So that your Zigbee devices for your SmartHome Of course, these must first be connected to your Zigbee network.
This can be implemented in different ways. The easiest way to add new devices to your Zigbee network is via the cigbee2mqtt Dashboard.
The dashboard should of course already be set up for this. You can also find information on how to activate and use this dashboard in the article Zigbee - Administration of Zigbee2mqtt via the dashboard.
The following article describes how to connect a new Zigbee device to your Zigbee network.
Safety instructions
I know the following tips are always somehow annoying and seem unnecessary. But unfortunately, many people who knew "better" have already lost eyes, fingers or other things or injured themselves due to carelessness. In comparison, a data loss is almost not worth mentioning, but even these can be really annoying. Therefore, please take five minutes to read the safety instructions. Because even the coolest project is not worth an injury or other trouble.
https://www.nerdiy.de/sicherheitshinweise/
Affiliate links/advertising links
The links to online stores listed here are so-called affiliate links. If you click on such an affiliate link and make a purchase via this link, Nerdiy.com will receive a commission from the respective online store or provider. For you the price does not change. If you make your purchases through these links you support Nerdiy.com to be able to offer more useful projects in the future. 🙂
Requirements
Helpful articles:
Before you start with this article, you should have prepared a RaspberryPi so that it can be reached via the network and controlled via SSH. In addition, zigbee2mqtt should of course already be installed.
The following articles describe what needs to be done to prepare the RaspberryPi.
- Zigbee - Installing zigbee2mqtt on the Raspberry Pi
- Zigbee - Administration of Zigbee2mqtt via the dashboard
In the following lists you will find all the parts you need to implement this article.
Required tools:
Number | Link |
---|---|
1x | Screwdriver set Buy at Amazon |
1x | SD card reader Buy at Amazon |
Material needed:
Unlock access to the Zigbee network
In order to add new devices to your Zigbee network, you must activate access to the Zigbee network.
Thanks to the zigbee2mqtt dashboard, this is done with just one click. There is a button in the top menu bar with which access to the Zigbee network can be activated or deactivated.


If access to your Zigbee network is currently not activated, click on the button
- Permit join (All)
to read.
So now click on the button to activate access to your Zigbee network.

As soon as access to your Zigbee network is activated, the inscription on the button changes to
- Disable join (All) XXX
The number (here XXX) indicates how long the access is still active. Access is therefore deactivated again after 255 seconds at the latest. This way you avoid accidentally leaving the access activated.
Monitor the registration process of the new Zigbee device
After you have activated access to your Zigbee network, it is now time to register the Zigbee device. The cool thing is that you can follow this registration process live via the log output.

If you haven't already, open the log tab in the zigbee2mqtt dashboard.
To do this, set the "log level" to "debug" and click on the "Clear" button to hide all previous log messages.

If you have not already done so, you should activate access to your Zigbee network now at the latest.
To do this, click on the button marked in red in the upper area of the dashboard.
At this point you should initiate the connection to the network on your Zigbee device. Most devices have a small button on the back that you have to press several times or hold down for a long time. This procedure is not uniform, but it should be described in the device manual.
I have also described how you register certain Zigbee devices in a few articles on Nerdiy.de. You can find the articles here: https://nerdiy.de/category/zigbee-geraet/
A very good list including a search function is also available here: https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/supported-devices/

After the Zigbee device is connected to the Zigbee network, this is displayed in the log.
The first red underlined output in the log (type=”device joined”) indicates that a Zigbee device has joined the network.
Then the "interview" (type="device_interview") of this device begins. Because so far the Zigbee network does not know what kind of device it is. For this purpose, all important data is now retrieved in the further course of the registration process.

If Zigbee messages are received in the meantime, these will be ignored by zigbee2mqtt to first complete the registration process of the new Zigbee device.

As soon as all properties of the new Zigbee device are retrieved, this is displayed in the log. The values of the respective properties are also listed. (See points marked in red in the picture)
Towards the end of the registration process, the registration will be completed with the following…

…message confirmed.
- Successfully configured '0xXX..XX'
This message is displayed both in the log and briefly as a popup in the lower left corner.
Disable access to Zigbee network and copy IEEE address
After you have registered all Zigbee devices, you should deactivate access to your Zigbee network again.

To do this, click on the "Disable join..." button at the top of the dashboard.
At this point at the latest, you should also copy the IEEE address of your Zigbee device. This is the unique address with which your Zigbee device can be identified and under which the data is also received or sent to the device.
You can find the address in the dashboard in the device overview or in the log itself. In the adjacent image, the IEEE address can be seen in the hidden/masked areas.
The IEEE address has the following format
- for example: 0xbc11aceffe54a28f
You can now use the newly registered Zigbee device either via the zigbee2mqtt Dashboard control or read out or you use a SmartHome or automation software (e.g NodeRed ) to react to Zigbee events or trigger actions.
In the following category I have listed various Zigbee devices which can be controlled or read out with the NodeRed code offered there.
More articles on the topic
The zigbee2mqtt dashboard is not only suitable for registering your Zigbee devices. Many other options of zigbee2mqtt can also be configured via this. Information on how to use the zigbee2mqtt dashboard can also be found in the following article.
I have summarized other articles on the subject of Zigbee and zigbee2mqtt in the following category. There you will also find articles on various Zigbee devices and how they look like NodeRed can be controlled.
External links:
Have fun with the project
I hope everything worked as described for you. If not or you have questions or suggestions please let me know in the comments. I will then add this to the article if necessary.
Ideas for new projects are also always welcome 🙂 .
P.S. Many of these projects - especially the hardware projects - cost a lot of time and money. Of course I do it because I enjoy it, but if you think it's cool that I share the info about it with you, I'd appreciate a small donation to the coffee fund 🙂 .