Hello everyone, I’ve been diving into the world of smart home automation lately and wanted to share some of my experiences and questions with the community. As someone relatively new to this, I’m finding it both exciting and a bit overwhelming, but I’m loving the journey!
First, I’ve been experimenting with Zigbee mesh networking. I recently added some Zigbee power strips and noticed something interesting about how the mesh topology is forming. Many of my battery-powered sensors and devices are connecting remotely, even though there are always-on repeaters nearby that could provide a more stable connection. I moved some devices around to tidy things up and noticed that only a handful of my 17 battery sensors are connected to repeater routes. Out of those, three are linked to a single bulb. I’m curious if the frequency of updates plays a role in how devices connect to the mesh. For example, my Aqara motion sensor updates every 10-30 minutes when nothing is happening, while the weather sensor updates much more frequently. Is there a way to force a sensor to connect to a specific repeater or device to improve responsiveness and stability? I’d love to hear any tips or insights on this.
Another area I’ve been exploring is OTA (Over-The-Air) updates. I have some ESPHome lights that are turned off by a switch, meaning they’re not always on. This setup has been triggering the OTA “Last Boot was an unhandled reset, will proceed to safe mode in 8 restarts” message periodically. The issue arises when some lights are only turned on for short periods, like 2-3 minutes or even 30 seconds. Currently, it takes about 4 minutes to reset the boot loop counter, which isn’t ideal. I’d prefer to adjust the time required for a successful boot to reset the counter individually for each light. I’d rather not increase the number of restarts before entering safe mode, as that would just delay the problem. Does anyone know how to adjust this timing or suggest a better approach?
I’d also love to hear about others’ experiences with Zigbee mesh configurations and OTA updates. Have you encountered similar issues, and if so, how did you resolve them? Any advice or resources would be greatly appreciated!
Looking forward to hearing from the community and learning more about these fascinating technologies. Happy automating everyone! 