Integrate Xiaomi things without gateway

Hi.
Can someone tell me, how i can block the wan access in the app?
Or can i block the gateway in my fritzbox.
Thanks and greetings,
Markus

Give the gateway a fixed ip and block outbound traffic for that ip

Interesting bridge…
I only wonder about coverage. “normal” Zigbee makes a mesh network so a long I have enough devices all will be fine. I guess a lot of devices will not act as repeater, certainly when using different flavors of Zigbee.
What is the range such a setup?

Don’t know your Setup, but if you using a Fritz!Box and ask on blocking access:

  1. either a static IP - or a “dynamic” static, meaning you open the network list in Fritz.box and click “alwas assign same IP” for the device
  2. add a filter “blocked” (depending on Fritz!OS there should be already a blocked profile
  3. assign that filter profile to the device
  4. done

I’m using that for all that “IoT”-devices I use within OpenHAB like amazon dash buttons - or the Xiaomi Gateway.

I’m using the Xiaomi Gateway for my remote cottage wireless sensors setup. And yes - not one device acts as mesh. There’s either the normal gateway or a wireless webcam which act like a normal “zigbee mesh” (I don’t use zigbee, but from what I read most pure zigbee devices - at least those who have wired power do).
So yes, the problem is range, when you use a setup like zigbee2mqtt with flavored devices like the Xiaomi/Aqara ones. In my use case (all wooden 200 years old cottage) the range is limited for like 20m max depending on how much wood is blocking sight. I had to move one sensor which could not be found from the gateway - but was like 5m away from the next sensor (hum/temp/pressure).

Here is how I did it.

Besides the range, I believe the interference (same radio band with WiFi) can also play havoc on the sensors. If the sensors are on the edge of the network, it might work fine most of the time until one day there is interference or environment factors, and it can’t reach the CC2531 sniffer, and it then stops communicating. Then you have to manually bring it closer to the sniffer and re-pair it. Kind of a pain in the butt. I am buying more CC2531 to use as routers.

And then connect them to what? A PI for each CC2531 is going to be costly…

I am under the impression that once flashed, we just need to power that through the USB power plug. The router should just relay the message to the coordinator.

I use the already mentioned zigbee2mqtt, have a look here to integrate into openHAB2.

Thanks all for your reply.
I’ll try the zigbee2mqtt - way and have ordered the necessary devices/tools (CC2531, CC-Debugger …).
One question:
After flashing the CUL and config. it is enough to install zigbee2mqtt on the same PI whre OH2 is running?
Does it works with the MQTT binding directly or do I need to install a mqtt broker in between? (zigbee2mqtt and OH).

Thanks a lot!

Yes
See: MQTT Binding (v1.11) Getting Started 101

I have used a router firmware from this page:
http://ptvo.info/cc2531-based-router-firmware-136/

After flashing I was not able to integrate this device in my Zigbee network via openHAB. I then used Zigbee2mqtt on a spare PI to add the stick to the network. After that I just needed to plug the stick into a USB charger/port to power it and it would route.

Only challenge I had was that the firmware uses a precompiled network key (Xiaomi I believe). So I just used that one on my network and it worked. Yay

Make sure you are running stretch based debian, jessi does not work.

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Thanks for that hint. I use openhabian So it should work fine :slight_smile:

@Chrishab Shouldn’t you be able to plug the 2nd router into another Linux/Windows machine to join it with the coordinator? Many people don’t have an extra PI around, but they should have another desktop. My second CC2531 is coming, so I guess I will learn soon.

Nice! My current system is working perfectly but for a few bucks this is certainly worth a try, just for fun.
As I have no mesh/router zigbee network experience, do you notice any delays when one or multiple hops are necessary between OH and receiver?

I haven’t got the router up and running yet; my 2nd sniffer is still on the way.

@yfaway Yes, i had issues in the beginning adding the routers to my Zigbee network (no idea why) which is why I used Zigbee2mqtt. However, I have started from scratch (luckily my Zigbee network is not too large yet) as I ran into issues.

In the meantime the router firmware also got updated. I re-flashed my routers with the latest version and now even openHAB was able to find the routers. You could even use a USB charger to power the device. No Linux/Windows machine necessary (except for flashing).

@bartsnijder: so far I haven’t noticed any large delays. In regards to multiple hops: I don"t even think that’s possible. As far as I understood the documentation each router needs to have direct “contact” to the controller. So a setup like controller >> router 1 >> router 2 doe snot seem to be possible.

Hi all,
I was able to get a CC2531 with Zigbee2MQTT working.
One question come in my mind. It is possible to bind the CC2531 to Zigbee2mqtt AND the OH binding twice?
I want to use my Xiaomi things and Osram Lights with only one coordinator (the CC2531)
Or do I have to bind every zigbee thing to Zigbee2MQTT and with this to OH2?!

Hope you are able to understand what I mean? :wink: