HAI Omni and Zigbee lights

Hello,

I was wondering if a HAI Omni system with ZIM can control some of the new Zigbee light bulbs?
HAI states that supports locks, thermostats and load control modules, however under PC Access one can set up a light room to Zigbee.
The Zigbee has two sub standard ZHA (Zigbee Home Automation 1.2) and ZLL (Zigbee Light Link). The HAI ZIM module supports the ZHA 1.2, since it supports the all the various locks on the market, as well as HAI thermostats. 
ZLL is used widely with the light bulb manufactures, Philips HUE is one of the big ones. That standard is not compatible with HAI, however GE Link bulbs are using the ZHA format. The GE link bulbs are reasonably priced between $10-$20 and are also native Zigbee router.
I was curious if someone try it to assign the a GE Link bulb to HAI units, and if it worked. 

Thanks,
lubeto

Yes. I use Cree and GE bulbs and they work great.  You can turn them on and off, and dim them using the % light level command.  I even use them with HLC scenes, but that requires a bit of programming. When Scene A, then set GE Bulb to X %.
 
You are correct, Leviton does NOT support the Zigbee Light Link standard, but they DO support the Zigbee Home Automation standard.  An Omni will switch any Zigbee HA control, for example, Smartenit makes a Zigbee Pool Pump controller that works fine.  You can even read the power used in PC Access, but the Omni can't do much else with the power value. 
 
Note:
 
I've gotten those GE Link bulbs for as cheap as $12 on Amazon on occasion.  Check eBay too. I've seen them for $10-$12. They have worked very reliably. 
 
All Zigbee devices, including bulbs, are repeaters, so the more you get, the better it works.

Thanks for your reply ano. Very helpful information.
Cheers!

Now that's kind of cool, the Cree's are only $15 on Amazon now.  Is there anything with color control?

cobra said:

Now that's kind of cool, the Cree's are only $15 on Amazon now.  Is there anything with color control?

Click to expand...

Color control is not built into the Home Automation Zigbee profile, so not what the Omni can control.

How do you enroll the bulbs?
 
I clicked enroll then turned on the lamp with the bulb, and tried the reverse.

Desert_AIP said:

How do you enroll the bulbs?
 
I clicked enroll then turned on the lamp with the bulb, and tried the reverse.

Click to expand...

You select a Zigbee defined unit number in PC Access and then you can put it in pairing mode in PC Access.  Each Omni unit has a 4 digit Zigbee serial number which will be 0000 before its paired. The bulb also has to be in pairing mode.  For a GE bulb, for example, its in pairing mode when you first turn it on, but you can re-pair it following a series on power on's and off's. (See below)
 
Note that each Zigbee device (bulb) can ONLY be paired with ONE master.  If you have a Wink Hub, the bulb can't be paired with both the hub and the Omni, its one or the other. This is true of all Zigbee devices.
 
To reset the GE Link bulb so it can pair again...
 
Start with your GE Link bulb turned on. Then turn off the light and wait 3 seconds. Turn on the light and wait 3 seconds. Repeat turning the light off and on (approximately 5 times) until the bulb fashes once. As soon as the bulb dims and goes back to full brightness it has been reset. At this point you can pair it with the Omni.

Hmmm.
That's what I thought I was doing.
I'll give it another go.

Desert_AIP said:

Hmmm.
That's what I thought I was doing.
I'll give it another go.

Click to expand...

Which bulb are you trying to pair?  You can also pair with the ZIM standalone, and then copy the serial number into PC Access.

The Cree Connected bulb.

First I brought up PCAcces, selected the unit, the ID was 0000, clicked enroll, then turned the lamp on with the bulb, the searching box never changed and never went away.
So I tried the revers, turning the bulb on first then clicking enroll.

I thought I might be too far away, so I took the lamp to my wiring closet and tried it both ways with the ZIM itself, same result.
Can I be too close?

Desert_AIP said:

The Cree Connected bulb.

First I brought up PCAcces, selected the unit, the ID was 0000, clicked enroll, then turned the lamp on with the bulb, the searching box never changed and never went away.
So I tried the revers, turning the bulb on first then clicking enroll.

I thought I might be too far away, so I took the lamp to my wiring closet and tried it both ways with the ZIM itself, same result.
Can I be too close?

Click to expand...

I have never tried the Cree bulb, but I thought it was compatible. I use the GE Link bulb.  I will buy a Cree bulb and try it.  I don't think you can be too close. Its possible the Cree supports Light Link and not Home Automation protocols.  Most Zigbee hubs support both, but not the old ZIM.    I haven't found in their documentation which protocol the Cree bulbs support. 
 
You might want to try the GE Link bulb. They are maybe $10 on eBay, so not a big investment.  They definitely work. 

The Cree bulb would not work with HAI ZIM. Cree uses ZLL protocol. The GE Link are working great as well as CentraLite control modules. Both tested and working.

lubeto said:

The Cree bulb would not work with HAI ZIM. Cree uses ZLL protocol. The GE Link are working great as well as CentraLite control modules. Both tested and working.

Click to expand...

Dang. I read in another thread it used the HA protocol and was working.
Guess I'll swap to the GE

I did purchase a Cree Connected bulb from Home depot. The HAI ZIM could not discover it. Later I used a TI IEEE 802.15.4 rf sniffer and upon reset the Cree communication packets looked like ZLL.
The GE bulb work good and also act as repeaters. Like "ano" mentioned in his post above, Zigbee network get better with more installed bulbs.

I've had good luck with the GE bulbs.  I use them in many lamps, and I incorporate them in my HLC scenes.  I put tape over the lamp switch so nobody will turn it the lamp switch off, and to control the lamps (and my other lights) i use the Leviton room controllers. 
 
The only partially bad thing is the lamps will default to on after the power is shut off and restored.  From my experience, its NOT a good idea to EVER turn these lights off with a switch.  It will mess up your Zigbee network and the GE bulbs don't seem to like it either.  Just leave them always powered and always control them remotely.  Then they work great.