Coordinator
A coordinator is the radio adapter that gives Home Assistant its own Z-Wave, Zigbee, or Thread network. It runs the mesh locally, with no vendor hub or cloud in the path.
A coordinator is the radio that forms and runs a mesh network. The matching integration (Z-Wave JS for Z-Wave, ZHA or Zigbee2MQTT for Zigbee, a border router for Thread) talks to it directly, and every device you pair joins the network that coordinator hosts. The whole mesh depends on that one radio.
Most coordinators attach to the Home Assistant host over USB, either as a stick or as a tuned antenna on a weighted base with a captive USB cable. Zigbee and Thread coordinators are also sold as Ethernet or PoE adapters that reach the host over the network instead, which lets the radio sit where coverage is good rather than wherever the host happens to be racked. Either way the network stays fully local: commands and state never leave the building, and the mesh keeps running when the internet is down. One coordinator handles one protocol at a time, so a home using both Z-Wave and Zigbee needs a radio for each.
How Selora AI uses coordinators
- Local Z-Wave and Zigbee control for locks, sensors, switches, and lights, with no vendor hub or cloud account.
- Thread border routers that bring Matter-over-Thread devices onto the network alongside a Zigbee or Z-Wave mesh.
- Standard, swappable hardware with a saved network restore for the matching radio series. A failed coordinator swaps out without a network rebuild.
Picking a coordinator
Match the radio to the protocol. For Z-Wave, installs standardize on an 800-series Long Range radio on Z-Wave JS. For Zigbee, use a Texas Instruments or Silicon Labs coordinator on ZHA or Zigbee2MQTT. Thread and Matter-over-Thread need a Thread border router. Buy the radio for the local region, which for Z-Wave in North America is the 908.42 MHz band.
Placement matters more than the chipset. Get the radio away from USB 3.0 ports, SSDs, and Wi-Fi access points, whose 2.4 GHz noise cripples Zigbee and Thread and degrades Z-Wave: a USB stick wants a short USB 2.0 extension cable, an antenna-on-a-base wants to stand upright off the rack, and a networked coordinator can simply be mounted somewhere clear. Run one radio per protocol rather than a single multiprotocol adapter, since Home Assistant treats simultaneous Zigbee and Thread on one radio as experimental. Never restore a network backup taken from one Z-Wave series onto a radio of another series, as a 500, 700, or 800 mismatch can leave it unusable.
Compatible devices
Connect ZBT-2
Connect ZBT-2 is the first party Zigbee and Thread radio for Home Assistant. It is a tuned antenna on a weighted base rather than a USB stick, so the radio sits away from the hub and its interference instead of on top of it.
Connect ZWA-2
Connect ZWA-2 is the first party Z-Wave 800 radio for Home Assistant, with Z-Wave Long Range alongside the usual mesh. The full height antenna and base are tuned for the band, so range comes from the hardware, not from repeaters.
HUSBZB-1
A legacy combo stick that carries a 500-series Z-Wave radio and a Silicon Labs Zigbee radio on one USB dongle. It shows up as two serial ports, Z-Wave on Z-Wave JS and Zigbee on ZHA.
ZBDongle-E
Sonoff's Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 Zigbee coordinator and the multiprotocol sibling of the ZBDongle-P. It runs on ZHA with EmberZNet firmware and is the backup to the CC2652P ZBDongle-P.
ZBDongle-P
Sonoff's Zigbee coordinator, built on the Texas Instruments CC2652P with a +20 dBm amplifier and an external antenna. Pairs Zigbee devices directly on ZHA or Zigbee2MQTT with no Sonoff hub or cloud.
ZST10-700
Zooz's earlier 700-series Z-Wave coordinator with S2 and SmartStart. It runs on Z-Wave JS but has no Long Range, and the 800-series ZST39 LR has superseded it for new work.
ZST39 LR
Zooz's 800-series Z-Wave coordinator with Z-Wave Long Range, S2 security, and SmartStart. Runs on Z-Wave JS and is the recommended Z-Wave stick for new North American installs.
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