I’ve recently decided to head down the zigbee route to rely less on device compatibility and dependency on various cloud crap-apps.
As I am aware, zigbee 3.0 devices should theoretically work with any zigbee 3.0 hub
However it seems that I was incorrect on both these assumptions.
The problem - I bought a tuya 4 button switch, it does not pair to the eweLink app from sonoff (I am using zigbee Bridge pro)
Now, is the sonoff zigbee hub / eweLink app a lemon? Does it work with only sonoff devices? OR is the tuya switch the lemon? Or am I simply getting caught up with a hitch in the process?
I have no problem programming devices from scratch, or spending money. But what I care for is time. So I am ideally looking for a solution that saves time. For those of you in zigbee, is it worth it?
Because at this point, it seems easier to stick to branded wifi products that integrate into HA easily (considering just buying tuya hub). I have spent hours already, where cheap wifi and more expensive HA equipment in past has been nothing more than slight hiccups with cloud crap. But not a couple of days of time which I have spent now, soldering headers to my sonoff bridge etc to flash custom firmware (I am having issue with serial connectivity and gave up after 2 resolders, chatting to embedded systems friends, seems nobody can figure it out…) - generally tearing my hair out!
Assuming I spend a little more time upfront …I’m a vimmer so this is not problem for myself - can I assume a reliable, robust and low-maintenance system with zigbee?
I have already ordered a pre-flashed USB zigbee stick online as it appears the sonoff Zigbee Bridge Pro is not worth the trouble (mistake #1). Is it safe to assume that a Zigbee stick with open source firmware will connect to EVERY zigbee device?
Here is the switch I bought for reference:
ZigBee 3.0 Wireless 12 Push Button Remote Tuya Scene Automation Control Switch Smart Life Alexa Home Assistant Zigbee2MQTT
Also note, working is the sonoff bridge, motion sensor and switch SNZBxx series. Happy with these!!
Honestly, I can come back later and start with custom firmwares etc. I am a distributed systems engineer to keen to set up MQTT but it’s just time, and too little of it!!
I would love to simply stick with what I have now for time being, so with that said, has anybody added a tuya zigbee device to the eweLink app? Or any device that is not sonoff?
That’s not really true. Branded items marketed as hubs or bridges generally only work with devices of that same brand unless you have clear evidence showing otherwise. I’m not familiar with the sonoff hub so perhaps that one is different but that’s been my experience. Often that’s why you have to dig deep into the specs to even find the word zigbee. Like with the Philips Hue bridge for example, its all zigbee but you don’t see that word anywhere on the page.
The other issue with zigbee is quirks and versions. Although zigbee is a spec manufacturer’s have a lot of room to do custom things. So even if the hub does work with “any zigbee 3.0 device” you’ll probably find that brings incomplete or no support to many devices marketed as zigbee. Either because they are not 3.0 (if that’s what the hub/bridge is banking on) or a lot of the marketed features are actually implemented as off-spec quirks.
That being said all hope is not lost. Zigbee devices are actually pretty easy to get into HA, just don’t use a separate branded hub The usual approach is to purchase a coordinator USB stick like one of the ones listed here. You plug that into the device running HA and then start pairing devices to it from HA.
That’s not to say HA is immune to the issues mentioned above, quirks in particular definitely create issues in how well a device is supported. But it does help that HA is brand independent so you can count on a much wider spectrum of devices. On the HA side there’s actually 3 options for working with zigbee via a coordinator stick:
ZHA - This is HA native support for zigbee. No additional software is required and all device discovery and management is done from within HA. Probably the easiest approach. You can find an unofficial list of supported devices here
Zigbee2MQTT - Bit more work to set up since it involves two addons: Z2M and MQTT. No native integration in HA which is a bit confusing, you actually set up the MQTT integration. All device management is done in the Z2M app. Does have an official list of supported devices maintained by the developer here
Deconz - Somewhere in the middle? You need the addon and the integration, the addon talks directly to the integration in HA (no MQTT). Requires a deconz coordinator stick like a conbee ii. Tbh I know the least about this one as its the only one I’ve never tried. But there is an unofficial list of supported devices here.
If you’re interested, I personally have a conbee ii stick and run Z2M. I have 40 devices paired to it including lights, switches, motion sensors, light sensors, temp/humidity sensors, a lock, etc. from a variety of brands (Philips Hue, Xiaomi, Ikea, Securifi, Yale, etc.). Runs very stable and haven’t really had any issues. Out of the vendors I have devices for the only hub I have in my house is the Philips Hue one that came with the bundle of lights and it sits unplugged in storage. There are also many on this forum and in the HA discord with much bigger setups then me that get along fine. Feel free to search around or ask for recommendations/advice here or in the discord.
EDIT: Also for this:
My understanding is Tuya leaned heavily into quirks with their devices. They are one of the worst offenders in that regard. You can see it if you look at zigpy (the python library ZHA uses under the hood). Here is all the quirks support that had to be implemented to handle Tuya. If you poke around in that folder none of the other manufacturers are even close to that size. So it seems unlikely Somfy (or any other vendor) would go to that level of effort to support devices of a competitor.
You had too many words there…
No matter the communication protocol Tuya is problem in Home Assistant.
Maybe it works fine in their own app, haven’t tested that.
Okay, so it seems that it is not as easy as one would hope. Not surprised there is some issue with Tuya devices, they are in many varieties and readily available however which is a shame.
There is one other reason to regret the wifi hub purchase and that is because wifi hubs may introduce some latency, very small, but on some occasions perhaps just noticeable. I am cautious about relying on wifi now for server and by extension hubs as my old server was wireless, since switching to wired the response time is now noticeably instant (it was not slow before, but you can notice the difference)
So with that said ZHA looks good, I will spend some time today to understand it more.
It’s a shame zigbee is not as cut and dry as one could hope!
I agree.
Tuta has many great products on spec’s but once you use them you get disappointed. Not only because of the integration is more or less broken but also because there always seems to be some issue with the software that makes them not function as you wanted.
- can I assume a reliable, robust and low-maintenance system with zigbee?
The usual approach is to purchase a coordinator USB stick like one of the ones