ConBee II

Installation

The deCONZ application is a tool to configure, control and monitor Zigbee networks with the ConBee III.

The following sections describe the installation steps of deCONZ for various platforms.

ConBee III / deCONZ / Phoscon App

Supported platforms

Connection

To ensure a strong radio signal, the ConBee III should preferably be connected to a USB 2.0 socket with an USB extension cable.

ConBee III USB cable
  • Prevents interference with housing and peripherals
  • Provides maximum signal range and reliability

Note

Connection problems may occur if the ConBee III is attached directly to the USB port or is located near USB 3.0 devices such as external hard drives or memory sticks.

Raspberry Pi OS

Supported Raspberry Pi models and distributions

Note

The following steps describe the manual installation of deCONZ. Alternatively a preinstalled SD-card image can be used.

Installation

  1. Set user USB access rights

     sudo gpasswd -a $USER dialout

    Note: Changes to access rights only become active after logging out and in or after a restart.

  2. Import Phoscon public key

    wget -qO- https://phoscon.de/apt/deconz.pub.key | gpg --dearmor | \
              sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/deconz-keyring.gpg >/dev/null
  3. Configure the APT repository for deCONZ

    Stable

    sudo sh -c "echo 'deb http://phoscon.de/apt/deconz \
                generic main' > \
                /etc/apt/sources.list.d/deconz.list"

    Beta (alternative)

    sudo sh -c "echo 'deb http://phoscon.de/apt/deconz \
                generic-beta main' > \
                /etc/apt/sources.list.d/deconz.list"
  4. Update APT package list

     sudo apt update
  5. Install deCONZ

     sudo apt install deconz
  6. Create UDEV rule

     echo ACTION=='"add"', SUBSYSTEMS=='"usb"', \
          ATTRS{product}=='"ConBee III"', \
          RUN+='"/bin/stty -F /dev/%k 115200"' | \
          sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/99-conbee3.rules

    Note: The ConBee III gets activated after a restart or unplug / reattach.

After the installation deCONZ can be started via the application menu.

Menu > Programming > deCONZ

Now the first Zigbee devices can be paired via the Phoscon App. Further information can be found in the Phoscon App documentation.

Troubleshooting

If problems occur during the installation, the Support section answers frequently asked questions (FAQ) and provides further assistance.

Ubuntu

Supported Ubuntu versions

Installation

  1. Set user USB access rights

     sudo gpasswd -a $USER dialout

    Note: Changes to access rights only become active after logging out and in or after a restart.

  2. Import Phoscon public key

    wget -qO- https://phoscon.de/apt/deconz.pub.key | gpg --dearmor | \
              sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/deconz-keyring.gpg >/dev/null
  3. Configure the APT repository for deCONZ

    Stable

    sudo sh -c "echo 'deb [arch=amd64] http://phoscon.de/apt/deconz \
                generic main' > \
                /etc/apt/sources.list.d/deconz.list"

    Beta (alternative)

    sudo sh -c "echo 'deb [arch=amd64] http://phoscon.de/apt/deconz \
                generic-beta main' > \
                /etc/apt/sources.list.d/deconz.list"
  4. Update APT package list

     sudo apt update
  5. Install deCONZ

     sudo apt install deconz
  6. Create UDEV rule

     echo ACTION=='"add"', SUBSYSTEMS=='"usb"', \
          ATTRS{product}=='"ConBee III"', \
          RUN+='"/bin/stty -F /dev/%k 115200"' | \
          sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/99-conbee3.rules

    Note: The ConBee III gets activated after a restart or unplug / reattach.

After the installation deCONZ can be started via the application menu.

Now the first Zigbee devices can be paired via the Phoscon App. Further information can be found in the Phoscon App documentation.

Auto start of the deCONZ GUI (optional)

  1. Open the Startup Application Preferences via the application menu

     gnome-session-properties
  2. Add a new entry with the following commandline:

     deCONZ --http-port=80 --auto-connect=1
    deCONZ Ubuntu

Troubleshooting

If problems occur during the installation, the Support section answers frequently asked questions (FAQ) and provides further assistance.

Linux Headless

The SD card images as well as the standard installation method start automatically with graphical user interface.

Switch off graphical user interface (headless)

To switch off the graphical user interface (GUI), the following commands must be entered in the console:

  1. Stop the GUI service immediately.

      sudo systemctl disable --now deconz-gui
  2. Start the headless service now and every time the system starts.

      sudo systemctl enable --now deconz

Switch on graphical user interface (GUI)

To switch on the graphical user interface (GUI), the following commands must be entered in the console:

  1. Stop the headless service immediately.

      sudo systemctl disable --now deconz
  2. Start the GUI service now and every time the system starts.

      sudo systemctl enable --now deconz-gui

Home Assistant ZHA

Supported versions

Minimum requirements:

Update ConBee III

The ConBee III firmware must be updated manually via the command line as described in the wiki article Update ConBee III firmware manually and Youtube-clip, to ensure a proper function with the ZHA integration. The updae proces behaves exactly like the ConBee II update. The necessary update tool GCFFlasher is available as stand-alone version for download.

Installation

  1. Login into Home Assistant web interface and open the Settings section.

    HA settings
  2. Open the settings of the System and switch to the Updates section.

    HA settings system
  3. Update the Home Assistant core at least to 2023.12.0.

    HA core version
  4. Open Devices & Services in the settings section.

    HA devices and services
  5. Search and add the ZHA service.

    HA ZHA
  6. Configure the ZHA integration to set up the ConBee III.

    HA ConBee III integration
  7. Define the network formation: keep network settings, upload a backup or create a new network.

    HA network formation

Docker

Supported host systems

To run deCONZ in a Docker container, we recommend the Docker image deconz-community/deconz-docker, which is maintained by the community.

The installation steps are described on https://github.com/deconz-community/deconz-docker.

macOS installation

  1. Download deCONZ.

    https://deconz.dresden-elektronik.de/macos

  2. Unzip and start deCONZ.

    Unzip the file deCONZ_macOS.zip in Downloads and start the application deCONZ.app.

Windows 11 installation

  1. Install USB driver.

    The drivers are installed automatically after connecting the ConBee III. If necessary, the drivers are downloaded from the Internet. Alternatively, the necessary drivers can be downloaded from the official manufacturer website https://ftdichip.com.

  2. Download deCONZ software.

    https://deconz.dresden-elektronik.de/win

  3. Start deCONZ installation.

    Select and execute deCONZ Setup .exe-file in Downloads.

  4. Confirm installation of unknown app.

    1. Select More information.

    2. Start deCONZ installation with Run anyway.

  5. Follow the instructions in deCONZ setup.

  6. Start deCONZ in Search input.

Windows 10 installation

  1. Install USB driver.

    The drivers are installed automatically after connecting the ConBee III. If necessary, the drivers are downloaded from the Internet. Alternatively, the necessary drivers can be downloaded from the official manufacturer website https://ftdichip.com.

  2. Download deCONZ software.

    https://deconz.dresden-elektronik.de/win

  3. Start deCONZ installation.

    Select and execute deCONZ Setup .exe-file in Downloads.

  4. Confirm installation of unknown app.

    1. Select More information.

    2. Start deCONZ installation with Run anyway.

  5. Follow the instructions in deCONZ setup.

  6. Start deCONZ in Search input.

Firmware Update

The firmware of the ConBee III can be updated manually. An tutorial video for the update under Windows is available on Youtube:

Furthermore, the individual steps, also for other operating systems, are described in the FAQ.

Factory reset

The ConBee III could be reset to factory new settings by using the integrated service button.

Reset to factory new

The following parameters are reset to factory new settings: