The information on their website does not look to be quite correct now at launch, and there is not yet any information if SMLIGHT will be releasing their own EmberZNet Zigbee Coordinator NCP or RCP and MultiPAN, as well as Zigbee Router firmware images on a regular basis, but at least their product page mentions that using SiLabs CP2102N USB-to-UART Bridge controller on their board (same USB-to-Serial Converter chip as used in the Home Assistant’s SkyConnect) which should enable them to write a unique USB product description to its EEPROM that allow for automatic USB discovery in Home Assistant with the help of community developers → Community help wanted to whitelist all compatible Zigbee and Z-Wave dongles/adapters for automatic USB Discovery in Home Assistant
If can re-flash these with a Zigbee Router firmware then they probably make great repeaters/extenders.
ITead/Sonoff does have a old Zigbee Router firmware image for ZBDongle-E, and xsp1989 on GitHub have an older Zigbee Router firmware image for easyiot EFR32MG21 dongle so it is at least possitble.
Yeah, noticed they only ship from Ukraine or China so you likely have to pay import taxes/fees as well.
However, the shipping cost is not much higher if several additional dongles so probably worth it if you come together with a few friends and order several to share all the shipping cost and import fees.
If can get a working Zigbee Router firmware then they probably make awesome repeaters/extenders.
Should also work as Thread Border Router and Thread (OpenThread) routers, so could have many
Hello my friends! a bit off topic. i bought devices that need zigbee (specifically HAMA thermostat) and i need a gateway will it work with this key? (I can’t decide what a good gateway to buy in the future for other devices and other brands) I was deciding for SkyConnect or Sonoff but now this one has appeared and the price is also good. Will it work?
(HA runs on Debian, sorry if I’m writing in the wrong section I’m new I’m learning)
Gotta give it to the marketing department, I thought this was just a USB UART chip
For what its worth though the CH9102 in the Sonoff is no slouch either, will easily keep up with their special SoC! CH340 in the cheap Ali dongles is rubbish though.
It mostly depends on which Zigbee gateway application you plan on using, and it should also be noted again that you can also re-purpose Silicon Labs or Texas Instruments based USB adapters to make great stand-alone Zigbee Router devices if reflash them with such firmware and power it with a USB-changer, so even if you do not like it then it will not be wasted money if can reuse them for that as it always recommended to have many Zigbee Router devices in your Zigbee network mesh → Zigbee networks: how to guide for avoiding interference and optimize for getting better range + coverage
Anyway, if you plan on going with Home Assistant’s built-in ZHA integration as your Zigbee gateway then you can today practically use any Zigbee Coordinator with a modern radio SoC from Silicon Labs or Texas Instruments; as the ZHA integration depends on the zigpy library which is hardware-independent and offer full feature-parity between Silicon Labs or Texas Instruments based adapters, and both are stable. See → https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/zha
However, if you instead plan on going with Zigbee2MQTT (a.k.a. Z2M) as your Zigbee gateway then it is currently recommended to go with a modern radio SoC from Texas Instruments (e.g. a CC2652P based adapter like the Sonoff ZBDongle-P). Silicon Labs based adapters also work good in Zigbee2MQTT but they are missing backup and restore feature before it raches feature-parity there so still listed as not recommended → https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/guide/adapters/
ConBee adapter from Dresden Elektron will also work great with the ZHA integration and also good in Zigbee2MQTT (though not with full feature-parity in Z2M), but even the currently sold ConBee II and RaspBee II uses an older radio SoC so not recommended for a new purchase today so that is right now really just an option for those who already own one and want to migrate from deCONZ/Phoscon.
The manufacturer does not specify the Zigbee version. So I’ll take my chances and order this device I’m curious about it.
I still have wifi bulbs from this manufacturer (HAMA) but I don’t need a gateway. I use them via Tuya (I integrated them using IOT tuya). Prices are good one bulb cost me 2.99e
hehe, yeah, I believe that even with both Zigbee and Thread via MultiPAN RCP for simultaneous multiprotocol on the EFR32MG21 the highest baud rate used to communicate over the USB-to-Serial bridge in any current firmware is 460800, …so “fast” is maybe not the most important part as that still in the low end of what any USB 2.0 controller can manage
To clarify; you only need to what radio SoC your Zigbee Coordinator adapter is based on (and indirectly also the firmware running on it). The reason why you need to know what radio SoC your Zigbee Coordinator adapter is based on is that not every Zigbee gateway application (e.g. ZHA integration or Zigbee2MQTT) supports to use of all radio SoC as a Zigbee Coordinator adapter. You see the Zigbee gateway application uses the manufacturer’s proprietary serial communication protocol and commands to talk with the Zigbee Coordinator adapter and that is why it need to already be supported by the Zigbee gateway application (e.g. ZHA integration or Zigbee2MQTT). The Zigbee gateway application (e.g. ZHA integration or Zigbee2MQTT) in combination with the Zigbee Coordinator adapter will act as your Zigbee gateway/bridge/gateway (working as the central controller for your Zigbee network).
You do not need to know what radio SoC all your other devices are based on. All your devices will talk wirelessly using the Zigbee protocol to your chosen Zigbee gateway application (e.g. ZHA integration or Zigbee2MQTT) via the Zigbee Coordinator adapter. Meaning that all your devices should work with your chosen Zigbee gateway application (e.g. ZHA integration or Zigbee2MQTT) as long as they follow the standard Zigbee specifications, (though be aware that each Zigbee gateway application may sometimes need a few tweaks for some devices as some manufacturer do not always follow the standards precicly and even the Zigbee specifications also allow for some custom extension that can not be predicted, suggest reading https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/zha#how-to-add-support-for-new-and-unsupported-devices).
So today he arrived. ordered to austria 13/10/2023 (arrived from china today 27/10/2023) I ordered from smartlight.me. the price was also with postage 16.72€. in the evening after work I will play with it. thank you for the tip.!
Warning! Be aware before buying that just got a report from @darkxst that the initial batch looks to have been flashed with a signed firmware and as such do not allow USB flashing of unsigned firmware image such as those from community fimrware builders.
Give it a few days, they will be providing a fixed bootloader signed image that can be flashed via usual methods (i.e. universal-silabs-flasher) to fix this.
I have the uploaded bootloader image now, will test it out shortly.
@Hedda you should file a bug to smlight about writing vendor/product strings on the EEPROM. Ive mentioned it a coupe of times to them, but I am sure you can provide more detail!
EDIT: All is good, after updating bootloader, happily takes unsigned firmware now.
So far I haven’t encountered any problems. Everything works great. For being so small it has a perfect signal. It finds the device instantly. home assistant also had no problem integrating this key. the firmware can also be updated via their website. I am satisfied.
Hello darkxst,
When I go to the website and try to unlock the bootloader for my SLZB-07 the USB port menu does not pop up. It works for the other models and I have tried other supported browsers and computers (mac and pc) but still, the menu doesn’t pop up for the SLZB-07 page. I sent a ticket to smlight so waiting on a response, but do you have any ideas about the problem or a fix? Thanks in advance (:
