I'm using the SMLight SLZB-06 via PoE with Zigbee2MQTT. The Home Assistant ZBT-1 (Skyconnect) with ZHA. I'm slowly migrating everything over from ZHA over to Z2M, so that's the reason for running both. It also eliminates any downtime. Using a Sonoff dongle Plus-E, reflashed as a Thread Border Router. ZooZ ZST39 LR for Z-Wave. And lastly, a Bond Bridge for RF (ceiling fan). I think that the SLZB-06 is the best coordinator available for Zigbee. So many options and it's been rock solid. Thanks for another great video! 👍
I've used this Zigbee controller for over a year, almost no issues despite my very suboptimal setup and positioning. It's a good way to avoid interference from USB 3.0 ports, and allows you to have fallback if you're running HA in a virtual machine. Since it's not connected to one machine via USB, the Zigbee network stays up even if one of the cluster nodes running an HA instance goes down, as long as another one is up.
Oh man, this looks like a great way to solve a problem I'm "having." That of rapid recovery if my Home Assistant VM dies. The issue is that the USB Zigbee controller is married to the install, so I'd have to physically move both the config and the plug itself over to whatever I chose as my failover. This could do the trick for that. Thank you!
I have 3 - all doing POE> I'm trying to set up a SMLIGHT SLZB-06M to do Matter but am unable to get the Open Thread Border Router configured.... it just won't show up! Edit - thanks to you dude... I got it working! The second I have set up asa BT Proxy and BT beacon (for Bermuda). The 3rd I might try as both a BT proxy and and a ZHA router
@@michaelsleen what's the Thread range of the Antennae on these? Any Idea. Second Q. I also have an Amazon Alexa Echo showing up as a "other network border router". Do I just leave this alone? (And it performs like a thread router - mesh extender in my new configured HA border router)? I guess what I am saying has the Echo joined and is it extending my new HA Thread mesh ?
That is before you have experienced the ip network iterruption and discovered, that these turn unavailable till being rebooted physically... Find your self something more reliable if you do not want to freeze in the winter...
I'm not certain on the range. The Thread integration in Home Assistant will detect any available Thread Border Routers. Each border router (I.e., Apple TV, Amazon Echo, Google Nest) creates its own Thread network with different credentials, so devices cannot roam between them. You can select one border router as your Preferred Network in home Assistant, meaning Home Assistant has the credentials for that network and it will be used as the default network when adding Thread devices.
The cool thing about these is they also have ESP32 chips which are one of the easiest I have found to configure for ESPHome. The devices themselves can also be flashed directly via USB AC via a PC (with the right drivers) and yaml can be uploaded easily 1st time via USB and they will boot up during the discovery when flashed without any fooling around with reset buttons or shorting jumpers on pins etc... There is also some great code in the online manual you can upload to run them as joint Zigbee or Matter devices as well as BT proxies or ESP32 devices. This can be easily set up first time via the main web interface. That is pretty cool. Though doing this memas the device control for everything appears in the ESPHome dashboard and you lose the original specific web interface..
SMLIGHT SLZB-06M (EFR32MG21) is considered stable. I would even argue that it is more stable. The only thing you have to make sure is to use the correct firmware/driver (Ember instead of EZSP with firmware version 7.4). The info about the "listed in the experimental section" isn't correct anymore.
Enter the IP address of your SMLIGHT device in a desktop browser, and you can update the firmware as described in the video. Also, you can visit: smlight.tech/flasher/.
I’ve noticed that your logs showed an error starting zigbee-herdsman 6:41. Which I’m currently facing. How were you able to fix that? I’m struggling to find a solution online.
The issue was one of two things as I recall: 1) Trying to connect before flashing the adapter to Zigbee coordinator mode, or 2) not having the port inputted correctly under Serial in the Configuration options for the Zigbee2MQTT add-on. The port should look something like port: tcp://192.168.x.xxx:6638 but using the actual IP of your adapter. Hope that helps, and thanks for watching!
I currently use Homeseer using zwave. The old version back from 2012 . Would like to update to new version not using z-trollers . If you have video on how to do this would be nice
What if you want to use it as a zigbee router - I already have a sonoff P dongle and need it for upstairs. Do I just add it to my current zigbee network?
My understanding is you can only have one Zigbee coordinator in a Zigbee network, but you can have multiple Zigbee networks. For example, two Zigbee2MQTT networks, or a Zigbee2MQTT and a ZHA network. Most people would rarely need multiple Zigbee networks. You can read how to run SLZB-06 as a Zigbee router here: smlight.tech/manual/slzb-06/guide/faq-and-lifehacks/faq-and-lifehacks.html#add-some-functionality. If you flash with the router firmware, it should show up in the device list in the Zigbee2MQTT interface.
Hello Michel! Thank you for your video, its is o good opportunity to chnage my zigbee coordinator. I have the universal Dongle E (not sonoff) with ember firmware, but i have problem with lights with cct+rgb in my mesh zigbee(failed: 'Error: ZCL command 0xa4c138da8ba1b2d0/1 genOnOff.off({},). Witch version is better 06 / 06M / 06p7/ 06p10 ??
Thanks for the feedback. In the video, I walk through step-by-step how to set up and use the device as either a Zigbee coordinator or a Matter-over-Thread controller.
This coordinator is a GARBAGE! It does not reconnect to the host if your ip network experienced interruption. Do this: connect it to the router via ethernet. Let it zha or z2m be started. Then power off the router for 2-3 minutes - done, your zigbee network is down untill you power on/off the coordinator. The implications of that are that you never know if your zigbee network is still alive if you use this scam...
👉 Let me know what controller you’re using for Zigbee or Matter-over-Thread, and how you think this device stacks up.
I'm using the SMLight SLZB-06 via PoE with Zigbee2MQTT. The Home Assistant ZBT-1 (Skyconnect) with ZHA. I'm slowly migrating everything over from ZHA over to Z2M, so that's the reason for running both. It also eliminates any downtime. Using a Sonoff dongle Plus-E, reflashed as a Thread Border Router. ZooZ ZST39 LR for Z-Wave. And lastly, a Bond Bridge for RF (ceiling fan). I think that the SLZB-06 is the best coordinator available for Zigbee. So many options and it's been rock solid. Thanks for another great video! 👍
Sounds like we have a pretty similar setup. Thanks!
I've used this Zigbee controller for over a year, almost no issues despite my very suboptimal setup and positioning.
It's a good way to avoid interference from USB 3.0 ports, and allows you to have fallback if you're running HA in a virtual machine.
Since it's not connected to one machine via USB, the Zigbee network stays up even if one of the cluster nodes running an HA instance goes down, as long as another one is up.
Thanks for sharing your experience with it!
Oh man, this looks like a great way to solve a problem I'm "having." That of rapid recovery if my Home Assistant VM dies. The issue is that the USB Zigbee controller is married to the install, so I'd have to physically move both the config and the plug itself over to whatever I chose as my failover. This could do the trick for that. Thank you!
I have 3 - all doing POE> I'm trying to set up a SMLIGHT SLZB-06M to do Matter but am unable to get the Open Thread Border Router configured.... it just won't show up! Edit - thanks to you dude... I got it working! The second I have set up asa BT Proxy and BT beacon (for Bermuda). The 3rd I might try as both a BT proxy and and a ZHA router
Glad you got it working!
@@michaelsleen what's the Thread range of the Antennae on these? Any Idea. Second Q. I also have an Amazon Alexa Echo showing up as a "other network border router". Do I just leave this alone? (And it performs like a thread router - mesh extender in my new configured HA border router)? I guess what I am saying has the Echo joined and is it extending my new HA Thread mesh ?
That is before you have experienced the ip network iterruption and discovered, that these turn unavailable till being rebooted physically... Find your self something more reliable if you do not want to freeze in the winter...
I'm not certain on the range. The Thread integration in Home Assistant will detect any available Thread Border Routers. Each border router (I.e., Apple TV, Amazon Echo, Google Nest) creates its own Thread network with different credentials, so devices cannot roam between them. You can select one border router as your Preferred Network in home Assistant, meaning Home Assistant has the credentials for that network and it will be used as the default network when adding Thread devices.
The cool thing about these is they also have ESP32 chips which are one of the easiest I have found to configure for ESPHome. The devices themselves can also be flashed directly via USB AC via a PC (with the right drivers) and yaml can be uploaded easily 1st time via USB and they will boot up during the discovery when flashed without any fooling around with reset buttons or shorting jumpers on pins etc... There is also some great code in the online manual you can upload to run them as joint Zigbee or Matter devices as well as BT proxies or ESP32 devices. This can be easily set up first time via the main web interface. That is pretty cool. Though doing this memas the device control for everything appears in the ESPHome dashboard and you lose the original specific web interface..
SMLIGHT SLZB-06M (EFR32MG21) is considered stable. I would even argue that it is more stable. The only thing you have to make sure is to use the correct firmware/driver (Ember instead of EZSP with firmware version 7.4). The info about the "listed in the experimental section" isn't correct anymore.
where is this firmware? thanks
Enter the IP address of your SMLIGHT device in a desktop browser, and you can update the firmware as described in the video. Also, you can visit: smlight.tech/flasher/.
Thanks for sharing.
I’ve noticed that your logs showed an error starting zigbee-herdsman 6:41. Which I’m currently facing. How were you able to fix that? I’m struggling to find a solution online.
The issue was one of two things as I recall: 1) Trying to connect before flashing the adapter to Zigbee coordinator mode, or 2) not having the port inputted correctly under Serial in the Configuration options for the Zigbee2MQTT add-on. The port should look something like port: tcp://192.168.x.xxx:6638 but using the actual IP of your adapter. Hope that helps, and thanks for watching!
I currently use Homeseer using zwave. The old version back from 2012 . Would like to update to new version not using z-trollers . If you have video on how to do this would be nice
Unfortunately, I don't have a tutorial specifically for HomeSeer. Thanks for watching!
What if you want to use it as a zigbee router - I already have a sonoff P dongle and need it for upstairs. Do I just add it to my current zigbee network?
My understanding is you can only have one Zigbee coordinator in a Zigbee network, but you can have multiple Zigbee networks. For example, two Zigbee2MQTT networks, or a Zigbee2MQTT and a ZHA network. Most people would rarely need multiple Zigbee networks. You can read how to run SLZB-06 as a Zigbee router here: smlight.tech/manual/slzb-06/guide/faq-and-lifehacks/faq-and-lifehacks.html#add-some-functionality. If you flash with the router firmware, it should show up in the device list in the Zigbee2MQTT interface.
Can it be used as zigbee coordinator and matter over thread in Parallel?
Technically it (SLZB-06M only i think) can (by using RCP Multi-PAN), but it's not recommended.
No, they cannot be used in parallel. You must pick one.
Hello Michel! Thank you for your video, its is o good opportunity to chnage my zigbee coordinator. I have the universal Dongle E (not sonoff) with ember firmware, but i have problem with lights with cct+rgb in my mesh zigbee(failed: 'Error: ZCL command 0xa4c138da8ba1b2d0/1 genOnOff.off({},). Witch version is better 06 / 06M / 06p7/ 06p10 ??
If you're using Zigbee2MQTT, I recommend the 06. If you're using ZHA, I recommend the 06M.
@@michaelsleen thanks for this explanation. I didn't know aɓout it. I use zigbee2mqtt and dongle with ember. Thank you !!
Your video is very high level and not for someone new to HA. Not much explaining.
Thanks for the feedback. In the video, I walk through step-by-step how to set up and use the device as either a Zigbee coordinator or a Matter-over-Thread controller.
This coordinator is a GARBAGE! It does not reconnect to the host if your ip network experienced interruption. Do this: connect it to the router via ethernet. Let it zha or z2m be started. Then power off the router for 2-3 minutes - done, your zigbee network is down untill you power on/off the coordinator. The implications of that are that you never know if your zigbee network is still alive if you use this scam...
Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience with it.
I don't experience the issue you mention.
My SLZB-06 reconnects just fine to Z2M when I power down the router or disconnect the ethernet cable(s).