Connecting Xiaomi devices DIRECTLY

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1

Hello,
I’m very new to the homeassitant. In fact I don’t even have one. Currently I use another controller, but support of devices other then zwave is very poor. And zwave devices are quite expensive.
So I started to look at other solutions. Looks like homeassistant suits best for me but I really confused with connecting xiaomi and, for example, Ikea devices. Do I always need to have Xiaomi Gateway to make them work or I can connect devices directly to my raspberry pi? Of course I understand that I probably need zigbee adapter, but I really confused if it would be enough.

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You need some kind of a gateway that understands zigbee and can translate those messages for HA

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Can I use an xbee usb stick instead of separate Xiaomi Gateway and Ikea gateway and all other gateways?

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if it supports the protocols used but thats a question for the maker of that stick

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@blakadder, thank you for quick answers. I found that people actually use https://www.amazon.de/dp/B01FDWOIHK and https://zigate.fr/

Looks like they both could work directly with zigbee devices, without additional gateways. Is that right?
Which one would you recommend?

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I use the Xiaomi Gateway since I only use xiaomi devices but i heard good things about https://www.dresden-elektronik.de/conbee/

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The two alternative options I have used are.

  1. Zigbee2mqtt. Cc2531 usb stick cost about 6usd then another 10usd for the module to flash the stick

  2. Xiaomi gateway connecting to home assistant via WiFi. This works with Xiaomi zigbee only. Does not support other brands.

I think #2 is easier to setup. I’m currently using option #1.

Xiaomi uses a non standard zigbee protocol so I think it might not work with some zigbee usb sticks? I’m not sure though. If you want to use zigbee devices from other brands then go with option #1.

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@kiwijunglist I’m thinking also about using Ikea bulbs.
Also coupling to something non standard doesn’t sound like a good idea to me.

Could you point me on some documentation about the option #1? Or maybe you can write a little bit more description.

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i recently switched my hub from smarthings to the xiaomi one
I prefer the xiaomi for controlling their own devices.
In smarthings i randomly receive timeouts from those xiaomi sensors.
So if you are going with xiaomi sensors, stick to the xiaomi gateway, as mention above they uses a non standard protocol.
Also all of the other xiaomi zigbee sensors (door/motion) are actually cheap and rock solid once you get them going with the gateway

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I love the xiaomi - aqara zigbee devices. Have over 20 in use and others still in the box.
Started with the xiaomi gateway for connection between HA and the devices, but I don’t like xiaomi’s need for connection to their Chinese cloud servers. Also had a lot of connection problems with the xiaomi gateway in period nov/dec last year (see threads on this forum). Switched over to the zigbee2mqtt solution and like this a lot. See the zigbee2mqtt website for information. There are other zigbee gateways as well like the commercial deconz products and others. Zigbee2mqtt is best functioning and has the most promising future IMHO.

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Just check the link someone else posted for zigbee2mqtt. For me it works great and is very solid. The only bad thing is that too get a new Xiaomi sensor to connect you have to press button about 20-30x before it connects properly, but once it connects it is solid and no problems and no need to press the button anymore. It is a pain trying to connect new devices so hopefully it can be improved in the future.

When I connect a device to the Xiaomi gateway I only have to click the button once, it connects straight away.

Loss of people using IKEA bulbs with zigbee2mqtt.

Tip: when you install home assistant get the “hass.io” version. It makes everything easier including zigbee2mqtt

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Thank you @dojf and @kiwijunglist!
This solution looks very promising. And also having everything in one controller is what I like.

Looks like I’m going to have a little shopping on Aliexpress.

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The same question was raised yesterday.
Here is the link to the topic:

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See also the information:

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Thanks a lot @dojf. Already looking forward to get everything. Maybe will write a cool story about my experience.

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I just wrote about my experience with HA, hass.io, Xiaomi Aqara sensors together with the Conbee II gateway here:

Hope it helps!

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