{"id":2561,"date":"2022-04-27T21:35:38","date_gmt":"2022-04-28T02:35:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/promincproductions.com\/blog\/?p=2561"},"modified":"2026-03-07T14:03:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T20:03:49","slug":"add-zigbee-to-home-assistant-with-conbee-ii-and-deconz-on-qnap-ts-251","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/promincproductions.com\/blog\/add-zigbee-to-home-assistant-with-conbee-ii-and-deconz-on-qnap-ts-251\/","title":{"rendered":"Add Zigbee to Home Assistant with ConBee II and deCONZ on QNAP TS-251"},"content":{"rendered":"

This tutorial shows how to use deCONZ and Phoscon App connected to a ConBee II USB Zigbee gateway for adding Zigbee devices to Home Assistant on a QNAP TS-251 NAS. The ConBee II device is a reliable USB device for a stable Zigbee network, ensuring a quality smart home setup.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Zigbee<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

What is a ConBee II USB Zigbee Gateway Device?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

ConBee II small USB stick made by Phoscon<\/a> that has a Zigbee radio within it for building a Zigbee device network into a smart home network. The ConBee 2 is a local device, meaning registration with a third party cloud service is not needed. This keeps all network data on the local network which reduces security concerns, leaking of your data, etc. The ConBee II device is the cornerstone of building a strong Zigbee network.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"conbee
ConBee II USB Zigbee Coordinator<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Full product details can be found on the dresden elektronik website. https:\/\/phoscon.de\/en\/conbee2<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A ConBee II USB device can be purchased at many electronics retailers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Buy ConBee II on Amazon<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

What is deCONZ<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

deCONZ is free software provided by Dresden Elektronik<\/a> to visualize and configure a Zigbee network. deCONZ handles the API calls between the ConBee II device and the Zigbee devices. It has an open API that has been used by many device manufactures (like IKEA, Philips and Xiaomi\/Aqara) as well as home automation systems like Home Assistant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

deCONZ runs silently in the background but does have a graphical component as well. Accessing the graphical component will be discussed later in this tutorial in the section titled: Setup VNC Viewer Connection to deCONZ<\/a>, however in-depth usage of deCONZ will not be addressed here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Phoscon App?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

dresden elektronik provides the Phoscon App<\/a> as a web based interface that is used for adding new devices to the Zigbee network via the deCONZ integration. The Phoscon App does have some basic home automation tools within it, and it would be possible to use this to build out some smart home automation. It is limited however in what it offers and thus Home Assistant can be used to make more complex automation schemes. This tutorial will focus on how to connect Zigbee devices to Home Assistant through the ConBee 2 and Phoscon App configuration should that layer be necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connect ConBee II to QNAP TS-251<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Insert the ConBee II USB stick into an open USB port on the back of the QNAP TS-251.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Confirm the ConBee II device is seen by QNAP<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

SSH access to the QNAP NAS server is needed to confirm that the ConBee II device is recognized by the system and identify what address the device has been given. QNAP provides an article on how to setup SSH access: How do I access my QNAP NAS using SSH?<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To confirm that the device is recognized by the file system by running this command via the SSH terminal:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ls \/dev\/ttyACM*<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
If the device is connected, a second line of output with the address of the device will be returned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
[user@QNAPTS-251 CACHEDEV1_DATA]# ls \/dev\/ttyACM*\n\/dev\/ttyACM0<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Troubleshooting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
If the device doesn’t show, add the required drivers by calling this command via the SSH command line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
insmod \/usr\/local\/modules\/cp210x.ko insmod \/usr\/local\/modules\/cdc-acm.ko<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
After adding the driver, unplug the device, plug it back in, and run ls \/dev\/ttyACM*<\/code> again.  The device show now be listed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Install deCONZ with QNAP Container Station<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
deCONZ and Phoscon App will be installed via the QNAP Container Station application. Containers are essentially virtual machines.  The container defines what the core software of the machine is, as well as configuration for how the machine should operate.  This includes what hardware devices to connect to, where to store files, variables such as the local timezone, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Container Station is a graphical interface for a Docker container, which has quickly grown to be an industry standard method for making portable virtual machines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Create a Directory for Container Data<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Device specific data should be stored in a local directory on the QNAP server to ensure it is not lost when the container is shut down or updated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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  1. Open File Station<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Create a new directory in a location you like for this data.\n