Experiences running ZHA and Z2M at the same time - is it even possible?

Configuration Zigbee
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Hi all,

So this is my story and my conundrum.

I’ve had ZHA running for a couple of years now on my RasPi4 via ConBee2 stick. Recently I’ve bought ZBT-02 hoping to minimize occurrences of devices dropping in and out of network. I did the migration according to online instructions, and it went without any major hiccups.
So far so good.

I also have one device that (currently?) has no ZHA support (Sunricher SR-ZG9002KR12), but has Z2M support. So I’ve decided, since now ConBee2 wasn’t used any more, to add Zigbee2Mqtt to the system as well. I’ve added the add-on, followed described procedure (and even watched a couple of YT videos), made sure both channels are as far as possible and the installation went on flawlessly. Great, I had both ZHA and Z2M installed via 2 different zigbee controllers (both on USB2 ports via extension cables)

What I hadn’t noticed immediately, since I was “busy” trying to pair my new device and trying to figure out how to use Z2M, is that almost all of my devices that were paired to ZHA went offline and weren’t available/controlled any more! I’ve tried everything, from restarting/rebooting, removing Z2M, unplugging ConBee to even restoring from a backup, but nothing worked. The only solution was to manually reset every single device and re-pair to ZHA/ZBT-2.

Now I’m scared to try this again, because I’ll possibly again need a couple of hours to re-pair the devices. But I still have that one device that only works on Z2M, which I would definitely like to use.

So my question is, does anybody have this type of configuration, where they use both ZHA and Z2M at the same via 2 different zigbee sticks? Is it even possible to run this stabile?
Why did I loose all the devices when Z2M was installed? Is it cause I was using same stick as before, so migrated devices were “confused” in a lack of a better word on which controller to “obey”? Now that all are properly paired to ZBT-2 it might all work again? Or the stars weren’t properly aligned on that day? It was Friday afternoon, after all.

I’d like to hear your experience, thoughts and opinions. I’m sure most of you do a lot more tinkering than me.
Maybe if I’m feeling brave I might try it again some time.

Thanks to all who read all this! :slight_smile:

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I have 2 sticks . 53 devices on Z2M and 28 on ZHA for couple years, no problem at all

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Hi @doubleDD

I can’t explain why you have the problem you do; however, I can confirm that running ZHA and Z2M at the same time is definately possible. I have a ZHA network using a Conbee2 and a Z2M network using a Sonoff dongle-P.

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Would you have copied the IEEE id from conbee to ZBT2 during migration?
If so, you now have 2 zigbee coordinators with the same ID on 2 different networks, hence your devices are confused.

Assign a new random IEEE to your conbee.

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If the IEEE id is /dev/serial/… then no, they had 2 different id’s, I paid attention to those. If it’s something else, then I’m not sure.

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No I’m speaking about this (in Z2M terms):

Did you had to re-pair your devices?
If not, I guess ZHA would do the same, whether implicitly or explicitly.

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No, I didn’t have to do this manually, probably the migration process in ZHA does it automatically, because on initial migration I didn’t have to re-pair anything.

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Yep, unfortunately for you this means you can’t use your Conbee on the same network now. You’re gonna need a different coordinator whose IEEE address is unknown to your devices

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I’m not sure about that 5yo conbee stick, but I’m running a sonoff stick and an old sonoff ethernet coordinator on tasmota. Z2M & ZHA. No problems. Make sure your channels are not the same…

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Yes, that does make sense. Thank you for the clarification!

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Is it not possible to flash a new, random, IEEE on the conbee?

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Not 100% sure, but I seriously doubt it. You’d have to find software which is capable of populating the secondary IEEE and is compatible with the deconz stack and their particular flavour of zigbee chips.

It’s possible for other stacks, but I’ve never heard of one for the conbee, otherwise it would be listed here.

Even if such software existed, you’d only be able to populate the secondary IEEE address. The primary (the one actually causing a conflict) cannot be overwritten.