Zigbee hub without wifi router nor internet connection

Configuration Zigbee
1

Hello everyone! I am from France, absolutely new to automation, and here seeking help in this ocean of technical terms. Let’s start with what I want.

What I want to do is absolutely simple. I have bought different lightbulbs, LED strips and outlets from IKEA, which I believe are all zigbee. The ONLY thing I want to do with home automation is turn the lights on and off in my living room. I also have one of their remote control that is also kind of a magnetic wall interuptor with 5 buttons. Really I just want to be able to plug all this in different outlets and then, when I press on said remote control all those bulbs and strips and normal lights plugged into connected outlets turn on together on the dimming setting that I defined. The best of the best would be to be able to set up at least two different moods (bright and chill).

Now I’m sure I could do that with IKEA’s own zigbee bridge (or hub? not sure what’s the difference…) but i’m 99% sure it needs a constant internet connection plugged via ethernet. Here is the thing : I do not have a wifi router whatsoever. I have been living in my flat for several months and I just do not need one. I am using network sharing via my phone with an unlimited data plan and that’s more than enough for my uses, mainly streaming and playing hearthstone.

Sure i could get a wifi router, but that would be 25 euros per month just to get better internet connection, which I don’t need. In other words it would cost me 25 euros per month just to be able to switch on all my light in one click. It’s not worth it.

Is it feasible with something like a home assistant green package? Once again I’m a total newbie but have done some research here and there to get to this point. I do not need to plug in temperature sensors, atmospheric pressure indicators, control my AC with my voice or get a bath running by clapping my hands together. I just want to have two presets for my many living room lights, connected to a simple remote control… I feel like this should be doable without a stable and strong internet connection.

Thanks in advance for your answer as I’m quite desperate and pretty lost.

2

Home Assistant can run completely local, but you need a device on which to run it that can have internet access for a little bit just to download the needed software. Even the Home Assistant Green and Yellow hardware need an internet connection to get the initial setup done. And HA has a web interface, so even when you don’t need internet, a network connection is kind of needed. I guess you could get something like a Raspberry Pi and run HA on that. Then you could plug a keyboard, mouse, and monitor into the Pi and use the HA web interface on localhost.

I guess for the initial setup you could use WiFi and use your phone’s Wifi share to get it setup and then disconnect it. You’d want to do that every once in awhile to get updates too.

If you get all that done, then you have to also get a USB Zigbee device, plug it into the Pi (or whatever you end up getting) and set that up in HA. That setup probably won’t need any network connection, and once you’re setup you can pair all the IKEA devices without any internet (again, you’d have to have some way to get to the HA web interface to do that).

I’m not saying it can’t be done, but it’s going to be an interesting journey. Especially if you need help and we ask you to post any YAML or logs. Then you have to get it off HA with no network access (maybe a USB stick) to get it to your computer so you can paste it here.