RaspBee II

I have purchased 3 of these over the last several (many?) years, and am extremely satisfied with them. I use them with Home Assistant and the deCONZ App as it is called now to integrate all of my Zigbee devices. I have never had any problems with the Phoscon RaspBee II - I don't know if there are any alternatives, but I have never had any reason to explore alternatives.

Terrific hardware. Great range. Easy to install. Great price. It's everything I want. My main issue is the software. The software has issues if there are power issues, it's widely reported on their GitHub and there's no question they're working to get a fix out, but it's still pretty annoying. The only way I've found to fix it if I have a power issue is to reset everything which is annoying.

The RaspBee works very well on my Raspberry Pi 4B with deCONZ running in a container. I would advise, however, getting a ConBee for several reasons: - Not every Linux distro, even those with flavors tailored for Raspberry Pi, works well with the Pi's GPIO interface. I found that Debian 10 arm64 didn't work, for example. - Configuration is more straightforward, especially on distros where raspbi-config is not available (ie most of them) you have to modify both config.txt AND cmdline.txt (many installation instructions assume you're using Raspbian and omit that step!). - Debugging is easier. You can use the ConBee with pretty much anything with USB. With the RaspBee, you'll need another Pi laying around if one isn't working. The keys to getting this working on distros other than Raspbian are to: 1. Modify config.txt to add the appropriate dtoverlay for your Pi to enable the UART on which the device is present. See the official Pi documentation entitled "UART configuration" for how to do this. 2. Modify cmdline.txt to ensure that "console=serial0" or similar is not present ("console=tty0", etc. are fine). This ensures that the OS is not presenting a login shell on the GPIO/serial interface, which prevents serial hardware from being properly utilized. All in all, if you don't mind a little more work, the RaspBee is a much sleeker option than a USB dongle flapping in the breeze, but if you want easier setup and broader compatibility, choose the ConBee instead.

Installed this on a headless pi Zero. Hardware works well, software is questionable. First can only be installed on Raspberry OS. Install has some issues, ie doesn't restart automatically on reboot. deconz software has found all of the devices I have connected. Programming them is quirky but seems to work except it doesn't. Apparently, if I believe their forum, this has been an on-going 6 month issue. deconz version 2.18 evidently was the last one to work, current is 2.21. You can get things to work with node-red and their libraries. The hardware works, the software doesn't.

Really easy installation on home assistant. I Connected my zigbee sensors to it in a really easy wizard

This product is so easy to setup and use. Does as advertised.

I was using this for Home Assistant on a RPi 4 I repurposed. It worked for a bit and was disappointed I couldn't fit my POE hat on at the same time. You are stuck using the DeConz addon and not Zigbee Home Automation which is a nice upgrade that won't work with this hat. This hat worked at first, but I kept having issues with devices randomly not being able to communicate back. You could see them but not send commands to them. It wasn't a range issue and I even made sure my wifi wasn't using the same frequency range to rule out interference. I'm using a mix of zigbee devices but mainly Sonoff. My big problems started when I decided to reset the gateway since I was having issues getting devices pair again. I can't get it to pair with any past devices now. I've came to the conclusion that there are better USB options than using hat. My advice is to go with those and one that works with ZHA. You'll have more flexibility later.

Unfortunately, it didn't work easily and online instruction gave me an option to download HA image to Raspberry Pi with their software installed, but I already had an HA and was configured to work with other devices. Good option if you are starting from scratch. Searched online, other people had similar experience. I had a USB version of ConBee II and it worked like a charm. So, I am returning this one and ordered the USB version. This is is for my second HA I am building for a friend

Der RaspBee II verwandelt deinen Raspberry Pi in ein leistungsstarkes Zigbee-Gateway. Die Kombination aus lokaler Steuerung, großer Gerätekompatibilität und hoher Reichweite macht ihn zu einer ausgezeichneten Wahl für Smart-Home-Enthusiasten. 🌟 Highlights: Zigbee-Kompatibilität mit über 200 Marken wie Philips Hue, IKEA, Aqara, OSRAM, GIRA usw. Volle lokale Steuerung ohne Cloud oder App-Zwang – ideal für Privatsphäre & Kontrolle Hybrid-Mesh-Funktechnik mit starker Reichweite (bis zu 30 m indoor, 200 m outdoor) RTC-Modul integriert – sorgt für zeitgenaue Automationen auch nach Stromausfall Passt auf alle Raspberry-Pi-Modelle, auch Raspberry Pi Zero ✅ Vorteile: Hohe Stabilität und Funkreichweite Zeitsichere Automationen dank Echtzeituhr Extrem kompakt & leicht zu verbauen Kompatibel mit Home Assistant, ioBroker, Zigbee2MQTT, deCONZ Energieeffizient und langlebig 📝 Fazit: Der RaspBee II ist ein kleines, aber mächtiges Zigbee-Modul für den Raspberry Pi. Ideal für DIY-Smart-Home-Projekte mit Fokus auf Datenschutz, Flexibilität und Performance – absolut empfehlenswert für Bastler, Technikfreunde und Profis.

decent quality but time will tell

Voor controle op energie van je woning uitstekend computertje

I have been a user of the Smartthings platform for over a year, and whilst I enjoyed it I found it underwhelming in three key areas: Loss of functionality on internet dropouts, latency from physical button press to light response (~1s), and random drop outs of zigbee devices. As such I decided I needed to move to a local only solution, and began researching. I eventually settled on using a Raspberry Pi 4 w/ Home Assistant for the functional brains of the solution and the DeCONZ RaspBee II as the zigbee controller due to it's purported stability and the fact that I wouldn't need to buy a Texas Instruments radio, go through all the flashing headaches etc. Anyway, long story short, I had this device up and running almost immediately after I figured out the HA / DeCONZ nuances, and it has been utterly rock solid ever since. Some key take aways... - I have not had a single drop out or latency spike in over a month of constant usage - I have had several power and internet drop outs in the last month and the unit always reconnects with every single device - Button press -> light response latency is ~150ms - Fully compatible with all of my devices, including Aqara double switches, Aqara door / window sensor, Tradfri bulbs, Philips hue bulbs, 3A / Nue AU GPO switch, Smartthings AU power outlet, ZEN AU thermostat - Pairing all of these devices is flawless and works every time unlike Smartthings which often wouldn't find Aqara switches - The ZEN thermostat wouldn't initially accept mode (heat / off) changes, but the DeCONZ team has been amazingly responsive and had it sorted out in a single release - Optionally interacting with the zigbee devices via VNC is interesting and really gives you a nice graphical interface to learn more about the radio and device behaviour for those who are curious to look under the hood I am now going to be purchasing an extra Raspbee II as I have a large property and want to use one to drive my outdoor lights.

Ça fait maintenant trois ans que j'ai acheté ce produit, et voici mon retour : - J'ai installé le produit sur plusieurs Raspberry différents (Raspberry 3b+ et Raspberry 4). - La configuration sur Home Assistant est assez simple, même pour ceux qui ne sont pas experts en informatique. Voici quelques recommandations à ce sujet : - La première installation avec deCONZ a été rapide, la prise en main s'est faite aisément, surtout si vous utilisez HAOS. Il existe deux interfaces : une page web proposant des options simples et rapides pour apparier vos appareils, et une application plus complète (accessible via VNC) pour une configuration plus avancée. - La seconde installation avec Zigbee2mqtt n'a pas très bien fonctionné chez moi, probablement plus en raison de problèmes logiciels que matériels (j'ai connaissance de personnes chez qui tout fonctionne correctement). Quelques temps après l'appairage de mes appareils, j'ai subi des déconnexions complètes et je ne pouvais plus rien faire. - La troisième installation (celle sur laquelle je suis actuellement) avec ZHA (Zigbee Home Automation) ne nécessite presque aucune action côté Home Assistant, et tout fonctionne à merveille. Cependant, les options de configuration avancée sont un peu moins complètes. Pour une utilisation simple, vous pouvez vous diriger vers ZHA. En ce qui concerne la compatibilité matérielle, j'ai testé plusieurs appareils différents, et aucun ne m'a fait défaut : - Les ampoules Ikea Tradfri (couleur, blanc, etc.) ne nécessitent pas le module Ikea, elles sont très bien reconnues par le dongle. - Tous les produits Aqara Zigbee : interrupteurs D1 et H1, capteurs de portes, capteurs de mouvements, capteurs de température (j'ai rencontré un problème de batterie avec un capteur, mais le souci pourrait venir du capteur lui-même, car un ami a acheté les mêmes et n'a pas rencontré ce problème). - Un module de volet roulant lambda "Tuya" (TS130F) : aucun souci de connexion, mais un problème de calibration qui provenait du module lui-même. Le reste des fonctionnalités était parfait. - Un capteur de température Sonoff. - Un interrupteur mural sans fil Sonoff. En ce qui concerne le réseau mesh, je n'ai pas rencontré de problèmes particuliers. Cependant, je vis dans un appartement de taille moyenne où pratiquement tous mes appareils étaient directement reliés au dongle. En conclusion, je recommande vraiment ce produit pour son prix et sa compatibilité. Toutefois, gardez à l'esprit que si un appareil est noté comme étant Zigbee, il sera forcément compatible avec cette clé.