Zigbee the other side of an LTE Link

Configuration Zigbee
1

I have a number of Zigbee switches in my garage. The network there is operated over a TP-Link LTE radio connection. I want to be able to operate my Zigbee devices in the garage without using a cloud service. I currently use a Tuya Zigbee Bridge but I cannot access it without the Tuya cloud remote service.

I have just bought a Sonoff Dongle Max Zigbee Dongle as I thought this would automatically be discovered by ZHA. I have connected it to the router in the garage by Ethernet cable. I can access the dongle using my portable computer as long as I am connected to the router in the garage. However what I want is to be able to access it from the house HA installation on my Raspberry Pi. I have a Sonoff dongle plugged into the USB port in the Pi which serves all the Zigbee devices in the house.

Any suggestions of how I can overcome this problem to remove any cloud dependency would be welcome.

2

So you have one internet connection in your house, and a separate one in the garage over LTE? I’m guessing VPN is an option.

3

You can only have 1 coordinator (dongle) per zigbee mesh. Additionally, you can only have a single instance of ZHA installed.

The only way you can fix your issue is to install a separate instance of Zigbee2Mqtt & connect your dongle Max over local ethernet (not via LTE).

This will create 2 separate zigbee meshes: the house one on ZHA & the garage one on Z2M. While the meshes will not be able to communicate with each other directly, HA will step in so you can control both locations at once.

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4

Or just use the Tuya cloud like you are. It will bridge just fine, Why re-invent the wheel?

5

I have one Internet connection which feeds into a router in the house. The LTE at the house end is connected to the same router. At the Garage end is a second router which is currently also connected to a Tuya Zigbee Bridge that talks to all the Zigbee devices in the Garage. It all works but I want to remove my dependence on the Tuya Cloud and have full control of my local internet environment.

6

I could connect the Dongle max via Zigbee2MQTT but it would still be in the house and the zigbee wireless is not powerful enough to reach my devices in the garage. Therefore I need to set up the dongle using Zigbee2MQTT in the garage. However I still don’t seem to be able to get my HA in the house to talk to the dongle as it will only talk locally.