Adding a Zigbee adapter to HomeAssitant that already has a Zwave network

Hardware
1

I’m currently using a AEOTEC Z-Stick Gen5 Z-Wave dongle with HomeAssitant for my Zwave Network. I want to add a Zigbee device, so I will need something to create a Zigbee network.

What are my options?

Can I add a new Zigbee USB dongle and let HomeAssitant build a separate Zigbee network?

Are there any dongles that let you create both Zigbee and Zwave networks simultaneously?

Or is there a different technology I should be looking into?

If I go with a new Zwave adapter, does this mean I’ll have to rebuild my Zwave network from the from the ground up, or will I just have to add a device or two and it should find its peer nodes from the previous dongle?

2

Hello FutureTense,

The 2 are not related internally at all. I have matter, bluetooth, 2 zigbees and a zwave on the same HA server.
A suggestion to put both dongles on a meter or longer USB extension cable though to that they don’t interfere with each others RF broadcast and receive.

3

So there isn’t a “dual” adapter?

4

There are older model dual adapters, but they perform poorly and are not recommended. No one makes new ones, hence using one will not have the latest and best Zwave and Zigbee network protocol support.

IMHO, your best path is to simply purchase a new Zigbee adapter. That way if you have hardware issues with any of your network controllers then it won’t bring the other networks down.

1 Like
5

There was Nortek HUZBZB-1, but is outdated and not considered “performing well” these days.

Aeotec is about to roll out Z-Stick 10 Pro, which is probably the first one after 9+ years. Because it’s new, don’t know how well it performs yet, but I tend to think there has to be a reason we don’t see any combo usb stick for the last 9 years.

So if I were you I would keep the zwave usb dongle for zwave network - no need to change if they are working as expected already.
And get a separate zigbee usb dongle for your (new) zigbee network.

6

You do not want that. If something goes wrong with Zigbee you’re now risking your ZWave network to fix it and vice versa.

Combined radios are evil.

7

Ok, that’s what I thought. I just wanted some confirmation.

8

Would using a Zigbee “bridge” such as this alleviate the need for a Zigbee dongle? Would this allow me to add other Zigbee devices to HA?

9

Would work, after you flashed Tasmota on it. With the native firmware, neither ZHA or Zigbee2mqtt can use it. There are plenty of Ethernet Zigbee coordinators listed on the Zigbee2mqtt website that work without flashing other firmware.

10

Just an FYI, Aeotec has a new dual adapter, but apparently it is not ready for prime time yet (For ZWave anyway) [See here].