Dear all,
These are my first Zigbee projects and I realize that some devices are much better than others. For example the Sonoff SNZB-03 goes off constantly and the OSRAM bulb switch disappears.
So my question is: are some devices firmware provided with free firmware (Free as in Free Software) and decent OTA.
Kind regards,
FF
Are you sure your your main network is solid? Devices have their idiosyncrasies, but problems usually arise not because some devices are better than others, but because:
There is not much I have found in the way of free (as in OS) zigbee firmware.
If you want to build your own devices there is this https://ptvo.info/ but it is not open source and costs $$ for the enhanced version, which is needed for a battery device AND is locked to one device. This is all despite the owner saying on github that it is GPL3 - a patent untruth.
Rant over, read @Stiltjack 's post 
IMHO, your two statements in your two paragraphs do not connect or make sense.
Paragraph one : yes, there are ‘off the shelf’ devices that are good and there are devices that are bad, in terms of stability working in many zigbee setups.
Paragraph two : yes, you can find zigbee hardware, firmware stack, IDE and dev environment where you can create zigbee devices that are ‘free’ other than the cost of the hardware and maybe your ‘vig’ for application function.
However, you can create a device and firmware that is really 
using your paragraph two going to your paragraph one. 
Good hunting!
That is not the sense of free that he is referring to.
Can you help me better understand the definition of the words ‘free firmware (Free as in Free Software)’? in the context of a for profit ‘system’ like CSA’s Zigbee. Thx.
Thx, yes I think I grok Stallman’s definition in some ways. However in the context of the original post and possible paths such as ptvo as @nickrout pointed to, there is some interest work being done on top of the ‘for profit zigbee stack’ such as ptvo. ptvo has ‘baggage’ due to the dependency on the 8051 tech of Texas Instruments and the connected licenses for compilers from other vendors that ptvo author is shackled to as I understand. There are other interesting zigbee projects based on other silicon and SDK/firmware that seems to have ‘better’ terms of use. For example, the very interesting work that atc1441 and devbis are doing with the Telink hardware, firmware and SDK’s. And there are other examples.
So, my point, there do seem to be paths to develop custom zigbee devices at a (on the order of in single quantity, 3 USD per core device (for example similar to a Arduinio device that has much less functionality) ) reasonable price (though from my experience with firmware SDK’s are still fairly complex and require some software dev chops to motor thru).
With that, to my 2nd comment, it is unfortunately easy with these tools and poor skills to make a really crappy zigbee device…
As I said, I think I get the FSF idea. However, how does it address building on top of a ‘for profit’ system such as Zigbee? I have seen a couple efforts to build completely open source wifi, bluetooth and zigbee silicon, firmware and SDK’s but from my review none have been able to move forward to a point to allow semi-pro dev’s (let alone amateur devs such as in home automation) to build 100% open systems to rival the non-open systems, such as HUE, Ikea …
Hello,
Thank you for your answers.
My network is not solid and this is the point. It is hard to point out faulty products. In my summer house, I am quite certain that Sonoff power plugs and Sonoff motion detectors are low quality products but I cannot be sure. OSRAM blulbs also disconnect and never get back. They are near the main coordinator and they disconnect constantly. In my main house I use a UZG-01 coordinator and very good Nous A1Z plugs. Never disconnects, rock solid and OTA updates.
I was referring to Free Software because it is usually rock solid.99% of servers run Linux. Being able to review code and work in community make very good quality. I use Linux since 1999 and I was never disappointed. This is not a question of business logic, I am not a communist. It is only it is more reliable and more durable.
Now I am looking for a good motion detector. I purchased 10x additional A1Z and will dump Sonoff power plugs.
You gave me the answer: there are no free firmwares available.
Yeah i am amazed some people just don’t get it. Well said you.
You can spend a lot of money replacing “low quality” products and still find your network unreliable.
We don’t know much about your setup, so it’s hard to comment usefully, but before you throw anything away…
It sounds as if you have two buildings with a zigbee network covering both. The power plugs in the main house work well, the ones in the summer house don’t. That’s worth investigating. Have you tried swapping them over? You may find that the Nous A1Z plugs become unreliable in the summer house, in which case it’s the connection between the two buildings that’s the problem.
I’m sure you know this already, but end devices like motion sensors don’t contribute anything towards stability - they’re just users of resources. If they fail it’s often because the network they connect to isn’t as robust as it could be. If the motion sensors that are disconnecting are also in your summer house that’s probably the issue.
That is true, because there is no open source Zigbee stack and thus there can be no truly fully open source Zigbee firmware.
A ”free” license is however included in the cost of practially all Zigbee SoC chips sold, so as long as you buy their chips then you get access to development tools you need from Silicon Labs, Texas Instruments, Nordic Semiconductor, etc. to make your own Zigbee devices as the fee to use their tools is included in the price of the chip hardware, (using their respective Zigbee stack as a binary blob in the firmware), no certification is technically needed for the Zigbee part unless you want to market it as a Zigbee 3.0 device commercially. This is the reason why Zigbee devices can be relativly inexpensive.
Tip to new DIY developers wanting to get started with Zigbee today could be to check out Espressif’s Zigbee SDK (based on the ZBOSS Zigbee stack) for their new ESP32-C6 and ESP-H2 chips, using their ESP-IDF development platform, (sadly there is not yet support to use that Zigbee framework in ESPHome or Tasmota firmware but that could tecnically be possible in the future since access is done with a CLI interface which is compatible with open source projects, at least legally if not in the spirit).
https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-zigbee-sdk/en/latest/esp32/introduction.html
I’m not sure I agree with the premise. Yes, Linux (open source) servers tend to be reliable. But Zigbee devices are a very different market. As an example, it can be argued that HA is nowhere near as “reliable” (depending on how you define that) as a black-box, proprietary, plug-and-play smart home system from a major manufacturer. We use HA for local control, support of different manufacturers’ hardware and the ability to define our own, much more complex, solutions. But those very things make it less reliable, not more.
Manufacturers want to minimize problems and support. They are highly motivated to make their products reliable. At the volume they can produce the devices, they can put much more effort into engineering each device than any home hobbyist. I’ve found the Zigbee devices I’ve bought very reliable. Pay some attention to good mesh coverage and interference from nearby WiFi networks, and they just work right out of the box. You can always come here for advice on which specific brands have known problems.