Hi,
I’m a complete newbie in this forum, but also a total newbie in HA and programming.
I’m running Hassio in Docker (at least the system says so) and installed Deconz via Conbee 2 and must finally say I got it at least working stable (for now). Babysteps for others are huge steps for me
Yesterday I got a Philips hue bulb and a Philips remote and got the bulb installed through Deconz/ phoscon, got all the functions, on/ off, brightness and color temperature, but this is where it stops.
I would really like to implement this in HA, but still be able to use the Philips remote as a physical switch, but every time I’m pairing the remote with the bulb, the bulb changes to Unavailable in HA.
Isn’t it possible to have it omplemented in HA and still use the philips remote swith?
Probably just me being a newbie and don’t understanding what I’m doing wrong.
Zigbee only allows for one connection to a “coordinator”. In this case your remote acts as the coordinator and therefore the connection to the deconz is disconnected.
In a sidenote you should read up on the difference between ZLL and ZHA. Because if you are going to add other kinds of sensors in the future (like door / contact sensors) the network won’t work well if you have bulbs on the same network. It’s recommended to separate the bulbs from the rest on a different network.
As long as you stick to all hue stuff you fine though. So you can pair the bulb as well as the remote to the deconz. And make the automations do whatever you want when using the remote.
Ok, will read up on the suggested topics.
Not sure I understand you correct regards to keeping bulbs and sensors on different network though.
Isn’t this the point of smart home, to gather them all to one interface?
Or do you mean using zigbee only for lights and the rest on z-wave for instance?
As I mentioned, you are talking to a complete newbie
Zigbee is an open protocol. It means, unlike z-wave, manufacturers can give their own interpretation on it. One of the different interpretations is called Zigbee Light Link. Which is used in most bulbs and some other stuff, like the hue remote. But ZLL is not fully compatible with the data a door sensor would send. And since the network is a mesh network a ZLL bulb will act as a repeater for the door sensor but wouldn’t relay the data as you want. So therefore you likely want to have a ZLL network and a different network (mostly called ZHA) for the other stuff.
Both networks are then managed by the same instance of HA, but you would need two zigbee interfaces (most people use the Philips Hue bridge for ZLL).
Think I’m starting to understand it now.
So if I go ahead and buy the philips hue bride, including that one in HA and use it for all the bulbs, then the bridge will act as the coordinator instead of the remote, hence the remote will not interrupt the setup and it will hopefully work? Am I getting closer?
Really like the potential of HA, but for a newbie with no experience in programming or understanding this, it can get quite frustrating. Actually, so frustrating I have thought of scrapping the whole setup several times, but then again, I guess this is quite normal.
If you only have things from the hue line-up there is no need to make two separate networks. So for now, you can just use the deconz.
Just pair the bulb to it and the remote and go fiddle around in HA with it.
Ok, thought I understod for a second there.
For now, I only have a Philips hue bulb and remote and this is what I have ben tryiong to do, pairing them, but once i pair the remote, HA misses contact completely.
Also have a bunch of Ikea tradfri bulbs, but they are not up and running yet, so probably need to find some solution after some time anyway.
Ah, I didn’t mention the entire case, I realize that now.
Yes, firstly I paired it directly with the bulb after including in HA, resulting in HA then loosing signal.
Then I tried pairing it with HA and it showed in HA,but then resulting in no action from the remote control at all.
I will try it one more time later on and see if there is a difference.
Just figured it out!
Cannot imagine I didn’t see this before.
Only thing I had to do after pairing the remote with HA, was to link the butttons to functions, brightness etc and voila!
Thank you for making me understand how it works.
