So looking for some guidance, I have a number (2) Zen Thermostats (zenthermostat.com) currently connected through to a SwannOne smart hub, however I need to get rid this thing because it is a piece of rubbish. I have set up a RPi 3, have installed OpenHAB on it, and am now looking at extending my home automation with this as my main controller.
The ZEN will reportedly connect to an zigbee 1.2 HA hub, so I am thinking that my best option is to get a Digi Xstick ZB to be able to connect to the Pi. BUT in all my research so far I am still having trouble coming to grips with how these things BIND/Pair together and what I have to do to get this operational in my environment.
ANY advice would be greatly appreciated for this OpenHAB NOOB.
The zigbee binding for OH 2 is still under development (as of last March). And unlike Zwave, Zigbee will only work worth a specific dongle, CC2531 dongle from TI. Unlike Zwave, every Zigbee dongle had its own API so custom code must be written for each.
Right now, your beat best for Zigbee support is to use a hub that supports it like a Wink or Vera and interact with that hub through its API or appropriate binding (e.get I think the Mios binding is for Vera).
I must have been mistaken as there seemed to be lots of blogs around xbee integration with openHab, and my understanding of the digi xstick zb was that it was just a usb packaged xbee zigbee device that could be used as a co-ordinator or router and use the standard xbee API. I must have misunderstood.
I have to say, I am really VERY new to this, and thank you for your advise, only just starting to learn. I implemented OpenHAB to a couple of WEMO’s and really want to use this going forward as it opens up the whole world to me.
If you search the forum you will see several postings from @chris talking about the challenges of getting Zigbee working. There are Zigbee devices that are controllable from openHAB, but they are all controlled through another hub. Probably the most common are Phillips Hue Bulbs through the Hue Hub.
The problem is there is no standard API for openHAB to communicate with the dongles. So, while the radio communications is standardized, custom software has to be written for communicating between your computer and each vendor’s dongle.
Take it slow and you will get there before you know it. This stuff is complex and can be hard, particularly if you try to take on too much all at once. But it looks like you are taking it slow which will pay dividends in the end.
