New zigbee hub or usb stick

[Penguin (Tony)]

Hi all,

I just found out that the EM35x will no longer be supported by zigbee due to the 256k flash limit
As I was thinking to get a new one for a while, I wonder what the best option to buy will be?
Again a USB stick attached to the PI4 or an external hub (I have an Tradfre hub, but I don’t think I can use it?)

And what brand/type?

Thanks!

[chrismast (chris)]

I run a CC2531 with zigbee2mqtt on it.
So far runs without issues connecting IKEA, Xiaomi and Tuya devices.

[Penguin (Tony)]

Hi, I read that the CC2531 is not compatible with ZigBee 3?

[chrismast (chris)]

Did not try zigbee 3 yet whereas it seems to work based on this post.

[Bruce_Osborne]

@Penguin

Hi, I read that the CC2531 is not compatible with ZigBee 3?

Is the Zigbee binding compatible with Zigbee 3?

[Penguin (Tony)]

According to the documentation, yes.

[chris (Chris Jackson)]

@Penguin

I just found out that the EM35x will no longer be supported by zigbee due to the 256k flash limit

True, but that is to allow it to add new features in future - ie for the new requirements that are soon going to be added to the standards. It doesn’t mean that it will not continue to work very well with all current features.

Also note that the binding supports the newer Silabs chips as well - they generally work the same from the binding perspective.

@Penguin

And what brand/type?

Personally, I’d still highly recommend the Silabs chips as that is what all my commercial customers are using so it gets the most testing etc.

@Penguin

Hi, I read that the CC2531 is not compatible with ZigBee 3?

Out of the box that’s true, there are some firmware available that does implement ZB3.0, but note that this is also not supported any longer by the manufacturer (ie Texas Instruments).

@Bruce_Osborne

Is the Zigbee binding compatible with Zigbee 3?

Yes, the binding will support ZigBee 3. However, note that a large part of this is actually implemented by the dongle, and not the binding. Many of the advanced features are only available currently with the EM35x / MG chips (ie Silabs).

[Penguin (Tony)]

Thanks for the clear answers!

[delid4ve (Dave)]

If your going down the hub route I have just published a binding for sonoff. Their zigbee hub is 3.0 and although not integrated yet I have one turning up tomorrow (love Amazon) so it will be present very soon. I’m not sure what it will support but I have a couple of items that don’t work with the zigbee binding and my usb stick so took a punt as it’s only cheap (£15 on eBay).

Can monitor here:

Ewelink / Sonoff Binding - New binding without flashing

Control of sonoff and other brands using the ewelink platform. Local and cloud control is available. Device discovery included. 2.5.x and 3.x available The binding currently has limited device support listed below, however if you send me the debug log under ‘Discovery Response’ after adding your account I will get them added. Readme hasn’t been completed yet, the region in the account settings can be set to: eu,as,cc,cn,us based on the location when the account was created. Currently known …

[tnemrap (Michael Parment)]

@chris

@Penguin

And what brand/type?

Personally, I’d still highly recommend the Silabs chips as that is what all my commercial customers are using so it gets the most testing etc.

Is there any specific device you can recommend?