Absolute new beginner

Take a look at raspiBackup as an alternative:

https://www.linux-tips-and-tricks.de/en/quickstart-rbk

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Yes, everything.

I found on Amazon, Linear HUSBZB-1. Z-Wave and Zigbee network. Anyone using this? Any review?

A quick google took me to this page, seems itā€™s not a very good choice for ZigBee. Also check this post.

I understand. Any recommandation for a ZigBee dongle? Iā€™ve saw the binding list, but I want something that have good review from someone that is already using it. Also for z-wave. 10x.

#Z-Wave - Aeotec Z-Stick Gen5 ($45) / Everspring ($27)
#ZigBee - Telegesis ETRX357USB-LRS ($46)

My options for now? Are they ok?

I use a Z-Stick myself, itā€™s working fine. Canā€™t say anything about the others :slight_smile:

What I personally really like about the Z-stick is the battery that it has inside, so you can just take it out of the pc/nas/raspi, walk to whatever device you have built-in anywhere in your house and include it right there by pressing the button on the Z-stick.
Installation on Windows took some effort (driver related), but other than that quite happy with the Z-stick from Aeotec.

I thing for Z-Wave we have a winner: Aeotec Z-Stick Gen5. Zigbee still nothing yet.

Others have been very successful in using this for zigbee:

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Let me see if I understand. With that MQTT bridge you donā€™t need a dongle for Zigbee?

Correct

How can I kiss you? :blush: :))

According to the wiki you need a couple of bit to flash a very cheap dongle and that will run on your raspi

I use this in my setup. I bought it before I knew about the Zigbee problems. That being said I can say that it works well for Zwave and it was a nice step up from the Gen 2 Aeotech I was using. At least now I can back the controller up (I think, Iā€™ve not actually tried).

@5iver is definitely the expert on this dongle as a zwave coordinator. I do not yet have any Zigbee devices, though my door locks support both Zwave and Zigbee so I was going to experiment with adding them as zigbee devices. Though Iā€™ve learned through experiments that the coordinator is too far away and Iā€™ll have to remove the lock and move it closer to include it, so I may just stick with zwave which I know works.

That is what I liked about my Gen 2 as well. But everyone should be aware that secure includes that are required for locks and the like will require the zwave controller to be plugged into your server with openHAB running. The binding needs to be involved with the inclusion for security devices like this. And at least according to my manual, the device needs to be within 10 ft of the controller.

And you need to use the development version of the Zwave binding until that gets merged into the snapshot, which should happen in the coming weeks.

No, you still need a dongle flashed with a special firmware. What you donā€™t need is to use the zigbee binding. that work would be farmed out to this MQTT gateway.

But that applies to any usb controller, right?

Indeed. I was just warning that the ability to take advantage of the battery in the Aeotech controllers to take the controller to the device instead of needing the take the device to the controller cannot be used for things like locks or anything else that requires secure inclusion.

And the 10 feet range is from the lockā€™s manual, not the controllerā€™s manual so I would assume the range applies to all controllers as well.

Now you got me interested (since I have a Z-stick S2 which I guess is the same stick). Why was it that much better? Iā€™ve from time to time experienced Z-Wave problems that I think is related to my stick (devices not communicating properly or failing to get included) so Iā€™ve thought about maybe switching controller. Iā€™ve primarily thought about the Z-stick gen 5 though, but the HUSBZB maybe is an viable alternative?

Dummy question. Donā€™t laugh. For RPi B+ do I need a usb dongle for wireless?

what do you mean by ā€œwirelessā€, do you mean WiFi? or ZWave?
if WiFi: it depends. RPi(1) B+ does not have builtin WiFi, but you only need a WiFi dongle if you cannot use Ethernet instead.
Also, a B+ is slow. If you want to run openHAB, better get a newer one (2, 3 or 3+).

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