I have a detached shed about 300 meters away from the house and need to figure out how I could extend my zigbee network so I can have some sensors there…
I do have ethernet and a wifi hotspot running in the shed.
Do I need to be running a separate Zigbee2MQTT instance or is there some other approach I could be using?
Any advice would be appreciated…
This product listing seems to imply it’s possible to have multiple coordinators and one Zigbee2MQTT controller…?
You can only have one coordinator for each zigbee network and routers can extend the reach of your mesh - but 300m might only work with unobstructed line of site.
Simply check if you can pair a sensor in the shed to your home zigbee coordinator.
A coordinator is either directly connected by USB or detached from the host but connected by ethernet on your network.
So if the distance is too far you could get a LAN-coordinator for your shed and create a second Zigbee network and second instance of Zigbee2MQTT in HA. Alternatively you could use ZHA for your shed coordinator.
Only one instance of an MQTT-broker is required. Then you pair your shed sensors to your shed LAN-coordinator zigbee mesh.
(Drawback is that you need to keep track of which device is homed on which mesh otherwise it might get confusing)
I have done the same for my garage because the signal of my coordinator would not go down through 2 concrete floors. I got a TubeSZ LAN-coordinator for that but any other LAN-coordinator like the linked one above will also do.
Zigbee is a pretty solid solution for a ‘wide’ mesh network. Just remember that zigbee is designed to bidirectionally communicate a low data rates, this has pluses and minuses. 300 meters should not be a challenge, if you can place what is called a ‘router’ in zigbee terms somewhere between your zigbee2mqtt coordinator and your devices in the ‘da shed’. The challenge is that these ‘router’ devices need mains power, not battery power. Battery is fine for your end devices in ‘da shed’, if you can get this ‘router’ between the two ends, coordinator and end devices. Think out of the box as well, when I say a mains power, that ‘term’ could extend for example to 24 or 12 volt outdoor lighting systems. If they can provide enough power to run a 5 volt or 3.3 volt ‘dongle’ then you can create a router. The key point is you need continuous power to the ‘route’ location.
All that said, if you are unable to ‘bridge the gap’ for zigbee, take a look at LoRa wireless solutions. These are proven to provide wide coverage for low bandwidth communications as well.
Good hunting!