Thanks for this! I have been using HA for a year now but only with stuff I already had on my network and a few Wiz lights. The whole ZigBee zwave thing has been a pending rabbit hole to fall into for a while and this was been an interesting read.
Definitely start with a beefy zigbee coordinator. I like the Ukrainian made SLZB-06. It can be USB or networked. I prefer networked, that way I can move it to a more central location in the house and keep my HA running as a VM in the basement.
I wish they made an SFP. That would be perfect.
Uh, it even runs POE, I just use a sonoff USB dongle...I've just been using my lightbulps and 230VAC relays as receivers/routers for nearby battery powered ZigBee units. There's always a mains powered ZigBee device within good range so it can reach my server in the laundry room.
Sonos is great but it's just a few dollars more for an even better device with more flexibility (if you're starting fresh).
I started with a conbee which led to a lot of issues.
This was a surprisingly well thought out and educational article - thank you! Was expecting a super basic article for the masses, but this had a number of quality suggestions, pros and cons of the different options, and even the authors personal opinion on preference of Z2M in case the reader wanted a real suggestion.
Thanks so much for this!
Only thing I think I noticed that could be corrected is OTA updates are no longer exclusive to Z2M - ZHA recently added this too, though I haven’t tried it yet and don’t see a reason to ever switch back from Z2M.
I had no clue that the MQTT messages were spam. I thought they were normal 😅
Great article. I didn't know you could pair devices to specific routers in Zigbee2MQTT.
Home Assistant is open source home automation that puts local control and privacy first. Powered by a worldwide community of tinkerers and DIY enthusiasts. Perfect to run on a Raspberry Pi or a local server. Available for free at home-assistant.io