Issues with zigbee soil sensors

Questions & Help
1

I have a Homey 2026 that was migrated from a 2023 model. So far everything is working fine, about 30 zigbee devices, including some Third Reality smart plugs and presence sensors.

I just recently got a couple of their gen1 soil moisture sensors Amazon.com: THIRDREALITY Smart Soil Moisture Sensor 2Pack,Zigbee hub Needed,Capacitive Probe,Moisture/Temperature Meter for Garden Planting,Compatible with Homey,Hubitat, SmartThings,Home Assistant : Appliances

They add perfectly fine, the tile shows up, and the basic parameters are visible, though with no actual data right away. And 10 seconds later they drop off the zigbee network - clicking the tile says ā€œThe device left the Zigbee networkā€. Then they go back into pairing mode - blue LED blinking.

When Repairing/re-adding them, it sometimes says ā€œUnable to connect. Zigbee is busy. Please wait a minute and try again.ā€ So perhaps the local zigbee network is ā€¦ wonky ? This is a Unifi environment - I have the 2.4GHz band set for 20MHz width and channels 9/10 blocked off. Zigbee/Homey has channel 25. So it should all be clear ā€¦

I returned them for replacement, and the replacements do exactly the same thing. Iā€™ve been in contact with Third Reality, and they canā€™t figure it out (yet) - it works for them in their test env.

I also picked up a Haozee soil moisture sensor Amazon.com: Haozee Smart Zigbee Soil Moisture Sensor, Requires TUYA HUB,Support Zigbee2mqtt Home Assistant,Moisture Meter for Plants with Real-Time Detection, Historical Record, Soil Meter for Garden : Patio, Lawn & Garden

This does the exact SAME damn thing. Pairs fine, tile shows up, falls off network after 10-15 seconds with no actual data.

Yet I was able to pair a Third Reality zigbee Smart Plug gen1 just now perfectly fine. So I donā€™t think itā€™s the local zigbee network - everything else works as expected.

For both the Third Reality and the Haozee sensors I was able to hit the exact right timing window in Homey Developer Tools to interview the devices and capture the json.

Any ideas ? How can I debug this ?

2

Iā€™m experiencing similar issues with new Zigbee devices after migrating from my Homey Pro (early 2023) to my Homey Pro (2026).
In my personal opinion, the problem isnā€™t with the Zigbee devices themselves, but rather with Homey or the migration process.

Iā€™ve already had a discussion with an Athom employee on Slack. After trying various troubleshooting steps without resolving the issues, the Athom employeeā€™s final recommendation was to reset the Zigbee network. According to him, all devices will remain, and youā€™ll just need to repair them after the reset. However, I havenā€™t tried it yet.

These are the discussions on Slack:
Homey Pro v12.13.0-rc.4 has been released to the beta channel.
Homey Pro v12.13.0-rc.6 has been released to the beta channel.

3

That is correct. I have performed this procedure when I migrated from a Homey Pro 2023 to a 2026-model by restoring a back-up. After a Zigbee reset, you can repair (so not re-pair) your Zigbee devices via the ā€˜Try to repairā€™-option in the deviceā€™s Settings > Maintenance menu.

Depending on the number and types of Zigbee devices, and where they are located in your house, this can either be a relatively quick or lengthy process. Check this post/topic for my experience, experience of others and background info (including further elaborations by Athom).

4

Hrm, odd. When I did the migration, it went perfectly. All devices came over cleanly. Since then adding new zigbee devices has been fine too. Itā€™s just these soil moisture sensors that are giving fits ā€¦ I was even able to add a new Third Reality smart plug the other day (after having troubles with the soil sensors).

I recall reading a bit about a zigbee network reset - didnā€™t dig into it as the migration seemed to have worked. Reset AC-powered devices first to enable/extend the mesh, then battery ones was the main thing I think.

Iā€™ll check out the slack messages and the other post/topic too. Thanks for the pointers :slight_smile:

5

Iā€™ve also been having various issues since the migration.
I was able to add a SONOFF SNZB-02D temperature and humidity sensor without any problems, and itā€™s been working fine for months.
I was able to add an Aqara Opple Switch without any problems, but it didnā€™t work at all.
I couldnā€™t add a Shelly Flood Gen4 at all.

Thanks @SunBeech for the confirmation. Iā€™ll reset my Zigbee network in the next few days.

6

So, Iā€™ve been in contact with Third Reality support, and they were mystified. As a test they sent me a pair of gen2 soil sensors, which did exactly the same thing. They would pair, would appear in Homey, and then poof, would drop off the network and go back into pairing mode.

For shits-n-giggles I set up a Home Assistant docker container with a Sonoff zigbee MG21 dongle connected and started poking around. The Haozee paired right up, and works perfectly as far as I can tell.

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The interesting bit ā€¦ as soon as the Third Reality gen1 went into pairing mode, it popped up in HA as having an update available ā€¦ I didnā€™t even add it as a device, it was just there

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I let it do the update then tried adding it to HA. It never showed up. Perhaps because the server and zigbee dongle are downstairs it couldnā€™t see it, but even when I was right outside the door it never saw it.

More shits-n-giggles, I tried adding it to Homey. It added as it usually did, but then, then, it did NOT drop off the network.

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It seems to be fine - been connected for 10mins so far. So much for accuracy though, the 2 sensors are right next to each other in the same pot, one says 86% the other 100%.

That firmware update image above is the 2nd gen1 sensor, weā€™ll see if it adds. Then Iā€™ll try the gen2 ones again, first with whatever firmware they have now (which failed the other day repeatedly), then see if HA offers a firmware update, and try again if it does.

Couple of questions ā€¦

I donā€™t know HA, and was surprised that it offered to update the firmware without even adding the device. Why canā€™t Homey do that ? Come on Athom, if HA can do it, you had better damn well be able to do it as well.

What is it about soil sensors that pissed Homey off so much ? All other zigbee devices (including Third Reality smart plugs) added totally fine. Just the soil sensors that said ā€œnuh-uh, no way manā€

7

OK. The Third Reality gen2 did the same thing, added to Homey, dropped right off. HA didnā€™t see it without adding like the gen1 was visible. But I was able to add it to HA just fine, and firmware shows an update available ā€¦

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Going to update, then drop from HA and try adding to Homey again ā€¦

8

Other Zigbee implementations can do many things that Homey canā€™t. A lot of Homey protocol support, at least in the past, existed so Homey could be sold with a ā€œSupports $PROTOCOLā€ sticker, but implementations were often very minimal (case in point: HomeKit, Zigbee, KNX).

At least Zigbee support is being picked up again (no doubt because owner company LG wants it), but then youā€™re left with hardware issues, where Homeyā€™s Zigbee and Thread share the same radio, a setup that everyone else in the world stopped using a long time ago because of instability issues.

Soil sensors arenā€™t the only ones that are giving issues. Many people have posted that their sensors, smart plugs, lights, etc, stop responding or updating after some time. Which is why some have resorted on moving to something like Zigbee2MQTT.

9

Iā€™m using Zigbee2MQTT as well, mostly itā€™s stable, sometimes it simply not, true is that the success factor depends on the Zigbee coordinator chip , for everyone interested about Zigbee2MQTT I would suggest to also read their FAQ - FAQ | Zigbee2MQTT

I have currently about 85 Zigbee devices in Homey that works flawless (including Soil sensors on my branch of Tuya ZigBee) and those that I identified as problematic on Homey, I moved to Zigbee2MQTT and except of few hiccups, where I have to unplug some of the Ikea ZigBee routers (once a month/two) and sometimes having to repair Vibration sensors (once a 3 months or ignoring those not reporting for few days), itā€™s working kind of fineā€¦

That said, and as Robert mentioned, Athom is now again resuming work around ZigBee stack and we can soon see some improvements (and new type of problems as well :slight_smile: ). The OTA might be ā€œa lot of funā€.

1 Like
10

As I said already, itā€™s a Homey problem.
Thatā€™s why Iā€™d like to ask you to contact Athom Support instead of any device manufacturers, so that Athom will finally do their damn job.

Btw, have you reset your Homeyā€™s Zigbee network yet, like an Athom employee suggested on Slack?
I havenā€™t had a chance to do it yet because Iā€™ve been so busy.

11

No, not yet. The honey-do list is a bit long this weekend ā€¦ She says ā€œNothing is broken right now except the soil sensors, and I donā€™t need them right now. I DO need the damn dryer vent fixed, right damn now thoughā€

12

I have my smart plugs paired with a ThirdReality bridge. This bridge can update the smart plugs as well. I bring them into Homey via virtual devices and Google Home automations. I donā€™t know if it also works for sensors though.