I am very new here and interested to connect zigbee devices to my home assistant. I have HA running on a raspberry pi 4 (which has bluetooth). I was wondering if I need another dongle to connect to Zigbee devices? I do not wish to have a bridge to connect to devices.
I understand that ConBee is one such option and can be plugged into the USB port of the Pi. Is there any other method of doing this?
Thanks! And please do let me know if there is any change I need to make to my questions.
For Zigbee2MQTT the CC2652 based coordinators are recommended, with both Tube and Electrolama having a proven track record of solid customer service.
For ZHA either CC2652 or (current generation) EZSP coordinators are good.
Avoid anything WiFi connected, WiFi and Zigbee use the same frequency bands and even if you don’t overlap the signals you’re still at risk of interference. Also avoid anything based on the CC253x range of chips.
If you use a USB based coordinator use a USB extension cable to move it away from the computer - between 1 and 2 meters is usually about right. Either buy a USB 2.0 cable or connect it to a USB 2.0 port to avoid USB 3.0 generated interference.
EFR32 based EZSP coordinators are also great for ZHA but still only experimental in Zigbee2MQTT.
ConBee/RaspBee is the only Zigbee Coordinator compatible with ZHA, Zigbee2MQTT (Z2M), and deCONZ/Phoscon, but ConBee/RaspBee specifications and firmware are not as good/stable as a Texas Instruments based CC2652P adapter if using either ZHA or Z2M, or as good/stable as Silicon Labs EFR32MG2x (EFR32MG21/EFR32MG24) based adapter if using ZHA. As such ZHA is stable with all radio types.
PS: Regardless of adapter it is important to use a long USB extension cable in a USB 2.0 port or hub.
The ConBee only has experimental support in Z2M, and people’s experiences have been mixed. Support in ZHA seems to be more stable. I’d only suggest it if you were keen to try out deCONZ for some reason.
That seems to be a very useful link! I am looking at the Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle. Just wondering if this is a bridge or is it a direct relay of the protocol.
What I mean is, when I add it to HA, do the other zigbee devices come under this Sonoff Bridge or are they direct devices of themselves?
Sorry if I am using confusing terms.
Technically a Zigbee USB adapter is used as “Zigbee Coordinator” and it is directly connected to ZHA or Zigbee2MQTT via a serial port. They only talk Zigbee protocol over their radio and then and they only communicate with ZHA/Zigbee2MQTT using a serial API over serial communication via the USB bus.
It is Home Assistant that can act as a bridge/hub/gateway to convert the device to a different IP based protocol like example HomeKit, MQTT, etc. if want to proxy it onto an other home automation controller.
or
Zigbee device ↔ Zigbee protocol >-> Zigbee Coordinator ↔ Zigbee2MQTT ↔ MQTT broker ↔ Home Assistant or other MQTT client.