After doing some more research, I think I am going to buy the Sonoff Zigbee Bridge, as shown in this video:
Anyone here have good/bad experience with using this as Zigbee Coordinator?
Thanks,
Br,
Bart
Someone here had a strong opinion AGAINST this zbbridge:
I have no firsthand experience myself, but those comments were strong enough to leave an impression.
But, hey, if you do go ahead with sonoff ZB bridge in the end… please report back and let us know how it goes.
TL;DR Leave your server in the basement, install a Sonoff 3.0 USB Zigbee coordinator, and get a couple of cheap Zigbee mains plugs to form a reliable mesh network.
Remote controller devices are really not needed - unlike Bluetooth, Zigbee (and Z-Wave) are mesh networks. Remote client devices work perfectly well with low latency as long as you have a few mains-powered devices between them acting as mesh repeaters - they pass messages to neighbours.
Moving the Zigbee coordinator away from HASS means control chatter between the integration and the radio has to travel a long way - rather than low-volume Zigbee control traffic which is designed specifically to operate over a mesh.
The air traffic control tower is next to the airport for a reason! 
Cheap switched sockets like the TRADFRI control outlet bridge the gap very well via Zigbee mesh, and combined with the large antenna on the Sonoff USB 3.0, work over long distances.
After several months of issues with a Z-Bridge flashed with Tasmota, engineering experience concluded it needed smashing into small pieces with a large hammer. Not joking. 
Smashing the Z-Bridge into small pieces was cathartic after suffering chronic disconnections. This is not due to WLAN interference.
Why buy an aged and unreliable device (complete with a specific warning from HASS developers and a detailed issue report) when the same manufacturer offers a really quite good alternative?
Tasmota is a great project, and runs on many devices on my network (Sonoff and others). A Z-Bridge is not one of them. 
If this helps, 
this post!
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Hi James,
Thanks for sharing your experience! Which Z-Bridge did you use? The Sonoff one like in the youtube video?
As I had no issues with the Aqara Gateway, functioning also as a Zigbee Coordinator via HA, I was thinking the Sonoff Zigbee Bridge via Wifi with Tasmota must give me atleast the same experience, but I guess I will do some more reading on that.
Attaching a USB Zigbee Coordinator on my server will be a waste of money since the basement is under a concrete reinforced floor, far away from my actual devices, so in my opinion it makes more sense to place something central in the house that works over TCP IP.
Thanks,
Br,
Bart
tpc ip over ethernet is just fine, but read the technical background on the wifi bridge that will explain the protocol needs.
I use the Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB dongle (as linked in my post above).
Well, I did until a NabuCasa Yellow arrived on Monday, and moved across to a SilLabs device equivalent to a SkyConnect.
Maybe not over wifi, but wired? This page outlines a couple of coordinator options using LAN:
Supported Adapters | Zigbee2MQTT
You can buy Zigbee LAN gateway with Ethernet RJ-45 port for wired network from ex. Tube or Zigstar:
https://github.com/tube0013/tube_gateways
https://github.com/mercenaruss/zigstar_gateways
Don’t get a Wi-Fi variant based on a Silicon Labs EFR32/EZSP as connect is not stable! See warnings:
https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/advanced/remote-adapter/connect_to_a_remote_adapter.html
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Really appreciate all the advice given! I will have a look at a LAN Gateway for my setup. This seems the most logic option for me. Thanks again!
Where did you end up? I don’t have any zigbee device yet but looking around for roller shutter on chain device. Most of them are zigbee so I would need to extend my HA by ZigBee protocol. Also server is far from future devices so looking for a gateway. Thought about WiFi but LAN is also an option.
Regardless of the solution that you go with be sure to read and follow this → Zigbee networks: how to guide for avoiding interference and optimize for getting better range + coverage
Kinda old thread, but thought I would ask here…
I have my home assistant running in my main house and also have a barn (over 300’ away) that I would like to hook up some sensors (zigbee). I do have wifi in the barn by use of a unifi beam to beam.
Curious if the sonoff zigbee bridge (flashed with tasmota) would allow me to setup these devices over mqtt? Trying to wrap my head around everything… so wouldn’t my zigbee coordinator (Nortec Stick) sense the bridge device on the network and associate it into the zigbee network?
No.
You will need a separate zigbee net for the barn. A Pi (or similar) with z2m in the barn, or a net connected coordinator (like the sonoff bridge) and a separate z2m instance running in the house, either on the HA box or elsewhere. Under HAOS, the easiest is to run the z2m addon and the z2m edge addon side by side to have two instances of z2m, or if you ate currently ZHA, just add the regular z2m addon.
They will be two distinct zigbee nets, managed separately, but all visible to HA.
As discussed above. general consensus is not to use a wifi based coordinator. Awired ethernet coordinator for reliability.
Another option is just go with wifi devices in the barn.
Thanks. I’ll check out the edge z2m addon as I already am running z2m. I also have a rpi4 just collecting dust so could resurrect that
I understand the suggestion of having a locally attached device and not needing any remote controller but there are setups that are more complicated.
I have my whole “datacenter” way down in the basement. The network is distributed to the house either via CAT7 cable or Fiber optics (vertical link to 2nd floor) and via cable-connected WIFI Access-Points. There is no Wifi Mesh.
I used to have my providers box do the DECT for Phone but the signal wouldn’t reach the second floor.
So in my case, connecting a Zigbee Dongle down in the basement will get me nowhere, I guess. The server in the basement is the only thing that is running 24/7. So how should I go about getting Zigbee up? There must be a way of getting a Wifi-Zigbee up and running?
There are plenty of Zigbee coordinators that are Ethernet connected
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Hi, I’m looking for a solution to extend my setup with zigbee too.
My HA is running in a VM on my TrueNAS Core system in the attic, using a ZBT-1 would be complicated. I’m using mostly BLE sensors and wifi/esp32 devices (shelly, athom), but planning to extend the setup with window/door sensors (it seems basically all of them are zigbee or zwave).
My idea is to connect a zigbee gateway through eth (with PoE option) in the living room, but unsure what to pay attention to when choosing a gateway.
Is it a problem if the GW is ~2m below my wifi AP?
I found a cheap one that should work with HA:
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EvZCHCR
Or maybe the Athom GW is the safer choice?
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EQFIpMX
I also found a PoE one (not allowed to post a third link …)
“SMLIGHT - Zigbee Ethernet PoE USB WiFi-Adapter SLZB-06M”
Also thinking about maybe adding some TRÅDFRI and aqara devices, afaik they should work with other gws too, right?
Only the 3rd one does POE, but if you don’t need POE, all 3 will work. And Tradfri and aqara will work with all 3.
thanks for the reply, yes PoE is optional, as I do have a power socket next to the eth port, I’ll checkout the cheap one 