Z2M change of coordinator

Configuration Zigbee
1

Hello handsome people

Recently I purchased a Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 coordinator to replace a Conbee II, since conbee II is not being reliable for me.
I wanted to avoid repairing all of my devices so I followed the instructions to write the same IEEE adress from Conbee II to the new Sonoff coordinator, and flashed the firmware. Everything should be fine.
But once I plug in the new coordinator z2m can’t start, it gives the following log error:

Zigbee2MQTT:error 2022-01-14 20:01:40: Error while starting zigbee-herdsman
Zigbee2MQTT:error 2022-01-14 20:01:40: Failed to start zigbee
Zigbee2MQTT:error 2022-01-14 20:01:40: Check https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/information/FAQ.html#help-zigbee2mqtt-fails-to-start for possible solutions
Zigbee2MQTT:error 2022-01-14 20:01:40: Exiting...
Zigbee2MQTT:error 2022-01-14 20:01:40: Error: network commissioning timed out - most likely network with the same panId or extendedPanId already exists nearby
    at ZnpAdapterManager.beginCommissioning (/app/node_modules/zigbee-herdsman/src/adapter/z-stack/adapter/manager.ts:347:23)
    at ZnpAdapterManager.start (/app/node_modules/zigbee-herdsman/src/adapter/z-stack/adapter/manager.ts:92:17)
    at Controller.start (/app/node_modules/zigbee-herdsman/src/controller/controller.ts:123:29)
    at Zigbee.start (/app/lib/zigbee.ts:58:27)
    at Controller.start (/app/lib/controller.ts:100:27)
    at start (/app/index.js:97:5)

So right know I can’t even start from scratch and repair everything. I guess if I change the panID will fix it but, isn’t there a way to keep my devices paired?

Thanks

2

I did experience this with the coordinator being off for long time and Zigbee devices ( Hue bulbs ) were powered when coordinator started.

It did help (in my case) to power off all Zigbee devices, then start the coordinator and finally er-power the devices again.

3

According to the Zigbee2MQTT docs, switching between coordinator types (with rare exception) means needing to re-pair devices:

See also: FAQ | Zigbee2MQTT

4

Too hard for me, I should be unplugging every bulb manually.

Yeah read everything. I thought by changing the IEEE I could migrate all the network. Seems not. Changed the panID and I already lost all my devices. I guess I will repair everything tomorrow morning, well shit.

5

There should be a way… I just changed the panID, everything got unpaired. My network database went empty with the new coordinator.
So I changed back the panID to the previous one, deleted coordinator_backup file and replaced the new database (empty one) with the old database (the one with conbee II). Restarted and just like that all devices were paired again with conbee II.

So if I can go from nothing back to conbee II network there should be a way to change coordinator maintainting the pairing…

1 Like
6

Found a more techical response from @Koenkk in github:

Whats the technical reason why repairing is needed?

  • The data inside the adapter is incompatible between CC2531 and CC2652R
  • Since CC2652R firmware is Zigbee 3.0, it has additional security requirements. One of them is a persistent key which is only shared during pairing (which we don’t have with the 1.2 CC2531).

As far as I know conbee II is not 3.0 so his explanation would fit to my case (Conbee II to CC2652P). Well, tomorrow morning is repairing time, probably 1-2 hours…

Thanks everyone for the ideas and help!

1 Like
7

If the firmware is up to date all Dresden electronics coordinators (conbee and raspbee) are 3.0.

8

So i dont understand why i cannot change coordinator withour repairing. But anyways I’m already doing it