I use both, over 200 devices. Skyconnect ZHA, Sonoff 3 Plus Zigbee2MQTT. Through out house and garage, use seporate channels have no issues. I would agree new user, get a Skyconnect and go with ZHA, much simpler setup, once you get more advanced, then branch out to Zigbee2MQTT. Good video thanks for taking the time.
I agree, imagine what ZHA+Z2M would look like with dedicated paid developers from HA on it. I have keep trying ZHA every once in awhile to see how it progressing. It just isn't as stable or support devices as well as Z2M imo. @@BeardedTinker
I really hope that with multi-protocol support in HA and with more time and effort, it will become stable and in terms of functionality same as ZB2MQTT - but there is always problem of supported devices. This process should be improved and simplified.
Great video for new users of Home Assistant! 👍🏻⭐ Very informative and detailed, but still very concise. 😊 I've been using Z2M for several years now because of its bigger compatibility and I can't see myself going over to ZHA at the moment.
Love the video! Having separate Z2M installation and perhaps also broker of course also means more maintenance and chance of partially broken system. Doing backups with ZHA could make recovery from broken installation easier
Thank you Claire! Some topics are hard to cover. For example - for long want to create video on Zigbee setup (network, channels, interference, range,...) but scared of doing it - because comments would probably be hard on it. Also, security in smart home, do's don'ts, what to look for etc - again, Internet would probably burn me alive on comments :D
Congratulations on the video. I currently use both options, precisely to have two zigbee networks in operation. Notably, zigbee2mqtt not only has more compatibility, but also better use of the resources of each device, such as entities, configurations, etc. However, I notice a better response from devices with ZHA. Even if it's almost imperceptible. Studying the possibility of migrating the current zigbee to a docker version in my proxmox, and creating a second zigbee2mqtt installation to replace the ZHA.
Running it in separate docker is good idea. That way it's always on and actually can be used with UI independently of HA. I haven't noticed any speed difference, but than again I was not looking so nice tip to check it next time!!!
@@BeardedTinker I was forced to separate the networks because the mmwave tuya presence sensors were limiting the number of devices. Functionally they are great, but they overload the network
Invaluable insight & worth watching before installing many Zigbee devices. I started with ZHA then hit the frustrations mentioned & started again with Z2M 😂😢
I have been using z2m for past 2 years after (briefly using zha). ZHA looks to have gotten a lot better, but had poor support for a lot of cheap aliexpress sensors back then so I chose z2m. Have been really happy with it. I switched from a conbee2 to a ethernet zigbee coordinator, which was a pain in re-paring the devices (didn't see a path to move everything over between those 2 coordinators) and everything continues to work great.
Glad it was helpful! My personal opinion, it's a bit better. ZHA does have some advantages to simplicity of setup, but if you compare list of supported devices and speed of development, Z2M has advantage overall
Thanks a lot for a comprehensive walk through. Recently moved from RP4+ConbeeII+Deconz to the Yellow where I now run the ConbeeII+deconz + ZHA. But am disappointed with ZHA. So now I will try a move to z2m
I just migrated from ZHA to Z2M and indeed, most of my sonoff battery sensors were not detected. But all my mains powered devices appeared with additional configuration. Glad I made the switch, as I was even thinking of using only mains or usb powered devices/sensors.
Glad it worked out for you!!! BTW for battery state, it's possible that you have to wait up to 24hrs for data to be pulled/displayed. This of course depends on device too.
Thanks for sharing this video. I have many switches and plugs from the Bseed brand. These are better supported at Zigbee2mqtt. For this reason I switched from ZHA to Zigbee2mqtt.
Until recently I've been using WiFi only, but because of some random reliability issues due to devices dropping off line unexpectedly. I decided to look at ZigBee, ZWave and Matter, & because the Sky Connect does/will support ZigBee and Matter support at the same time it seemed like a good idea & it's also a nice way to give something back to the HA team. This lead me down the ZHA route, although I appreciate I can swap. As you mentioned not all devices are supported within ZHA and even devices on the Blackadder site can be misleading especially when manufacturers release a number of revisions of the same device under the same product code (Yes, AQARA! I'm talking to you) anyways my devices do now work although missing some features, custom quirks are great for ZHA as users can test them in-between HA releases and my community interaction was a positive one, which made it a nice experience. I just wish the process to create Quirk's was better explained (perhaps an idea for a video 😉) as I would like to get more involved.
I hope that custom quirks get new way of setting them up as it can be fairly complicated process. Especially for people that are not that into coding or IT. And yes, I've mentioned Aqara in my video as they are notorious for not following the standard. They take it more as suggestion than how things should work.
ZHA developers also has a new ”Quirks V2” request for change for the zigpy library it uses to change the way ZHA works with unsupported devices out-of-the-box to allow more attributes that do not have a quirk in ZHA Device Handlers to at least be pass-through to ZHA
I need both and use both on the same HA instant. I have a Odroid 2N+ (HA Blue) For ZHA I use the skyconnect and for Z2M a ConBee II stick. The reason is I really like the Ikea cheap switches and is only ZHA compatible and I usse a Moes IR-sender that is only Z2M compatible. My main network is on ZHA and whats nbot compatible goes to Z2M and it is working great for almost 6 months no issues at all.
I got to HA about 1 year ago following a tech RU-vidr (not a HA one though) who was suggesting deconz on a PI4. Some month ago I have migrated to a miniPC (which was incredibiy easy) adding a DongleP with z2m. If I only knew when I was starting! Far more reliable, extensive controls, lots of information resources, an extraordinary community)... Today I wouldn't go any other way
Thanks for sharing this. Glad you're happy with your setup now. Dongle-P is for me much better than E version (although in theory E should be same if not better). Have both of them.
I am using dongle E, but have purchased a dongle P in prevision of a secondary Z2M network. However, I have read that dongle E would have better range.
It should. But depending on the firmware you're using, you may have lower limit on max supported devices. Don't want to lie here. but I think it was half of what P version was supporting. Again, that's not limitation of device, but FW. Also, since it's mesh network, I don't actually care that much for range (but that's my setup) as I have a lot of mains powered devices that cover well every room and also have very good signal strength between them and coordinator. On the other hand, would I, if I would be starting from scratch, have that many mains powered devices - definitely not.
Don't forget that you have to add the Zigbee2MQTT addon repository to the Add-on library before it is available to install. I spent many hours trying to work out why adding MQTT Broker and the integration didn't give me the interface to add devices!
I started with ZHA and now I'm too deep to migrate. One thing that is stopping ZHA from expanding is there is no clear manual on how to make a custom quirk. I consider myself to be pretty good with coding but when I tried to read on custom quirks and then actually looking over some of the existing I found things that were contradicting each other. Also not knowing anything about python doesn't help. I just wish there was some clear and concise manual on creating custom quirks I'd have no problem doing some.
No worries. I've created few Z2M custom quirks and they were much easier than ZHA. I've not managed to create any so far for it and python is one of the issues.
Some feedback on this new type of video: I have already gone through this subject of ZHA vs Z2M and for me this video is pretty easy to follow. But if I were new to HA and Zigbee, this is hard to understand. I think you need to dumb it down a little bit more or leave the more advanced subjects to the later parts of the video (like docker containers). What will also help is to make a clear separation between the various subjects on which you're comparing the ZHA and Z2M, like "device support", "coordinator support", "ease of installation", "flexibility? (docker etc)", etc. So not doing ZHA first and then Z2M, but step by step based on subject. That also makes it possible to make a side by side comparison list (pros/cons) that people can read themselves in the video (a bit like a powerpoint slide), extending it as you get further into the video. Basically a table with ZHA and Z2M at the top, and the subjects on the left, one subject per line. If you decide to make such a video, you could call it "ZHA vs Zigbee2MQTT for dummies" ;-) Follow up videos could then be: - How to install ZHA and add devices - How to install Z2M and add devices - How to move from ZHA to Z2M - Running ZHA and Z2M side by side, what do you need, what to look out for - How to move Z2M out of HA and into a separate VM/docker - How to run two Z2M instances in HA (it seems like this is possible with a trick, havent tried it yet) - How to change your Zigbee stick in Z2M (ie. from Conbee II to Sonoff P for example) - What if your Zigbee stick fails and you have to buy a new one, how to install - Pros/cons of USB vs Network Zigbee coordinators - Choose your Zigbee channel wisely (wifi vs zigbee, two coordinators on same channel or not?) - Zigbee (light) groups/scenes, how do ZHA and Z2M handle this, and what happens if you create scenes in HA/flooding Zigbee network? Anyway, keep up the good work, I generally like your videos!
@@BeardedTinker Another possible video would be "How to run HA in a high availability setup with Proxmox, how should I deal with a separate Zigbee stick on each machine, or is it better to use a network based coordinator? How to prevent a single point of failure"
@@sandphotoNL I wouldn't go as far as creating HA environment for Home Assistant. Having regular backups should be more than enough to restore it really fast. But network attached gateway/coordinator,, that's a really good idea and I'll be doing video on that very soon.
Great video ! I was wondering if you could maybe make one that explains how device "binding" is supposed to work in either ZHA (or Z2M). Its not really clear how to for example connect a Philips Hue Remote onto a ZHA light group directly so that it does not have to go through HA automations.
AFAIK and have experienced that's not possible, since binding happens to 1 controller, either the controller you have on HA or the Hue. Just basing this of my experience with IKEA lights and remotes. I now do both through HA, with Z2M, so I can either use remote, app or voice to control the lights manually. And of course automatically on presence when needed
Regarding z2m 1.35, with that new feature of supporting "unsupported" devices on the basic level: it sounds like z2m starting to do what ZHA was doing all along. ZigBee clusters from official ZCL (Zigbee cluster library) are supported without quirks in ZHA. It's the manufacturer-specific, non-standard stuff that requires quirks. However adding quirks for ZHA is indeed cumbersome and in general case requires changes in 2 repositories.
Yes, ZHA is following standard while ZB2MQTT started as per devices database. Problem with ZHA is that a lot of times from what i got back from devs, they decided rather to not support something than go against "standard". Which I really do respect. We are here because companies don't follow the them, and i's not just in Smart Home environment. Good thing is that because of (very extensive) database, a lot of similar devices, for example Tuya ones, have been supported because similar devices were already supported.
I'm a user that want to use the best device for my usecase and then the compability is always a high priority, Zigbee2MQTT have always been the goto. Specially now with the new feature that will make none compatible devices still somewhat work, this is 100% smarthome for me.
Any specific reason why you went that route? Did you have any issues so far? Mine is stable, but also limited in number of devices since it's just for testing.
Went from ZHA to Z2M because of some firmware updates needed. Though I've got the feeling I experience that battery devices are losing connection more then they did before... Which doesn't make sense, because I've integrated a bunch of smartplugs on Zigbee which also function as a router.
In Z2M? Interesting...I haven't noticed that on my network, except in devices that have very low battery. Will try to find if there is an issue on GitHub for that...
This is perfect timing! I was wondering this afternoon when I move do I want to switch to Z2M so I can add some new aqara switches or if I should stick with what I've got and find another smooth solution
To be honest, if ZHA would support so many end devices as Z2M does, it would be a no-brainer for me. I'm running Z2M (with Sonoff Dongle Plus-E) and some devices are not re-joining e.g. after HA restart, sometimes Z2M crashes while pairing devices. Not that really stable imo. But I can live with that for now, it will get better over time.
I'm using a Conbee II with Z2M and have no Z2M crashes and no disconnecting devices at all. Maybe the problem is that the Sonoff E is still experimental? It will probably mean that it gets better over time, shouldn't stay experimental for ever...
Yeah, that's funny part that E is (or any Silicon Labs powered device) is experimental now for a LONG time. It should have been fixed and made stable by now.
@@BeardedTinker FYI, upgrading the dongle firmware from 6.3.10 (considered as "stable" huh) to 7.3.1 fixed some of my issues, so I recommend upgrading if anyone has issues like devices dropping out of the network, not joining again after HA reboot etc...
Great Video. It would be interesting to know how to keep a zigbee network healthy, limitations of the most used coordinators like how many devices they can handle. Something more up to date. Any zigbee expert channel recommendations?
Ah, I'm avoiding doing video on that as - you know - Internet. It would probably result in so many opposite comments that would burn me alive :) I've seen good video from Home Automation Guy ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-t-gw7kURXCk.html you can check that one out. But remember that what works for someone may not be best solution for your environment.
Hello, I'm using Z2M for about 4-5 years now. It's installed on a dedicated Pi3 (to avoid problem with other software). I'm using the full install option (no docker). Before buying a device, I always look at the Z2M database which is very complete. I think for people who just have hue or ikea, the ZHA should be enough but I'm not sure that people using HA limit themself to hue and ikea device :). One little question, I don't remember how to add a shortcut in the left panel to Z2M as you have :S
Great comment - thanks for sharing. For left navigation bar, you can use iFrame Panel (www.home-assistant.io/integrations/panel_/) That should allow you to add link there.
Deconz has been a nightmare with the Conbee III, especially when it's thru HA, guess I'll give zigbee2mqtt a shot cuz it's a similar amount of dependencies
Thank you for the excellent video. Please can you tell what is that device with the Ethernet port and antenna? I need to expand my Zigbee network to several industrial buildings and if that device can do that, I’ll be very very happy.
I did video on 2 of those devices - I think you'r talking about SMLight SLZB device. Just be careful in network planning as each building needs separate coordinator - you can't just expand network via Ethernet - they will be probably separate one for each location.
That is coordinator with Ethernet connection - but can also run as router. Here is the link to the video. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-oRNvplBPBYA.html
Once again a grate video. I am using Z2M , i tried ZHA some time ago and had few problems so i decided to move to Z2M and i am quite happy with it. One think that i find helpful is to have the MQTT part to be able to debug if something it worked or not. One question, what coordinator do you recommend that works well with Z2M? Thanks
Thank you Adi! Excellent point about MQTT - makes debugging easy. I'm suling CC3652RB from slae.sh - at one point it was actuall ythe only officially endorsed USB stick with Zigbe2MQTT, but there were issues with late deliveries etc, so it was "removed" as official device while still it's recommended. Also, Sonoff Dongle-P is IMHO very good stick. I'm yet to test my first hybrid device with ZIgbee2MQTT - uzg.zig-star.com/product/ - just got it few weeks back but didn't have time to play with it,
Very nice Video! If I have well understood you can have both ZHA and Z2M working at the same time. My HA is running on a RPi and I use Synology to run some application like Frigate seen in HA as addons. Currently I use ZHA on Raspberry HA. May I at the same time use Z2M on Synology? will the devices be visible in both systems? Thanks
Hi! Thanks for the comment. You can run both on RPi or you can also run Z2M on Synology in Docker. If you are using HA OS, it's easier to run both on RPi. No. Devices need different coordinators and you'll not see devices in both systems, but all will be visible in HA.
@@BeardedTinker in case both running on Raspberry, could be the coordinator be the same? Now I’m using the dongle-e with multiplayer (Zigbee and matter).
Very nice video, thanks for the information. I have a couple of devices that only work fully in zha, in m2qtt I only see the battery level and the lqi, do you have a video on how to enable the missing features in m2qtt? Regards
Are those devices by any chance buttons or switches? If yes, than that's normal. They send state as event. But also check Z2M database of devices and see if they are supported or not. If not you can open an issue on Z2M Github and ask for help.
I'm not sure if I was doing something wrong or it was a ZHA issue but I had massive problems with pairing with ZHA. It seemed that you could only pair using the co-ordinater rather than being able to use routers like Z2M does. Since I switched to Z2M pairing has been a breeze.
On ZHA network I don't have that many routers. It's used mostly for testing, so can tell you if this is bug or feature... :) But yes, Z2M does make things a bit easier and more stable for me.
Nice video, maybe you can share what piece of hardware you showed to allow to extend coverage to a detached garage? Do you have a vídeo on own to do it?
ZBT-1 is Skyconnect - that's just name change. Still IMHO works better with ZHA than ZB2MQTT although support in Z2M has improved a bit. Conbee III is in nutshell same as SkyConnect and Sonoff Dongle-E (or similar devices) - using same SOC as they.
Question for all Z2M users: I just started in the HA game two days ago with HA Green and SkyConnect. I am a newb at coding and want to avoid that as much as possible, so it hough I’d keep it simple thus went with ZHA. But already the first few Aqara sensors are failing or not supported. Removing ZHA and setting up Z2M looks manageable, but question: is the pairing and automating as “easy” (coding free as much as can be) with Z2M as with ZHA? Thanks so much in advance!
It's almost the same. You press pairing button on device and allow pairing in Zigbee2MQTT (or ZHA). Device should be added.After that just rename it to name you want and that's it. Nothing more to do.
It is not just if the device is supported but also if _all_ of the options are supported. ZHA supports devices at a simple level which will not help you if you need the other options. For example a motion detector with luminance sensor. ZHA would say it is supported even if it only detects motion. That is not helpful if you want to get the lux info.
That's correct, but I would also dare to say that we can consider device supported only if all of the options are there for us to use. So, I wouldn't call it supported.
Thanks for comparing, nice video. Wounder if you tested the emqx as broaker? I think it would give more data about trafic and so on, but at the same time they migh just drop free version one day, not shure if I go that way.
I've seen it and checked docs for it, but not tested it. From what I've seen it's better in performance, but also required more resources. Not sure that eclipse mqtt is currently issue on 99% of systems with number of transactions per second. Most probably have only few of them and AFAIK it is optimised for 100 transactions per second. But I'm planning to test it. And yeah, hopefully we don't see free version disappear in future if people go fir it.
This might explain why the new Sonoff "P" switch I bought this week just wasn't working with ZHA? I could see the device but it didn't expose any values. I installed zigbee2mqtt and got it working.
I was about to Say that you did not cover the option for two networks, untill I saw the end of the video. I am currently considering this dual network option, with a main ZHA network, and a secondary Z2M for some "New" devices. Any video covering this option would be great. Thx
I haven't made but also haven't seen video on it. But no worries, it really shouldn't be anything more than just basic setup. Bad thing of course is that since they are separate networks, coverage is also separate/they don't share mesh network. One thing to note is of course channels, try not to use same ones on both sticks to avoid interference.
That system is currently offline. But I just used default configuration for SykConnect available on Z2M site: www.zigbee2mqtt.io/guide/adapters/#experimental
Thank you for your fast reply. I have seen your video after i bought skyconnect. I think i watched all related videos on RU-vid and finaly i ordered (waiting for arrival) a sonoff USB dongle P version, not the newer one. I think this is much simpler as everyone says it works out of the box. Will keep you posted. The skyconnect i will use it probably in the future as THREAD but i will evoid using them in the same time. My first zigbee devices are some TRVs ME167 from tz2000 and , on ZHA it does not recognize entities and when i started to dig the problem i discovered Z2M and from there finaly to your video. I am new at this but i find this very apealing with all the provocations it brings. Will keep in touch and thank you for your support. 🤗
Yes, it really provokes you to try and figure things out. Good luck with your Smart Home journey and I think you'll be very happy with Dongle-P. It's a very good device.
hello all. I just started on zigbee2mqqt. I have a sonoff coordinator from there i have 2 wall plugs and 2 sensor. the sensor keep going offline. why? one is 3 meters away from the coordinator the other is probably 6 to 7 meters that one is behind a wall maybe thats why it goes offline. what do i need to extended the signal? thank you
Thanks for the comment! 3 meters shouldn't be the issue, but 7m potentially could, especially if there are obstacles and depending on the objects blocking the signal. One other issue that may be the problem is frequency - you could potentially scan wifi spectrum near your coordinator, just to make sure that channel that's selected for ZB is not in same range as currently used WiFi channels. Check map here: haade.fr/en/blog/interference-zigbee-wifi-2-4ghz-to-know Additional thing is - how is the Sonoff coordinator attached to your HA - is it port USB 3.0 and are you using extension cord for it. Even if not using USB3, it's recommended that coordinator is NOT directly attached to device as there may be interference from HW. One thing you could do is get cheap Zigbee power plug (or something similar). Any mains powered device will act as router and will expand network range and that can help with range and interference.
Hello, nice presentation. I was wondering if someone here knows a PoE/Ethernet Zigbee and Bluetooth Coordinator, I'm running Ha in docker in Synology and can't add USB.
What version of DSM do you use? I have USB working on both 6.2 and 7.1 - for Docker HA. But there are - just not sure if it is good idea. The possible interference is problem to have it both as Zigbee coordinator and BLE proxy. I currently have uzg.zig-star.com/product/ on test - it does support Coordinator for Zigbee and BLE Proxy, but that's not recommended setup and may have interference issues.
2 days ago I updated the firmware of my SLZB-06, something changed in the device (it was neither the IP, nor the external port, nor the IEEE address) in summary, my zigbe network completely fell, leaving more than 70 devices without working, this It would never happen with a Wi-Fi network. I was reading about the coordinator giving devices unique security addresses such as tclk_seed, pan_id, extended_pan_id, channel, network_key that cannot change, the fact that a firmware update changes that data in the coordinator is truly crazy since it makes your entire network go to waste,
Pan ID, channel and similar are controlled by ZHA or Zigbee2MQTT. That's not part of the firmware. There is no reason for the firmware update to end with a failed network unless the wrong firmware is used (for example router instead of coordinator) or if you go from ZigBee to Thread firmware. This year alone I've had more than 20 updates of coordinator FW and never seen this problem. Try to reflash with the latest non Beta coordinator firmware and if it fails, just use ZigBee backup to restore the network.
@@BeardedTinker Thanks, I opted to pair everything again and it seems to be working, it is good to clarify that when you have a lot of devices it is impossible for it to work well if you have zigb2mqtt and zha working together, you have to opt for one or the other, I was able to realize that after many headaches
@@estebangarcia6092 together as in both ZHA and Zigbee2MQTT using same controller? This is not supported - it can work but it will not work :) Each one of them needs exclusive access to device. But glad you got it sorted out.
@BeardedTinker I was thinking of running Z2M network along side ZHA in one HA instance which you showed us in the video. I'm currently using SkyConnect for ZHA and have Sonoff Dongle P which I'll be using for ZTM. From your experience can you advise if I need to be careful about anything related to installing and running another Zigbee network and it won't break my existing network? Any suggestion or tip will be helpful :)
Just few basic stuff - use extension USB cord 0.5m or something similar, to put some distance between devices. Try to use different channel than with ZHA so you avoid clashing of signal. And that should really be it.
Right now I got only 1 device not working... Tuya presence sensor TZE204 the zha quirk is busted it seems and it really annoys me to have to go for z2m also considering I got the sonoff - E coordinator...
That's not good. Is there already an issue open forit on GitHub? As far as E coordinator is concerned, I've had it working with Zigbee2MQTT (actually in video, that machine running both ZHA with SkyConnect, has also Dongle-E with Zigbee2MQTT) - but it wasn0t a big setup, just few devices for testing. Running latest FW on it from Sonoff.
Zigbee2MQTT has definetely better MAP function, and easier interface to add a new device. I would not change it to ZHA, but I had to due to my purchase of the SkyConnect. It was downhill from there on. ZHA map function sucks and I don't use it anymore.
So I am using a Sonoff dongle and Z2M. I now have a HA Yellow and as I understand it you can run Z2M from the internal antenna on the Yellow. Is that true and it would great to see a video on that.
Yes, you can do that way. I've tried it when I got yellow. You just need to run standard firmware (not multiprotocol) and select device name that can be retriever in All Hardware list in ZB2MQTT
Thanks for your great explanation, I have a question about controlling switches for ex (Tuya 4 gang switch) , I tested in ZHA and shows me just as one gang switch!! Will it be as 4 gang independently in z2mqtt or all of gangs as one gang Same as ZHA Thanks again for answering
No idea actually - from what I've tested, it should be 4 switches, but depends on specific device. If you have part number/code for it, check in ZB2MQTT device database through model list. BUT - there are some really strange devices - that actually expose only one entity or switch. That's why it's hard to say without knowing specific model.
In video, that second instance of ZG2BQTT is running with Dongle-E . I haven't had any issues with it, but that's just a small system with only few devices for test.
I just set up a new network with a sonoff "E" dongle and couldn't get it stable using the multi protocol drivers. I ran out of time and set it up with ZHA. The "E" dongle has been rock stable on ZHA so far
@@BeardedTinker Had to go from Z2M to ZHA as well using the Sonoff Dongle E. EZSP driver doesn't work well with it and the now tested Ember driver seems even worse. No issues at all in ZHA.
Why are you thinking on doing that? In HA OS, it's not that easy as you would need to install AddOn 2 times and actually it doesn't allow that. You could out of box install normal and edge version. But you could also convert one coordinator to router and use it like that to expand network coverage.
I know it's too long. Fully aware. But I just didn't want to to quick list of Pro/Con without explaining. Hey, but I did manage to get it under 30 minutes, original version was a bit over :D
@@BeardedTinkerDon't think it was too long, some explanation is needed when making the decision between ZHA and Z2M. Moving from one to the other later takes a lot more time than 30 minutes. Video could use a slightly different structure and some slides to make it easier to follow for new users (see my other comment).
Im on Z2M in a HA OS, on Raspberry pi. I just installed this system a few weeks ago. Everything is working, I'm on Z2M because of the compatibility list, but I'm not all that impressed and here is why: 1. Several of my initial devices are not really working or only partially working. I'm using Tuya devices, I have until now been using a dimmer, that had no minimum dim setting and still has no max dim setting, in the Z2M frontend, so I went to try to get that fixed and managed to find a working solution. But now Z2M has been updated to have a minimum dim setting in the frontend, but that is not working to me, probably because of my homemade fix, but now I dont know how to undo that homemade fix. 2. Many devices need you to do stuff like copy a file to an unspecified destination next to some other file!? Next to?? I never before herd anybody talking about one file beeing next to another file, do they meen in the same directory? 3. Also there seams to be a lot of talks about the .Yml file but I find zero information on how to work with that. 4. Also words like sudo and other stuff is used randomly, but nobody takes time to explain what is meant by that?! 5. Also I would like to use the Binding function, in order for some devices to talk directly to each other, but I can not get it to work and the help/info file i zigbee2mqtt.io leaves me with more questions then answers. 6. I want to use one button buttons to control my dimmers, and I want them to function in a very standard way something like: single click= power cycle, duble click = switch everything in the room off, long press dim the light down then next long press dim up and so on. Making long press dim is super hard but should be very straight forward. I'm not sure if this is a Z2M issue or if its a HA issue, but to me it's a big huge problem and It almost makes me wanna quit Zigbee, HA and Z2m and MQTT all together. This was supposed to be fairly easy for a person with a technical mindset, but it's not at all. In fact it feels like you ned to be a programmer to get any of this working, witch to me is a a shame and someone needs to communicate this, you need to be a programmer to use Z2M and HA properly. 7. Also the user forum is a disappointment to me, I was expecting to find some help and some getting started guides, possible some help videos, but no it's pretty much nothing. 8. Even the user forum, where you are suppose to post If you have an unsupported device, or find errors are impossible to figure out where to ask for help and when you do help is slow or no help at all... I find my self in pull request land, which I know is some programming stuff, that I guess is not where I should be poking around having zero programming knowledge, but no where can I find my way to a forum where I can report errors or ask for newbee help? To sum up my newbee Z2M/HA on HA OS experience, I'm really unimpressed so far. I have been trying for many many hours over several weeks now and I'm about to give up on the whole thing, time and money wasted... I hope You can use the above comments to make some new help videos on those topics as I think I'm not the only one with these problems.
I'm currently running HAOS on a Dell thin client with a Skyconnect using ZHA. I've been interested in migrating to Z2MQTT but I thought that you could run either one or the other, not both. If I understood you correctly, I can run both ZHA and Z2MQTT simultaneously on the same HAOS instance, correct? I would like to set this up if possible, so that I could experiment and migrate one device at a time instead of having my entire Zigbee network go down while I migrate approximately 50 devices from ZHA to Z2MQTT. Is there a guide available on doing this and should I buy a second coordinator like the Sonoff dongle P/E? Many thanks BT!
I haven't seen any guides for that. But it shouldn't be hard to do. You just need to install 2 AddOns (Zigbee2MQTT and MQTT). I think there was an option to migrate also devices from one to another, but haven't tried that one. Also it would make it impossible to have ZHA & Zigbee2MQTT working in parallel. And yes, I forgot to mention that, but you do need additional coordinator and Sonoff is very good choice, although P version is better for ZB2MQTT.
I have done this - but, with a second raspberry PI acting as the broker with a different zigbee (sonoff) stick. I did not find a way of using one stick for both zha and zigbee2mtqq@@BeardedTinker
No, that's not possible as each integration has exclusive access to USB device - to coordinators are needed for this. Also, that's good as also 2 separate channels can be used to avoid network issues.
@@BeardedTinker Thank you. I think I did not explain well. What I plan on doing is Indeed using two USB dongles. One Sonoff P for Z2M and one Sonoff E for ZHA.
Thanks a ton for the very informative video! Been using Deconz with a Conbee II stick for a couple of years and although I have standard Zigbee devices (Aqara, Ikea), I would rather go with Zigbee2MQTT if I had to do it again to benefit from the advanced features such as the OTA updates of the devices.
I'm been using ZHA because it was easy to get up. But I now found human presence sensor that ZHA does handle, finds it, but not entities. So thinking for running both at the same time, but so far I get to Z2M to work with ZHA running. As for blacklist companies, I recently had a garage door opener install (AMOS), the supplier said it had an app, so I wrongly assume i could find a add-on for HA. It offers a subscription to allow IFTTT control the door. I asked for the API, but it not in there current plans. The door open, includes a camera, a motion detector, a light, so all these sensors are not available. I might just add an esphome switch to control it..... or learn how to reverse engineer the api.
@@BeardedTinker I have since found a quirk for my presence sensor, that works, but I'm about to give up on ZHA, it get suck in a fails to initailize loop after a few days. My research found it might be related to my use of proxmox to run HA, but I still have not over come the problem, I picked up a smlight slzb-06 so might start switching over (to the dark side ?)
