Mesh network question

Hardware
1

I am almost done remodeling my home, and i am going to start with pairing my zigbee devices. my previous setup was like this:

  • Raspberry pi 3B with Conbee 2 dongle
  • All lights connected tothe philips Hue bridge and connected thje bridge to HA
  • All other Zigbee devices connected to ZHA through the Conbee 2

If i am correct, all the zigbee devices connected through power are mesh repeaters.
But if i connect my lights on the Hue bridge, and the bridge to HA. Do they still work as repeaters? or is it a seperet mesh from my Conbee2?

should i also try to switch from ZHA to Zigbee 2 MQTT ?

2

Hi Donny.

Those are separate networks, so you need repeaters for both if you get signal problems.

3

Separate.
but if you add the Hue devices through the Conbee2 (i.e. no Hue hub), it’ll be a single stronger mesh.

4

What would you guys advice to do, keep the lights seperate or connected to the normal conbee mesh

5

Do you want to use the Hue lights with the Hue app?

6

Please save yourself the trouble and get something more solid if you’re just starting out (Rpi 4/5, used Nuc/laptop, Ha Green/Yellow or a half chewed potato). The Pi3B is now over 8 years old, and the 1GB RAM is a huge bottleneck and no longer suitable for this day & age.
You will run into memory issues - if not now, then in a year’s time at most.

That is one mesh.

That is a separate mesh.

If you don’t have too many zigbee devices, then you will essentially have the worst of both worlds. Not only will you have to take care of 2 separate integrations (ZHA and Philips Hue bridge), you will also lose half the ability to benefit from zigbee’s strongest point - communicating via its mesh network.