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The original was posted on /r/homeassistant by /u/tomorrowplus on 2026-03-12 12:46:09+00:00.
TLDR: Zigbee groups jam traffic
For years I have been increasingly frustrated with a slowly degrading zigbee network. I followed all recommendations:
- USB extension cable between computer and zigbee coordinator
- Single brand of router devices (Ikea), about 30 devices
- No wifi device close to coordinator
- No overlap with wifi channels
- Zigbee groups (since it was recommended and supposed to reduce traffic)
I added devices with the expectation that they would improve the network. They didn't, and rather seemed to increase dropouts and make lights not obey. Battery powered devices dropped off the network practically every day. Remote controls with zigbee bindings to lights stopped functioning. Some lights and light groups practically never obeyed commands. I changed coordinators and software (deconz, zha, z2m). Nothing helped.
It turns out zigbee groups work by broadcasting all messages. That means all router devices repeat all messages. With Adaptive Lighing, all lights are updated once every 90 seconds.That is apparently too much. Adaptive Lighting controlled 9 zigbee light groups. A symptom of the problem was something like "[ZCL GROUP groupId=XX] Failed to send with status=BUSY"
I left the groups and made Adaptive Lighting control each bulb separately. Now everything works! I'm just wondering what's the actual use of zigbee groups.