deCONZ vs ZHA vs zigbee2mqtt

Configuration Zigbee
21

Today I tried out ZHA (been using deCONZ) to see if I could get my ecosmart remotes to pair (I haven’t been able to pair them with Home Assistant using a Conbee II and deCONZ). It worked! BUT, I couldn’t get my Xiaomi PIR sensor to pair with ZHA. Do you think one of these systems will eventually win out over the other?

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No, zigbee2mqtt will win, im leaning towards it, it supports nearly everything

2 Likes
23

Thanks for the detailed comparison. It helped a lot for new beginners like me. I’m planning to go with Deconz with xiaomi zigbee sensors/buttons.

What brands/models kind of lights/switches/remotes/sensors are you using?

Thanks!

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Henry

The way Zigbee works - almost any bulb or smartplug works in Deconz. The reason is that lights are implemented in a pretty standard way. I have bulbs from Philips Hue and Ikea. I have smartplugs from Osram, Philips Hue, and IKEA, and I have dimmer from a China company. They all just work.

It is remotes and sensors that you need to be careful about. If you only choose remotes and sensors that are on the Deconz supported list, you will be good. I personally use Philips 4-button remotes, The Philips tap, IKEA 5 button and IKEA 2 button. They all work great.
For window and vibration sensors I use Xiaomi Aqara. They all work great. I also have some Xiaomi buttons.

One of my favorite automations is a button in the kitchen. When my wife press it, my Amazon Echo announce the question “Would you like a little beer?”.
And then I shout “Yes”. And the sweet little wife brings the beer because she thinks it is funny to press the button. I could not have dreamt up any other training plan that would give a similar result. To my own defense I also have a button that says “Would you like a little glas of wine?” which I use to please the sweet wife :slight_smile:

25 Likes
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nice and sweet :slight_smile:
thanks

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Conbee is OOS at Amazon :frowning:

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What do you like about zigbee2mqtt?

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Oh no sorry I only just took the plunge to deCONZ, and im already looking at alternatives, so that says alot. But I’m not a big fan of MQTT.

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Zigbee? Which one?

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Which one?

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Develco SMSZB-120
Smoke sensor works. Control of Siren is strange but I never cared. The siren goes off when there is a fire and I get a signal to Home Assistant so I get notified and that is what I want

1 Like
32

This one https://www.smart.dk/zigbee-triac-lysdaemper-200w.html

But it is just a Chinese generic rebranded by a Danish importer as far as I can tell.

Phoscon presents it as Shenzhen HOMA1004

As I said. Lights seem to work in a very generic way. It is the sensors that are problematic if they are not registered.

Dresden Elektronik does not keep their website up to date. The list of supported devices on the website is way behind. If you look at the list on their Github then it has much more devices because the community contribute by adding devices we see are working.

I would always buy a sensor that is already on this list if you use deConz.

3 Likes
33

How do you implement such automation? node-red or just in HA.

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Either
Which ever you feel more comfortable using

Its just a call service to

notify.alexa_media

Explained here

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Maybe off topic here, I have set up alexa_media_player on HA and was able to call service from the HA service page. I searched “alexa” or “echo” at nodred.org, there are multiple nodes available, which one is up to date and do you recommend?

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Did you ever look at my washing machine

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So you just use a call service node, no need to install anything additional.
Just know that if your using it in a flow, it wont like any additional data that maybe in the previous node, like a light that has its brightness, color etc, you need to drop it, i just use a change node and set to delete msg.payload

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I actually did check that one. I freaked out when saw a bunch a yaml configuring GPIO etc :sweat_smile:
Now I went back and read, just picked out the callservice, it works.

thanks!

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For me there are five pro’s for zigbee2mqtt:

  1. it works
  2. default it supports many zigbee devices
  3. you can easy add a non supported device
  4. the CC2531 stick are real cheap and work perfect
  5. it’s active maintained
4 Likes
40

Hi !

I can actually say pretty much the same for ZHA. I’ve been using it since a couple months with a ConBee II stick and I’m happy with it :

  • It works
  • Supports many ZigBee devices
  • You can easily add support for devices (see zhaquirks)
  • The ConBee while not the cheapest, is not expensive and I find the range better than the CC2531
  • It’s actively maintained (see here, here and there)
  • I don’t have to add and configure yet another addon
  • It’s way easier to rename entities (and there’s only one place to do it, leading to less confusion)
  • Fully integrated into Home Assistant

Hear me out, I’m not saying other solutions are worse. but to me, that’s the easiest and most straightforward one.

Cheers ! :slight_smile:

11 Likes