After having added some new Zigebee devices, previous installed ones are now not working anymore. I have a mix of Ikea Tradfri GU10 lights (some via Tradfri gateway + app, others directly talking to Homey), Xiaomi Aqara wall switches and motion sensors (battery powered) and 2 Osram plugs as an attempt to improve the Zigbee mesh.
But after having added new devices, a previously working Aqara wireless switch now has the red ‘pay attention’ triangle in the app (‘apparaat niet beschikbaar, onbekend probleem’) and checking https://developer.athom.com/tools/zigbee the device is simply not listed anymore:
How and why is this device removed, have I somehow reached a maximum of devices? Are my routers not working and is the amount of devices therefore limited? And what can I do to resolve this (please don’t answer wait for the zigbee rewrite)? I have more products I want to add, but for each new one an old one drops out…and I want to be able to control my lights without an app.
Well, I did have some discussion on the slack channel on the same matter. Long story short is that most routers that I did have suck (Tradfri of IKEA), so I ordered a few Innr Z3 GU10 spots, which apparently are way better as Zigbee (3.0) routers. Since I have them in the network, it is much more stable and I’m not losing devices. However I’m still cautious for adding more new devices.
And I have quite a lot more Tradfri GU10 spots connected via the Tradfri gateway/hub and the related app and notice that they work much more stable in that setup. So until the Zigbee rewrite I will keep them separated for sure. Maybe by then I’ll give it a try to include them in the same Zigbee network, for a better mesh.
And now it still is a long story But my advise to you is get a few good Zigbee routers.
Thanks for the answer.
I moved my lights back from homey to my HUE bridge. Now atleast all my xiaomi stuff works a bit again.
So conclusion up to now is that homey can’t handle a lot of zigbee devices. (just like home assistant with zigbee2mqtt) Bit disappointed in homey bought it to solve this problem.
I have got about 70 devices. Of which at least halve are routers.
When i get above around 60 connected things start to get funky.
I connect a new device and lose the old one.
So maybe it is time to also add a xiaomi hub and not use the homey zigbee anymore…
Interresting.
70 devices. That is many.
Just curious about your setup. So, most bulbs back in Hue. How many devices still in Homey ZigBee Network?
I assume sensors and switches? Many people in the forums talkes about problem with 15-20 devices, but it I assume you have more then that. And still routers? So some bulbs or electrical plugs to extend?
Mixed brands? In both Homey and Hue? See any trends in what works best?
Many questions :-). But as you have quite many, you can compare, and it is interresting for us that not have so many yet, and is about to grow.
Thanks.
/Stefan
And why do you use the Hue Bridge / a separate Zigbee network if everything can work great on 1 network as well? (I doubt it can, though in my experience the Innr and Hue devices are more reliable mesh routers than Xiaomi and Ikea).
A separate bridge has advantages like receiving updates create groups and scenes.
Here I have the IKEA bridge and the hue bridge to switch lights and sockets.
From the point I started using them everything works much more reliable.
For switches and sensors I use homey coupled with 3 tradfry range extenders as routers for coverage and routing.
Some extra info
I have 20 sensors and switches and the repeaters do an great job as a router.
When I had 1 network on homey like I had in the beginning i had to reset 1 one of my ZigBee lights or sockets every day.
Now it is reduced to once in a week or more a non responding sensor.
I hope with future update on the ZigBee part of homey this solved to.
This is why I use a bridge.
I use the Hue Bridge as it has a better range (garage), it is much easier to use scenes and most important that lights go on and off all at once. If the updated Zigbee implementation is available on Homey and it supports this kind of group commands I might switch to direct connection with Homey.
Lol that are a lot of pro’s over homey.
The most important one’s I think what homey does not have is stability and groups.
But I hope for now they improve stability if they could match Hue or Tradfry on the ZigBee part then I would be happy.
Control and programming wise homey is in my opinion hard to defeat if you compare this with for example hue or Tradfry.
Then homey is miles ahead and is the perfect device for controlling your home.
Homey zigbee network still has 47 devices. Sad thing is that i am still losing connections… And have to re add devices.
I have mix of brands so ikea power switches osram power switches and the rest are Xiaomi power switches battery powered buttons sensors etc. I have almost all the items Xiaomi has.
So total number of routers connected to homey = 16 so that leaves 31 sensors.
The routers are distributed throughout the house evenly.
So moving the lights to HUE made the whole thing more stable. But not stable enough.
Thinking of buying a Xiaomi hub and moving the rest away from homey… re adding sensors sucks bigtime. I have very ugly marks on my wall where i had to remove the battery powered buttons to move them close to my homey again…
Also started to experiment with zwave. But the range is very disappointing… i have 2 neo coolcam devices which can’t handle to be more then 4 meters apart. Not to even think of putting them in an other room… Seeing that the price is atleast double or if you buy a real brand like fibro the price is triple this is not a good solve either.
To only stable thing i have seen is using ESP8266 devices. Wifi devices. Those always work and are stable… Even in large numbers.
So Sadly on the zigbee level it all seems to be be unstable for the homey part.
I am also a big fan of those devices, and that good old wifi. But you are or depended on chinese clouds, or you have to solder/flash other firmware on it and find a way to connect to homey after that. It is not for everyone.
I know that I have a IKEA and hue bridge controlled by homey.
But 1 ZigBee network would be the preferred setup as you don’t have a polling delay.
One network has the advantage that a there is less chance of failing because now I have 3 devices that could fail.
What I mean is that if there is a problem on for instance on the IKEA servers etc my homey can’t control my devices.
I flash them myself. I just order the node_mcu version on ali for 1 euro something and connect everthing to that arduino (CO2 temp humi dust etc). I flash it with esp_easy, so you get a nice webinterface and automatic mqtt intergration. And then use the mqtt client in combination with virtual sensors in homey.
Easy as pie.
So yeah takes a little knowledge but it not too difficult.
And the good news is it works and it is mega stable.
I know that you know, sorry about that. Just wanted to open up the point that those devices are not hostile to each other. So that other people reading this wouldn’t discard the option to use them both.
But it wasn’t directed at you, and a bit superfluous also. A bit clumsy of me, sorry
)? I have more products I want to add, but for each new one an old one drops out…and I want to be able to control my lights without an app.
But my advise to you is get a few good Zigbee routers.
just wanting to let you know 
