I am running a HA installation on a small Unraid server in my basement. I used untill today a Aqara gateway somehwere central in the house with Aqara devices/sensors. I want to replace the Aqara gateway with a more generic Zigbee gateway so i can use non-Xiaomi/Aqara Zigbee devices.
Which Zigbee gateway should I use that does not have to be connected with USB to my HA server, so i can place it on a central place in the house for the best Zigbee signal, similar like my Aqara gateway that connects over wifi to my network so my HA can connect to it?
I was thinking of using an older raspberry Pi with a Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 plus USB dongle, but if possible i am looking for a simple single device without relying on the raspberry pi.
I expect someone will be along soon to answer this. I would just say that my zigbee stick is way up in my attic, plugged in to my NUC. I have lightbulbs where I want them and put a couple extra in strategic spots. The mesh is good all over the house, including the cellar.
Also, for future proofing, whatever you buy, try to make sure it’ll support matter / thread as well.
You shouldn’t want a device having Zigbee and wifi. Same frequency, bound to cause issues.
Have a solar panel monitor device with wifi and Zigbee, had to screw off the wifi antenna to get it work decent.
Look for a USB or ethernet device to prevent issues. Zigbee mesh will not require a central location for your Controller
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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?
this post!