USB ZigBee coordinator without direct connection to HA Server?

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Hi all,

I’m running my HA inside a VM running on a Synology NAS which is located in my basement. I want to integrate various ZigBee devices in HA without using the device’s official gateways (namely, the Xiaomi Gateway for Mija/Aqara devices).

I plan to use the HA Zigbee2MQTT add-on for this and got myself Slaesh’s CC2652RB USB stick. However, from what I’ve seen so far, every guide on how to set up Zigbee2MQTT with HA relies on the ZigBee coordinator stick being plugged directly into the HA server. Unfortunately, with my setup, the signal would then never reach my ZigBee devices located in the upper floor. There’s also no ZigBee devices/bridges in-between the basement & upper floor.

Is it possible to use the ZigBee coordinator stick with e.g. a Raspberry Pi and to then somehow integrate that ZigBee Pi with my HA server? Or is my only option to run some ZigBee bridge(s) in-between?

Thanks in advance for every help!

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Your solution lies in this thread. @tube0013 will be happy to provide you with a few options.

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Thanks for the help! Just ordered myself one of his CC2652P2s.

(Though it’s a bit of a bummer that there doesn’t seem to be any easy way to use the ZigBee stick I already have)

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I haven’t tried it on a separate machine, but I run Zigbee2MQTT in Docker (I don’t have the add ons) and you should be able to install docker on the other PI and run zigbee2mqtt in a docker container on the other PI separate from the machine running Home Assistant.

Then in the Zigbee2mqtt settings file on the other machine specify the IP address of the MQTT broker running on the Home assistant machine.

So in the zigbee2mqtt settings file instead of

  # Required: MQTT server URL (use mqtts:// for SSL/TLS connection)
  server: 'mqtt://localhost:1883'

It would be

  # Required: MQTT server URL (use mqtts:// for SSL/TLS connection)
  server: 'mqtt://192.168.0.136:1883' #replace with IP of machine running Home Assistant

I don’t know if this docker setup would be more trouble then its worth though and you might just be better off with the extra stick functioning as a repeater, especially since you already ordered it.

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I have z-wave with homeseer usb stick in center of my basement. I have direct routes to second floor without any repeaters (stick framed with stucco exterior). I would recommend trying the install before you buy any additional hardware. I also run a vm HA on a dedicated server similar to your setup.

I even communicate from my basement to my mailbox on the street directly ~90’ straight line. Only cost will be your time.

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That’s true probably worth a shot to try it as is especially since you already have the upgraded CC2652 which has much better range/antenna then the CC2531

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Thanks a lot for your help! I just set up the ZigBee2MQTT docker image on the PI with the ZigBee stick, and it worked straight away, with devices showing up in HA as soon as I repaired them. Didn’t think I’d be this easy after finding no guides yesterday.

I’ll mark your reply as the new solution as it directly solved my issue compared to the alternate solution @stephack suggested (though I’ll definitely keep an eye on Tube’s future products or for when I’ll need a ZigBee bridge).

On a side note: I contacted @tube0013 about canceling the CC2652P2 order I placed yesterday, and I kid you not, he replied within 4 minutes, canceled my order & approved a refund no questions asked. That’s the kind of customer support that big companies can only dream of.

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it’s amazing what can be done while walking your dog, via your mobile :wink:

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The wonder of technology :smiley:

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Awesome glad it worked out

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This could be done with a virtual serial port as well…

I use Eltima myself, but later I also mentioned Netburner (which is a free version of eltima, but has some limitations) but is confirmed working by another user :wink:

If you want to use Linux, Ser2Net works fine as well…

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