Great Plugin, deCONZ not so much? Back to Zwave for me.

[George]

Just found this thread. I purchased the Conbee 2 stick a while back but have not dipped my toe into the Zigbee world as of yet.

I didn't know that deCONZ required a Raspberry Pi.

Just from a purely hardware viewpoint, keeping in mind that the only Zigbee hub/transceiver I have is the Conbee, what other hardware (Phillips Bridge, ? ) is recommended. If I can put a Hue bridge and if it's simple, that's great.

So would anyone like to kickstart a Zigbee newbie?

[cesarvog]

It does not require a Raspberry Pi. I installed it on an existing RPi I had because it was already there, serving as the remote centrally located z-wave controller.
You may install deCONZ in Raspbian, Ubuntu, Docker, Windows 7 and Windows 10, as per the following page:

https://phoscon.de/en/conbee2/install

As far I my experience counts, the Conbee II not only has better range than the 2nd gen Hue Hub I was using, but also supports additional Zigbee device types, like switches, sensors,....

You will need to familiarize yourself with several parts that together provide the functionality you're looking for, which is to have the Conbee II act as a better version of the Hue Bridge.

The Conbee II, as was well as it's sibling product (the Raspbee II GPIO interface) comes with it's own set of software applications: deCONZ is the back-end software that talks to the hardware inside either the Conbee II or the Raspbee II.

For the front-end, there is the Phoscon App, which is a web based panel that talks to the deCONZ back-end and presents a nice enough interface to interact with the Zigbee devices registered into the Conbee II USB interface, or the Raspbee II GPIO interface.

Once you have the Phoscon App linked to your Conbee II or Raspbee II, you may want to integrate it with Homeseer. To do that, you will need to license and install the JowiHue plugin. It works with both the Phillips Hue Bridge AND the deCONZ back end, mostly because the deCONZ software application interface (API) is almost exactly the same as the original Phillips Hue API.

[w.vuyk]

George

Cesarvog is correct with his pointers. deCONZ needs to run on the device the Conbee is connected to as deCONZ needs the device locally. A good starter for the plugin usage is https://forums.homeseer.com/forum/hs...o-s-on-jowihue, this might help you get started. For devices check out the phoscon.de site Cesrvog mentioned and also https://zigbee.blakadder.com/deconz.html which holds a mor complete list.

Wim

[George]

Thanks all, one question.

cesarvog said "For the front-end, there is the Phoscon App, which is a web based panel that talks to the deCONZ back-end and presents a nice enough interface to interact with the Zigbee devices registered into the Conbee II USB interface, or the Raspbee II GPIO interface.

I've already purchased the JowiHue plugin in anticipation and it was on sale.

If I already have the plugin, is the Phoscon App step required or required to be installed.

I was hoping that with deCONZ installed on my HS server (Win 10), the Conbee 2 and the plugin that would be all I would need to get up and running.

Am I thinking it trough correctly. Or is Phoscon and it's initial steps required?

[w.vuyk]

George,

The Phoscon web app is made avalable when you install deCONZ, they come together. You only need to start Phoscon for the initial registration of JowiHue to the deCONZ gateway. Once that is done, you do no longer need it. The plugin does the same things as Phoscon. But there are several users that also use Phoscon for their reasons.
You will find information on this also in the thread I posted in my earlier response.

Wim

[George]

Ah, I see said the blind man as he picked up the hammer and saw! Great thanks, really appreciate it.
Now, before I start backup, backup again and backup all over the place. Installing external background software is almost guaranteed to goon something up!

[w.vuyk]

always the best way to start
Remember to make sure that deCONZ starts before HS4 and also check the HS4 webport and the deCONZ (Phoscon) webport, they should not be the same. Other then these two remarks there should be no big issues I hope!

Welcome aboard!

Thanks,

Wim

[langenet]

I just want to add that this plugin is great! I have a Conbee I usb in the basement, and I have full coverage in my 3400 square ft home. I have about a dozen zigbee devices/sensors/switches and have not ever had a problem with it. All thanks to Wim!

[George]

always the best way to start
Remember to make sure that deCONZ starts before HS4 and also check the HS4 webport and the deCONZ (Phoscon) webport, they should not be the same. Other then these two remarks there should be no big issues I hope!

Welcome aboard!

Thanks,

Wim

Thanks, that's great. I'm running the Startup Manager so I can have deCONZ start before HS3 and even delay HS3 for a minute and put in a condition to not start it unless deCONZ is loaded and running. The Startup Manager can check for conditions before it continues with a launch. So that shouldn't be much of a problem, it's good to know the order is critical.