By a few megaphones and place them around the house.
Your RF problems will disappear....
On Wed, Apr 2, 2025 at 12:59 AM, AGA001 wrote:
As others have rightly pointed out, your system is the very definition of RF Hell, but let me throw in my two cents.
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1) You have put too much faith in wifi. Too many devices, perhaps too many operating on 2.4 GHz, perhaps too much reliance on large bandwidth protocol selection, perhaps overlapping channels. For instance, why so many wifi light bulbs at the same location if you probably do not operate them independently? Use a single wifi switch (Such as Tapo or Meross) to control several standard LED bulbs at once (also cheaper to replace when they die).
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The reason for the Wifi bulbs is not on/off control. If that were the case, I would indeed only be using smart relay switches. The Wiz bulbs allow dimming, setting brightness, color temperature, different colors, and have some neat dynamic color effects as well. These features cannot be controlled via a simple on/off relay smart switch, or even smart dimmer switch. Some software is needed to communicate with the bulbs, and the bulbs I'm using are controlled through Wifi. Philips provides a Wiz app for smartphones, but that's not what I'm using. I use Home Assistant with the Wiz integration.? Even though in practice, I only ever set the on/off status, color, etc. to the same value on all bulbs of a given circuit, that doesn't negate the need to talk to each bulb to set the parameters. I believe the bulbs support some form of IP multi-cast to lower the Wifi traffic.
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The way I want to operate the bulbs is to use a smart switch as a scene controller. Specifically, I have Zooz ZEN76 Z-wave on/off switches. One of its features is that the relay can be disabled, which they call "smart bulb" mode, in which power is always supplied to the circuit. This might sound useless, but actually the switch can then be used as a scene controller, to issue commands based on the number of presses to the upper and lower paddles. You can program up to 5 commands on each paddle. However, some software is required to respond to the Z-Wave commands. It is Home assistant again. And when it receives these commands, it can then control the bulbs and change on/off status, brightness, color, etc. The biggest downside of this mode however is that if Wifi or Home assistant are down for any reason, the lights can't be controlled anymore, because there is no one to respond to the Z-wave controller commands, or to send Wifi commands to the bulbs. At least I have made sure that everything still operates even if the ISP is down - the router, AP and Home assistant all stay up, and even my phone stays connected to Wifi without internet so the HA app can still be used.
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I have done a proof of concept in my home theater with the smart bulb mode. It happens to be working reliably in that room right now. I think having those 21 bulbs on the network permanently, as opposed to turned on/off by a relay, helps with the reliability. I control the light from 4 different wall switches / scene controllers, as well as from Home assistant remote. But the best part is that I can also control them from my infrared ARRX18G. It sends an IR signal to an AtHom IR to Wifi receiver. Home assistant then processes the IR commands over IP, and controls the lights in the theater from the couch.
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However, things become problematic if I turn on all 220 bulbs in the house, especially if they all get turned on near simultaneously, which floods the Wifi network. Right now, I have about 30 smart switches that I could configure operate in smart bulb mode, and keep the corresponding Wifi lightbulbs on the network all the time. But there are 60 non-smart switches that can't do that. But they aren't dumb switches either - they are CA Title 24 vacancy switches that I put in 15 years ago to automatically turn off the lights after 30 minutes if there is no motion. Unfortunately, the vacancy feature can't be disabled, and thus it is impossible to keep all 220 Wifi bulbs on the network 100% of the time - only about one third of them.
2) Probably too many sources of RFI, such as solar inverters, EV chargers, etc. Not much you can do about that, but a TinySA may indeed help you to identify the main culprits.
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Thank you ! The micro-inverters are all on the roof under the panels. Not sure if that changes things. But they can be turned off by breakers.
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The 2 EV chargers are in the garage, plugged in to 14-50 outlets. I could easily unplug either or both of them to test for EMI.
How would I use tinySA to detect the interference when placing it near the EV chargers, for example ?
3) Probably lots of intermodulation with so many RF sources mixing with one another on every wire mesh fence, every door hinge, every rusty bolt. Not much you can do about this, but it can definitely raise your background noise level. Again, a TinySA can help you to measure background noise levels. A total blackout measurement could provide you with a useful noise base level to compare against in the different frequency bands, but I do understand that may be easier said than done.
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Thanks. I'm retired/disabled software engineer, and have got plenty of time to do the testing, if tinySA allows for it. But I need pointers on how to achieve this.
Start by checking out the quality of your cell connection. If you were based in Europe, I would recommend you load your Android phone with an app called Network Cell Info. Don't know if they support USA frequency bands and protocols, but if they do, absolutely try it. It will tell you the truth about the actual cell service you are getting, carrier promises notwithstanding. If they don't serve your area well, look for something similar. Notice I said Android, because Apple severely restrict the capabilities of this type of app, so do not even bother with an iPhone. Pay special attention to signal levels (which will speak to their coverage) and signal to noise ratios, which will speak (to some degree) to your locally induced interference.
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No worry, I use Android. Walled gardens are not for me. There is no cell carrier that serves my area adequately. This was the case when we first toured the house before buying it 15 years ago, before there was any wireless device inside the house - be it Wifi, Z-Wave, DECT, alarm, etc. Unfortunately, the coverage has not improved. Until there is a law that forces a carrier to provide service here, I don't think it will. I used the FCC mobile app years ago to report on this. It ended up on an FCC map that I think reported 0.02 kbps for T-mobile at my address, slower than a V21 modem, but still slightly faster than the V23 upstream that was slower than my typing speed in the 1980s. I don't believe there is a point in pursuing cell interference. I can't find that particular FCC map online right now, but there is really no point for me in pursuing any interference related to cell signal, IMO.
As for the TinySA, it can do wonders for you in this application. I make my living as a professional engineer, I have one Tektronix top-of-the-line SA and one field level Rohde&Schwartz SA, and still I resort to my two TinySA's most of the time. The catch is that spectrum analyzers are tricky instrument to use effectively. You need to have a solid grasp what they do and how they do it before you can draw conclusions.
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Thanks ! I'm trying to understand how to use it before purchase.
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So buy a TinySA, just make sure you buy from an authorized source (I believe it's stateside), and don't scrimp, get the Ultra version if for no other reason than the larger screen. Oh, and do it quick before tariffs hit you, LOL.
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The larger screen is definitely a must as I suffer from a rare form of maculopathy that affects near vision, among many other things. I also see from videos that the tinySA uses black backgrounds on many screens. Can this be changed ? My vision is much worse on dark color/black background. I know most scientific instruments use black backgrounds, and a white background would use more energy, but a high contrast/white background color scheme would be very helpful, as anything with a dark background is actually low contrast for me.
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I would only buy the unit from an authorized source.
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