Skyconnect Migration from Nortek HUSbzb-1

I ordered a Skyconnect and was preparing to migrate my ZHA network this afternoon. I do have a separate Z2MQTT Network as well on a different Sonoff coordinator. When I went to the web address referenced on paper card that came with the device I noted in the instructions that the new radio would inherit the IEEE address from the old coordinator and later in the instructions it stated that I would need to remove my old device. This is a problem for me since my Nortek device also handles my Z-Wave devices and I cannot simply remove it… Here is a link to the page with the instructions:

https://skyconnect.home-assistant.io/

So I looked a bit and found that numerous folks seemed to have issues with this migration. So, a few questions:

  1. If I choose to not migrate my IEEE address is there some more detail on what troubles I will have? Will all of my devices fail or may some succeed? This paragraph is in this section of the instructions regarding the address copying when you migrate:
  • This means that your old stick and your new stick will have the same IEEE address. This is required for the migration process to complete successfully. From this point on-wards you should not operate the old stick in the same area. If you do not migrate the IEEE address from your old stick, you’ll have to repair many of your devices in order to keep them working.
  1. Can I leave my old radio in place without migrating the IEEE address and only have one of these active at a time and manually copy config items over that do not automatically move? I realize I would have to switch back and forth if this is even possible since ZHA does not support multiple Coordinators or instances.

  2. Are there any other alternatives for migrating other than totally manual relinking all my devices that I could consider?

Thanks for any suggestions in advance.

John

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  1. If you don’t migrate iee, you will have to re-pair all devices. Nothing will work until re-paired,

  2. No. Only one ZHA instance is supported with a single coordinator, no switching is not supported. It’s a rip the bandaid off and get it done process. Most devices should pick up the existing device names when they re-pair (but no promises).

  3. If it hasn’t been changed in the past, you should be able to change the Nortek zigbee ieee address after migration using the SI Labs Flasher. In theory you could migrate, and then change the Nortek ieee, and everything should work. But again, no promises and no first hand experience doing this with a Nortek or other ezsp stick. I have done it migrating from a cc2652 stick.

Proceed with caution!.

Changing the SI Labs ieee is a one time only option for ezsp sticks. There is no going back. The “this is permanent” warning in the GUI is not nearly scary enough IMO. You might be thinking “I’ll just test” and end up committing yourself if your not careful.

Thanks so much for the note. Answers were kinda what I suspected. While I suspect I understand the need to migrate the address through this effort, this does not appear to be referenced in any of the video’s I watched or in any documentation I have seen until I went to the Install Instructions. And only because I tend to be very cautious when I see certain statements did I look to see if there were any issues with this process. I was surprised how many folks noted just doing this and being stuck or having issues after the change of address.

I was curious if once migrated, if the old device could be used on a backup/test instance of Home Assistant in my same house or would the presence of a device with the same address (even though it is on a different machine) in the same geographic area cause problems? I suspect yes??? This would make the original device essentially useless to the owner in his home…

…Correct.

OK, so I have decided to simply add the new SkyConnect stick to my Server and remove (ar at least removed access to) the Zigbee portion of the Nortek HUSbzb-1. This should allow my Z wave portion of the HUSbzb-1 to remain functioning while I rejoin all the existing Zigbee devices to the new SkyConnect. Do we have a link on how to reset just the Zigbee portion of the Nortek and clear out its settings without impacting the Z-Wave Side??? A link if we have one please.

In addition, I had done some reseach a while back on Coordinator Channels and the issues this might have with WIFI Frequencies. My Sonoff Coordinator I use with Zigbee to MQTT is on Channel 11 and the existing HUSbzb-1 Zigbee side is set to Channel 15. Is there a way to ensure that the new SkyConnect will move on to channel 15 like the old device is as part of the Setup??? Let me know please. I also suspect I may need to change the HUSbzb-1 Channel to some other unused channel as I make these changes to ensure no future interference occurs between the various devices. THanks so much on this!

Not sure how to reset the nortek zigbee side. Anything you can find ezsp specific should work. Does flashing an ezsp chip reset it like flashing a cc2652 does?

Worst case would be fire up a separate z2m instance short term and configure with non-conflicting settings.

ZHA always defaults to 15 when forming a new network, you shouldn’t have to do anything extra.