Optimizing Zigbee with Woox Smart Garden Irrigation Control R7060

[Tuinfluiter]

I'm running Z4D (version 7.1.020) on Domoticz 2024.4 with a Conbee3 stick, two Aqara temperature sensors and an Ikea Tradfri Control outlet as a router.
I recently bought the Woox Irrigation control R7060.
Reliability is my biggest concern, as I am expecting to be away from home quite often.
When I connected the Woox, I saw in the Zigbee network scan that it communicates directly with the coordinator, with a Link Quality of 211. Because of the walls in between I was quite surprised and happy (coordinator > LQ=211 > Woox).
After adding a new Ikea Inspelning Smart plug and some experiments with different topology setups, it didn't connect directly to the coordinator anymore. Instead, the path in the network scan is now:
coordinator > LQ=251 > Ikea Inspelning > LQ=181 > Ikea Control outlet > LQ=75 > Woox.
Given that "a chain is as strong as its weakest link", now the weakest link to the Woox is only 75, while in my first setup is was 211.
So now my questions:
- is a LQ value of 75 something to worry about, from a perspective of reliability?
- then, can I force back the situation where the Woox directly connects to the coordinator (with the LQI of 211) again? And is it advisable to try to do this anyway?

[Kedi]

I have more then one device with LQ below 75 and they all work perfect.
B.t.w. my Woox has LQ of 86 and also works perfect for years now. LQ also varies a little bit over time.
Just make sure that the batteries are OK.

[Tuinfluiter]

Thanks for your reply.
I'll stick to this setup then.

[Thorgal789]

Hello, and remember LQI have nothing to see with signal strength, a bad router have more impact than a wall on it.
A device have in reality 2 LQI, one for input request and one for output.
It's something totaly useless for users, you can have more problems with a device that have a LQI of 200 than a one with 50

then, can I force back the situation where the Woox directly connects to the coordinator (with the LQI of 211) again? And is it advisable to try to do this anyway?

No, it's like chose a router to include a device, the zigbee network is dynamic, it uses an algorithm to chose the better way, the better router, it's his job, not yours, it know better how to do.

[Tuinfluiter]

It's something totaly useless for users, you can have more problems with a device that have a LQI of 200 than a one with 50

Does this mean that there is no way for a user to check anything on the reliability of his devices? When you first connect a device, like my Irrigation control, it may work. So you use it a couple of times and it works. But how can you tell if it will switch reliably every day for, e.g. the next 2 months?

[Thorgal789]

So you use it a couple of times and it works. But how can you tell if it will switch reliably every day

Not possible, every devices that stop working a day have worked without problem the previous years ^^. It's automation stuff, not as reliable than alarm stuff for exemple.

Just use it, can use script to make watchdog if the device is sensible (with a sensor that check if the TRV is working because If I m right this model don't have sensors)

[kimhav]

What is the average battery time for these units and what kind of batteries are you using; alkaline, lithium or rechargeable batteries? The biggest worries in that it won't automatic close the valve when supposed to and assume that if runs out of battery or can't communicate with the gateway (in this case then Domoticz) it will keep being open or does it have a failsafe that if it starts to be low on battery that it closed the valve and if communication is lost to the gateway that it closes the valve. What are the failsafe built in to the unit?

[Kedi]

I think the failsafe is that when the power is off, the valve will be closed. (Did not check that)
So when battery is depleted the valve will proberly be closed.
There is also battery percentage send over the Zigbee network and send to Domoticz, so you could monitor that.
Warning: when it is freezing, remove the device. I have a defect device because of that.
Average battery time depends on actuation time.
I change lithium (because it is outside) batteries one a year.

B.T.W. read this: https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/devices/R7060.html
Also look at https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/devices/TS06 ... s0601_soil
You really can automate garden irrigation.

[kimhav]

Thanks for the input and it would be great to get proper confirmation about failsafe if it's either low on battery or if it doesn't have any contact with the signee gateway. It sounds like that it's very stable and that it hasn't caused any issues in general.

With regards to the outdoor faucet if it's not self-drained, then yes, I would assume that it would get damaged one way or another but if doesn't handle minus degrees then it might be as well worth removing late fall before the frost hits.

Are you using the soil moisture devices yourself and if yes how well do they work?

[Kedi]

I use those moisture device and it works quite good.
I get notifitied by Domoticz if moisture is below a certain level.
I also use Lithium batteries and change those once a year.
The Woox is very stable and water passing thrue is closed when there is no power from the battery.
But I suppose that the last state will be valid if the device drops of the Zigbee network.
That drop did not occur in my network for as long as it is included.
I am running the Woox for approx. 3 years now.
And yes I remove the Woox every fall from outside now.

[Tuinfluiter]

I have it working now for 3 weeks; irrigation approximately 3 times per week. Working OK ... until today ...
Yesterday afternoon I replaced the batteries for Lithiums. Checked afterwards; on/off working OK.
Yesterday night I updated Domoticz from 2024.4 to 2024.7. A smooth ride; everything working fine.
I checked the Woox in Domoticz: Last Seen this morning at 5:50. So far, so good.
At 10:10 I observed a scheduled ON timer event: no click; no water!
But the status in Domoticz was ON!
At about 10:20 I started a network topology scan in the Z4D webUI. The scan started, but no output at all.
At 10:30 the OFF timer event was scheduled. No Click, but of course it was not on.
The status in Domoticz changed from ON to OFF.
Later on I could start and stop the irrigation again without any problems.

I have no clue on what happened (batteries, Domoticz update, random flaw?), but I know now that I don't find it reliable enough.
As I am planning some time from home I will remove it for the time being and replace it again with my offline irrigation control.
I'll try again this summer.
@kedi: if you remove the device for the winter, do you remove it from Domoticz, or just leave it for next year?

[Kedi]

If I fysically move the device from outside to my attic, I leave the device connected to the Zigbee network.
It does not drain the batteries that much and I replace those in the spring anyway when I put the device outside again.
I must say that my device works flawless for years now.