this post was submitted on 28 Mar 2026
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Cloudless Smart Home: Thread, Zigbee, ... (lemmy.ml)
submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by VoxAliorum@lemmy.ml to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
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Heyho,

as I will soon move into my first "own" apartment (have lived in shared apartments so far), I would like to set up some smart home devices. Primarily lights, but I am open to other ideas.

Looking into the topic I noticed that basically all cloudless setups need a server - often they use a Raspberry Pie, a low energy protocol - like Zigbee or Thread, and a managing software like Home Assistant or openHAB.

Currently, I think about using the Raspberry Pie 5 (should also be helpful for other projects such as Immich) together with some kind of USB to connect to the Thread network (guess there is something similar like conbee2 for Zigbee) and openHAB as the software for greater customization. While openHAB is probably overkill, as a computer scientist I think I might enjoy the greater customization options.

So my question: Are there any good tutorials for this setup? While I knew of Zigbee before this project, I wasn't aware of Thread and am just looking into it. I don't feel comfortable yet to double down on it without learning more on possible ways to connect Thread to openHAB on a Raspberry Pie.

Thanks in advance!

Alright: For now I have bought:

  • Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2, Zigbee 3.0/Thread/Matter USB-Adapter
  • Soyo MiniPC M4

Instead of choosing openHAB, I will start with Home Assistant. While some people argued that they use Zigbee without issues, I still feel like Matter/Thread is the more interesting standard. Given that you can only use one standard with a ZBT-2, I will try to find all my devices in the Matter/Thread ecosystem.

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[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

If you’re starting with ha, don’t feel confined to only one.

IMPORTANT: a local area mesh is not just a low powered way of connecting devices but is inherently local-only. Highly recommended

The more common local area meshes include

  • Zigbee - open standard, lots of inexpensive sensors
  • Z-Wave - devices need to pay for certification but are more standard. I found more smart switches using this in my area
  • Thread - the new standard. Same frequency as Zigbee but IPv6 based. Slowly rolling out.

The new Matter/Thread standard has support of the major players (Apple, Google, Amazon) so seems like the way to go for the future, but products are slow to roll out so you can’t count on it yet

Personally I found the strengths of each compelling so quickly added all three of the above to my ha setup. Ha is fine with it so why limit yourself

I follow the principle that devices must work “as expected” for my users, automation adds capabilities but does not replace them. This comes together with a focus on smart switches

  • can be used interactively just like any switch
  • continue to work as expected even if ha is down
  • typically act as routers to strengthen your local area mesh. I have switches acting as routers for Zigbee, zwave, and Thread, so all my local area meshes are solid everywhere
  • then I can automate