actually yes, create a backup first via de phoscon ui so you can just restore it when you are not happy with ZHA
Indeed if migrating is what you want to do. One of the advantages of ZHA to me was that you donât need any additional addon. You just give the stick path to HA and it will take care of it. My last post where I explain I switched to Zigbee2MQTT might interest you as well 
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Well, for me performance is the most important thing. For now iâm using deconz, but with more the 100 zigbee devices sometimes the websocket traffic is high towards home assistant and i can see the cpu usage that causes. So with mqtt this will not be any different but i wonder if itâs better with zha directly 
My guess is that it would remove the need for HA to communicate and interpret with another system, so, yep should be âlighterâ. But thatâs a guess, right ?
Is the cpu usage an issue ? Do you feel lag when using your devices ? If no, then the pain of moving everything and risking to need to re-pair all your devices might be bigger than the need to switch over 
when moving switches like ikea somfysk the updates are rapid and I can see the cpu usage go up towards 100% for HA only
I have a question regarding the status update of the zigbee devices. Sometimes I noticed that the status on my HA/mqtt is not matching the actual device, in this case, it is bulb. The bulb is on but HA/mqtt show off. I think this may due to sometime my family member used the wall dumb switch to turn on/off the connected zigbee bulb. So does this mean that in such case, the bulb is not reporting the status to mqtt? Any workaround to fix this?
Another question is that the zigbee xiaomi button works ok, but in the network map, they are not connected to any devices, is this normal?
Thanks!
If the bulb is turned on/off outside of ZigBee, it is quite normal the status is not correct in HA. Zigbee2mqtt has a fix for it : reporting: true. Check it in the zigbee2mqtt documentation.
For your second problem: if it works, it does not matter it does not show up as connected on the network map.
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Iâll add that option, thanks!
noticed that while searching, unfortunately mine are not listed, they are sengled and sylvania.
it also says âZigbee2MQTT will manual poll for change if a binding updates the bulb.â, what does this mean?
Zigbee2mqtt will also have an integrated frontend soon (already available in edge) to help with some of the issues: https://github.com/Koenkk/zigbee2mqtt/issues/4266
Starting the process of migrating a couple devices from SmartThings to the deCONZ stick. At first I attempted using the deCONZ add-on hearing it was simple and straightforward. Setup was more involved than I expected.
- Install add-on
- Configure add-on (point to deCONZ device location in /dev/âŚ)
- Navigate to Phoscon web app within add-on
- Wait for stick discovery in the UI
- Setup password
- Dismiss annoying âsetup lightsâ options
- Enable 3rd party integration
- Add deCONZ integration to HA
- Pair deCONZ integration with Phoscon web app (required some back and forth or multiple tabs in the browser).
After doing all that and pairing a device (which was slow) I noticed the firmware was out of date so I used the upgrade button in the Phoscon web app in the add-on. That completely broke the USB stick (showed dreaded Firmware not found). I had to pull the stick from the HA Pi, connect it to a Windows computer, and follow these steps to restored the stick.
Now I am trying ZHA which so far has been much faster and simpler to setup. A single, standard integration (not an add-on thus extra docker container running) and much fewer steps than deCONZ. Basically just add the integration, point it to the /dev/ path and thatâs it. Pairing is faster and easier too, just a simple button added to the HA UI that initiates the paring process via the ZHA.PERMIT service call. No clicking through 5-6 layers of UI and futzing around.
deCONZ setup / usage with the HA add-on seems like a hot mess to me. Requiring a separate password, separate backups (at least thatâs how it seems but maybe they get included with HA snapshots?), spamming me with âsetup your lightsâ type messages every single time I go into the Phoscon web app interface requiring me to close at least two dialogs and thatâs after having to sign in with a the separate password. Also being that itâs embedded in the HA interface it resets your session every time you navigate away.
Unless Iâm missing some evil hidden secret of ZHA it seems way more straight forward and simpler in all regards⌠so far.
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i have used ZHA with my conbee ii for 3 months so far and it has been reliable and easy.
i used the deConz app (for Windows) only once at the beginning to upgrade the firmware and set the channel (to avoid interference with my wifi).
My favorite purchase has been a cc2530+cc2591 router, $15. It has been a rock-solid router covering my whole house. and the only router that my xiaomi devices are happy with.
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There is one thing deCONZ can do that makes me not want to switch or even try other methods. You can create groups within deCONZ and call them from HA with a single API call. I believe ZHA and zigbee2mqtt donât support that.
This has great benefits in my setup since I use many GU10âs grouped up as pairs. Sending a command to each light individually (especially with transition effect or changing brightness) doesnât change all lights smoothly because of all the requests. But creating a group within deCONZ give a separate light entity for HA. Addressing that one group, will only send one message to deCONZ will handle the rest. Resulting in a butter smoosh experience making the groups actually look and feel like one entity.
Missing this feature will just break the experience I have and cause more problems than the benefits other methods might present.
Having said that, I am very curious in zigbee2mtqq. Looking at the devices at https://zigbee.blakadder.com/ it seems to support the most devices.
Zigbee2mqtt supports this (zigbee groups)
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Oh damn really? So you can send one message from HA and zigbee2mqtt will handle it just like deCONZ?
Gonna try it with an upcoming installation at family then. Might still use the Conbee II though (hasslefree and great reach/connection). And if I somehow dislike it for other reasons, I can always switch to deCONZ.
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Yes. With a proper zigbee broadcast.
Either via confit file or in 1.15.0 with the new browser UI.
I use the Conbee II with z2m and it works flawlessly with all my devices.
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Hereâs my experience going from Z2M to ZHA sand I accept that some of it might be to do with my personal hardware/set up.
Started out on the Zigbee journey like many with a CC2531 plugged into the server the HA VM runs on, in the main the experience was OK and I just assumed Zigbee was a big laggy. It was always a pain when the host was rebooted, had to go manually go into HA and restart Z2M and sometimes the VM itself before it would start behaving again, like I said I can accept this wasnât Z2Ms directly. What finally encouraged me to change was when the lot refused to do anything despite logs saying it was OK for the third time in a year which I only cured previously by starting from scratch.
Setting up ZHA in comparison is a breeze, not that Z2M was complicated, no MQTT for starters and pairing seemed far smoother. What was immediately noticable was how responsive everything was, instant responses like you get with WiFi devices so the lag mentioned previously obviously wasnât a Zigbee quirk. Only issue is some Osram bulbs wouldnât connect properly which is where I discovered creating quirks isnât as simple as doing the same for Z2M but more on this in a minute.
While I was fighting with the bulbs a Sonoff ZBBridge turned up so, after Tasmotaâing it, I started again. Everything paired much quicker than with the CC2531 and those troublesome bulbs connected instantly just with the default quirk. After a bit of Googling it looks like most people having similar problems were using a CC2531 so can only assume the âexperimentalâ tag really is just that and would recommend people avoid CC2531s with ZHA and whole heatedly recommend the Sonoff to anyone, really strong signal to start with and being stand-alone WiFi you can put it wherever you want, a lot of people could potentially not need repeaters. Ironic that they are also cheaper than the CC2531 and the programming gubbins to go with it which is why we all bought them in the first place! Obviously you can get preflashed sticks now which makes them cheaper again but do yourself a big favour and spend the few quid more.
My Zigbee network is now really solid, not a single missed command or odd behaviour, no lag, restarting anything now comes straight back without issue, setting up new devices and integrating them is a breeze so overall I now have the Zigbee experience I was I initially hoping for.
The one place where ZHA letâs itself down is the documentation or rather total lack of it beyond the very basics and even Googling doesnât always provided the answer like it did with Z2M but hopefully with time that will improve.
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@Bobby_Nobble interesting read, i am a long time user of deConz actually from the beginning (few years back) and i have a large zigbee network compared to many, i have over 70 devices and i have various problems probably because of IKEA device. Can you explain what kind of network you have ? How many devices ? What kind of devices ? Battery vs powered ? Light ? Switches ? Brand ?
I think the stability of the network is dependent of the mixture of the different devices.
Iâve only got 26 devices, Ikea, Hue and Osram bulbs, switches from Xiaomi, Hue and Osram, sensors for Xiaomi, anything thatâs either very cheap or on very special offer
Because of how I upgraded the coordinator I donât know for sure how much of my stability issues were down to the CC2531 and where the server was located but the network would just stop randomly which I donât think was all itâs fault. Due to the lag, there was always that will it or wonât it moment every time a button was pressed and more presses because you didnât think it worked the first time would usually lock everything up, not what youâd call family friendly.
Now itâs reliable and instant enough I can confidently use multiple clicks on the switches too and know it will work. I judge the success of most âimprovementsâ by if my youngest comes bounding in to ask what Iâve changed although I do use his bedroom to test most things so they donât annoy me directly 
This one heâs very happy about.