i migrated from 100+ devices to z2m, and i can say... its worth all the effort for sure! Only the ability to set hue motion sensors to update every second instead of 15 seconds or the sensitivity of these sensors for example.... it has so much more options that zha doesnt have.

have you tried Z2M? how is it going? :D

Thanks!

I spend about two hours yesterday setting up Z2M. After trial and error, i finally got a IKEA shortcut button paired. after another hour of asking AI and browsing forums trying to figure out how to use it for an automation I gave up.... There was complete inconsistency with what I could read and what i saw in HA. The only options I had for triggering automations where "update available state changed" "battery state change", oh and one "on action" which seems to be the single press.... Was unable to find any information that could resolve my issue. Some solutions suggested went something like this....: "go to the MQTT dahsborad, find your device, then press the pysical device, and inspect the logs in MQTT dashboard, to see what signal was sent, then go to automations, create a MQTT trigger, bind a topic to your device and defined the MQTT payload to listen for, based on what you learned from inspecting the logs" saaaaaay whaaaaat!? how is that even a thinkable UX? 😂 I'm sure there is a better way, but this scared me off completely. Switched to ZHA and this just worked out of the box so far 🤞

I agree, sending JSON via MQTT is a great way to use Z2M to extend your automations beyond Home Assistant. But you have to remember that most people who want smart homes don't know what JSON is and how to send a payload. For those people I recommend the "boring" way 🤣

I agree, but if you're just starting out with Home Assistant and a couple of Hue bulbs then ZHA is a great choice

@@HomeAutomationGuy I would assume anybody who has come to perceive the need for ha is way past a couple of smart lamps.

Was it a big job to switch?

@@HomeAutomationGuy Luckily no because I have few Zigbee devices (around 10) at this point. Including installation and configuration it was 1 hour tops

It also really depends on how you want to use your zigbee devices too. I started out with ZHA, and then started playing around with NodeRED, then started using the zigbee devices in NodeRED, and just didn't like how I had to interface with them. Changing to Zigbee2MQTT gave me a way to use them a lot more inline with how I like to work. If you just use the automations in Home Assistant, I am sure ZHA will make more sense.

I currently have ZHA and would like to move to Zigbee2MQTT - I have a Pi4 running Home Assistant. Do you happen to have a guide you use for the switch or was it simple enough? Thank you.

That's true. I did see that same issue with Aqara devices. It's a lot easier to get started though if you're new to Zigbee!

Some devices have more functionality. Is it really worth all the effort of Z2M just so you can play with a cube? In my opinion not really. But it may be worth the effort in order to get something more useful working, such as some Zigbee blinds or other devices that may not have ZHA compatibility.

Thanks for the feedback Alexey, I appreciate it. I'll take it into account with future videos.

ZHA is great. No need to swap if you're happy with what you have!

I don't have the 'motion' sensor but have several other Aqara devices and had the same issue with pairing. At first I thought it was an incompatibility with ZHA so I switched to Zigbee2MQTT. I still had some pairing issues but eventually got them paired. You have to hit the pair button on the device multiple times to get it to pair. I started having issues every time there was a HA core update and devices going offline and so I added an Ikea Tradfri repeater but couldn't get that working correctly so I switched back to ZHA and everything is working fine now. I'm guessing that the initial issues I had with ZHA may have been resolved by the recent updates. The only strange issue I have now is that ALL my sensors are going through the Ikea repeater instead of just the ones closer to that then my coordinator but everything is working so I let it be. I have also since(based on recommendations) put my coordinator(Sonoff Zigbee v3 'E') on a 3 foot extension cable to get it away from my server(Wyse thin client) and get the antenna up higher to minimize any signal strength issues.

I don't think so, you'll need to use a device from the compatibility list on their website

I don't think the coordinator will support multiple Zigbee networks via both ZHA and Zigbee2MQTT. In my experience you need to pick one or the other, or use two coordinators and create to Zigbee networks - which might cause interference

Yep! I picked the two that I've used before.

@@HomeAutomationGuy Ok that makes sense. Thanks! Another question, I got an Aqara cube the other day. I paired it and it worked for about an hour before it became unavailable. I could see it in the visualization tab, but it wasn't linked to anything. Not sure how to fix that. Any ideas? Your stuff is so hopeful for us newbs trying to figure this stuff out!

Re-pairing is such a pain. But one day I just took a deep breath and took the plunge - I'm glad I did, I'm happy with the results.

I'm sorry to hear that! Having an unreliable Zigbee network is really frustrating! Do you know if the 2021.11 release has the same problems for you or has it been resolved?

@@HomeAutomationGuy I have not tried it to be honest. It was enough of a pain that I am avoiding the upgrade. I am going to watch the thread in the forums to see if others have been successful. I have also considered creating a second home assistant instance with a couple zigbee devices to test with

You can do that, but be aware that the two Zigbee networks may overlap each other if you use the same channels and that could cause interference and problems.

I've heard GREAT things about Deconz, I just have never had the opportunity to use it myself. I don't need three different Zigbee networks in my house - I just started with Zigbee2MQTT which is why I am using it.

@@HomeAutomationGuy yeah three different Zigbee networks is somehow overkill 🤣 I've never used Zigbee2MQTT, but your video made me doubt if I should give it a try 😉

Yeh, it's great that the community is putting so much time and love into ZHA - it's only going to keep getting better and better!

My biggest Zigbee group has 4 lights in it, so I've not got any particularly large ones. But again, I'm using Zigbee2MQTT for that and have not seen any locking up issues. That sounds really frustrating, I hope you find a solution!

I did not know that, that's great to know!

Did you know the z2m dont need to upload any files and check updates for philips hue automaticle if you needed too

It's almost as easy and shouldn't require any coding if you use the Z2M add on. You just open the add-on web interface via the Home Assistant navigation menu, click "Enable Join" and pair the device the same as ZHA

I'm pretty happy with my Slaesh's cc2652rb stick!

Check out my motion sensor lights video for more information. ukposts.info/have/v-deo/emB-dYSHiH9kl2g.html

Not really, it's quite a gimmick

Yeh, that's the reason I use Z2M as well.

When I had a power failure 95% of my devices kept working fine. It was just a couple that stopped working and they repaired almost instantly and I didn't need to reconfigure them as if it was the first pairing, so it wasn't so bad.

@@HomeAutomationGuy thank you, I will test this many times and many ways I was so afraid of this, and u calmed down ❤

@@HomeAutomationGuy is this using ZHA or Z2M? I'm having a lot of trouble w 108 devices using ZHA

I was going to ask "Why choose? Why not run both?" and this seems to answer that question. Two radios. Just to clarify ... do you turn one of the radios off to pair with the other or just ignore the request to pair on the one you do not want?

That's a drawback with Zigbee overall I believe.

@@HomeAutomationGuy You can run multiple z2m instances to control multiple Zigbee dongles. ZHA only allows each integration once, so you are limited to one dongle. Note that a zigbee device can only be paired to a single zigbee network, but there's nothing that stops you from running multiple networks...

Absolutely - great idea! I've added the link to the video description, so you should see it there now.

@@HomeAutomationGuy thanks!

Possibly if you have two USB sticks and dedicate one to each platform, but I honestly have never tried it.

Yes, no problem at all and even more. I'm successfully running Z2M with cheap cc2531 usb stick and multiple devices acting as routers, ZHA with Sonoff ZBBridge (tasmota) and separately IKEA Tradfri network with Ikea bridge for reliability with lights. No issues at all.

It most likely will work with most devices. Zigbee is a standard, but some manufacturers seem to use Zigbee with a dialect. Aussies and Americans both speak English, but have their own vocabulary. Same happens with some Zigbee devices and Philips Hue is infamous for it. Most 'platform specific' hubs are limited in the amount of zigbee devices they support. Most seem to really start to run into issues when you connect more than 20 devices to a single hub. People that run into similar issues often switch to the Deconz Zigbee dongle. A powerful Zigbee solution, but relative to other Zigbee hubs/dongles a bit pricey.

@@2Fast4Mellow After some time researching it seems that it is not really a ZigBee dongle but actually a USB powered hub. Only works with aqara. I've ordered a dongle

I would suggest picking one platform and running wth it. Having two Zigbee networks can cause interference and make things way more complicated.

@@HomeAutomationGuy I understand. Right now i’m using zha. I did not use zigbe2mqtt before. Which is good ? What’s your suggestion about that?

@@okanerdem If you're happy with ZHA then stick with it!

@@HomeAutomationGuy Yeah, for now all is okay but you know, z2m supporting more devices. Anyway, when i decided to buy a zigbee device, i try to check zha support and continue. Thank you so much for answer

I'm actually working on this video right now, watch this space!

I did it on HA version 2021.10

It is unfortunately difficult to keep a full accurate list with so many devices on the market. It's a good starting point though!

@@HomeAutomationGuy , agreed. While it was disappointing to see a set of products widely deployed in my home not on the list, I certainly did not mean to dissuade viewers from using it. In the words of a past US President, "Trust, but verify" :)

That is true. But I think ZHA has a similar concept with Quirks? github.com/zigpy/zha-device-handlers

Yeh, but we ALWAYS regret it but learn something useful in the process.

You may need to reset it. The Zigbee2MQTT documentation for the bulb will give you some hints on how you can do that. I have on occasion had to reset them a couple of times before they work, especially if they've previously been paired elsewhere (Like a Hue hub)

@@HomeAutomationGuy Thanks. You are correct that these bulbs were previously paired with a Hue Hub. My neighbor was moving and offered the his hoard of Philips bulbs to me. Again, thanks for the insight.

Which platform are you using?

@@HomeAutomationGuy same question.. I use ZHA... but planning to move to Tuya integration

In ZHA there is a tab at the top called Groups. You can configure them there

Don't I?

Do as I say, not as I do!

🤓