Zigbee Range Extender

[Veroland]

Hi

I have a bunch of Xiaomi zigbee devices connected to Home Assistant using a CC2531 usb adapter. I would like to extend the range of my Zigbee devices so I was hoping one of you smart guys can give me some reccomendations of something I can preferrably source locally.

Thanks

 

[Tinuva]

Sonoff Basic ZBR3 - https://www.itead.cc/sonoff-basiczbr3.html

These can and will act as Zigbee routers. So they act as a repeater between devices that can't connect directly to the Zigbee coordinater (bridge etc).

 

[Veroland]

Sonoff Basic ZBR3 - https://www.itead.cc/sonoff-basiczbr3.html

These can and will act as Zigbee routers. So they act as a repeater between devices that can't connect directly to the Zigbee coordinater (bridge etc).

Great thanks. Is there any problems with buying from them and importing at the moment, over and above the normal customs crap?

 

[Tinuva]

Great thanks. Is there any problems with buying from them and importing at the moment, over and above the normal customs crap?

I dont know. I am too scared that site sends it via SAPO.

Personally uses Banggood for all my sonoff orders.
Switch is at https://www.banggood.com/SONOFF-BAS...tml?p=DX050122090268201806&custlinkid=1222451

Make sure you select SA Direct with Tax included. You have to do this in the Check out process, not on the page where you look at the item.

Then it gets couriered probably to your door. Takes about 2-3 weeks.

 

[Tinuva]

Here is a local shop for you: https://www.smartkit.co.za/product/sonoff-basiczbr3-diy-smart-switch/

 

[AlphaJohn]

I dont know. I am too scared that site sends it via SAPO.

Personally uses Banggood for all my sonoff orders.
Switch is at https://www.banggood.com/SONOFF-BAS...tml?p=DX050122090268201806&custlinkid=1222451

Make sure you select SA Direct with Tax included. You have to do this in the Check out process, not on the page where you look at the item.

Then it gets couriered probably to your door. Takes about 2-3 weeks.

Why?
In SA we have loads of suppliers that stock most of the Sonoff Range and at reasonable prices without the wait

I normally shop between:

RoboFactory - Making Home Automation Simple and Affordable

RoboFactory - Simple and affordable Home Automation products and services

www.robofactory.co.za

Eiferer | Official Sonoff Distributor South Africa

Official Sonoff distributor in South Africa. Sonoff WiFi switches, Zigbee sensors & smart home devices from R149. Free delivery over R2,500. Same-day dispatch from Gauteng.

www.smartkit.co.za

Communica South Africa

Communica is a wholesale and retail distributor of semiconductors, electromechanical and passive electronic components for automotives, electronics, electrical, automation, mining and process control industries and technical and tertiary educational institutions.

www.communica.co.za

 

[Tinuva]

Why?
In SA we have loads of suppliers that stock most of the Sonoff Range and at reasonable prices without the wait

I normally shop between:

RoboFactory - Making Home Automation Simple and Affordable

RoboFactory - Simple and affordable Home Automation products and services

www.robofactory.co.za

Eiferer | Official Sonoff Distributor South Africa

Official Sonoff distributor in South Africa. Sonoff WiFi switches, Zigbee sensors & smart home devices from R149. Free delivery over R2,500. Same-day dispatch from Gauteng.

www.smartkit.co.za

Communica South Africa

Communica is a wholesale and retail distributor of semiconductors, electromechanical and passive electronic components for automotives, electronics, electrical, automation, mining and process control industries and technical and tertiary educational institutions.

www.communica.co.za

Simple really. I usually also have other non-smart stuff I am buying from banggood, which is not available at the same shop locally. Easier to bulk up the orders.

One thing I despise from local, is that the tracking stuff sucks. Bunch of shippers dont have an api or proper tracking site. I like with banggood I throw it all into 17track, some emails are auto forwarded and parsed and added, saving me time. 17track shows up in Home Assistant too so I dont even have to go into 17track app or website to get a status of each package.

 

[AxField]

Simple really. I usually also have other non-smart stuff I am buying from banggood, which is not available at the same shop locally. Easier to bulk up the orders.

One thing I despise from local, is that the tracking stuff sucks. Bunch of shippers dont have an api or proper tracking site. I like with banggood I throw it all into 17track, some emails are auto forwarded and parsed and added, saving me time. 17track shows up in Home Assistant too so I dont even have to go into 17track app or website to get a status of each package.

View attachment 936826

Ho.Lee.Sheet that's a neat idea!!

Just a question: What's a Hand Pump? The ones I've seen on Banggood can probably be bought at the local adult shop?

 

[Tinuva]

Ho.Lee.Sheet that's a neat idea!!

Thanks. Though I found the idea on the HA forums while looking for ideas on what to use for keeping track of multiple incoming packages.

Just a question: What's a Hand Pump? The ones I've seen on Banggood can probably be bought at the local adult shop?

ok that was really funny but nothing like that.

Want to clean the engine bays in my cars and want some foamer, but don't want to use the high pressure washer foaming, in fact that machine stays far away from the engine bay. So the handpump foamer sprayer(miss-spelled in that screenshot) is just that, you pump up a bit of pressure by hand, then it sprays foam where ever you point it at, just not as much as the high pressure washer foamer.

There is a couple of other items too in that order, that was just the easiest way to remember which order it is haha.

 

[AxField]

I see, good call. I'm in the automotive electronics business. High pressure 'engine washes' put my kids through school.

 

[Veroland]

Have anyone come accross these at a local supplier yet?

SONOFF ZBMINI Zigbee Two Way Smart Switch

SONOFF ZBMINI is a ZigBee-enabled two-way smart switch that can work with external switches to control connected devices remotely, compatible with different hubs like SONOFF ZBBridge, Amazon Hub, Samsung SmartThings Hub and Philips Hue Hub, etc

www.itead.cc

 

[Wide]

Sonoff Basic ZBR3 - https://www.itead.cc/sonoff-basiczbr3.html

These can and will act as Zigbee routers. So they act as a repeater between devices that can't connect directly to the Zigbee coordinater (bridge etc).

For Zigbee, what is the average indoor range between zigbee (ac powered) devices to create a reliable mesh network? Google shows up to 100m but I hardly get 5m.

 

[Tinuva]

For Zigbee, what is the average indoor range between zigbee (ac powered) devices to create a reliable mesh network? Google shows up to 100m but I hardly get 5m.

Zigbee run on the same 2.4ghz range as wifi. But I imagine the gateway and repeaters have weaker radios than WiFi.

If you can, move it to a different channel than your 2m4ghz wifi. Wifi will win and kill zigbee.

Also, brick walls will reduce range more than the drywalls in the US.

 

[Veroland]

For Zigbee, what is the average indoor range between zigbee (ac powered) devices to create a reliable mesh network? Google shows up to 100m but I hardly get 5m.

Same, I am struggling a lot with my devices "losing connection" and with that I mean they are not updating and I have to reboot my extenders or in some cases re-pair the devices.

I has also gotton worse since I put in my mesh wifi even though the channels on the zigbee and wifi are far apart.

 

[gg za]

Have anyone come accross these at a local supplier yet?

SONOFF ZBMINI Zigbee Two Way Smart Switch

SONOFF ZBMINI is a ZigBee-enabled two-way smart switch that can work with external switches to control connected devices remotely, compatible with different hubs like SONOFF ZBBridge, Amazon Hub, Samsung SmartThings Hub and Philips Hue Hub, etc

www.itead.cc

Yip. Robofactory

Zigbee Range

www.robofactory.co.za

Bought one from them about a month ago

 

[MidnightZA]

Zigbee run on the same 2.4ghz range as wifi. But I imagine the gateway and repeaters have weaker radios than WiFi.

If you can, move it to a different channel than your 2m4ghz wifi. Wifi will win and kill zigbee.

I'm using the CC2531 connected directly to my Pi with a USB extender. Do you know how to change the wifi channel on that device?

 

[Veroland]

I'm using the CC2531 connected directly to my Pi with a USB extender. Do you know how to change the wifi channel on that device?

If you are using zigbee2mqtt you can go into the plugin config under advanced:

advanced:
  pan_id: 6754
  channel: 11

 

[Tinuva]

I'm using the CC2531 connected directly to my Pi with a USB extender. Do you know how to change the wifi channel on that device?

No idea. Using a sonoff gateway with tasmota on myself which I know how

 

[Wide]

Zigbee run on the same 2.4ghz range as wifi. But I imagine the gateway and repeaters have weaker radios than WiFi.

If you can, move it to a different channel than your 2m4ghz wifi. Wifi will win and kill zigbee.

Also, brick walls will reduce range more than the drywalls in the US.

Thanks. I have a tuya zb 3.0 gateway, does not seem easy enough to change channel as I don't have HA/mqtt, just working off the Smartlife app. Apparently the ZB channels auto choose based on inteference/wifi channels.

Have tried placing the hub >5m from wifi router.

I have a number of ZB Light switches and will probably look into repeaters (e.g. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001459823340.html) or more AC powered devices (ZBR3 etc) but need to know how close should these be placed for a reliable network.

 

[MidnightZA]

If you are using zigbee2mqtt you can go into the plugin config under advanced:

advanced:
  pan_id: 6754
  channel: 11

Im using the ZHA intergration

After some googling, I found the config for the ZHA. Dont know why I never think of checking the intergration page first lol

zha:
  zigpy_config:
    network:
      channel: 15             # What channel the radio should try to use.
      channels: [15, 20, 25]  # Channel mask

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