Zigbee the best node?

General
1

Hello All

I have seen so few comments here about the Zigbee protocol. The sensors/bulb are becoming cheaper and make sens to integrate it, with sonoff and others alike.

From the several nodes existing is there any suggestion about what is the best avenue to pursue ?

Thank you
JLG

2

Zigbee kind of feels like it's in a weird place right now. Some of the better consumer grade zigbee products have REST APIs that are easy to learn and you can get the job done with the built in websocket node (I do this with DeCONZ.) Others, like philips hue, have dedicated nodes available that make interacting with the zigbee coordinator much simpler from the node-RED side of things (I'm a fan of huemagic here.) I've also worked with medical grade zigbee systems that tend to revolve a lot more around SQL queries to drive the operation of their server.

There's a lot of reading and experimenting out there to do, and "best" is a judgment that relies so much on context that it sort of begs the question: "Well, what do you want to do?"

3

Hello Jay

I have a mesh of MQTT, REST API´s IOt´s in my house. I would like to integrate some Zigbee sensors. I have installed the Ikea tradfri lamps and actuators but it´s hub is so bad that I´m never able to have all the components working at the same time

So what I want is to have my own zigbee hub controlled with node red. and have a mix of sensor's be it from xaimi, ikea, phillps or what ever.

thank you
JLG

4

That can be achieved with a raspbee (https://www.dresden-elektronik.de/raspbee/). If you decide to go that route, be sure to manage your expectations though: it's not exactly a consumer-ready experience. I've barely scratched the surface on its capabilities (it's a development board, so those capabilities themselves are in flux and depend on the firmware you flash it with) but have been able to get everything from the hue product line working on it (I really like their motion sensors, and having access to an API that can push over websockets instead of relying on polling is such a better experience.) It was even able to grab ownership of hue tap switches (I love those things for their battery-free operation.)

5

Thank You

6

check also zigbee2mqtt

I'm using this solution for same xiaomi aqara sensors.

7

Just order the hardware
Thank you

8

Hello
May you share some node were you give the MQTT to set lamps color , hue .....

Thank you
JLG