Raspberry Pi 3 with zigbee (RaspBee) in Europe

Setup, Configuration and Use Beginners
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There might be an option though using your Raspbee … :wink:

Never tried myself, but some users reported, that the “Deconz”-software from Dresden Electronic can mimic a HUE bridge. So the HUE binding can be used.

Just search the forum for Deconz/HUE/Conbee/Raspbee, e.g:

For sure: Since you have to deal with another piece of software, it’s not as simple as directly using @chris 's ZigBEE binding with a supported dongle. And there is still some hope, that Chris or other contributors get the remaining issues with the Conbee support sorted :wink:

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And yes: I assume you’ve already found the readme of the Zigbee binding :wink:

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Yes, I should have another look at this when I get some time. It is mostly working I think, but not stable (probably just thread-sync issues)… I just need to find some time :wink: …

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@curlyel Thanks for the hint about the HUE bridge. I will give that a try.
@chris we all know the problem with time vs things to do :stuck_out_tongue:

Any ideas about the last Question?:
Is it possible to run openhab on a raspberry pi with windows 10 (IOT?)

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I personally don’t know - sorry. My guess is, even if it might be possible, it would be slow, and you’d probably be better off with running a Linux system (but I could be wrong :wink: ).

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Hi @tropisch,
warning: Long post :wink:

I guess, you’ll get more support here when using Raspbian Linux or openHABian on the Pi. So I would recommend one of these.

And … sound like you try to avoid Linux/Rasbian/… since your are more familiar with Windows probably? Sorry if I’m wrong here :wink:

But if so, you can start with something without touching Linux command line at all - at least for the first steps. Maybe, it’s worth trying:

Dresden Electronic offers a customized Rasbian image fully preconfigured with their DeCONZ software:

https://www.dresden-elektronik.de/funktechnik/solutions/wireless-light-control/raspbee-gw-sd-card-image/

Just write it to a 8GB sd card, put it in your Rpi and power it on. You don’t even need to connect a keyboard nor monitor. Just power it on and hook it to your network. You’ll we able to connect to it via any web browser. Just follow the instructions in:

https://www.dresden-elektronik.de/fileadmin/Downloads/Produkte/9-FLS/WirelessLightControl-QSG-dt.pdf

Few post above I wrote:

Well, that’s not true anymore. Meanwhile I gave it a try. :wink:
I was curious to see if it works. And yes it does!

Here are some screenshots, how to connect to Raspbee via Deconz til the native support by @chris’s Zigbee binding is merged.

So let’s start:

(assuming, you have installed Raspbee/Deconz as written above and have a openHAB instance running somewhere else)

Attach some light(s) to the Deconz. Check, if you can control your lights from within this web app:

deconz-1
deconz-11174×1012 58.1 KB

Install the HUE binding via the PaperUI and go to the inbox → “+” → HUE Binding → add manually:

deconz-3
deconz-31174×1012 79.1 KB

Select a “HUE Bridge” to be added. (a genuine HUE bridge will be discovered automatically, but the Deconz-HUE must be configured manually).

Before proceeding, go back to your Deconz window and click in the Gateway → Advanced configuration → Authenticate app. This does the same as pressing the connect button a real HUE bridge:

deconz-2
deconz-21174×1012 69.5 KB

Back to the PaperUI - Now put the Ip address of your Deconz gateway in and click on blue o.k. button:

deconz-4
deconz-41174×1012 58.2 KB

Your gateway should now getting connected and the attached lights will be discovered immediately:

deconz-5
deconz-51174×1012 54.3 KB

Click on the blue o.k. button(s) to finally add the lights to your list of things. You’re done!
If all went right, you’ll be able to control your lights from openHAB:

deconz-6
deconz-6792×729 38.7 KB

I have to admit, I won’t recommend this to somebody who is asking which stuff to buy. This does more or less the same as a genuine HUE bridge or probably any other Zigbee bridge which can be controlled from openHAB (Osram Lightify, IKEA tradfri). Building an own bridge similar to it is likely waste of money.

But if one already has a Rpi and a Rasbee/Conbee this can be an option to make use of it until the native support of the Raspbee is there :wink:

Ah yes, forgot to mention: There is a normal Raspbian-Linux on your gateway. So you can start tinkering with it if you like, install additional software, check out the cli etc. to get more familiar with Linux (if required as I said at the very top) :wink:

3 Likes
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Holy cow! What a nice post!
Thank you very much curlyel!
I will give it a try at the weekend (hopefully).

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Hi guys,

Just started out with OpenHAB and I bought the ConBee dongle, of course without seeing this post :frowning:

Any news on making it work without the Deconz software? I actually have a few Pi’s lying around, but I really wanted this to run directly on my server.

-Fidomuh

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At the moment this is not available.

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Damn. I saw the link to mouser for the telegesis one. I guess I’ll order that one then :slight_smile:

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Hi @chris, I apologize in advance for the quetion because it is surely for you the hundredth questions on this subject but the zigate or raspbee are operational on openhab?

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I’m not really familiar with ZiGate, so can’t really comment. The RaspBee doesn’t currently work with the ZigBee binding, but it can be run with the DeConz binding (I’m afraid I don’t know anything about this though).

There are other dongles available that will work fine with the RPi for ZigBee with the ZigBee binding. The documentation for the ZigBee binding has some information on dongles that are supported.

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Do you plan the support for the Raspbee in nearly future? I don’t like the way with phoscon.

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Unfortunately I don’t have the time to work on the ConBee/RaspBee boards as I’m too busy with the general ZigBee support using the other interfaces. Unless someone fancies trying to resolve this, unfortunately it won’t be something I can work on in the near future.

1 Like
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I have a question wrt. hue bridge configuration and username (states like “name of a registered Hue bridge user, that allows to access the API.”). Where and how do I create a user as I have tried writing anything but that does cause error message “Authentication failed. Remove user name from configuration to generate a new one.”
What is port number of a hue bridge, the one that phoscon app uses being 8080, openhub 80 or something else?

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Don’t know how to help here, probably missing some details about your setup and the issue you’re experiencing…

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I am sorry for being unclear. During Paper UI Phoscon-GW thing configuration, under configuration parameters you have to give a name of a registered Hue bridge user. Same that you stated above. I cannot recall that I ever registered a hue bridge user? Question is where and how do I get hue bridge user name? thanks in advance.

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I have a question too. How does this relate to the original posters issue of Raspbee and the zigbee binding when you list an issue with neither? The Zigbee developer does not work on those other bindings.

Start a new thread!

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I may be wrong and apologise for that. I am sure you are aware that Phoscon-GW is shield/HAT for Raspbee. I´ll start new thread.

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Same here. I haven’t created a HUE bridge user too…
But: This does not matter, since you are “treating” the Deconz/Phoscon as your HUE bridge through the HUE binding.

Means: Just let the username field empty.
But: Remember to put your Deconz in “peering mode” as you would do by pressing the button on a real HUE bridge. In Phoscon this is done by clicking the “Authenticate App” button in the UI before clicking the blue button in PaperUI:
image

Here again the explanation from above:

Select a “HUE Bridge” to be added. (a genuine HUE bridge will be discovered automatically, but the Deconz-HUE must be configured manually) .

Before proceeding, go back to your Deconz window and click in the Gateway → Advanced configuration → Authenticate app. This does the same as pressing the connect button a real HUE bridge:

EDIT: Just wanted to add, that I’m not using that Deconz/Phoscon setup anymore in my installation. I just try to help from memory as good as I can :wink: