Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus detected on Cerbo GX, but cannot get Zigbee working

Q&A and troubleshooting
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1

Hello,

I am trying to use a Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus with a Victron Cerbo GX (Venus OS).

I connected the dongle directly to the Cerbo GX. The device is detected by the system, and I can see it correctly listed as a serial device:

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 Jan 23 01:07
usb-Itead_Sonoff_Zigbee_3.0_USB_Dongle_Plus_V2_a4fd5a62a7f3ef11baffba1b6d9880ab-if00-port0
-> ../../ttyUSB2

So from a Linux point of view, the USB stick is clearly recognized.

However, I cannot get any Zigbee functionality working:

  • I tried using Zigbee2MQTT Bridge

  • I also tried a Zigbee Controller node

  • Unfortunately, I cannot get any further — no Zigbee devices can be paired or controlled

At this point I am not sure:

  • whether Venus OS supports Zigbee USB dongles at all

  • whether additional drivers or services are required

  • or if Zigbee must run on an external system and communicate with the Cerbo GX via MQTT

Has anyone successfully used a Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus directly on a Cerbo GX, or can confirm whether this setup is unsupported?

Any clarification, experience, or recommended architecture would be highly appreciated.

Thank you very much!

2

where do you see the sense in running a Zigbee USB Stick on the GX?

You need the stick and a driver - and then you need software like zigbee2MQTT - i quess the GX is to small to also handle this additional software

As you need this software anyhow - you could install it on a Rasperry, Docker System,.. - why not also install the stick / driver there?

I have some Zigbee RGB Lamps in the garden - they work, but installation was a nightmare

3

Hi thanks for your feedback!

I see your point regarding the stability and resource limits of the GX. My original plan was to keep everything on one device to control my Futurehome Zigbee puck relays, thermostats, and wallbox without needing the Futurehome Hub or any cloud subscriptions.

However, I recognize the potential ‘nightmare’ of maintaining drivers and software on the Venus OS, .

Based on your advice, I think I will pivot and use a Mini PC running Home Assistant instead???

4

This is the way.

In a fixed installation (i.e. not an RV or boat), I personally think it makes sense to keep the Victron installation simple and treat is as a critical piece of infrastructure. You can add more fancy controls and dashboard using HA. In mobile scenarios it is handy to have the Victron GX do more tasks such as running automations or control of lights and whatnot.

I view power as critical infrastructure and simple is better.

Have fun!

5

I´m personally not a friend of Home Assistant, using FHEM and Bash Scripting here, since 2 years IOBroker as an Ad-on

But that point is absolutely up to you

You have to choices:

  • As you first wanted to have everything on the GX - get a Rasperry
  • or maybe a virtualization solution - i´m using ProxMox on a small PC

Benefit of solution 2 - you could have many systems parallel, delete some - create new ones - but for a beginner not really easy