The firmware the itead CC2531 is shipped with does not support eg the IKEA E1743. You don’t need ZigBee 3.0 support for this ( it is a bad idea to flash the ZigBee 3.0 firmware on a CC2531, highly unstable), but it needs the latest 1.2 ZigBee firmware.
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Thanks. I have Raspberry Pi 2 and Raspberry Pi 4. Now I have ordered CC Debugger and downloader cable also. Hopefully I will get USB dongle, CC Debugger and downloader cable together.
But still avoid to use flash method which requires soldering. Suggest me flash method (which doesn’t require soldering) so I can use aquara and ikea zigbee stuffs. Thanks
Thanks. I have Raspberry Pi 2 and Raspberry Pi 4. Now I have ordered CC Debugger and downloader cable also. Hopefully I will get USB dongle, CC Debugger and downloader cable together.
But still avoid to use flash method which requires soldering. Suggest me flash method (which doesn’t require soldering) so I can use aquara and ikea zigbee stuffs. Thanks
The CC debugger does not require soldering.
I’ve had a lot of trouble with ZHA and Xiaomi/Aqara devices … Has anyone had good luck and have tips to share?
I’ve got a CC2531 as well as the Sonoff zbbridge… both work fine as far as MQTT is concerned… but ZHA just doesn’t seem happy.
People report that Z-Stack 3.0.x firmware is stable as long as you you do not have to many direct connect children / devices (less than 15) so make sure connect mains connected Zigbee routers first (like the IKEA signal repeater) then you can still build a medium Zigbee mesh network.
If you plan on builing a larger Zigbee network then recommendation is to buy a better Zigbee coordinator hardware than the Itead CC2531 regardless if run Zigbee 3.0 firmware or not.
With the Z-Stack 3 firmware you can upgrade to better hardware later by backibg up and restiring NVRAM but the new hardware also needs to be Texas Instruments with Z-Stack 3 firmware
For someone starting out now is Zigbee2MQTT a good choice?
The Z-Wave support is moving to using MQTT which will decouple the process that controls the network from the Home Assistant process. It’s nice not to have to wait for the whole Z-Wave network to restart every time HA restarts.
It also seems desirable to messaging-level access to all the devices without too many layers.
I have been using zigbee2mqtt for 1,5 year now, it is rock solid. But to be honest, if I started now I would not buy a CC2530+CC2591 anymore, but one of the more powerful boards. But everything is working, and switching to one of the newer boards is re-pairing everything, so for the moment I stick with what I have.
Thank you for all the info. I did buy the ITEAD board to start experimenting. So far all of my switches are Z-Wave. I want to add sensors on ZigBee to not overload the Z-Wave network.
Could you give an example of the hardware you’d use if you were starting fresh today?
See here :
The ones starting with CC26 are the newer, more powerful ones.
And can be bought by following this thread, which lists two sellers. "Zzh!" (short for "Zig-a-zig-ah!") open-source hardware licensed Zigbee USB-stick based on TI CC2652R
slaesh now also make an alternative CC2652 USB dongle that support Z-Stack 3 firmware
CC2531 is a good starter choice if just want to try out Zigbee and are not sure yet if want to go all in.
If upgrade CC2531 to Z-Stack 3 firmware then you can replace it later with a CC2652 with zigpy-znp.
As long as have Z-Stack 3 firmware from the start then can back up and restore to another adapter.
Simplest is probably to upgrade to Z-Stack 3 firmware first before you start connecting any devices.
You want to connect a few mains-powered Zigbee router devices first to make it a larger Zigbee mesh.
Always-on mains-powered Zigbee routers act as signal repeaters and range extenders.
Suggest buying “IKEA Trådfri Signal Repeater” as dedicated routers that are less tempting to unplug.
I had exactly the same experience.
No matter what I tried I couldn’t get the Xiaomi single button to pair to my HUSBZB-1 stick using ZHA. Luckily I had a working CC2531 stick I had been tinkering with using zigbee2mqtt so I fired that system back up and it paired the first time and has been working perfectly since then.
It’s literally the only thing I have paired to that stick. It seems like waste of resources for a single button but it’s working so I’m not messing with it.
Have you guys upgraded the EmberZNet NCP application firmware on your HUSBZB-1 USB dongles?
Apparently, they ship with really old firmware but @walthowd has instructions for updating the FW here
No, but I’ll try it when I get time.
Is that known to solve the issue described above?
Anyone interested in a new Zigbee USB dongle yet are not in a hurry might want to consider waiting for the expected upcoming Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle from ITead based on Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 SoC
I hope this comes soon. There is a real need for a good dongle solution. nrf53840 dongle is the best dongle, but nordic support is so unsupportive for this dongle - hence you can make end devices with the same but not the co-ordiantor
I would not expect ITead to offer good support for any of their dongles. They will likley only make and/or sell the hardware and then leave it up cummunity to support it. They have however choosen a very good chip to base it on as it is a well known Zigbee chip and said that it will not require signed firmware so the community will be able to compile newer standard firmware for it on their own without the help of ITead or Silicon Labs when needed. At least it will likley be inexpensive and available everywhere.