Zigbee. What do i need

Hardware
1

Hi.
Im all new at Home Assistance. Working good for me so fare.
I see a lot of people talking about like Zigbee2mqtt. As i understand it is a way to talk to Zigbee units.

Today i have a hub for Phillips Hue and for Ikea tradfri. As fare as i understand they both run Zigbee ?
Do i need anything else or can i start buying Zigbee hardware like aqara sensors and link them to my hubs i allready have up and running ?

I like to start out with temperature and door sensors.

1 Like
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Hi Henrik,

I use zigbee2mqtt to control my Ikea tradfri devices and it works well. You have to choose between your hubs or work with zigbee2mqtt. Phililips Hue devices, Ikea, Xiaomi, all can work with zigbee2mqtt and you don’t need to work with branded hubs.

See list of supported devices:

You need to buy a router (in my case it’s a CC2531), flash it and that’s all.
Everythning is explained here:

3

Thanks a lot for the answer and the links. Something for me to read :slight_smile:
But now that i allready have my hue and ikea hubs. Can i just use them with all my Zigbee hardware ?

Just so i dont have to buy more stuff right now.

4

The problem with hubs is that they support only whatever the manufacturer wants to support. That Hue hub will talk to a relatively limited number of brands, and models. Same for the Tradfri hub.

People use Zigbee2MQTT, and other solutions, because it allows them to use a wide range of brands. You can’t re-use the hubs, but you can migrate the devices. I recycled my Hue hub a long time ago and haven’t looked back.

5

Ok that makes sence.
So i need to buy another Rasberry Pi. The one i run home assiatant will not work right ?

I love the idea of “One hub to rule them all”.

6

Sure it’ll work, “all” you’re doing is adding your choice of Zigbee stick (to be the coordinator), and Zigbee software.

There are a few other considerations, such as:

  • Putting the stick on a USB (2.0) extension cable (50cm or longer)
  • Don’t use USB 3.0 ports
  • Plan your channels
7

Yes, you can use one RPi to run HA and be the Zigbee “hub” (in Zigbee networking, the “coordinator.”)

You need a way to communicate with the Zigbee devices. I use a HUSBZB USB stick in one of the RPi USB ports (or even better, use a short USB extension cable to get the stick a short distance away from the radios in the RPi.) There is also a Zigbee USB stick by Conbee I believe. Search this forum for more information.

This allows me to use the native ZHA integration for HA. No MQTT or third-party hubs needed. I will say that my Zigbee stuff, from 7 different manufacturers, have been rock-solid reliable with almost no tinkering. Truly plug-and-play.

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That sounds interresting. Thank you for the information.
I might come back with more questions when i get one. Hope that is ok :slight_smile:

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By all means, ask away. I’m not as proficient in HA as a lot of the folks here, but I can try.

In fact, that is why I like Zigbee. Much shorter learning curve and much less tinkering compared to other solutions. My experience has been it just works, right out of the box. I especially like not having additional components to maintain, or having to make network changes. The Zigbee devices create their own mesh network, and talk directly to the USB stick in the RPi running HA. This reduces both the administrative overhead and the number of points of failure.

That said, I’ve seen threads on this forum with questions about controlling Zigbee color-changing lights and other more complex devices. I haven’t been following those threads. I use HA mostly for home monitoring and simple on/off control. Maybe if you need more functionality than that, Zigbee requires more effort. But I suspect that’s true with any protocol.

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I also need some help on this.

I’ve read of DEconfz software, is that like home assistant or something for initial setup? Does this need to be running to?

Is rasbee II the same as the dongle ?

Channels : I assume that devices and dongle can be configured to listen/send via a selected channel?

Thanks

11

deCONZ is one of three ways of using Zigbee with Home Assistant.

It’s not one I’d personally recommend. I normally recommend Zigbee2MQTT (if you want something decoupled from HA, much like deCONZ) or ZHA (built into HA).

The RaspBee II is functionally the same as the ConBee II. I only recommend these if you’re using deCONZ. If you’re using Zigbee2MQTT or ZHA then any CC2652 based stick is a good choice. If you’re using ZHA then any current generation EmberZNet stick is a good choice.

The software you use defines the channel used by the dongle, and hence by the devices.

3 Likes
12

thanks tinkerer, so essentially these dongles will replace the need of a hub am I correct?

so the commands would go from ZHA (stick attached to RPI) > Zigbee switch

I assume a hub would create an addtional node in the flow ZHA > HUB > SWITCH, is that correct?

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  1. Yes, these dongles act as what’s called the “coordinator” in Zigbee networking. Basically what everyone else would call a “hub.”

  2. Yes, ZHA controls the coordinator and the coordinator (USB stick) talks directly to the Zigbee remote devices over the wireless mesh network.

  3. To use another coordinator (hub), you’d need an integration so HA could talk to it. Not sure ZHA can do that. I think it would be a different integration.

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great, I think I have enough information to get started.

Thanks again.

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Guys, sorry for hijacking but my question (and the answer might benefit other users as well).
I have been reading up on zigbee and would like to get your opinions since this is also new for me.

In a few days I will receive a Conbee II stick and will use it with HA Core running in a LXC on Proxmox.
I have managed the USB pass-through and can see the USB port in the devices from my container, so I think that part is covered.

It’s not clear to me which integration to use with this coordinator and the zigbee stuff from IKEA (bulb, tradfri & symfonisk remotes)
I am already using MQTT but don’t know if this relevant.

Thanks already!

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The ConBee range is a great choice with deCONZ. Indeed it’s the only choice.

With ZHA and Zigbee2MQTT it’s merely an ok choice, there are better sticks for those integrations. It should work with either though.

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Hi @Tinkerer, thanks a lot for your reply!

There’s something that I don’t understand:

and

(do you mean ‘the best path to choose’?)

You wrote, earlier in this thread:

I ordered the ConBee for it’s mostly good reviews, price and availability.
Can you please enlighten me some more? :innocent:

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The ConBee is not a good choice with anything other than deCONZ

If you’re using anything else than a CC2652 based board is an excellent choice. For ZHA any current generation EmberZNet board is a good choice too.

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So I went for the Conbee II and for now I run it with Phoscon on a seperate RPi and the deCONZ integration on HA.

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After having problems with deCONZ, I’m now using my Conbee II with zigbee2mqtt. Seems to be working perfectly so far.