I have multiple Homey’s, and when pairing Zigbee devices to a Homey, the other Homey’s cannot access them. With Zigbee2MQTT you can have all Homey’s and other automation platforms (like Home Assistant) connected simultaneously.
Unstable Zigbee behavior in Homey. Unfortunately my Homey Pro 2019 has issues in keeping a stable Zigbee network connected. I even have to reflash my Homey every once in a while to get the Zigbee chip working again . With Zigbee2MQTT I have the possibility to flash the latest firmware to my Tuya smartplugs, which significantly improves network behavior. Secondly, using Zigbee2MQTT on a RPi with a Zigbee dongle, just works a lot better for me!
How to setup
You need to have Zigbee2MQTT and an MQTT broker running, e.g. on a Raspberry Pi. See instructions here: Getting started | Zigbee2MQTT
You need to have all your Zigbee devices joined to Zigbee2MQTT. You can e.g. use the Zigbee2MQTT frontend for that, or use Home Assistant. Note that Home Assistant is not required to use the Homey app!
Install the Homey app, and add the bridge. Note: It is even possible to add multiple Zigbee2MQTT bridges (= multiple Zigbee networks)!
Add the devices in Homey that you want. If the device has a mapped capability in Homey, you will be able to see, monitor and control that in Homey. If you only see the Link Quality, that means the devices capabilities have not (yet) been mapped to Homey.
Why is my device not (fully) supported?
The current version supports basic devices like window/door contacts, power plugs, thermostats, basic lights and basic sensors.
Do know that I mainly built this app for my own use, but I added generic device mapping so that others can enjoy it too. At this time I do not intend to put an extreme amount of effort in adding support for more devices. If you are a programmer you are more than welcome to do a pull request on Github. But to really add a device to the Homey app, I need to have my hands on it and tinker around with it. So, if you are willing to donate the device, I am willing to put in the extra effort to integrate it. When you want to donate a device, send me the funds to buy one (including shipping to NL).
Donate
Feel free to donate the funds of a device you like to have integrated, or buy me some beers for the hard work I have already put in
Can you give some information about the application? I’ve been using Z2m on HomeAssistant for a long time. Will it support all supported devices in your application?
For now I am focussing on the two types of devices I use myself:
Tuya smart plug
Tuya door/window sensor
But I am also trying to make the interface as generic as possible. That means I am introducing a way to automagically map device properties from Zigbee2MQTT to Homey capabilities. So other door/window sensors and smart plugs (not Tuya) have a probability to also work out of the box.
Adding more types of devices/capabilities to the app should be relatively easy, but the mapping method surely has its limitations.
See 4 posts up. I can only test with my own Tuya devices at the moment. But you should at least get the link quality for any device paired with zigbee2mqtt.
You do have your devices already paired in zigbee2mqtt right?
You need to add the bridge first, and then you can add the zigbee devices that are connected to the bridge. During pairing it should find all the devices, but only few capabilities are supported at the moment.
I’ve been tinkering for only 5 minutes and can confirm successful integration of:
TRADFRI control outlet
TRADFRI bulb GU10 WW 400lm
Various Xiaomi/Aqara sensors
So this looks very promising @Gruijter! Only question for now; changing a device name in Z2M will automatically update its Entity ID in HA. I reckon such will be hard to do in Homey, implying deleting and repairing it manually? Do you concur? And what other limitations - if any - do you see for this app in the nearby future?
Homey doesn’t like it if you switch between apps when you’re filling in forms (for instance to copy a password from app A and then paste it in the Homey app).
. With Zigbee2MQTT I have the possibility to flash the latest firmware to my Tuya smartplugs, which significantly improves network behavior. Secondly, using Zigbee2MQTT on a RPi with a Zigbee dongle, just works a lot better for me!
