Buy a ready2use zigbee2mqtt stick - flashed, antenna mod and printed case

You can find a list of my other devices at the end of this post. Besides the CC2531 I’m now also offering the more powerful CC2538+CC2592. You can find it here.

I talked with @cgtobi, if it’s fine to post ads like this one here and it’s allowed.

I also talked with @Koenkk about placing using the firmware and he’s fine with it too.

You may ask yourself the following questions:

Do I need this?
If you are not into flashing devices and/or soldering you might be interested in buying a ready-to-use stick for your home automation solution. This way you don’t have to buy a CC Debugger to get started with zigbee2mqtt. Also if you want a CC2531 with a better range and you aren’t into soldering/modding it with an antenna… I’m your guy.

What is the benefit of this ready2use Zigbee2mqtt-Stick?
Mainly I do three things with the CC2531:

  • I add an antenna to the device to maximise the range. As you can see on the pictures I solder it directly to the traces and cut the old antenna. This is the only right way to do it, soldering an antenna with a cable (other mod) will most probably lead to loss because of impedance mismatches.

  • I designed a nice looking case. You can choose from around 10 different colors (see pictures below) and you can also choose from a white or black antenna.

  • Flashing the device as coordinator with the newest firmware release.

Do you also sell devices flashed as routers?
Yes, I can flash the modded CC2531 as router too. I am also selling a modded CC2530, if you like to have another design for routers placed in your house/apartment.

So the CC2531 is available as coordinator or router.
The CC2530 is only available as a router. For the CC2530 I desolder the pin-headers (to make it as small as possible) and mount a CP2102 to it. This way you can plug it into any USB-Port to power it up.

Ok fine, I want one, how can I contact you?
Contact me via private message
OR
You can also contact via email here: h4nc.zigbee(a)gmail.com

Where do you ship from? How much is the shipping fee?
I ship from Austria (Europe). So depending on where you live, the shipping fee might be considerable. Tell me your country and I can look up the shipping fee for you (with or without tracking).

Will I be able to update the Firmware without a CC Debugger?
Yes, this is possible, but I for myself have no experience with that. So I cannot help you.

Do I need a CC Debugger?
No, to start with zigbee2mqtt your are fine with the preflashed stick. However, I would recommend to buy a CC Debugger to be on the save side. Of course I sell a preflashed device here, so you might wonder why should I get a CC Debugger. Well my device is more about the Antenna mod (+range) and the pretty case (+style) than about flashing. Flashing is easy, well documented and should be possible for everyone of us. I preflash the device to make it easier for you to start and because I already have the devices in my hands. There is no reason not to flash it.
So the reason why I write this is the following:
There are a small amount users (but none of my customers yet) who’s CC2531 crashed for some reason. See link in one of the posts below to get to the thread where people reported crashed devices. With the the CC Debugger you are able to flash new firmware’s and if (in that uncertain case) your device crashes sometime, you have the tool to fix it.
Keep in mind that the shipping time from china often takes very long. Waiting for a Debugger for weeks with a crashed Coordinator could make you crazy.

I do not sell the CC Debugger, this is just a recommendation and you don’t have to have one. You can get one at aliexpress, ebay, etc.

Pictures of the CC2531




Pictures of the CC2530

Picture of the CC2538+CC2592

BTW I made another device supporting zigbee, you can find it in this post.

It may be hard to follow my other projects. List of my devices:

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Hi Hans, I received my items yesterday - thank you. For anyone interested in ordering this, the case is very good quality and protects the PCB from accidental damage. Also, it looks good!

The antenna is securely mounted but I can’t comment on how effective it is as this is my first time using Zigbee devices, so I have nothing to compare it with. However, it seems to cover both floors of my house which has solid concrete walls and floors.

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Hi H4nc,

Got mine about week ago too and wanted to tell that the build quality is amazing and the range improvement is excellent. This fixed my near edge issues way better than having a set of unmodded CC2531 + couple of Ikea sockets. While those were scattered around the house and the network kind of worked I still had to deal with some devices losing connectivity every few days. Now everything keeps connected to the coordinator.

Shipment was fast and like sota mentioned package was very good. Stick and the antenna were well protected against movement during shipping. I took mine with tracking which worked all the way from start to finish without issues.

In my opinion this is how zigbee stick should look and work like. It is much nicer to look compared to plain CC2531 and the antenna fixed much of the limited range issues. My first CC2531 can now retire (as a router) as this one will definitely be my main stick going forward.

Thanks again h4nc!

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New sticks available.

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Mine works great! Thank you

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Finished new sticks for you.

Mine worked great, and looks really well put together

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I’d like to add that I also offer a ready2use RFLink. The case inspired by other cases but also drawn by myself. I don’t have one available, but I can do them on demand (so orders of the RFLink will take some time).

Some pictures:

First I also thought about using a mega mini, but as you can see in the pictures above the two modules need some space on the pcb too.

Yes, it could be done more compact, but I decided to go with the normal mega because there was a prototyp pcb for that one. Because of this it would be pretty easy to switch the mega board if it fails sometime.

BTW it maybe looks big on the pictures, but if I have it on front of me I don’t have the feeling that is is to big. I think it looks bigger than it is on the pictures. But of course it has the footprint of the arduino mega.

Anyway thanks for your input.

Is this an alternative to the CC2531? Whats the difference and benefits out of interest please?

No, that is not an alternative to the CC2531.

This RFlink is for 433 Mhz applications (so not Zigbee).

See this link to see supported devices:
http://www.rflink.nl/blog2/devlist

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I just wanna chime in and say that I ordered two sticks and they came in a couple days ago and they work perfectly! Look nice too

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I have new sticks available.

I received my two sticks in perfect working order and they look great, for anyone debating whether it is worth using please read my latest blog where I cover off using these sticks to replace my Xiaomi Gateways.

https://kingiacastle.com/2019/06/09/migration-off-the-xiaomi-gateway-using-zigbee2mqtt/

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Thank you very much!

Also the step-by-step instructions will help a lot of people and will make it even easier to get started.

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I actully sell these, but without the antenna, considered doing somthing like it myself, good job, and hope you do well.

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I just got my stick today. I already used one without an antenna and can confirm, that the network range with antenna is much better!

Also the case is really nice. Thanks for offering these!

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Blame on me, just ordered this ugly normal usb stick without knowing that you made these beautiful cases and offer this nice service.

I really appreciate your work😊

Weiter so und herzlichste grüsse nach österreich!

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I will update my color table soon, because I ran out of two colours.

What I want to tell you now is that I have a new special color.

It’s called Filametal and it has aluminium particles in it. It makes it look much like aluminium.
I only have a small spool and I think FFFWorld doesn’t sell it any more.

So we could call it a Limited Edition Case :wink:

Here are some pictures: