Every day that passes we have more home automation devices at home. You probably started with smart bulbs, then moved on to plugs, and now you may have sensors, speakers, or vacuums. But, if you like this technological world, surely you have encountered the problems of disconnecting some of these devices from the router. Today we explain how you can avoid this uncomfortable problem by using a Zigbee bridge.
What are Zigbee bridges and what are they for?
The first thing you should know is what that technology with such a strange name means. Zigbee is a communication protocol that different smart devices have and that, similar to the WiFi signal, will allow us to connect these home automation gadgets to it. In this way, the bridges or Zigbee bridge will act as an intermediary or “bridge” between the smart accessory that we want to connect and the router itself.
Surely now you are wondering what that intermediate step between the two gives us. Well, the truth is that thanks to this we have some additional advantages:
- Range greater than the WiFi signal : it is true that the vast majority of devices that are compatible with this protocol do not need a strong signal to work, such as a light bulb. But the biggest advantage of this is that Zigbee-compatible devices connect to each other, acting as a networked system and taking the signal further if possible.
- They do not saturate the router : this type of equipment does not usually consume too much bandwidth, but the problem comes when the number of requests to the router from all the equipment connected to it is high. Zigbee devices, being connected to the bridge, would not cause this problem.
- Ease of installation : while the accessories that connect directly to our router need to enter the WiFi password, and then connect to the signal that they emit to perform the synchronization, the Zigbee equipment is linked directly to the bridge without major problem and without “extra requests”.
But of course, as you can imagine, not everything is positive. The main drawback of these is that, obviously, you need to buy an extra piece of equipment: the bridge. With the consequent expense of money and space that it occupies.
This communication protocol has been around for a long time and has therefore evolved over the years. Currently we can find bridges with different Zigbee models:
- Zigbee 1.0 : in this case each manufacturer can use a different frequency range. This makes the compatibility of these models with different home automation devices worse.
- Zigbee 3.0 : this is the current standard and the one that most computers include. The compatibility is much better between accessories, allowing to connect Zigbee devices of a greater number of brands with these jumpers.
Best Zigbee Bridges
Now that you know everything that having a bridge compatible with the Zigbee protocol can offer us, it is time to choose the best model for your smart home.
There are different possibilities in the market for this type of equipment. So, to make your task easier, we have made a selection with some of the best Zigbee bridges on the market that you can buy on Amazon.
Philips Hue Bridge
The first of the Zigbee bridges that we want to show you and, without a doubt, one of the best known is the Philips Hue Bridge . An accessory that in its initial version was only compatible with the brand’s own equipment but, using the most current one, we can link other equipment compatible with SmarThings, for example. In addition, this device can be used with any of the most popular smart assistants on the market: Alexa, Google Assistant or Siri.
Xiaomi Multi-mode Smart Gateway 3
A model that is making a niche within the sector is the Xiaomi Multi-mode Smart Gateway 3 , Xiaomi’s Zigbee bridge. Its popularity is thanks to the fact that the catalog of home automation equipment of this manufacturer is increasing every year. But the big drawback of this is that, despite having Zigbee 3.0 technology, the manufacturer only allows it to be used with equipment from its commercial brands: Xiaomi, Aqara, Yeelight and Ikea TADFRI (this was one of the latest additions).
Ikea TRÅDFRI
And speaking of the Swedish manufacturer, this one also has a Zigbee bridge: the Ikea TRÅDFRI . This device was designed to be able to unify all the home automation that the manufacturer was adding to its catalog but, today, we can link accessories from Philips, Xiaomi, SmartThings and many others to it.
Amazon Echo smart speakers
If you are not too advanced in the world of home automation, you probably do not know that some of Amazon’s smart speakers include their own Zigbee bridge. This is, perhaps, one of the most compatible bridges on the market.
Initially, the only computer that had this bridge was the Amazon Echo Plus. But, today, this catalog has grown a lot reaching:
- Amazon Echo Plus (2nd generation).
- Amazon Echo (4th generation).
- Amazon Echo Studio.
- Amazon Echo Show 10 (3rd generation).
With any of these devices and the Alexa application itself, we can link a large number of home automation accessories without having to buy an extra bridge. Of course, you must bear in mind that, in this case, you can only control them with Amazon’s smart assistant as you may have imagined.
Perhaps the most interesting model of all these is the Amazon Echo “just”. It is one of the cheapest of the 4 compatible models, it has a great sound quality and, of course, it fulfills all the functions of a smart speaker. Therefore, we can link the Zigbee accessories from it and, in addition, manage them through voice commands. All in one.
If you want to know it in depth, we leave you a link to our video analysis that we carry out on YouTube.