Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840 chips with ZBOSS Zigbee stack now usable as Zigbee Coordinator for the ZHA integration via new radio library for zigpy

[Hedda]

This is kind of off-topic but thought this news would still be interesting to b-parasite hardware developers who work with nrf52840 modules and as such probably have the skill and interest in developing new Zigbee Coordinator hardware (similar to TubesZB and ZigStar gateways).

FYI, you can now use Nordic Semi nRF52840 serial modules as Zigbee Coordinator for Homa Assistant's ZHA integration via zigpy-zboss:

https://github.com/kardia-as/zigpy-zboss

zigpy-zboss is still unofficial and bleeding-edge experimental so first need to manually add (i.e. hack) radio library into the zha component:

https://github.com/home-assistant/core/tree/dev/homeassistant/components/zha

Flashed with ZBOSS NCP Host then radio type zboss should work like any Zigbee Coordinator adapter + add device serial path to ZHA:

https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/zha

For development discussion see:

zigpy/zigpy#394

and for end-user discussion see his Home Assistant community forum thread:

https://community.home-assistant.io/t/nordic-semi-nrf52840-chips-with-zboss-zigbee-stack-now-usable-as-zigbee-coordinator-for-the-zha-integration-via-new-radio-library-for-zigpy/570196

This new radio library for zigpy should make usable to use either nRF52840 USB dongle (or nRF52840 dev kits) with the correct firmware.

https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Development-hardware/nrf52840-dongle

(or https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Development-hardware/nrf52840-dk)

nRF52840 Dongle only costs around $10 USD today which makes it a very affordable Zigbee Coordinator for the ZHA integration.

Tip for @rbaron @stanvn @oleo65 and other hardware developers who work with nrf52840 modules:

Hardware developers could for example now create network-attached Zigbee Coordinator Ethernet adapters using ESP32 modules, see:

https://github.com/tube0013/tube_gateways

https://github.com/mercenaruss/zigstar_gateways

Anyway, ZBOSS Zigbee stack support has the potential to be a big deal since its firmware is open-source and is also hardware independent:

https://dsr-zoi.com

https://dsr-iot.com

PS: Even more off-topic but also also interesting is that is and when this zigpy-zboss library gets developed further then it could able for developers to port it for use with ESP32-C6 (and ESP32-H2) module with ESPHome as native ESP32 Zigbee Coordinator adapter for ZHA:

esphome/feature-requests#1397

zigpy/zigpy#1052

[Hedda]

Tip for @rbaron @stanvn @oleo65 and other hardware developers who work with nrf52840 modules:

Hardware developers could for example now create network-attached Zigbee Coordinator Ethernet adapters using ESP32 modules, see:

https://github.com/tube0013/tube_gateways

https://github.com/mercenaruss/zigstar_gateways

Suggest you consider creating an nrf52840 to Ethernet gateway using Olimex ESP32-PoE and/or WT32-ETH01 carrier boards for prototypes:

http://en.wireless-tag.com/product-item-2.html

https://www.olimex.com/Products/IoT/ESP32/ESP32-POE/open-source-hardware

Both Tube and ZigStar use Olimex ESP32-PoE and WirelessTag WT32-ETH01 as the carrier board(s) for most (but not all) of their products ;)

Great if could make it work nice with ESPHome firmware as the serial-to-IP server platform:

https://esphome.io

That is what Tube uses too in combination with various custom components for serial stream server and Zeroconf discovery:

https://github.com/tube0013/esphome-stream-server-v2

https://github.com/tube0013/esphome-zeroconf

Zeroconf is used to automatic network discovery by Home Assistant and the ZHA integration:

https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/zha#discovery-via-usb-or-zeroconf

https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/zeroconf/

PS: Serial-over-IP is not recommended over WiFi which is why Tube and ZigStar only has wired Ethernet models of their gateway products:

https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/zha#warning-about-wi-fi-based-zigbee-to-serial-bridgesgateways