I have installed the HASS Sky Connect and got it paired with all my Hue bulbs and Hue smart power plugs; only the Tap switch does not work. And pairing with my Aqara FP1 was flawless. It makes my HASS configuration again simpeler and easier to manage!
merryChristmas. I've got mine too. But I haven't installed it yet. But as I understand from the video you can keep using your old stick(Conbee II) with mqtt2zigbee and use the new one for ZHA and migrate slowly? Many thanks again, I was waiting for this video.
You can use multiple Zigbee coordinators with Home Assistant. Different channels would be best, though two on the same channel will work, but with the possibility of interference. Just be aware you can't migrate Deconz to ZHA directly. It will be fully manual process.
Hi Ed, love you videos, great work. Question though, were you able to connect your Lidl motion sensor (which is mentioned in the list containing all your devices) with the HA SkyConnect?
I switchted everything from ConBee II to Skyconnect yesterday. ZHA Migration didnt work very well. Some Devices lost connection . Had to pairing again. Now works as aspected.
I’m interested to see how the Thread onboarding works. I have a number of Nanoleaf bulbs and lightstrips I was using in HomeKit that support Thread and Bluetooth, and recently brought them into HA. Only problem is they now connect over Bluetooth which gives me far slower response.
Interesting. I was wondering about ZHA vs Z2M with the device. It is to bad it does not work with Z2M. I hope in future version updates they can make it work. No desire to switch all my devices over. Isn't the Yellow also designed to work with ZHA out the box but you still need a dongle if you use Z2M? Anyway great video and Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays and have a great New Year!
Zigbee2Mqtt is limited in what adapters it can use. As far as I can tell Z2M only seems to work with Texas Instraments chipsets. The SkyConnect is based on the Silicon Labs chipset. It might be worth doing a feature request with the Z2M team.
@@EsotericArctos They are working on it. It can be installed using ezsp just like the Sonoff Dongle-E and sort of works with the edge version of Zigbee2MQTT already, but it's unstable atm.
@@SmartHomeJunkie Any news on Z2M development towards SkyConnect? I can't find any articles or places to follow up.... working fine for me on ZHA though
@SmartHomeJunkie, Hi Ed, if you were building a new smart home from scratch, would you choose this dongle or Sonoff Zigbee 3.0? My concern with SkyConnect is the range due to built in antenna.
The range shouldn't be an issue as long as you build a strong mesh network with enough router devices. But, I would still go for the Sonoff Dongle-P. (Not the E)
Keeping an eye on this. My Conbee II recently hasn't come back online a couple of times after rebooting my VM, so it feels to me there might be more reliable coordinators around. I guess I could migrate devices one at a time manually so as not to bring the whole house down in one go!
I find my Conbee II quite flakey. Sometimes I have to do a full OS shutdown, pull the Conbee II out of the USB for 20 minutes to get it to work again. I thought it was just the Conbee II I had, so I bought a second one that has the same issues. I have a Sky Connect coming now as I am sick of the flakey Conbee, but I am concerned as in the last few days I have seen several reports of range issues with the Sky Connect. I know with Zigbee being a mesh, I can put a router device closer to the co-ordinator to get range, but this concerns me. If I have issues, I will maybe go the Sonoff route and just keep the Sky Connect as a dedicated Thread radio.
Thank you for the great video and Merry Christmas. I am currently using the Sonoff Dongle E with Z2M. my sky connect has now also arrived. I'm still not sure if I should really switch. 🤔
thanks for the Video. Is there a way to replace devices wich are currently connected to the Sonoff Dongle, without breaking all automations etc. Like "replacing" the Sonoff Dongle without repairing all the devices?
Mine works with Zigbee2mqtt in my RPi 4, but only in USB2 ports but not as Zonoff's -P dongle. So far have I been able to pair IKEA Range extender & curtain, INNR120 but not Aqara motion detector yet.
I believe it's still unstable in Zigbee2MQTT. I've tested it for a couple of hours, but ran into issues with Zigbee2MQTT. I used Zigbee2MQTT for a while now using the Sonoff Dongle-E which is also not stable yet and will see how ZHA performs work the SkyConnect in the next couple of weeks.
got mine a couple of days ago... run into trouble with OS 9.4 and the cable that comes with it is too short (interference issues). Did a fresh install of OS8.5 and add a 1m USB extention cable and all looking good at the moment...
Hi. Can you try with ZHA if there's an option to keep last state of the zigbee lamps, like Ikea Tradfri, in case of a power outage. I don't want the lamps to turn on in the middle of the night if power goes off and on again.
Hey i have the skyconnect dongle and it works great for me however i have some sensors outside that are just out of range, around -90 RSSI. I see there are cheap usb Zigbee repeaters on Aliexpress, my question is will these work with the Skyconnect to expand the mesh range? Thanks
Matter should connect to every system.. hmm, i just saw a review of the Switchbot (one of the first Matter devices) but.. it dit not work with Home Assistant so Matter is not it for this moment yet. But i just ordered a SkyConnect and planned to rebuild a new Homeassistant on an old Nuc.
But question is.. does it matter? I mean I'm fine with ZigBee.. why use other brands just because you can? Or do a Matter-device mesh in the same mesh-network as my ZigBee-devices?
I believe the thing is that a lot of suppliers agreed on one standard to communicate with each other. And that standard is Matter, so we can expect more and more matter devices in the near future. But, we have to see how it evolves. I'm not going to replace all my devices in my house by matter devices.
May I understand if one just gotten a sonoff coordinator and now the availability of skyconnect? Moving forward should one be purchasing matter products and skyconnect exclusively? Thanks
The Pi Hut in the UK finally had the Home Assistant SkyConnect in stock and I have ordered mine. I have a lot of IKEA devices connected to my DIRIGERA. Can I connect my devices to both or do I have to re-pair them to Home Assistant only? Does the Home Assistant SkyConnect now support Thread? The Home Assistant page says it is still coming in a future firmware update
It supports thread. You can keep using your Ikea Hub as well, but I believe only one Zigbee network is the best way to go. The SkyConnect is only fully compatible with ZHA, not with Zigbee2MQTT.
@@SmartHomeJunkie I spent two days setting up ZHA on Skyconnect (100+ devices). All I can say is, I am utterly disappointed. The user experience and reliability of the Conbee II and Deconz is leagues ahead. My system is barely usable now. Would not recommend this to anyone, at this point. Skyconnect is half baked, even my old Hue bridges handles network traffic and groups better. No source routing either. ZHA is garbage, I have no idea how people use it in the state it's currently in. The network map is useless and there is no way to change the Zigbee channel without wiping the network. So many other issues and no support. Time to spend an entire weekend moving back to a reliable configuration on the outdated Conbee II.
@@TheLawIX Thank you for sharing your experience. At my side or works fine using ZHA. It doesn't work well with Zigbee2MQTT at the moment. The Conbee 2 is a great stick!
@@SmartHomeJunkie I'm just surprised they would release this as is knowing ZHA would be what most use. The Conbee III is on its heels with matter support. Not sure how they'll compete. I'm constantly getting log messages about network overload with this new setup. It's a nightmare.
My server is on a VM in my garage :( do I have to have an Active USB 50feet cable in my underground tubing to reach my home or it can be possible to have a repeater or a big high gain antenna for the zigbee? I think I love my LocalTuya for that reason... I have unifi AP in all my buldings so I can put wifi Tuya anywhere but I am limited in the product list. Aqara and govee stuff push me to look at zigbee.
@@walberg61 Okay. Be aware that you need to pay for taxes (invoerrechten) if you order in the UK. If you order in an EU country you do not have to pay for taxes.
I've just ordered one as I have had a few issues lately with my conbee 2, but I use deconz, I haven't seen any information on if it is compatible with deconz. Would you happen to know if it is compatible or would I have to migrate to ZHA or something different to get it to work?
Thanks. I have blue one. Something I don't understand is how to make Zigbee product connect to my WIFI network. I just added a Tuya motion sensor. It work well if it close to SkyConnect, but if I put away, it didn't. How to add WIFI credentials as I used to do in SmartLife app?.
@@SmartHomeJunkie So, I need to use Zegbee routers to connect my product around my home?. Also, still don't understand why do I need SkyConnect if it supports only nearby products!. Thanks so much.
@@A.Almatrodi I think it would be good if you read up about how Zigbee works first. The SkyConnect supports devices on a long distance as long as you have enough router devices (like lightbulbs) in your network.
I bought one and installed it recently. I'm wondering if i can extend the usb cable because my HA is installed on a VM located in the basement (didn't really think that far ahead when ordering😅). The stick is now a bit too far away from anything and no detection from any devices in pairing.
@@SmartHomeJunkie do you mean like a ikea extender? I could try that, the only other i have around is a spare hue hub but that needs a lan connection i guess
@@cyanide_4c159 Yes, like an Ikea extender or a Sonoff Dongle-P or Dongle-E that is flashed with router firmware. Also smart plugs can work as router devices.
For me, for the moment, Skyconnect is a total disappointment. Aqara temperature sensors, door and window sensors, Opple wireless switches, and tuya plug does not work. Managed to find the plug but the light keeps blinking and after a few hours it drops from the network. I barely managed to pair 2 of 4 aqara leak sensor. I used the cable from the package and also tried a 5m cable but the result is the same. It pairs ok with hue lights and hue dimmer. Paired all devices on smartthings but i will move back to Z2M on an old Sonoff zbridge, it's more reliable, at least until they fix the many problems they have so far.
I believe Aqara sensors such as the temp and door ones don't fully conform to the zigbee 3.0 standard and so you can get various disconnect issues. I have a zigbee network with an Aqara hub for all of my Aqara sensors and then separate one with Sonoff dongle for more modern zigbee compatible devices. Defeats the purpose of being able to have 1 nice mesh network, but that's the trade-off I took for being able to use all of my Aqara sensors reliably. (Which I've used for about 5 years now and love)
@@SmartHomeJunkie I have Hue lights in every room. I don't think the coverage is the problem since 1 temperature sensor was 1 m away from the Skyconnect, 2 door/window sensors are 2-3 meters away, the wireless switch is 2 meters away, with no obstructions, so the these are all in the same room. Don't know if it's a Skyconnect problem or ZHA problem, but It must be Skyconnect, since it does not recognize these devices even if I keep them near the Skyconnect.
Anyone having issues with the Zooz 700 Z-wave dongle AND the Skynet working at the same time? been running this on Unraid and it seems both use the 'Siliconlabs CP210x UART Bridge' which has the exact same addresses (10c4:ea60). i don't currently have any use for the skynet dongle yet, but wanted to get it working and to get a few things to play with.
zigbee2mqtt does not work with that EZ chip. I have spent or rather wasted hours and days to confirm it works extremely badly with ikea and aquara. since zha is not really working well for the ikea dial and some aquara devices the sky connect and any other zigbee dongle with that chip is not an option. wait a year. at least I guess.
@@SmartHomeJunkie imho "experimental" is misleading. imho it plain does not work well enough to deserve "experimental" :) But that's just semantics ;) . Yes, ikea drain fast and im my case pairing window and temperature sensors from Aqara was like playing the lottery. Some worked, others didn't, others did after the 10th try and so on.
If Z2M does add this adaptor to their compatibility list, it would open the way for many other SI Labs based adaptors to be used with Z2M. Matter support will be more thoroughly implemendted in the future. I am not sure Matter makes a lot of differnece to me though. I already have pretty well all the devices I need in my smart home and they all work exactly as I want them to now. I admit I am skeptical of Matter. After all, it is all the same companies that made zigbee, and zigbee was marketed to be the unifying solution as well.....
those devices work today. in 5 years are they going to be mantained? there are hundreds if not thousands of integrations for home assistant and I can see them slowly decaying when developers move on and stop mantaining it. Now, we have matter which will make all the integrations way easier and standarized. then, developers can move on to create new things instead of keeping up with breaking changes. this will push home automation software forward.
@@ramonkawa You could say the same for Smartthings, Hubitat, or any other device. Any device may stop receiving firmware updates. Philips Hue Bridge version 1 as an example. Wink as another example of abandonment. Many others too. Existing integrations will be maintained while the products are in use. There are integrations with less then 0.1% of HA users running them, and they are still maintained by the core team. The core team is pretty good like that. Also, HA official integrations are maintained by Paid developers via Nabu Casa. It is a bit different to your usual open source platform. You could say Linux could decay anytime too as that is open source...... There is a huge community for Home Assistant, much larger than any other open source, and many commercial products. But abandonment is a risk you take with any product, even Tuya and Aqara platforms. Integrations in HACS and other custom integrations, these are always a use at own risk. They are not part of the official Home Assistant, even HACS is not official, even though the developer of HACS is now a paid member of the Nabu Casa team. These custom integrations could break anytime and not be fixed.
I got this today. It gets recognised as Silicon Labs CP210x USB to UART Bridge in device manager on my Win 11 PC with VirtualBox HA install and does not show up in Homeassistant. Tried to add it in integrations and it wont show up.
Same problem here... if I delete the drivers it is recognised as skyconnect but if I install the drivers it is recognised as Silicon Labs CP210x USB to UART... any help to get it detected?
Interesting product, but have Sky Broadcasting given you their permission to use the Sky brand name ? After all they stopped Microsoft from using Sky Cloud !
