Hi there - first time ive logged in.....wondered if anyone has used this kit...?

Hi there. As above i wondered if anyone has cracked this kit…?

This is the system ive been using (in its oem guise) for the last few years. I went to order a couple more adapters this morning and been informed that theyve gone out of business.!!! - ive always known about home assistant but stopped short of trying it out but, now the holding company has gone bust…they have an administrator thats bought them out, but all the support staff have been let go and the ‘system is running’ but theres no more updates…

Any help would be great as ive got 90 odd devices dotted around the house and heavily invested in it!!

Cheers

It seems to be using Zigbee, so it should be somewhat easy to integrate.

And see if you can find them here: Database of Zigbee devices compatible with ZHA, Tasmota, Zigbee2MQTT, deCONZ, ZiGate and ioBroker
If they are not confirmed yet, then it probably just means no one tried yet.

Brilliant, many thanks - this will probably sound like a silly/stupid question but probably easy to answer re the way that Home assistant works…so, at the moment as ive got a 4 storey house and limitations of the oem hardware…ive got 3 hubs running all my devices…one in the basement, one on the ground floor and one upstairs that covers the loft room…

  1. Once ive got home assistant set up do i need the old hubs?
  2. If i dont how does the zigbee receiver 9 just ordered tonight so not got yet…connect across 4 floors to all the devices.?
  3. I do remember something about reflashing the firmware on the devices…do i still need to do that…

Im gonna go read now…so i may answer my questions but the times ive done some light reading/skimming ive never found the answers to the above.

Thanks for the reply back anyway. Much appreciated…

Before you start up on HA completely I suggest you read a guide on how to design your zigbee network, so you get the best mesh with repeaters in the right spots.
It is a mess to try and correct it later.
Ask for a link to a guide here on the forum and should get a couple to read through.

Ok - thanks…been reading non stop…ive decided to go for a small dell usff 3050 with combee II stick. Ive ordered a wifi/bluetooth card for the dell as well…ive got the Pi4 running at the moment really now just to mess around with while the dell/stick/wifi/bluetooth card turns up… the dell will be situated geographically in the most central point of the house…this brings a few questions…

  1. You say mesh…as with my oem hub they always told me to work outwards as one zigbee device will connect and mesh to the next…is this still the case?
  2. Whats the range on the combee Ii/?
  3. You mention repeaters? what are they?

Ive just subscribed to the remote access service…been reading and watching videos solidly now and from just messing around with the Pi4 - i will say that im really really impressed with what it can do…many thanks for the replies once again!

Ooh - that spawns another question…am i right in saying HA is based on Fedora ? and if so couldi run a full blown os and then maybe pi hole on there as well…? that would be cool…!

Yes, that is how a mesh network work, but sometimes a device can find a connection , but it will be an unstable one. Then you need to add a router/repeater, but now the device is connected to the wrong router/repeater and needs to be moved and others might benefit from a move too then, which will quickly be a frustrating thing to have to do.
devices on batteries should always connect to the closest router/repeater, since it will save battery life, so make sure the routers/repeaters are up and running first to be able reach your devices furthest away.

No idea :slight_smile:

Most powered devices will be able to act as repeaters and there are dedicated repeater products too. Even Ikea have one for sale, but why use a device only as a repeater, when a smartplug can act both as a smartplug and a repeater at the same time.
Ask for recommendations on zigbee repeaters on the forum to get some options and opinions on the products.

No, it is based on AlpineLinux, but if you are into Linux and understand the OS, then I can recommend a Debian 11 and HA supervised in a docker installation. If the things you install on the host OS is not offending HA, then it can be run as a supported system with HACS, integrations and addons.

Yeah - sorry (the range question) how longs a piece of string…realized that afterwards…it wasnt an exact question…im sure i said somewhere ive got a 4 storey house (just wondered if anyone else had any real world…“mine makes it this far…” ) type response…

Repeaters: yeah i think all my zigbee devices will relay (we’ll find out soon!)

The linux question: i did think of running proxmox on there (the optiplex ive just ordered) and then running both Home assistant on one vm and Pi Hole on another…

I can not comment on Proxmox, but I know plenty other users on this forum use it, so ask a new question about that and you will get a lot of answers. :slight_smile:

Cheers…well, its that time…just got my Conbee II - cant get anything to pair up…!

If you are running any kind of virtualization, then the virtual machine will have no access to your USB devices unless you specify such access explicitly.

That was one of the easiest things to sort out…2 seconds to hand it over in proxmox…

Great to hear.
And you better make new questions in new threads, since old ones can be far down the list with a title that is not fitting your current question, so you might miss the right answer and/or the quickest response.

Absolutely = theres gonna be a lot of posts coming! - as i say its a kinda test system…waiting for my new hardware to turn up…