Powered Zigbee Router Device

[TheRidDler]

Morning to all. Recently acquired a good Sonoff hub now looking to expand the network range with some powered devices to be routers. I was thinking maybe a wall light switch? Can anyone recommend any good ones in a one or two gang? Or any other nice devices that can act as powered routers for that matter. I was considering lighting as well but most of the house is downlights, so unless there's something like that putting in a random bulb might be more effort than not.

Thanks!

 

[souljazk]

powered routers? Your main router, lets assume fibre backed TP-link will usually offer all you need from a basic router, including a segmented guest wifi network which is where your IoT devices should connect. IoT devices are well known for "funky" software and or some sketchy behavior.

expand the network range - do you mean extend the wifi coverage?

Why all your IoT devices should be on your guest network

A simple step to keeping your information more secure

www.androidcentral.com

 

[TheRidDler]

powered routers? Your main router, lets assume fibre backed TP-link will usually offer all you need from a basic router, including a segmented guest wifi network which is where your IoT devices should connect. IoT devices are well known for "funky" software and or some sketchy behavior.

expand the network range - do you mean extend the wifi coverage?

Why all your IoT devices should be on your guest network

A simple step to keeping your information more secure

www.androidcentral.com

Oh no no. I'm referring to a IoT Zigbee network that integrates into Home Assistant. You have a main Zigbee Hub/Coordinator and then that can talk to Zigbee battery operated sensor devices like motion, if they are in range, but if they are not, you can have other Zigbee devices that run on mains and not batteries which will act as 'routers' to relay the Zigbee network and extend its strength + range

 

[souljazk]

Oh no no. I'm referring to a IoT Zigbee network that integrates into Home Assistant. You have a main Zigbee Hub/Coordinator and then that can talk to Zigbee battery operated sensor devices like motion, if they are in range, but if they are not, you can have other Zigbee devices that run on mains and not batteries which will act as 'routers' to relay the Zigbee network and extend its strength + range

Ah thanx for that. The other devices should not be acting as routers at all but rather as wireless repeaters

Rather add another wifi access point to cover any dead spots and have the additional IoT devices connect to that AP's isolated guest wifi network. This means less devices giving out wifi, which can over saturate your wifi and decrease range and performance.

 

[TheRidDler]

Ah thanx for that. The other devices should not be acting as routers at all but rather as wireless repeaters

Rather add another wifi access point to cover any dead spots and have the additional IoT devices connect to that AP's isolated guest wifi network. This means less devices giving out wifi, which can over saturate your wifi and decrease range and performance.

Very true. I think they just refer to them as the former in this particular ecosystem

 

[oryxgazella]

Morning to all. Recently acquired a good Sonoff hub now looking to expand the network range with some powered devices to be routers. I was thinking maybe a wall light switch? Can anyone recommend any good ones in a one or two gang? Or any other nice devices that can act as powered routers for that matter. I was considering lighting as well but most of the house is downlights, so unless there's something like that putting in a random bulb might be more effort than not.

Thanks!

Itead has firmware you can flash on their coordinators, to turn them into routers, then you can just power them with any usb powered device. Here is a link for the ZBDongle-E's firmware:

Sonoff_Zigbee_Dongle_Firmware/Dongle-E/Router at master · itead/Sonoff_Zigbee_Dongle_Firmware

Contribute to itead/Sonoff_Zigbee_Dongle_Firmware development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

If you do go this router, please report back as I have considered doing the same thing. I had two zbmini's in light switches that also acted as routers (the ones that need a neutral wire can be routers), but they sucked. I think also because the light switch recess is a bit of a Faraday cage

 

[TheRidDler]

Itead has firmware you can flash on their coordinators, to turn them into routers, then you can just power them with any usb powered device. Here is a link for the ZBDongle-E's firmware:

Sonoff_Zigbee_Dongle_Firmware/Dongle-E/Router at master · itead/Sonoff_Zigbee_Dongle_Firmware

Contribute to itead/Sonoff_Zigbee_Dongle_Firmware development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

If you do go this router, please report back as I have considered doing the same thing. I had two zbmini's in light switches that also acted as routers (the ones that need a neutral wire can be routers), but they sucked. I think also because the light switch recess is a bit of a Faraday cage

Thank you. I'm seen one can flash more of the dongles into routers yea, but i've just started imagining how busy it can get having dongles stick out everywhere (and it takes up a plugpoint) and thus would try to avoid that route. I was planning on doing mostly wall light switches as it would be a quick replace from what we have now and don't have to try and squeeze a mini into the housing (even tho it was recommended those are the cheapest type of routers to go for due to the light switches not being very compatible with the native software (or something to that regard, still need to learn)