Smart Homes

Those who follow smarthomescene.com, already know the dominant communication protocol mentioned here is Zigbee. Almost every device I review tends to be Zigbee or open-source Wi-Fi (ESP Boards).

My networks are based on the Sonoff ZBDongles, especially the EZSP version working with Zigbee2MQTT and ZHA. Even though it’s marked as experimental in Z2M, they have performed well in my testing and development setup.

The ZigStar UZG-01 I am testing in this article is a hybrid Zigbee coordinator, which can work over USB, Wi-Fi or LAN. You can also choose to power it over USB-C or Power-over-Ethernet (PoE). This was sent to me by Radu from the ZigStar open source and DIY project. You can get it on Tindie or Elecrow.

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After deploying the ZigStar UZG-01 as a coordinator in a development Zigbee2MQTT network, I started to pair devices that I had on hand. My previous network centered around the ZBDongle-E was very robust and performed without hiccups.

The UZG-01 performed as I expected too and pairing devices was very responsive. This is largely dependent on the device itself though, usually end devices are more difficult to pair. Aqara devices are also known as difficult to pair, although by now I learned how to handle them properly.

If you are looking to replace your coordinator, consider the ZigStar UZG-01 as a top tier device. The flexibility it offers in terms of installation options is enough to chose it over other coordinators. Further, the CC2652P7 module it ships with is very powerful and officially supported in both Zigbee2MQTT and ZHA.