Homey Community Forum

Zigbee and maximum devices

Questions & Help
#1

Hi guys,

I know this has been discussed in the past, but I’m opening this as all the info is quite old and I also don’t fully understand it. If it’s better to add it to another thread, please let me know

I have 26 ikea lights (connected by the hub)
I have 4 aqara buttons
I have 12 aqara door sensors.
All other devices are zwave/wifi

I cannot install any more aqara door sensors right now. Did I reach a maximum? Is there any way I can add my remaining 5 door sensors? Can I still add devices by the ikea hubs? Can add other (wired) devices?

I read about a zigbee rewrite, did that happen already? Do we know weather they r busy with it?

I read a big reset could help but it didn’t. Or is that only to make the connection more stable?

Edit: I have 4 zigbee plugs (neo coolcam) on the way, will they work?
Sorry for the amount of questions… Im just a bit desperate.

Ps:I can see that he typing Robert, I really appreciate all the work you put in this forum

Thank you very much,
Glenn Dijkstra

#2

There’s a limit of about 20 Zigbee devices that are directly connected to Homey, which means they are not connected to Zigbee router devices in Homey’s Zigbee network.

The limit doesn’t apply to:

  • devices using a different protocol (WiFi, Z-Wave, IR, etc)
  • devices using a different Zigbee controller (IKEA Tradfri gateway, Philips Hue hub, deCONZ, etc)

So your 26 IKEA lights don’t count, because they are using a different Zigbee network (created by the IKEA hub).

You now have 16 Zigbee devices directly connected to Homey. You haven’t yet reached the limit, but getting close. You should be able to add a few more, but not all 5. I don’t know why you can’t add any more, but I would suggest adding Zigbee router devices to your network to make it most robust. Most Zigbee devices that are permanently powered (lightbulbs, smart sockets, the IKEA repeater) are router devices.

As for the Zigbee rewrite: it’s being worked on. Firmware v5 which contains the rewrite is now being tested by users.

1 Like
#3

Thank you so much @robertklep,
Does the v5 mean that I ll be able to add all the devices later? And… Referring to de edit I did while u r answering, I guess that means that I can’t use the neo coolcam plugs that r on the way right now?
And how do I know when I reached the limit?
I have my bulbs always powered. I only turn them off with homey, the hub or the tradfri switch (which I did forget to mention but I just herd they don’t count). Are they routers or won’t they count as they are in a different hub?

Once more, I really appreciate all the help and the lots of typing here

#4

I don’t know :slight_smile: v5 doesn’t remove/increase the limit, so you still won’t be able to add them all.

Perhaps, perhaps not. The Coolcam plugs will act as router devices, so that’s a good thing, but it may be difficult to add them to Homey. If you want a robust Zigbee network, you may need to start over by doing a full Zigbee reset and then first add router devices, followed by “end devices” (like your sensors).

You won’t be able to add any more devices. You don’t get a warning about having reached the limit, you’ll just get errors.

They don’t count as they are part of a different Zigbee network (controlled by a different hub).

1 Like
#5

@robertklep Well, that’s most probably good advice but fucked up lol…

  1. Adding the plugs would be good for the network, but I ll need to remove sensors, which is fckd up lol. But I ll have to exchange them for some zwaves then I guess. Or… Is an aqara hub the answer?

  2. Reconnecting all zigbee devices will be a huge pain. I have to cry when I think about that

Thank you once again. Final question, u r not working for Anthom are you? I d love to give you a small tip for all the help. Don’t expect too much though. It’s just to let you know how much I appreciate all the work. Looks like u r always here.

#6

Running latest RC here. Got about 50 zigbee devices directly on the homey. Made sure the first 20 where all routers.

It’s slow and laggy and bugs out a lot of the time, but haven’t had time to troubleshoot it much / any yet.

But on paper it sort of works. And it’s not production ready so it’s all right that it’s unstable I think.

1 Like
#7

Thank you @Nyegaard,
Would a aqara hub work for now? It creates another network right? And… When I delete all zigbee devices and add them again, I ll need to edit the flows right?

#8

Yes i would assume so.
I’m just trying different setups to see what best suits us, I’m probably going back to putting lights on the trådfri (IKEA) hub and hue hub, 50+ devices just seems to be way too slow for how I’ve set it up with the current state of things. Haven’t decided yet.

You can use < groups > in flows and simply update the group’s when making changes like this but it requires a bit of work no matter what you do I’m afraid :slight_smile:

#9

When you say “slow and laggy and bugs out a lot of the time”, I’m guessing that you have groups with multiple devices that you want to control from flows? Because Homey isn’t very good at sending commands to multiple devices (even if they are in a group) from flows, that’s something that has existed since firmware v2 was introduced and (AFAIK) not fixed in v5.

I don’t know if v5 supports Zigbee grouping (I think not), but that’s how other controllers manage grouped devices: they add them to the same Zigbee group on a protocol level, and controlling them means sending just a single command to the group (instead of to the specific devices).

#10

Yes but I expect that to be buggy because of the reasons you say - feels like it’s bottlenecking in the core somewhere.

The lack of protocol level grouping pretty much makes it useless in reality for lights I feel, would be a lot better to simply use homey as a bridge between gateways and protocols, ie use a zwave switch to turn off / on hue groups etc.

Anyway - right now I have zero control over any zigbee lights in the Homeys own network, that’s what I mean by buggy and slow ;). PTP, restarts etc doesn’t work. I’ve simply lost contact with all the lights - even though I can interview some of them from homey.

This latter issue was a new “feature” with the very latest firmware for me.

Oh well, it’s experimental software after all hehe.

(Sidenote - part of my job as a pm in a small software development company is QA so I’m fairly used to buggy stuff hehe)

#11

I bought and setup first 3 Ikea repeater … but still being limited by this annoying hardware limit.
I got 21 windows + lot of doors, and I want to install a sensor in all my rooms. All based on Aqara devices. It’s over 50 devices total.
Right now, I have about 30 working … just cannot add more.

I’m wondering if I should open the Homey and cut in half the zigbee antenna … so the device connect to the router first!

#12

Hi Baldor, I had the limit as well. I now bought the aqara gateway (make sure you buy the right one as I bought one that doesn’t work with homey at first). The aqara v2 can connect up to like 50 devices and has its own zigbee network. Once you added them to the gateway, you can simply import them to homey. If you need more devices, you can just instaal another gateway and add another devices the same way.

#13

I suppose the aqara gateway v3 is even better ?

edit : more important question ? The conenction between the gateway and Homey go through internet ? or only local ?

#14

Hi, I just setup my gateway. I have to say… I have no idea. I bought a v2 as the seller made sure that version was able to link with homey. I can’t tell what kind of connection the gateway has with homey, but my first impression… It looks very stable

#15

So based on the desccription of the " Xiaomi Mi Home" which I suppose is the application you are using to connect Homey with the gateway :

GOOD NEWS
Added the ability to control Zigbee devices of Xiaomi gateway that do not require internet and Mi cloud. There are no restrictions on the number of connected Zigbee devices, …

Looks like it’s exactly what I need!

1 Like
#16

A bit of an update on this topic;
Have been going back and forth with Homey Support, sending in diagnostics reports and trying new builds as they’ve been made available.

As of RC57, it’s like I’ve gotten a new device. Suddenly everything works as I’d expect, it’s fairly quick, the mesh works fine, devices don’t become unavailable, < groups > app works.

The Homey is still a bit slughish to send out many commands at the same time, but it’s a world of difference as of RC57 and it hasn’t stopped working in 4-5 days now, which is a new record for my Homey adventure.

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#17

I have 21 routers devices and 32 end devices working .
All are xiaomi ( no gateway installed ) excepted 2 Innr bulbs.
No problem at this time​:crossed_fingers::crossed_fingers::crossed_fingers:.
V4.2.1

#18

43 devices (mostly xiaomi) running including 5 IKEA TRADFRI control outlet, stable and growing.

Seems with newest homey version it is much more easy to add new devices.
Planning to add a door sensor on each of my inside door (13 more devices !).

#19

Just make sure you have enough routers (230V powered devices) for a good mesh. I work with 43 devices now and +/- 15 routers. Only 11 devices connected to Homey directly.