You forgot to install Zigbee2MQTT itself? Or does the dongle run that?
Both. I’ve installed the Zigbee2MQTT app and also established a connection to the MQTT server via the dongle. Is that the same thing?
If I connect directly via the dongle, do I even need the Zigbee2MQTT app, and how can I then add new Zigbee devices to Homey?
No, the Zigbee2MQTT app for Homey requires Zigbee2MQTT to be running somewhere, and it sounds like you don’t have it running anywhere. I don’t know what the MQTT support for the Sonoff dongle entails, unless the dongle itself is running Z2M (which I doubt).
was running a Homey Pro 2023 with various Zigbee devices and their respective apps. I also had some Tuya Zigbee sensors connected via Home Assistant and the Zigbee2MQTT add-on, using an SLZB-06 over PoE. Running all these apps eventually consumed most of the available storage and memory, which made the Homey slow.
I’ve now moved to Homey SHS running on my TrueNAS server, with dedicated Mosquitto and Zigbee2MQTT services on the same NAS. I migrated all 35 of my devices (sensors, plugs, and a few relays - no lights), and I’m really glad I made the switch. Everything Zigbee- and flow-related runs much smoother again.
Definitely glad I made the move.
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Are you sure that no extra MQTT apps are required to connect a Zigbee coordinator to Homey-SHS?
I’m looking to connect a ZBT-2 Zigbee coordinator to Homey-SHS, but I’m still fairly new to working with Docker and Containers so I’m not sure what’s needed.
- Homey-SHS container runs on a Debian server
- add a 2nd container ‘zigbee2mqtt’ on the same Debian server
- connect the Zigbee coordinator ZBT-2 to the Debian server and configure the zigbee2mtqq container for this USB device
- add the Homey app * Zigbee2MQTT
- what’s next?
According to this architecture picture there is a MQTT broker needed (installing a 3rd container)
The original post already mentioned installing the MQTT Broker app, so that’s still a requirement (although I would suggest running a separate MQTT broker, like Mosquitto, in a dedicated Docker container instead).
But specifically for the Zigbee2MQTT app you don’t need to install additional MQTT apps (some MQTT-related apps for Homey depend on the MQTT Client app to do the MQTT handling).
Got it, that’s exactly what all the Home Assistant container tutorials also mentioned. I’m a complete HA beginner, but so far I definitely prefer my crowed Homey Pro 2023 (and maybe Homey SHS) overall.
I might have to wait for some video tutorials on Homey SHS with Zigbee, but I’ll give it a shot now that I have a ZBT-2.
Thx!
I am experiment with the Zigbee2MQTT setup as a way to avoid using the Homey Bridge hardware with the SHS. I setup a Home Assistant OS for the soul purpose of running and managing the MQTT Broker and interface to an SMLIGHT Zigbee coordinator via POE. I like the idea of Zigbee2MQTT handling the devices and making them available to any smart home controller I want to use or try.
So far, I am impressed with Z2M, it recognizes every devices I throw at it, including generic no-name hardware that didn’t work with Homey.
In my Homey SHS, I have been able to easily access the HAOS hosted broker with the MQTT application, and everything works as expected, even devices that I could never get directly connected to Homey.
Maybe, Z2M is the best way to interface with Zigbee devices, regardless of what smarthome controller you’re using. If that’s the case, the Homey MQTT application could become one of the most important and critical apps. It hasn’t exhibited any issues, which seems to indicate that the developer has taken a good approach to its design.
I am curious as to how the Z2M library seems to have such a vast, nearly complete library of devices. Maybe this Z2M approach would remove a burden from device deveopers having to support many controllers.
I am new to this technology and don’t understand everything, so if I’ve made some bad assumptions, I welcome your feedback.
Z2M is great. I prefer it over Homey zigbee & ZHA.
While there’s nothing wrong with running HA next to Homey, there’s 2 Homey MQTT brokers as well:
This an all in one MQTT package
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It’s open source, it has a very active developer/team behind it, and it’s a dedicated project (its sole purpose is to provide access to Zigbee devices).
Athom has chosen to go a different route for Homey: closed source (and also allow apps to be closed), rely on community developers (usually working alone) for device support, and try to do everything at once.
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I saw those two options, and dismissed the “MQTT Broker” because the application hasn’t been updated in 3 years. After reading the discription for the “MQTT Server” application, it appeared to be focused on making homey devices available to other clients, and not the other way around.
Maybe, I should evaluate those as potential options.
Given how much work has been put into the Zigbee2MQTT device library, would it be possible for a Homey application developer to leverage that work, by building an application that references their device library and translates it into a native Homey Pro device instance, essentially making every Zigbee device work in homey with only one application? Is that a crazy idea?
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Is that not what the Homey Zigbee2MQTT app is already doing?
My setup is the following:
Zigbee2MQTT > Mosquitto (MQTT broker) > Zigbee2MQTT app on Homey SHS
Zigbee2MQTT, Mosquitto and Homey SHS all run in Docker
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It’s not an app which needs additional work. Nothing wrong with it.
I only recommended it to use as MQTT Broker, but it might be overkill.
By the way, the other way round is called Zigbee2mqtt community app, like Sven alr mentioned.
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You can also use the Home Assistant Community app to bring in your Zigbee devices and the many other devices that HA supports.
Additionally, you can run SHS as an Add-On to Home Assistant. You will then be able to bring HA devices into Homey via local machine (http://127.0.0.1:8123), rather than having to go out to the network.
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I’m fairly sure that the Universal TUYA Zigbee app is, at least in part, based on Z2M code (however, that app is being vibe-coded and I don’t get the impression that it’s exactly stable).
But Z2M itself offers more than just improved device support. It also supports basic Zigbee features that Homey doesn’t, like grouping, binding, and OTA updates. Those can’t be implemented in a Homey app.
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Yes ia is helping me it’s based on z2m zha and blakadder sources.
I organise the architecture of the code based on Johan tuya apps and AI help me to implement or improve it.
It’s not stable yet that why it’s only test status
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Wow, I didn’t realize there was an add-on in HA for Homey SHS. And, I just found the forum discussion on using HAOS Homey Self-Hosted Server on Home Assistant OS | Megathread
Thank you to everyone that’s posting on this thread, I’ve learned so many things in just a few hours that might have taken months to learn on my own.
The idea that HA, Homey, and MQTT Broker can all share the same containerized platform is exciting.
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I have now been running SHS for 6 weeks or so on my raspberry 5b and it has been working really well, but i cannot say the same about homey bridge. I don’t know if the problem is compatibility with my unifi setup or if others are having same issues as well, but i’ve been having pretty constant over 100ms latency with it no matter what i try to do. And it sometimes has even couple of second spikes meaning that it gets quite visual when lights turn on with that much delay. So the actual question here: i’m really considering zigbee2mqtt based on the conversation here, but i need z-wave as well still since i have quite many fibaro dimmers and motion sensors which are really reliable and i haven’t found any equally good zigbee devices to replace those. Has anyone got experience of zwave2mqtt with homey and can someone recommend a stick that works well with raspberry / docker that has both the radios? Extra points from thread, but not a mandatory thing yet 
Aeotec z-stick pro 10 looks promising, but since i’ve already wasted 70€ on the bridge i wouldn’t want to waste similar amount on a stick that doesn’t work either.
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Considered instead to install Home Assistant with the Home Assistant OS on the Raspberry Pi and then run Homey SHS as an add-on. You can then also run Z2M as an add-on as well.
You could then use the Home Assistant community app to pull in devices from Home Assistant to Homey. Additionally, there’s a very good Matter bridge Home Assistant add-on that you could also use to share Home Assistant devices with Homey if you want.
If the latency is with your Z-wave devices, I highly doubt that your unifi is to blame. However, it could be unifi if it’s Zigbee devices. Make certain you choose channels that will not conflict with each other. If that doesn’t resolve things, maybe you could just use the Homey bridge for Z-wave only and run Z2M for Zigbee devices. But channel conflicts do need to be resolved. They could be an issue, regardless of which Zigbee controller you use.
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