Zigbee Hardware/Firmware, directions

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#1

Hi all

My first tests were somehow successful with an CC2531 and some older (unknown) Firmware. Managed to add some devices, played a bit, but adding devices is always a major pain. The Xiaomi ones are perfect examples for that pain.

As i have some more CC2531 lying around, does it make sense to start over again with a more recent firmware? (I am most likely currently not using a 3.anything, but the 1.x stuff.)

Or should is skip the CC2531 already and start again with the new module from @pmayer (CC2538?)? (If everything works out fine Homegear/Zigbee will collect the devices from Zigbee2Mqtt and Hue, plus some extra i have lying around. All in all about 80-100 zigbee devices in the end.)

What makes the most sense in the long run? @Adrian, @pmayer? What do you think?

Thanks for any hints, as i didn’t follow all the development lately.

I also have the DeCONZ stuff lying around, but this does not work with Homegear/Zigbee as i read somewhere.

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#2

I personally use the CC2530 with Z-Stack firmware 3.0.x as I had only bad experience with the chinese CC2531 sticks.
Currently I only have battery driven zigbee devices and I did not manage to connect all of them around the house with the CC2531, despite having one with external antenna. Also it crashed occasionally.
So I built a Module for the Pi’s GPIO with ebytes E18-MS1PA1, which has an CC2592 range extender included: https://shop.codm.de/automation/zigbee/15/zigbee-cc2530-cc2592-long-range-raspberry-pi-funkmodul-v0.3?c=10

For bigger networks without routers the CC2530 is not “big” enough, as you only can have 10 direct children. See

But, the direct children do not define how big your network could be. See the zigbee2mqtt FAQ.

To have more direct children I replaced the CC2530+CC2592 with an CC2538 which also includes an CC2592.
A good alternative ist the zzh! as it sports an CC2652R from the current line-up of zigbee ic’s.

I’ve also built a stand-alone router with the E18-MS1PA1 so I don’t have to place zigbee sockets around the house :wink:
I have no experience with the DeConz, though.

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#3

cc2538 supports more devices than cc2530/2531. Probably for 80-100 devices you might need more than one coordinator, even if using cc2538.

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