ZigBee Questions around lights

Configuration Zigbee
1

Hi,

I’m rather new to the Home Assistant world, and at this point ita more playing around to learn this all

Currently I have Home Assistant running on RPI 4 8G in a docker (not portainer)

Got myself a Sonoff 3.0 USB Dongle Plus, and add the ZHA integration

Questions then,

To enable the HA to control smart lights, do I also need to add a ZigBee / Philips hue hub as well, or will my RPI + ZigBee be sufficient?

I got Linkind ZigBee lightbulbs, but could not get them added to HA.,but can’t manage to get these added via ZHA

Also the base of these lights are getting very hot, is this normal?

Thanks!

2

Hue uses Zigbee so ZHA can control Hue via a Sonoff Zigbee coordinator.
The Hue hub is deliberately hobbled to only control Hue devices.

I’ve several brands of Zigbee bulbs working with ZHA, but find controllable switches better as they sense the switch position, control a normal bulb, and can’t be accidentally turned off.

As with all mesh networks, more devices improve network coverage - Zigbee light bulbs can act as routers to pass messages on. The standard advice is to pair a device in the final location (so it can see neighbours), but worst case, try pairing next to the Sonoff coordinator, then move to the final location.

LED lights often use inefficient circuitry to drop mains (120VAC / 240VAC) to LED voltage (3V3 for control, 3V-60V for LEDs), so all can get hot.

3

I’d also suggest using the forum search, as there are many “introduction to Zigbee” threads, such as this one which might help you:

4

Great thanks James