How do I use a zigbee remote to send commands to hass/nortek dongle?

Configuration Zigbee
1

Hi everyone,

Apologies if this isn’t the right place to post.

I’d like to set up a Zigbee remote (RGBGenie ZB-5028) to send commands to a zigbee usb (Nortek HUSBZB-1) connected to a Raspberry Pi Zero W running Raspian Stretch with Home Assistant Installed. I followed this tutorial to create a similar setup with a 433mhz remote/receiver but I’d like to use a remote that has better transmission/reception with greater options for customization.

I also have ZHA and Z-wave configured (I think) in Home Assistant via the Nortek but don’t know how to proceed even in terms of sending commands from the remote to the zigbee dongle and creating custom home assistant responses.

Any advice on where to start would be great.

2

can you pair the zigbee remote to your zigbee dongle?

3

Thanks for responding. I didn’t even realize it wasn’t pairing because the homeassistant user didn’t own the zigbee.db file.

That’s fixed and I paired the remote (device default appears with 4 binary_sensors) and set up a simple test automation where I click a single button on the remote to toggle a light. So that’s good but there are many more buttons that I’d like to map functions to and even change the function of the existing binary sensors (for example, I can’t see the “scene” buttons S1, S2, S3, trigger anything on the remote).

Is there documentation on how to manually configure recognized remotes somewhere?

4

I really don’t think there is anything on the HA side that you can do. Aside from putting in some sort of feature request/issue report on github for the ZHA component.

maybe there is something on the remote manufacturer side that might help?

5

The remote is zigbee 3.0 compliant and is an “end point device” under that standard. That’s really all I know given the documentation the manufacturer provided.

I was hoping it wouldn’t be to hard to check where home assistant stores the zigbee message definitions for the remote. I’ve worked with xbee’s before and I was expecting to find a file that identifies the commands that HA recognizes the remote can send and then modify/edit/add to it.

I looked in zigbee.db but I don’t really understand what I should change to detect additional button presses.

6

the zigbee implementation in HA isn’t as full featured as some of the other platforms are.

I’m really not sure how you can see what the interaction is between the zigbee network and HA like you can with either zwave or MQTT.

7

try watching the zha_event stream with the events tool, if the button presses register there you can use them as triggers for automations.

37%20PM

then enter zha_event:

36%20PM
36%20PM1170×356 10.2 KB

8

should that event stream be available by default if you have zha devices? i looked for it there and it doesn’t show up in the list of available events on the right side.

i tried putting it in the “listen” field and nothing seemed to happen when i clicked on “start listening” either.

9

then it may not be supported or it may not be paired correctly.

The next thing to try is setting zigpy to debug logging and watching the log when you push the button. If the device is paired it may need a quirk to work correctly. You may try the zigbee discord channel too.

10

I think you confused my comment above with me being the OP. I don’t have a remote. I was just trying to find additional info about the dev-event function.

they haven’t responded yet about whether they tried it yet.

11

I’m traveling for work for the next week. Once I’m back I’ll investigate tube’s suggestions.

12

yes I did - probably confuse things, as for the events page the list of events on the right side is only events that have “active” listeners from what I can garner. zha_event didn’t show up there until I had some automations set up to that used it as a trigger.

if you just put * in you will see all events.

13

Nothing will happen immediately when you click “start listening,” but if you have any Zigbee buttons/remotes/etc., pushing said button should fire the zha_event and cause the details to populate on that dev-event screen.

14

I guess that’s why there is no zha event listed since I only have zigbee bulbs…

1 Like
15

So I took tube’s advice and listened to the zha_event stream. The brightness up and brightness down buttons on the remote trigger the following event

Pressing brighten button:

Event 28 fired 5:06 PM:
{
    "origin": "LOCAL",
    "data": {
        "args": [
            1,
            50
        ],
        "command": "move_with_on_off",
        "unique_id": "0xb760:3:0x0008",
        "device_ieee": "00:0d:6f:00:0f:d8:57:c3"
    },
    "time_fired": "2019-05-06T21:06:44.493148+00:00",
    "event_type": "zha_event",
    "context": {
        "user_id": null,
        "parent_id": null,
        "id": "61a50ac23b8d42c9b885a5b75ecf02c1"
    }
}

Releasing brighten button:

Event 29 fired 5:06 PM:
{
    "origin": "LOCAL",
    "data": {
        "args": [],
        "command": "stop",
        "unique_id": "0xb760:3:0x0008",
        "device_ieee": "00:0d:6f:00:0f:d8:57:c3"
    },
    "time_fired": "2019-05-06T21:06:45.155824+00:00",
    "event_type": "zha_event",
    "context": {
        "user_id": null,
        "parent_id": null,
        "id": "1163672ff5cd4a939b94a899ac8275d5"
    }
}

I can change the unique_id value (3 above) to 1,2,3, or 4 depending on the button I press immediately before hitting the dim or brighten button (e.g., “unique_id”: “0xb760:3:0x0008” becomes “unique_id”: “0xb760:2:0x0008”).

The binary sensors I have set up trigger the following event with the difference that off and on swap as the binary_sensor is toggled.

Event 33 fired 5:14 PM:
{
    "origin": "LOCAL",
    "data": {
        "args": [],
        "command": "off",
        "unique_id": "0xb760:1:0x0006",
        "device_ieee": "00:0d:6f:00:0f:d8:57:c3"
    },
    "time_fired": "2019-05-06T21:14:45.430644+00:00",
    "event_type": "zha_event",
    "context": {
        "user_id": null,
        "parent_id": null,
        "id": "c4b1abdaf2d74888b0a5742a914fc0a7"
    }
}

The remaining buttons don’t trigger any zha_event. Any suggestions for how to go about remapping these functions to change the move_with_on_off to another command and have it effect difference lights depending on the unique_id? Also… am I out of luck if I don’t observe zha_events for the other buttons? There are quite a few other buttons on the remote I’d like to utilize.

rgb_genie_zb-5028%20

1 Like
16

sorry to resurrect this post but did you ever get any further with this remote, i’m wanting to use this remote due to the features it can possible offer

17

I ended up getting one and just ended up testing it… it works best bound directly to a group of bulbs or a single bulb. it can bind to 4 different groups/bulbs (the 1-4 buttons let you select which you are controlling). it was a little bit of a pain join.

18

I managed to use this remote with the Conbee II dongle and automate it with Node Red after following instructions here to automate the buttons.

The Zigbee remote identifies as Sunricher ZG2868A.

ZigbeeRemote

1 Like