Nortek HUSBZB-1 has been discontinued; let's find zha radio alternatives

Amazon US says 4 in stock and “More on the way” also the Nortek and GoControl site’s still list them so I don’t think they are going away soon.

I have a HUSBZB-1 which has been rock solid for some time but I chose to rebuild with an Aeotec and ConBee USB for what I hope to better future proofing and to separate Z-Wave and Zigbee USB devices.

Would this be an alternative ?
https://www.digi.com/products/models/xb3-24z8st
If so, what USB board would be ideal and what would the XCTU settings be set to?

I have a HUSBZB-1 for 6 months but have had nothing but end devices disconnecting or reporting false readings. If I remove the HUSBZB-1 and re-implement the WINK2 hub, the disconnect issues are no longer occurring.

Im trying to keep everything in-house, not rely on devices to connect to the internet, like Wink.

I would go for a Conbee II if anything… I have the older version and though it has had some issues depending on what you are connecting with it it has been good. It is fairly new so they are still working some kinks out but personally I think it has a great future. I’m using it with HA Native ZHA and I have found it does not appear to like Cree Connected bulbs but does work with them using deCONZ.

just my 2 cents… :slightly_smiling_face:

One thing you may want to look at is WiFi interference if you are having a lot of disconnects too…

I just went through this and it is true of any Zigbee radio… check out the write up I did.

Must be a lot of stock, I just bought one brand new in June (almost July) 2019.

Could be a extra stock, I got mine off Amazon about 10 days ago. Much better than Wink.

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We keep coming back to this theory that these have been discontinued. But people keep buying new ones.

Can anyone point to a site which actually states the facts?

I got mine, and it works great, so I really shouldn’t care. But it seems we’re doing a disservice by scaring others away from buying one because of what may be just an unfounded rumor.

Such rumors can affect their current value, even if they are not true. Until supply actually dwindles, the reality is what it is. I bought mine about 2 months ago, and they are still available at Amazon today. Use whatever device suits you… husbzb-1 works great for me so far. Almost went all zwave with an aeotech stick, but glad I didn’t with the xiaomi and visonic sensors (mostly zwave otherwise, but still nice to have smaller options).

The downside, there’s no support and no firmware updates. Would be interesting to see if it’s the same firmware on the recently purchased sticks. The ones from 2018 are running EmberZnet protocol version 4 and current EmberZnet protocol version is something like 7 or 8.

Support? Firmware updates? Do you ever get those from these generic Chinese-made components? I’d never even think to check. Especially since mine has been working great for over six months now.

I’m still seeing them for sale.
https://www.amazon.com/GoControl-CECOMINOD016164-HUSBZB-1-USB-Hub/dp/B01GJ826F8

https://www.ebay.com/p/1578788447

I wish someone could confirm or disprove this rumor that they’ve been discontinued.

Yeah, but Nortek is not cheap nor Chinese. It would work as long as Zigbee 3.0 devices use back-compatibility, but who knows for how long. So if you wan’t something future proof, then get ConBee from Dresden Electronics.
Alternatively, you could buy SDK from Siilicon labs and upgrade your Nortek Zigbee radio.

I bought a HUSBZB-1 on amazon.com and shipped to UK in a few days.
Total cost about £40.
I would have no hesitation in recommending getting one via that route if you want to play?

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Just to clarify/warn users outside of USA that the HUSBZB-1 works fine for ZigBee but isn’t compatible with non-USA Z-Wave because you can’t change the frequency.
Its using 908.42 MHz but Europe uses 868.42 MHz and I can not see a way to change it!
ZigBee works just fine

Guys I found a solution. Conbee 2 + deconz

https://phoscon.de/en/conbee2

https://electrolama.com/projects/zig-a-zig-ah/ is promising. Zigbee-3.0 support

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is there anything like this for z-wave?

Husbzb-1 still available on Amazon. I am about to buy one to replace my wink hub for z wave devices. Any reason I shouldn’t?

I came from wink… also with HUSBZB-1 and have been very pleased… a couple mains powered outlets near problem areas completely resolved any issues and I had been having with dead nodes/connectivity… so ultimately my only issue was not having enough devices, which is a great excuse to buy more stuff. :slight_smile:

I second what Bartem said. My HUSBZB-1 has been rock-solid. It’s about the only component I don’t have to think about. It just works. I knew from the start I’d want some battery-powered sensors in remote-ish locations, so I also bought a few mains-powered devices to spread around, which I quickly found uses for.

This thread title still bothers me a little. I fear that it’s driving people away from a very reliable solution. It’s been over two years since the OP declared them “discontinued,” but you can still get them on Amazon.

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I went to https://www.nortekcontrol.com/live-chat/ and talked to support. The product is discontinued. See chat below.

Capture

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