Dresden Elektronik ConBee II

Got my two sensors connected through DeConz via ConBee II. Works like a charm. My sensors are labeled Aqara but it’s exactly the same as far as I know. However, to get the most use out of them I view them in Eve-app rather than Apple Home. In Eve you get historical graphs as well which is lacking in the normal home app.

Excerpt saved from Arctic Shift Reddit archive on 2026-10-22.

I have! I got an RPi4 and Conbee II and run the official Homebridge Raspian image on it, which includes Homebridge and deConz, and it's fantastic! I got an 8GB Pi which was seemingly overkill… at least so far. It only uses ~1.2 GB of RAM.

Excerpt saved from Arctic Shift Reddit archive on 2026-10-22.

This, along with a 1-2meter USB extension cable. The cable will provide some physical separation from your Pi and afford your the ability to tune the Conbee’s physical orientation for best results. Just migrated a few bulbs and 15 of my Hue motion sensors to Conbee 2 and the difference in reaction time is unbelievable compared to the Hue bridge.

Excerpt saved from Arctic Shift Reddit archive on 2026-10-22.

I have the Conbee II also running. What is mentioned below about USB extension cable is a must. I have lights (4), switches (1) and sensors (14) running and it works fine. However, this week someone pointed me towards https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/ It seems to work fine with the Conbee II stick BUT it can be connected to lots of more devices. You may want to check this combination as well. Nothing is trully plug-and-play but I guess that the price we pay if we want to connect anything with everything.

Excerpt saved from Arctic Shift Reddit archive on 2026-10-22.

… the time. Especially with many devices. I had to split my large setup over 4 Tradfri bridges for it to be useable. Still had issues, so switched to the conbee II/Homebridge DeCONZ and it’s been solid. Have a number of hue motion sensors on there, too. If the ikea Gateway is reliable for you and you only have a handful of devices, I wouldn’t do it though. I have 51 shortcut buttons, 52 lights and outlets and 3 motion sensors. IKEA gateways couldn’t handle all of that reliably.

Excerpt saved from Arctic Shift Reddit archive on 2026-10-22.

ConBee II The Universal Zigbee USB Gateway https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PZ7ZHG5/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_4GMTZG9ACSV9Q10AKR05 Think this is what you want. I plug this into my raspberry pi, and it acts as a hub for my zigbee devices such as aqara and works fantastically well. You will just need the homebridge-hue plug in. Detailed instructions here https://phoscon.de/en/conbee2/install

Excerpt saved from Arctic Shift Reddit archive on 2026-10-22.

For 3 years I've had Homebridge-hue and Deconz. It works perfectly. But the creator has announced in January that he will decouple homebridge-hue and homebridge-deconz (deconz is currently under homebridge-hue). But so far, you're good. My setup: Homebridge Homebridge Hue Deconz usb Key All of that installed on Raspberry Pi if you don't know, you can access Deconz accessories from a webpage just like you do homebridge. Before I had to reset my system, I also manage to have the raspberry start homebridge and deconz (and automatically press the connect button in deconz).

Excerpt saved from Arctic Shift Reddit archive on 2026-10-22.

The ConBee II alternative works with the Raspberry Pi, but doesn't need you to fiddle around with the RTC / system clock - it might be a simpler option? If you ever decide to try again, the Homebridge Raspberry Pi image has options to migrate your existing setup (without loosing pairings or automations) and a simple installer for setting up your device and deCONZ.

Excerpt saved from Arctic Shift Reddit archive on 2026-10-22.

You must run deCONZ in either graphical or non-graphical mode, as that is what controls all of your zigbee devices via the conbee II. Virtually all of the deCONZ instructions assume that you will be using the rPi in auto-login desktop GUI mode, where deCONZ in GUI mode is auto-started when the desktop GUI starts. Unfortunately, the documentation for how to run deCONZ in non-desktop-GUI/headless mode (e.g., via systemd) is crappily documented. However, if you run deCONZ in non-GUI mode, you lose access to the pretty zigbee network graphs. I have deCONZ running on a headless rPi, but it wasn't …

Excerpt saved from Arctic Shift Reddit archive on 2026-10-22.

Everything has been working perfectly for a couple of years. Problems started when I added two new bulbs the same way I always have to the Hue Bridge (which then show up in homekit natively and alexa through homebridge Alexa.) These new bulbs could not be controlled by my conbee paired switches even though everything seems to be working correctly as I test it and then watch the logs as it fails. Symptoms Devices Present: I can see my switches and bulbs in Homekit Assignment works: I can assign the bulb to the switch button Bulb action works: I can "test action" and the bulb responds as …

Excerpt saved from Arctic Shift Reddit archive on 2026-10-22.

I tried to get a ConBee II USB stick working on my rPi / homebridge setup with the intention of using that instead of SmartThings. I had nothing but trouble, couldn't get devices to pair, never got it working. Gave up on the ConBee II stick and went back to SmartThings... tried to add SmartThings to homebridge instead, it half-worked but things like motion sensors and multi-sensors weren't reporting status. Haven't tinkered with that since... So now I just have some things on homebridge and some on SmartThings, but wish it could all be unified. Based on my attempts, I think using a …

Excerpt saved from Arctic Shift Reddit archive on 2026-10-22.