Aeotec finally releases its Zigbee controller

Ah Finally Aeotec releases its Zigbee 3.0 compatible dongle, this manufacturer of quality modules has decided to market a zigbee usb adapter zi-stick ZGA008 to the Silabs protocol with a Chipset almost similar to Skyconnect or Zbdongle-e. But it has the distinction of being the smallest efficient dongle on the market. You are of course even smaller than the Skyconnect provided by Home Assistant.

USB ZIGBEE ZI-STICK CONTROLLER - AEOTEC

By Aeotec

Your gateway to create your own Zigbee home automation box.

Buy Now

Unboxing

Nothing could be simpler: a beautiful blue box in the colors of the Aeotec brand** contains this micro zigbee dongle, it is carefully protected in a white box. Inside you will find instructions and a safety sheet.

nothing more, nothing less.

The zi-stick ZGA008 is currently the smallest zigbee dongle on the market, even smaller than the skyconnect, it has a white envelope with a flat face and a rounded back, very good quality manufacturing.

And a little photo of the back of the adapter zi-stick ZGA008

Integration into Zigbee2mqtt

the integration of the Aeotec dongle zi-stick ZGA008 was done without any problems in zigbee2mqtt, but there is still an error, z2m creates 2 bridges of the dongle in the app, which is strange but not redundant.

let me explain:

• the first bridge raises the connection sensor with v12 firmware
• the second shows all the operating functions of the dongle and a firmware different from the previous bridge.

View of bridge 1 created

Weird.

View of bridge 2 created

However, the integration of the modules is done without problems, so it is usable.

This error comes from zigbee2mqtt but I think it could come directly from the firmware injected into the key, an error is possible.

USB ZIGBEE ZI-STICK CONTROLLER - AEOTEC

By Aeotec

Your gateway to create your own Zigbee home automation box.

Buy Now

Integration into ZHA

Integration in ZHA poses no problem you simply need to select the destination of the /dev/ttyUSB0 key and the rest is done automatically.

Integrating a module is done without any difficulty the Aeotec key zi-stick ZGA008 and ZHA do the job.

You will be able to see by viewing the animated gif that the integration of the key in ZHA does not pose any resistance.

Technical characteristics zi-stick ZGA008

product advantages zi-stick ZGA008

• the price less than €30
• zigbee 3.0 compatible
• Z2M compatible
• ZHA home assistant compatible
• openhab compatible
• the size

the - of the product zi-stick ZGA008

• No information regarding firmware update
• perfectible integration in Zigbee2mqtt
• limited compatibility

USB ZIGBEE ZI-STICK CONTROLLER - AEOTEC

By Aeotec

Your gateway to create your own Zigbee home automation box.

Buy Now

Conclusion

Here is a dongle that looks great, Aeotec stands out for the quality of its products and the zi-stick ZGA008 adapter is one of them. The firmware update is not yet available but there is no doubt that it will be the case in the coming weeks and I will keep you informed. If the size criterion is important to you then this dongle will hold a place of first choice.

Or you prefer to donate money to the nabu casa foundation by investing in Home assistant’s skyconnect which has similar characteristics for a similar price.