Which Zigbee Bridge/Hub to Procure

Bargainolic on 08/07/2024 - 13:31

I have bought a home which has Somfy RTS roller blinds which are controlled via a Connexoon device and Nue smart switches. While the blinds integrate with google home/Alexa using Connexoon, I am looking for a Zigbee bridge/hub to integrate the Nue switches with my Google home/Alexa. I dont want to many devices for controlling different things so looking for a Zigbee bridge/hub which can integrate both the blinds and smart switches without the need for the conexoon device.

What are my options? Sonoff, Tuya, Philips Hue or anything else?

The previous owner was using a Samsung Smartthings hub which seems to be too expensive for me ($130)

Electrical & Electronics Zigbee

Comments

  • Arcanetemplar on 08/07/2024 - 13:55
    +2

    What you’re looking for is Home Assistant, if you want to integrate everything seamlessly. You can get started as cheaply as an old PC, raspberry pi or intel NUC, and just add a sonoff Zigbee dongle to it.
    I am unsure of google home integration as I haven’t attempted it myself, but Alexa should pair decently with HA.
    HA will also offer you insane flexibility, and if you have any other smart devices, they can work in tandem with automations and such. Honestly, it’s been a lifesaver when compiling all my smart home devices together.

    • Bargainolic on 08/07/2024 - 13:58

      I assume that would require a dedicated, always on PC to work and that holds me back as I dont have one. Looking for something simpler like a dedicated bridge to control all these devices at the moment

      • Arcanetemplar on 08/07/2024 - 14:00

        That makes sense. I believe AliExpress should have some Tuya Zigbee hubs that integrate with Alexa and Google Assistant. They’re decently cheap too. Just gotta plug it into your router and you’re off to the races.

        • Bargainolic on 08/07/2024 - 14:06

          Will I be able to control my blinds with that? Unable to find any literature confirming this

          • Arcanetemplar on 08/07/2024 - 14:13

            @Bargainolic: Looking into Somfy, it looks like they use a proprietary radio standard, something that is uncommon. If that’s the case, unfortunately you would have to stick with the current hub. An alternative is to set up routines in google home/alexa that communicates with the Somfy hub when the Nue switches turn on/off (which are controlled by the Zigbee hub). Unless your Alexa has a Zigbee hub built in, it won’t be anywhere near as fast as Zigbee can be, but it’s a solution.
            It’s a messy solution, but unfortunately, many companies decide to be anti consumer and utelise proprietary technology.

            • Bargainolic on 08/07/2024 - 14:17

              @Arcanetemplar: Hmm. Interestingly the previous owner was using a Samsung smartthings hub using which he was able to control everything without the Connexoon hub. Might just get then rather than have multiple hubs to control everything

      • jjjaar on 08/07/2024 - 19:17
        +1

        Have a look at Home Assistant Green. Plug and play HA option. Some sales on at the moment are making it around $150, so works out similar $ to setting it up via raspberry pi, but also substantially easier. Sure, there’s some limitations, but seems like it’ll do what you want at the moment

        https://www.home-assistant.io/green/

        • Arcanetemplar on 08/07/2024 - 19:27

          ^^^ forgot about this option. This is effectively as easy as adding a hub.

  • websterp on 08/07/2024 - 15:12

    I'd suggest considering buying a multi-mode zigbee hub with Matter/Thread integration. This would future-proof your setup.

    For example this one: https://www.zemismart.com/products/m1

    If the curtains are AC powered they would also most likely act as Zigbee repeaters (and most certainly the NUE switches as well) so you'll be able to extend the Zigbee mesh to cover the whole house with just one hub and this would eliminate the need of having multiple hubs and Apps.

  • sumyungguy on 08/07/2024 - 16:37
    -1

    SmartThings hub does both ZigBee and Z-Wave which you probably don't need. If you want to spend as little as possible there are plenty of Hue bridges around for cheap likely because they came packed in starter kits and many of us ended up with spares.

  • Stuj on 08/07/2024 - 19:57

    I use Bond Bridge with HomeAssistant integration to automate my Rollease Acmeda blinds. I believe the Bond also does Somfy.

    • Bargainolic on 08/07/2024 - 20:05

      Does it support Zigbee as well? I was looking at it but couldnt see Zigbee support

      • Stuj on 09/07/2024 - 07:05

        No it doesn't it’s wifi only. I dont think what you are after exists, the sad reality is that with home automation, inevitably you will come across a scenario where you need another hub. 99% of my house is Zigbee with congee into HA, but the 2 that i need different hubs for are my Bluetooth TTLock and my blinds, two specialised types of devices.

  • hazzard15 on 08/08/2024 - 15:43

    I bought a little HP elite desk mini pc (2nd hand) ~$80
    It uses about 4W power running 24/7.

    Easy enough to set it up with the Home Assistant OS, however I installed Proxmox first, and run HAOS as a virtual machine on it (so I can run other virtual machines for other things).

    Then use a sonoff zigbee usb stick ($36 from ebay).

    Alternatively you can just get the ready made home assistant mini pc they sell.

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