Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2: Zigbee Antenna or Matter Over Thread

It’s like Déjà Vu! After having launched an innovative Z-Wave antenna this summer, the company Nabu Casa presents a new model, Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2, this time with the famous Zigbee technology and can also be used with Thread technology to enjoy Matter Over Thread devices.

Why is the Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2 priced like this?

Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2 is more than just a Zigbee dongle, being a novel format that takes up space but promises better performance with an integrated EFR32MG24 chipset, the new trend in the market.

Advantages and disadvantages of NC-ZBT-9741

Tutorial on using Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2

When we install a home automation system with Zigbee or Thread technology, we need a Zigbee or Thread coordinator.

This coordinator can be located within a home automation hub.

Or we can add it to our home automation hub with a Zigbee or Thread USB dongle.

When the Zigbee/Thread USB dongle was the common format for all brands, companies like Smlight revolutionised this concept with Zigbee/Thread over Ethernet dongles, allowing us to port our dongle in any area of our house where we have an Ethernet port, without having to plug it into our home automation hub via USB.

And this revolution continues with this new Zigbee/Thread antenna concept proposed by Nabu Casa.

Let’s discover all the details of this new guaranteed success.

General features of Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2

If we open the packaging, we discover an instruction manual.

A USB-A to USB-C cable.

A base that has anti-slip skids so that it doesn’t move on a piece of furniture.

A USB-C port for connection to a compatible home automation hub.

And we have the Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2 antenna that can be screwed to this base and has an LED indicator that can be used to display different statuses.

Most Zigbee/Thread chipsets of different brands usually have the EFR32MG21 model.

However, more and more EFR32MG24 models are arriving and this is the case of this new Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2 antenna that integrates this new chipset that offers better performance.

It is similar to the Z-Wave version of Home Assistant, but with a reduced size.

And compared to the ZBT-1, the first version which was a Zigbee USB dongle, Nabu Casa indicates that this new Zigbee Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2 antenna is four times faster, so we will surely have a better experience.

In terms of compatibility, this Zigbee/Thread antenna can be used on a USB 2.0 port of a hub such as Home Assistant Green, Home Assistant Yellow or a Raspberry Pi.

How to install Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2

To use the ZBT-2 antenna with Home Assistant, you must have the software 2025.11 or higher installed.

To install this antenna, the first thing you should do is to place your base in a strategic area, and it has to be horizontally on top of a piece of furniture and not vertically on the wall, and the company Nabu Casa recommends moving this antenna away from sources that can cause interference, such as metal surfaces, transmitters like computers or routers, aquariums and any other element that can affect its performance.

Screw the antenna on top of the base.

Now, you must plug the USB-C part of your cable into the USB-C port of your Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2 dock.

And the USB-A part of the cable into the USB 2.0 port of your Home Assistant hub.

That’s it, you can start using it with Zigbee or Matter Over Thread devices.

How to set up Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2

Let’s discover different uses for Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2.

How to use Zigbee technology with ZBT-2 and ZHA for the first time

To configure your ZBT-2 antenna, you must go to your Home Assistant interface and in my example, I use the Home Assistant Green hub, so I can access its interface from a web browser by dialing http://homeassistant.local:8123/ or by entering its IP address.

Under “Settings” and “Devices and services”, your Zigbee Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2 antenna should automatically appear.

You can click on “Add”.

At this point, you must choose between the Zigbee protocol and the Thread protocol.

This choice will depend on your home automation installation. If you have Zigbee devices, then you have to choose this protocol to link them to your Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2 antenna. And if your installation will have Matter Over Thread devices, then you should choose Thread.

To begin with, we are going to test Zigbee technology and the official Home Assistant add-on called ZHA, Zigbee Home Automation.

Now we have 2 new options. We can choose a recommended installation or a custom installation if we use a famous platform like Zigbee2MQTT.

Let’s try the recommended installation.

We have to wait a few seconds and now we get a new Zigbee Home Automation popup asking us if we want to configure Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2. Click “Submit” and wait a few seconds while a new Zigbee network is created.

That’s it, we have devices created and we can hit “Skip and finish”.

Now, we can add our Zigbee devices one by one with this ZBT-2 antenna and the official Home Assistant add-on called “Zigbee Home Automation”.

But it should be noted that NOT all Zigbee devices are compatible with Zigbee Home Automation, so I always recommend that you check compatibility before any Zigbee device purchase, be it a light bulb, a plug, a thermostat or any other device.

For some ideas on compatibility, you can visit the https://zigbee.blakadder.com/ website.

On this page that recommends multiple Zigbee devices, you can see on some of them a blue Home Assistant icon which means that this device is compatible with Zigbee Home Automation.

However, for a complete experience with the most comprehensive list of Zigbee product compatibilities, I recommend using the Zigbee2MQTT platform, which I have already presented in detail in other content.

In my example, I will link a Frient temperature and humidity sensor.

The process is similar for each Zigbee device you want to link. Click on “Add integration”.

And “Add a Zigbee device”.

At this moment, your ZBT-2 antenna is in association mode.

Therefore, you must put your Zigbee device in association mode following the instructions in its manual.

Ready, our device appears in the Home Assistant interface and we can repeat the process for each new device.

I’m going to include a second device, this time a Zigbee plug from the company Nous.

How to migrate Zigbee installation from ZBT-1 to ZBT-2 in ZHA

If you were using Zigbee Home Automation with ZBT-1 with ZHA and want to migrate your installation with ZBT-2, the process is simple.

You must have your ZBT-1 dongle and also your ZBT-2 antenna plugged into your Home Assistant home automation hub.

Go to “Settings”, “Devices and services”.

And click on “Add” in “Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2”.

Now select “Migrate Zigbee to a new adapter”.

And “Recommended installation”.

We get a popup “Zigbee Home Automation” to configure ZBT-2. Click on “Submit”.

We wait a few seconds. Ready, we have a message confirming the migration of our Zigbee network.

We can see that in ZHA, we have our ZBT-2 antenna.

And we can also monitor our socket and see updates from our temperature and humidity sensor, confirming that the migration has been properly executed.

How to use the Zigbee technology with ZBT-2 and Zigbee2MQTT for the first time

As I mentioned, to get the most complete experience of Zigbee technology and this ZBT-2 antenna, I recommend using the Zigbee2MQTT platform, which is very complete in terms of device integrations and functions.

You can verify before any purchase if your Zigbee device is compatible directly on the Zigbee2MQTT website and its different available functions.

To use ZBT-2 with Zigbee2MQTT for the first time, we must have this ZBT-2 antenna plugged into our Home Assistant home automation hub.

Now, let’s install the “MQTT” add-on.

Now, go to “Settings” and “People”.

Let’s create a user and set up a password.

Let’s start our “MQTT” add-on.

We can verify in the logs that it has started correctly.

Now, under “Settings” and “Devices and services”.

Click on “Add integration” and search for “MQTT”.

We choose the option to enter the data manually.

We fill in the IP address of the broker, which is 127.0.0.1, and the user name and password that we have previously created.

Now, let’s add the Zigbee2MQTT file to Home Assistant. For this, we copy the Github link of the Zigbee2Mqtt file.

And we add it to the add-on shop in Home Assistant.

Once added in Home Assistant, let’s install Zigbee2MQTT.

Now, go to “Settings”, “System”, “Hardware”.

“All hardware.

And let’s copy the ID that corresponds to our ZBT-2 antenna.

We go back to Zigbee2MQTT and go to “Configuration”. Click on the “MQTT” option and in “Base Topic”, type “zigbee2mqtt”.

Now, in the “Serial” option, in “Port” we are going to paste the ID previously copied. In adapter, we write “ember”. And in baudrate, we write “460800”. Click on “Save”.

And now we click on “Start” Zigbee2MQTT.

Click on “Open web interface”.

And click on “Submit”.

Now, if we go back to the Zigbee2MQTT add-on and under “Logs” we can see the message “Zigbee2MQTT started!” which confirms that we will be able to use the platform.

So if we open its web interface, we will now be able to link our Zigbee devices.

For this, we activate this association mode and we have 4 min 15 s to add Zigbee devices.

So we can put each device in association mode.

And they are appearing in the Zigbee2MQTT interface. Now, we are going to be able to control them and track their measurements from Zigbee2MQTT with this ZBT-2 antenna.

How to migrate the Zigbee installation from ZBT-1 to ZBT-2 in Zigbee2MQTT

If you already have Zigbee2MQTT running on ZBT-1, let’s see how to migrate to ZBT-2.

In my personal case, the migration of my 2 devices has worked, but you may have some migration problems depending on your environment, so I recommend you to read some practical advice on the Zigbee2MQTT website: https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/guide/faq/.

To perform this migration, go to “Settings” and “Add-ons”.

Now go to “Zigbee2MQTT”.

You must click “Stop” to stop Zigbee2MQTT.

You can unplug your ZBT-1 dongle.

And plug your ZBT-2 antenna into your Home Assistant hub.

Go to “Settings”, “System”.

“Hardware.

“All hardware.

You can copy the ID of your ZBT-2 antenna.

Now, you must go to Zigbee2MQTT.

And to “Configuration”.

Under “Serial”, you must replace the old ID of your ZBT-1 dongle in “Port” with your previously copied ID corresponding to ZBT-2.

“Adapter” is still “ember” and in baudrate, you must write “460800”.

Click on “Save”.

And click on “Start” Zigbee2MQTT.

You can follow in “Registration” if Zigbee2MQTT starts correctly and we have the message “Zigbee2MQTT started!” confirming the correct configuration.

So now, if we go to the Zigbee2MQTT interface, we can activate and deactivate our plug and see updates of our sensor’s temperature and humidity measurements, confirming that the migration has been successful.

In some cases, it is necessary to wait up to a few hours to regain communications from Zigbee devices after a migration.

And in case you have no communications, you can consider restarting the device to re-link it.

How to use Matter Over Thread technology with ZBT-2

And the interest of this ZBT-2 antenna is also to be able to enjoy the new Matter standard that promises to unify all ecosystems together.

As we have seen in other content on the subject, Matter devices typically use one of 2 technologies: Wi-Fi or Thread.

For Matter Wi-Fi devices, you don’t need this ZBT-2 antenna, you can link them directly to Home Assistant.

But for Matter Thread devices, it is a technology similar to Zigbee, i.e. you need a coordinator, and in this case, you can use the ZBT-2 antenna.

It should be noted that if you use this ZBT-2 antenna for Thread, you cannot use it for a Zigbee network, although you can always switch modes if necessary, but you cannot use Zigbee and Thread at the same time.

Let’s assume we start from scratch with Matter and plug the ZBT-2 antenna into our hub.

We go to “Settings” and “Devices and services”.

ZBT-2 appears and we click on “Add”.

And select the option “Use as Thread adapter”.

We wait a few seconds for our antenna to be configured. We get a message confirming that the device has been created and we click on “Finish”.

Now, from our phone, we must have the Home Assistant App in its latest version. From this App, go to “Settings” and “Configuration”.

Go to “Devices and services”.

And go to “Thread”.

Let’s go to your settings.

And click on “Send credentials to the phone”.

We will now be able to link Matter Over Thread devices.

Like this ZBT-2 antenna that can use either Zigbee or Thread, new devices coming on the market also have these 2 options, so in some cases, for example with the new Aqara bulb, it is necessary to configure the Thread technology beforehand.

For this, from the Aqara App, I automatically see the bulb that I have previously installed so that it has current.

And I can modify its use to have Thread mode.

Now, from the Home Assistant App, go to “Devices and services”.

Click on “Add integration”.

And select “Add Matter device”.

Select “No. It’s new”.

And now we must scan the QR code that is usually on the device or on a document that comes in the packaging.

After a few seconds, our Thread bulb appears in Home Assistant.

So now I can turn it on and off, select an intensity from 0 to 100 % and choose a custom colour.

The process is similar for each Matter Thread device we are going to link and in my example, I am going to link a Matter Thread motion and light sensor from Aqara.

There, now I can know when motion is detected or not detected and the measured brightness.

In short, this Zigbee and Thread ZBT-2 antenna will surely be a new Home Assistant success because it allows us to have a Zigbee or Thread installation with the best performance.

Generally purchased together

Buy now Home Assistant ZBT-2