I’ve got one switch without a neutral wire, and the Shelly Dimmer 2 refused to work, even with that extra part. I suppose the LED light it switches doesn’t play along for some reason (maybe it uses too few Watts)?
Anyway, I thought maybe the Sonoff ZBMINIL2 (ZBMINI-L2 - SONOFF Official) would do the trick. Does anyone have any experience with it?
But more importantly, I would need a Zigbee gateway. The switch is on what I would call the 2nd floor (or what Americans would call the 3rd floor), the gateway would be in the basement.
Does anyone have a recommendation? Cost effective would be my preference
Or if someone sees another solution, that’s fine as well, of course!
I don’t have any hardware recommendations but I can say that if you only have one Zigbee device it’s not going to work very well in this sort of configuration. Zigbee, like wave and Matter, creates a mesh network. All the mains powered devices act as a relay for all the other nodes meaning that all your devices need not be close to the coordinator. They just need to be close to another node.
But that means these technologies work best when you have a bunch of devices to form a solid mesh. If all you have is one coordinator and one device and that device is far from the coordinator, it’s not going to work well. You’d want at least one other mains powered Zigbee device on each of the floors, preferable more than that to form a solid mesh between the coordinator and all the nodes.
I use the SONOFF ZB Dongle-E with Zigbee2mqtt, as do many others. As Rich said, if you have two floors then you’ll want some routing devices in-between.
If you’re interested in presence sensors, the Sonoff SNZB-06P works as a router. So do most smart plugs.
I actually wish that I’d gotten into Zigbee much sooner. Zigbee devices tend to be much less expensive than WiFi/Z-Wave alternatives and, in my case, more reliable. I’m particularly happy with IKEA’s newest sensors.
I’m a little confused by this. By definition, a basement is partially or completely below ground. In Canada (and I assume the US), the first floor is always completely above ground, so a basement would never be the first floor. Is that different where you live?
If the Zigbee distance is an issue, you might consider using a device like this on your 2nd floor and connect to it over Wifi using zigbee2mqtt to OH. I’ve never tried it - just a thought.
Gotcha. Now that I think about it, I usually say “main” and “top” floors, instead of 1st and 2nd.
Anyway, iif we just count total levels from the very bottom, am I correct in thinking the dongle would be on 1 and the switch would be on 4? If so, you would definitely benefit from routing devices on levels 2 and 3, and/or the SLZB-06 that @jswim788 suggested.
If anything, I think it’s the other way around. It’s usually recommended to move your Zigbee dongle away from your server if it’s having trouble reaching devices, but it only needs to be a few feet. Mine is practically right next to my router and has never caused a problem for my 2.4GHz WiFi band.
All they want is sell a subscription for their analyzer tool.
I am using Zigbee since years, never had any interference.
But beware the cheap Aqara sensors, they don’t implement the standard protocol. They work for weeks, even month and then stop and have to be re-paired.
I’ve been using this device as my main coordinator for the past couple of months, and it works very well and is natively supported by the zigbee binding. It supports PoE and allows the coordinator to be placed in the best location for your network.
