I am using HomeAssistant (on RaspberryPi) with Sonoff Zigbee CC2531 USB dongle. Currently I have foru Aquara sensors installed and everything works just fine.
Now I am thinking to install smoke detector. On Aliexpress I have found “Tuya Smart Zigbee Smoke Detector”, but on a product page it is stated that “This product needs to be used with ZigBee3.0 gateway.”
If I understand, Zigbeee gateway is a device that connects Zigbee devices to WiFi? Do I really need it with my current setup? I. e. can I just buy this “Tuya Smart Zigbee Smoke Detector” and will it work with my HomeAssistant setup?
Any thoughts and advice is highly appreciated. Thanks!
Yes you need a Zigbee Coordinator to use ZHA or Zigbee2MQTT but since you can re-flash most if not all CC1352/CC2652/CC2538 based adapter into either a Zigbee Coordinator or Zigbee Router the hardware should be no different. So them coming pre-flashed is really only for convenience, (just make sure it has a BTL/Bootloader button on the board for re-flashing).
If anCC1352/CC2652/CC2538 based adapter comes pre-flashed with an older working firmware then you can upgrade it via USB, so no need for a special cJTAG flashing adapter if the bootloader is not corrupt. For flashing firmware upgrade to any CC1352/CC2652/CC2538 based adapter follow links for tools on the same Zigbee2MQTT website page here → https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/guide/adapters/#notes
My tip is to just order the recommended Sonoff branded “ZBDongle-P” from Amazon for local shipping.