give it time, the network links should show up eventually.

[w.vuyk]

jon00 - thanks for comments re line colours.
TC1 - have managed to delete and re-add the plugs. They appear to work fine insofar as they appear under devices but any form of network line is sadly lacking! I am finding that the lines seem to appear randomly despite none of the components moving around. Is this normal behaviour for deCONZ?

Dewcal

You should normally not need to remove devices from deCONZ in order to re-add then. Check also this post, especially on the part of reviving a device.It should be enough to reset the plug and start a scan for devices on the bridge maintenance page of the plugin. In deCONZ you then should see the device respond and deCONZ should update its information.

What is the distance between the Conbee and the plugs? With 'normal' walls it should still stay reachable with a distance around 7 meter. Is it possible your plugs have more distance? Or is there a WiFi signal of a router near the Conbee - this could cause interference that makes reach ability less good?

Wim

[Dewcal]

w.vuyk - Thanks for reply and information therein - I will understand how all this works ....I hope!

Distance between Conbee and plugs - one about 3 m and the other about 7 m. All walls are solid brick - putting a picture on the wall requires a hammer action drill....
Yes, I do have an access point near the Conbee - the main router is down near one of the plugs.
How do I find out what channel the Conbee is on and can it be changed if required?
The sensors which appear to have good connctions are all further away than the plugs......I was under the impression that, being mains powered, the plugs would make better conections...it appears that I am incorrect here!
I still see that deCONZ does not show the links between the COnbee and the plugs yet I can now use HS devcies to switch plugs on and off....so am still confused here....

Thanks again for help.

[w.vuyk]

You can check this in deCONZ, check the attached image for that. Select the settings and het you can check/set the channel there.
On the other hand, if the HS devices no longer show unreachable and control is good , you might not really have an issue on the interference part after all.

Wim

[Dewcal]

w.vuyk - Once again thanks for diagram - simple when you know how! I am on channel 15 - presumbably the defualt. I will not make any changes until I see how it all behaves over the next few days.
Thanks again and have a good festive season.

[TC1]

Dewcal you made a good point about interference, because of wifi congestion in my neighborhood I had to do a radio survey using an app on my phone to see all the broadcasting 2.4Ghz signals and their relative strength to where my house transmission area is. Once I changed my Conbee channel to a place where there was less interference then things improved dramatically.

But in your case your battery sensors seem to be operating just fine, so that's hopefully not the problem.

If anyone is interested, this is a good resource that clearly explains the issue/solution. I don't recommend changing things unless you have real data to look at, randomly changing your channels will just frustrate you.
https://www.metageek.com/training/re...i-coexistence/