Do I need any additional hardware to use SONOFF SNZB-06P?

Hardware
1

Hello everyone

Brand new HA user here.

I have HA installed on a Win 11 PC running VirtualBox.

After testing out some motion sensors to help automate lights, I have come to realise I need mmWave sensors to really achieve what I want.

I can’t quite figure out if I need any additional hardware to get this to work, apart from the device itself?

I’m pretty sure I don’t need the manufacturer hub but I have seen mentions of a USB dongle?

Other than that, I was hoping for some opinions on this device overall, or if there are other manufacturers I should be looking at?

Thanks in advance

2

Not directly related, but just a word of caution since you are new to HA:
I started my journey with HA on the same combo: Win11 + VirtualBox + some USB gateways.

As my setup grew, I experienced a number of stability issues and wasted days trying to troubleshoot.

Another annoyance: If you try to shut down or restart Windows, the VirtualBox HA instance will more than often block the process and you’ll have to shut it down manually.

I have since migrated to a dedicated bare metal + HAOS install, and it’s been solid as a rock.

3

You spoiled a straight line…

You NEVER need the manufacturer’s hub.

The Sonoff SNZB-06P is a Zigbee device. You will need a Zigbee dongle on your host computer. (About $30 on Amazon). But this dongle will work with any Zigbee device.

A note on Zigbee. The protocol is efficient and very power conservative. For example, the battery in a Zigbee thermometer can last more than a year. But the Zigbee range is short. The specs are extremely generous, 10- to 100 meters. (I say laughably generous). In real practice since Zigbee and WiFi share the 2.4GHz spectrum, the Zigbee signals can get lost in the noise, It’s like trying to have a quiet conversation in a stadium when someone scores a goal. So, if you are going to use Zigbee, make your Zigbee network robust. Your Zigbee device should be no more than 3 or 4 meters from your coordinator (the Zigbee dongle) or an intervening Zigbee router. Most powered Zigbee devices (not battery-powered) are also routers. For that reason, In my home I have eight of these Zigbee switches just to act as routers.