I am currently using a Sonoff Dongle-E, so far had no issues for the last year. I know it's still a work in progress but it's been working fine but I honestly really like the SMLight, that's exactly what I have been looking for. Affordable, full support for Home Assistant and other protocols, WebUI and POE plus more, this is what I have been in search for.
I haven't used my Dongle E for much, I do use the P model though with Zigbee2MQTT and for routers. The POE model is kind of the bomb, I've been impressed with it.
Thanks Travis, for all us rookies. Really want to see the Z2mqtt install. Have tried twice, failed twice. Reditt and HA Community suggestion are often contradictory and wrong. Show how to validate each step and things to do when it goes wrong. Lots of videos out there with perfect installations.
I'm struggling too😢 I had a working docker based system now I'm on a brand new install using HAOS... So I know my dongle is good 2652p... I have verified MQTT is working but Z2M is fighting back hard. Failed to start zigbee... path not provided... I've tried everything I can think of 🤷♂️
Always a great video. Sonoff S40 ZB plugs are great. IKEA, Innr, and many other Zigbee 3.0 bulbs are great. I am replacing all my Sengled bulbs, even their ZB3.0 devices, because they are not repeaters.
Only side thing to that is no power monitoring on those and I've had a couple people with repeater issues on those which is odd as the S40 ZB is even CC2652 based.
Actually, I prefer Zigbee bulbs *not* being repeaters, because if they are powered off via an upstream switch then the mesh is disrupted. I have 12 Singled Zigbee RGB bulbs in outdoor housings and porch cans for ~2 years, and so far none have failed. They are controlled by Tasmotized wall and Shelly switches from Home Assistant.
Great guide, wish this was around a couple of years ago! Moving from a ConBee to SLZB-06, have a bunch of Aqara temp and water leak sensors from that setup, is it worth upgrading those to the newer T1/Zigbee 3.0 compliant sensors?
I can say yes, or even another brand if possible. I've always seen issues with Aqara stuff unless you used their hub. The 3.0 supposed spec stuff is better but it isn't perfect.
Love the videos! You have really helped me get an understanding of how everything is put together. Last night ordered a Beelink s12 N100 computer, zigbee antenae, NVMe tool, and poe switch to get started. I have several Lutron Decora light switches, not sure they are zigbee. Any suggestions for Z-Wave antenae? (I think I will probably need one). Currently, they are connecting through a smart things hub. Thanks!
I haven’t pulled the trigger with HA yet I’m trying to get to figure out what the firmware update process is. Normally with a bunch of vendor hubs I can set them up for auto update. What is the process like when you use HA. I saw in your video there was some firmware feature. Will that work for say Phillips or Aqara devices?
I'm not sure if you can do auto updates on the Zigbee side, I know it notifies you have the updates that are available and you just hit the button when you want.
well, tuya compatible wifi stuff can still operate with no any issue offline, only thing ill loose if they go out of bussines is the ability to control my stuff remotely.
24:34 I would recommend against rechargeable AAA batteries for zigbee stuff. Rechargeable AAA's have a nominal voltage of about 1.2V and alkaline AAA's have a nominal voltage of 1.5V. The lower voltage can cause problems with some devices. This voltage difference is the reason you often see "do not use with rechargeable batteries" written on some things. One problem I had was with a Zigbee radiator valve. The device detected the lower voltage as "low battery" and constantly gave me a lower power warning. When i put a regular alkaline battery in those problems went away.
I haven't seen that just yet. I would agree on like a water valve that has 4 batteries. Quite a drop in voltage. In talking with ThirdReality they agreed on the batteries and just stated it would show the lower battery percent for a while then drop down like normal. Ikea actually recommends a 1.2v rechargeable battery in their sensors which is awesome to see.
@@digiblurDIY It probably depends on the device. In the case of the radiator valve I had it would only last about 2 weeks on rechargeable's because the voltage on the rechargeables would drop too low. When i put alkalines in there the battery life is about a year.
There are 1.5V batteries with inbuilt USB-C. I use them in all my AA-compatible low power devices, including Zigbee sensors. AAA are crap, AA - decent.
Hello Digiblur, im new to smarthome just 1 month in, question about the Dongle E from Zonoff, why dont you like it. I will keep searching for that answer but hopefully you could shed some light appreciate it thank you
@@digiblurDIY Aww, was hoping you would check them out as they were new. Those AAA powered remotes were the most interesting, maybe you could start there.
Just starting a smart home and this may be a stupid question.... but, can you have more than one coordinator in a Zigbee network? To cover two ends of a property? Or would that cause issues?
That's what routers are for, they create a mesh network to route things around. Most mains powered devices will do this. You can take a coordinator and put router firmware on it too though.
For Zigbee and Z-Wave, it's only one coordinator per router, yeah. As mentioned, you can use main powered devices that act as routers to extend the network, but in the end they're always connecting back to the one coordinator. For Thread (which is a much newer technology), in theory you can have multiple coordinators (aka "border routers") that all work together on a single network, even if they're made by multiple manufacturers for multiple platforms. In practice it sorta works, but it's not a seamless experience if you're dealing with multiple vendors.
So I'm in SEA region, the most popular brand in here is Tuya, is there any issue with Tuya device support the zigbee? because all i had are Tuya devices with wifi or bluetooth
Routers are like repeaters. They route all the products around the house in the mesh. I have sensors all the way across the yard as the stepping stones handle it.
bashing my aqara sensors :( unfortunatly i can't argue with anything you said about them lol. That said, if you can get them super cheap (like i did), you can get them to work really well.
WTF who cares about your favorites .... I want to know is the Best is ...... ;) Many thanks for all the content and a refresh for or just plain new people ... Take care ...
"Yeah, definately take your shit out of the cloud is always the motto to go with."
I love it.
Lets be smart about these smart 'everything'
I am currently using a Sonoff Dongle-E, so far had no issues for the last year. I know it's still a work in progress but it's been working fine but I honestly really like the SMLight, that's exactly what I have been looking for. Affordable, full support for Home Assistant and other protocols, WebUI and POE plus more, this is what I have been in search for.
I'm also using a Sonoff Dongle-E but U have changed the firmaware in order to manage both Zigbee and Matter devices. So far so good.
I haven't used my Dongle E for much, I do use the P model though with Zigbee2MQTT and for routers. The POE model is kind of the bomb, I've been impressed with it.
I'm using the Dongle-E too (tbh got it by mistake). No issues so far.
The issues really only come up with Z2M usage on the E model. They are working on the driver for better support though.
@@digiblurDIY awesome! thanks for the info
Thanks Travis, for all us rookies. Really want to see the Z2mqtt install. Have tried twice, failed twice. Reditt and HA Community suggestion are often contradictory and wrong. Show how to validate each step and things to do when it goes wrong. Lots of videos out there with perfect installations.
It can be a little tricky but I'm going to cover it again as a few things have changed since I've done it on both HAOS and docker.
It took me 2 and a half days to get Z2M figured out. You are quite right that some instructional are out of date, which is what cause me to suffer lol
I'm struggling too😢 I had a working docker based system now I'm on a brand new install using HAOS... So I know my dongle is good 2652p... I have verified MQTT is working but Z2M is fighting back hard. Failed to start zigbee... path not provided... I've tried everything I can think of 🤷♂️
It gets even more fun when there's several ZigBee coordinators in your smart home
Always a great video. Sonoff S40 ZB plugs are great. IKEA, Innr, and many other Zigbee 3.0 bulbs are great. I am replacing all my Sengled bulbs, even their ZB3.0 devices, because they are not repeaters.
Only side thing to that is no power monitoring on those and I've had a couple people with repeater issues on those which is odd as the S40 ZB is even CC2652 based.
Actually, I prefer Zigbee bulbs *not* being repeaters, because if they are powered off via an upstream switch then the mesh is disrupted.
I have 12 Singled Zigbee RGB bulbs in outdoor housings and porch cans for ~2 years, and so far none have failed. They are controlled by Tasmotized wall and Shelly switches from Home Assistant.
Just figured this out after 2 weeks:
IF YOUR ZIGBEE DONGLE IS NOT CONNECTING TO YOUR HA *make sure* that Home assistant has access to your USB ports.
Good timing as I'm currently considering upgrading my Conbee2.
Nice choice to jump to a POE one.
Thanks for another great video!
Great info Travis. Thank you.
Great guide, wish this was around a couple of years ago! Moving from a ConBee to SLZB-06, have a bunch of Aqara temp and water leak sensors from that setup, is it worth upgrading those to the newer T1/Zigbee 3.0 compliant sensors?
I can say yes, or even another brand if possible. I've always seen issues with Aqara stuff unless you used their hub. The 3.0 supposed spec stuff is better but it isn't perfect.
In the UK Ikea is really good for remotes, bulbs and plugs. Cheap too.
Sadly Ikea is about a 5-6 hour drive for me. So I don't get time to indulge that often.
IKEA router devices are fine but I have issues with their battery power devices on ZHA
Love the videos! You have really helped me get an understanding of how everything is put together. Last night ordered a Beelink s12 N100 computer, zigbee antenae, NVMe tool, and poe switch to get started. I have several Lutron Decora light switches, not sure they are zigbee. Any suggestions for Z-Wave antenae? (I think I will probably need one). Currently, they are connecting through a smart things hub.
Thanks!
Awesome! Glad to hear they help out. I would probably just the get the Zooz adapter if you plan to do Zwave devices. amzn.to/3VHkNKx
I haven’t pulled the trigger with HA yet I’m trying to get to figure out what the firmware update process is. Normally with a bunch of vendor hubs I can set them up for auto update. What is the process like when you use HA. I saw in your video there was some firmware feature. Will that work for say Phillips or Aqara devices?
I'm not sure if you can do auto updates on the Zigbee side, I know it notifies you have the updates that are available and you just hit the button when you want.
Cool shirt!
Thanks! MQTT is the way.
well, tuya compatible wifi stuff can still operate with no any issue offline, only thing ill loose if they go out of bussines is the ability to control my stuff remotely.
24:34 I would recommend against rechargeable AAA batteries for zigbee stuff. Rechargeable AAA's have a nominal voltage of about 1.2V and alkaline AAA's have a nominal voltage of 1.5V. The lower voltage can cause problems with some devices. This voltage difference is the reason you often see "do not use with rechargeable batteries" written on some things.
One problem I had was with a Zigbee radiator valve. The device detected the lower voltage as "low battery" and constantly gave me a lower power warning. When i put a regular alkaline battery in those problems went away.
I haven't seen that just yet. I would agree on like a water valve that has 4 batteries. Quite a drop in voltage. In talking with ThirdReality they agreed on the batteries and just stated it would show the lower battery percent for a while then drop down like normal. Ikea actually recommends a 1.2v rechargeable battery in their sensors which is awesome to see.
@@digiblurDIY It probably depends on the device. In the case of the radiator valve I had it would only last about 2 weeks on rechargeable's because the voltage on the rechargeables would drop too low. When i put alkalines in there the battery life is about a year.
There are 1.5V batteries with inbuilt USB-C. I use them in all my AA-compatible low power devices, including Zigbee sensors. AAA are crap, AA - decent.
Hello Digiblur, im new to smarthome just 1 month in, question about the Dongle E from Zonoff, why dont you like it. I will keep searching for that answer but hopefully you could shed some light appreciate it thank you
It is the EFR chipset. The cc2652 has been more stable especially with Zigbee2mqtt
26:02
What about ikea stuff? They updated their lineup a few months ago using AAA batteries, no more coin batteries. Are they good?
I've had several users say the new door contact sensors are good.
@@digiblurDIY
Aww, was hoping you would check them out as they were new. Those AAA powered remotes were the most interesting, maybe you could start there.
@jackipiegg let me see if they will ship them as the store is 5 hours away from me.
@digiblurDIY I would be interested in that as well!
I ordered a few things from them this morning.
Any tutorial for ZHA installation? I tried with VM and Docker cannot find my ZBDongle-P?
I have only done the SLZB-06 ethernet with ZHA as the USB sticks are pretty much just plug into HA and it pops in automatically.
@@digiblurDIY thank you
Hi, great channel. Quick question. Why u dont recommend Sonoff dongle E?
Thank you
That's the EFR chipset and the TI ones are more universal between ZHA and Z2M.
Useful vid
Glad you think so!
Just starting a smart home and this may be a stupid question.... but, can you have more than one coordinator in a Zigbee network? To cover two ends of a property? Or would that cause issues?
That's what routers are for, they create a mesh network to route things around. Most mains powered devices will do this. You can take a coordinator and put router firmware on it too though.
For Zigbee and Z-Wave, it's only one coordinator per router, yeah. As mentioned, you can use main powered devices that act as routers to extend the network, but in the end they're always connecting back to the one coordinator.
For Thread (which is a much newer technology), in theory you can have multiple coordinators (aka "border routers") that all work together on a single network, even if they're made by multiple manufacturers for multiple platforms. In practice it sorta works, but it's not a seamless experience if you're dealing with multiple vendors.
You know that SLZB-06 is based on ZigStar Firmware?
Last one I saw was ESPHome based on that one. This doesn't seem like ESPHome at all.
No, ESPHOME was a option. They used a fork of Zigstar FW till version 0.9.9 and after they add Zigbee OTA firmware get locked, no any GPL compliance.
Stupid question: can you control your Home Assistant with the companion app from App Store over LTE/Cellular?
Yes, I connect to mine remotely all the time.
So I'm in SEA region, the most popular brand in here is Tuya, is there any issue with Tuya device support the zigbee? because all i had are Tuya devices with wifi or bluetooth
Tuya makes Zigbee devices...they do some oddness but I know ZHA and Z2M try to work in support as people pick up devices.
Do i have to connect zigbee dongle to home assistant or other device? Or can i just plug it to the current and start using?
Which one?
@@digiblurDIY zigbee dongle. Does it connect with some aplication and can I just buy this and other zigbee devices and create some automations?
@@przemekwrona7476im sorry but zigbee dongle is too generic of a term
I got the SMLight SLZB-06, connecting directly to beelink. But the USB is not getting detected.
Did you connect it to ethernet, go into the interface and say usb mode and keep ethernet interface active? Then plug into USB on your machine?
It is clear we need to have a coordinator to manage our devices but it is not clear to me when we need also a router and why?
thanks
Routers are like repeaters. They route all the products around the house in the mesh. I have sensors all the way across the yard as the stepping stones handle it.
Also 99% of the mains powered devices are routers. Only hand full like Sengled and few random others are not routers.
@@digiblurDIY how to recognize if the device is also a router?
in ZHA, go to the device itself, in the Device Info, hit the Zigbee Info drop down. It should say Device Type: Router
bashing my aqara sensors :( unfortunatly i can't argue with anything you said about them lol. That said, if you can get them super cheap (like i did), you can get them to work really well.
Brave brave! 😎
ty!
Why not SONOFF Dongle-E?
Stability with the CC chip has been better. The EFR driver has received a lot of love lately but I still don't trust it.
WTF who cares about your favorites .... I want to know is the Best is ...... ;)
Many thanks for all the content and a refresh for or just plain new people ... Take care ...
OG is the best! I need to teach him how to Zigbee though.
I see a merchandise opportunity for you Travis... Take your shit out th cloud y'all... digiblur T-shirts!!! Ready to buy one brother! 🤣
Indeed! Been using the saying since the Tuya Convert days. I so need to do it!
Home Assistant Nuc, Zigbee over Matter with Hue Bridge and a Third Reality Smart Bridge MZ1.
Zigbee over Matter eh?
@@digiblurDIY add your zigbee to ha via a matter bridge rather than zha or mqtt
It's Aquara, their no i
Lol... I say it 2 or 3 ways.
There's no u either lol
F the ☁️ 😄👍
Very much so...doing it one device at a time!
So many beginner's guides.... Where are professional guides?!
Just joking, great video. :)
That's actually next with the cool kids Zigbee2mqtt video.