Extending zigbee network... over wifi or ethernet (?)

Configuration Zigbee
1

Is there any solution to extend zigbee network over ethernet or wifi? (I thought I’ve seen such solution somewhere, but now I can’t find when I’s searching the internet).

I have a distant building (approx 150m from the house) which I want to cover with my zigbee network.
Up till now I have z-wave working there directly from my house, and recently I also isntalled WiFi network there (though two direct AP’s bridged together).
But I want to install there some devices which are only available in zigbee version. It is too long distance for direct connection, and any router in between is not possible to be installed. The extended WiFi acts as a local network and I have a free LAN port there as well.

I thought about using sonoff ZBBridge, but as I understood for using it as a router I need to pair it over ZigBee?
I also can install second controller over WiFi/LAN (this I assume shold be possible for device like ZBBridge?), if having two ZigBee networks is possible within Home Assistant.

Do you have any ideas/hints how to solve this?

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You can use Zigbee2MQTT, install it in a Raspberry Pi or other supported device in your remote location and set it to communicate to your MQTT server (embeeded to Home Assistant?) and it should work.

Or you can take a look at this:
https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/advanced/remote-adapter/connect_to_a_remote_adapter.html

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Great, I have spare RPi Zero so I’ll give it a try.
The question is - will it work if I already have a controller connected to ZB2MQTT already at my home?
I don’t want to replace one with another :slight_smile:

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I don’t know, as I’ve never tried that, but I would try if in your position. Worse case you can have ZHA with one network and Z2M with the other, but I don’t think you will need that, as MQTT supports multiple sources and Z2M should be able to manage that.

5

Take a look at this:

https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/guide/faq/#how-do-i-run-multiple-instances-of-zigbee2mqtt

Basicaly it says Z2M will support multiple instances, so you are probably fine with your RPi Zero installed remotely.

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I’ll try. The manual doesn’t say which system to use for the setup, but since they are pointing to RPi Zero as an example, I suppose Raspbian should be fine (?)

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Raspian is fine. I have another Z2M running on a remote RPI and all is good. Just make sure you have a different base topic for the new one. i.e. zigbee2mqtt_office (etc.)

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To clearify; You will need a separate Zigbee2MQTT instance for each Zigbee Coordinator adapter. One Zigbee Coordinator adapter per Zigbee2MQTT instance, and Zigbee2MQTT instance one Zigbee Coordinator adapter. A songle Zigbee2MQTT instance does not support connecting to two Zigbee Coordinator adapters, and a Zigbee Coordinator adapter can not be connected to multiple Zigbee2MQTT instances.

Those will then create two totally separate Zigbee networks that will not interact with each other at the Zigbee level, instead any integrations you want have to be done with the MQTT entities at the application level (i.e. via automatinons in Home Assistant).

You can of course add as many Zigbee2MQTT instances as you Home Assistant via MQTT, but you can only run one Zigbee2MQTT add-on inside Home Assistant OS, so all other Zigbee2MQTT instances have to be installed externally as fully stand-alone instances.

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But can I have two Zigbee2MQTT instances on one HA setup?

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Or maybe I can have one network on Zigbee2MQTT and the second (remote one) on ZHA?

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You can definitely do one Zigbee2MQTT and one ZHA on the same or different machines. But you can’t do 2 of the same one directly on the Home Assistant machine. I did that recently to migrate my network to Zigbee2MQTT. You SHOULD (I’m pretty sure I’ve seen people saying they do it for running things to out buildings) be able to do two Zigbee2MQTT on separate machines. They’ll both just run through the MQTT broker. Though I’ve never tried it.

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Only one ZHA instance, but it’s pretty easy to run two z2m instances with HA “out of the box.” Just run one regular z2m addon, then a second instance with the z2m-edge addon. Just be sure to change the base topic in the edge addon.

With a little github knowledge you can setup your own addon repos and have as many running as you want. But I can’t imagine needing that many.

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If you are using the Home Assistant Operating System can have one ZHA and one local instance of Zigbee2MQTT add-on. You can not install more instances of them in Home Assistant OS unless you hack it.

Zigbee2MQTT uses MQTT to talk to Home Assistant so you connect as many remote/external stand-alone instances of Zigbee2MQTT over your network as you can you want.

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I wouldn’t consider using the edge addon a hack.

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I did not say so, the official Zigbee2MQTT addon allow you to install either the stable or the edge verssiln of Zigbee2MQTT, not both, does it not? You can install additional instances but not via the official addon, or?

What I meant is that if you really want to then you can hack it so that you can install several instances on the official Zigbee2MQTT addon in Home Assiatant OS.

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No. You can install both addons side by side.

The only caveat is you have to change the mqtt base topic on one of them so they don’t clash with each other. They are both accessible from the sidebar as “Zigbee2MQTT” and “Zigbee2MQTT Edge.”

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EDIT: You also need to make sure they point to different config directories.

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A recommended option to extend or strengthen zigbee is to use SMLIGHT SLZB-06

I haven’t tested them but some youtubers recomend them. It has the advantage of being able to connect directly to the Lan so you should be able to connect it to your network with an Lan cable.