Viperman Posted January 3, 2023 Author Share Posted January 3, 2023 What is causing the actual limitation of 70 devices? Is it the just the processing speed of the controller? Sounds like other people on here have had up to 95 on a single controller, but got better performance when switching controllers. When you look at computers there are 4 main resources, CPU, Memory, Network and Disk. Which one of these resources is the limiting problem? Or is it like an IP network where you are limited to 254 IP address in a class C network, (assuming subnet and router addresses). I know alot more about computers than I do control4 stuff. zaphod 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstafford388 Posted January 4, 2023 Share Posted January 4, 2023 On 1/3/2023 at 10:21 AM, Viperman said: What is causing the actual limitation of 70 devices? Is it the just the processing speed of the controller? Sounds like other people on here have had up to 95 on a single controller, but got better performance when switching controllers. When you look at computers there are 4 main resources, CPU, Memory, Network and Disk. Which one of these resources is the limiting problem? Or is it like an IP network where you are limited to 254 IP address in a class C network, (assuming subnet and router addresses). I know alot more about computers than I do control4 stuff. It's a combination of things (one being processing power of the controller and how many processes it's running), but in my experience it's not necessarily the controller, rather the size of the mesh geographically that tends to bog things down. Zigbee doesn't have a ton of range and is a mesh so you'll get data hopping through repeating devices back to the Zigbee server. A ton of devices generally means more hops, hops means packet failures. I've seen rather large zigbee meshes with more than 70 devices work better than very spread out meshes with 30 devices when those farther devices need more than 2 hops to get back to the server. This gets worse when some of those hops have to happen through material that is detrimental to a 2.4Ghz signal (ie tile floor, brick or concrete wall, etc). Zigbee is rock solid when it's setup properly but that is very dependent on environment. C4 has come up with the 70 number as a guideline not necessarily due to processing power, definitely not because of Zigbee protocol limitations, but rather from what has been discovered in the field. If you're at 70 or less you're chances are high to have a reliable Zigbee network when taking all these factors into account. turls 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DLite Posted January 8, 2023 Share Posted January 8, 2023 What is the best way to assign Zigbee channels, if I have more than one mesh? We have three Wifi AP's, using channels 1, 6, and 11 on 2.4Ghz. Given that fact, what is the best-practice for assigning Zigbee channels to two different mesh controllers? Currently, I use a single Zigbee mesh that currently has around 90 devices. It's run by an EA5. Subjectively, I don't perceive any issues with Zigbee, but I'm wondering if it makes sense to split into two mesh networks. I have an EA1 online that could be used for the other mesh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted January 8, 2023 Share Posted January 8, 2023 Channel 25 for both Mesh's should be fine DLite 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted January 9, 2023 Share Posted January 9, 2023 10 hours ago, msgreenf said: Channel 25 for both Mesh's should be fine Me, If there are no other wifi channels measured in the house, when wifi 1 6 and 11 are in use I'd lean towards trying zigbee 15 and 20. zigbee 25 is GREAT for when there are lots of wifi channels in use (as it's outside of spectrum), such as in apartment buildings, or some close density residential zones (or trade shows... ) but it's a lower power channel, so has a more limited range. zigbee 15 and 20 should be right in between/at the lowest dips of the wifi spectrum occupancy of wifi 1 and 6 and 6 and 11 respectively. Amr, turls and msgreenf 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jillmark99 Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 On 1/8/2023 at 2:49 PM, msgreenf said: Channel 25 for both Mesh's should be fine You can use the same channel for both zigbee mesh’s in the same house/project? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 2 hours ago, jillmark99 said: You can use the same channel for both zigbee mesh’s in the same house/project? Sure - I wouldn't advise it myself UNLESS it's ch25 (which won't have other things interfering), but then I'm not that high on always using ch25 to begin with (interference free but weaker - that makes it a good choice if there's lots of WiFi around, but in a controlled environment you can manage interference and stronger signal can be better) msgreenf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jillmark99 Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 Got it. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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