Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2 is a Zigbee, Thread, and Matter USB adapter based on Silicon Labs MG24 wireless SoC and designed for Home Assistant, replacing cloud-based hubs from Hue, Ikea, and others.
It’s an update of the Home Assistant Connect ZBT-1 (previously SkyConnect) Zigbee 3.0, Thread, and Matter USB dongle with an optimized antenna, a faster baudrate, and a form factor similar to the company’s ZWA-2 Z-Wave USB adapter introduced last August.
Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2 (NC-ZBT-9741) specifications:
- SoCs
- Silicon Labs MG24 Arm Cortex-M33 @ 78.0 MHz with DSP instruction and floating-point unit, 256 kB RAM, 1536 kB flash, 2.4 GHz wireless
- ESP32-S3 wireless MCU used as USB-to-serial bridge (WiFi and Bluetooth present, but not used by the firmware)
- Wireless via MG24
- Supported Protocols – Zigbee 3.0, Thread/Matter
- Tx Power
- 10 dBm (Europe)
- 8 dBm (rest of world)
- Antenna
- Frequency range: 2400-2483.5 MHz
- Peak gain – 4.16 dBi
- Radiation pattern – Omnidirectional
- Dimensions – 16 mm height, 24 mm diameter
- Host interface – USB-C port
- Misc – Z-Wave button
- Power Supply – 5V/0.5A via USB-C port
- Dimensions – 176 x 83 x 83 mm (Polycarbonate plastic enclosure); note: quite more compact than the Z-Wave model
- Weight – 157 grams
- Temperature Range – 0°C to 65°C (indoor use only)
- Humidity – non-condensing (keep in a dry, not excessively dusty environment)
- Conformity – CE, FCC, RCM, FCC (ID2A8ZE04)
As an official Home Assistant hardware, it’s basically plug-and-play with Home Assistant hardware, either from Nabu Casa or your own installation on a Raspberry Pi or other SBCs. It supports ZHA, Zigbee2MQTT, and OpenThread Border Router. Note that while theoretically possible with the hardware using MultiPAN technology, you can’t use Zigbee and Thread at the same time on the Connect ZBT-2. You’d need to pick one protocol, or get two Connect ZBT-2 devices if you need both. They didn’t implement MultiPAN because it is not stable. The new Smart Home USB adapter can’t be used as a repeater either, at least not for now.
The Connect ZBT-2 is much larger than the Connect ZBT-1, but it offers a range of benefits over the first-generation USB dongle, as summarized in the table below. Migration between the two versions is said to be easy with just a few clicks.
| Connect ZBT-1 | Connect ZBT-2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Antenna | Small and internal | Optimized antenna and base |
| Transmit | Maximized for the protocol | Maximized for the protocol |
| Speed (Baudrate) | 115200 bps | 460800 bps, improves device responsiveness |
| Zigbee/Thread Chip | Silicon Labs MG21 | Silicon Labs MG24 enabling faster operation and improved sensitivity for weak signals |
| USB chip | Silicon Labs CP2102N | ESP32-S3, expandable |
| Ease of modding | Hard to open, easy to flash firmware | Easy to open (no clips or glue, exposed pins and pads) and easy to flash firmware |
Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2 adapter sells for $49 on Seeed Studio, Ameridroid, and various other distributors. The ZBT-2 ships with a 1.5-meter USB-C cable, a Quick Start guide, and
warranty and safety information. Additional details may be found on the product page, and if you are inclined, you can also watch the 1h14m product announcement live stream
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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