#CC2531 & Raspberry Pi: Philips HUE bridge v1 replacement

As you may know, the Philips Hue Bridge v1 has support until April 30, 2020. This means, after April 30, 2020, no software updates will be made available and it will not connect to the online services. However, you can still control it locally via the "dedicated Philips Hue Bridge v1 app". Nevertheless, you have a device (connected to your network) that can be a "treasure" for hackers (MITM-Attacks), and the "dedicated Philips Hue Bridge v1 app" will disappear shortly! (this is my own opinion, but no company will give support to a dead device!).

Fig. 1: Wireless CC2531 Dongle

The good news is that you can replace the Philips Hue Bridge with a Raspberry Pi running Home Assistant and a CC2531 Dongle (see Fig. 1). The Raspberry Pi is always up to date, and Home Assistant is an open-source project with great support! Last December, I wrote a tutorial describing the steps needed for this setup: Raspberry Pi: Controlling Philips HUE Lights (ZigBee & CC2531). You can also connect Aqara sensors, and integrate them into your home automation system: Raspberry Pi: Xiaomi Sensors & Home Assistant (Hass.io).

A better news today is that you don't need to program the dongle anymore. ITEAD is selling the dongle with the compatible firmware to connect with Zigbee2MQTT. You can purchase the USB dongle on ITEAD store for $3.99. As I mentioned in my old posts, you can get it also from Aliexpress or Banggood, but those don't have the firmware compatible with Zigbee2MQTT and you need to follow my instructions to flash it. If you are looking for a case, you can find here some links.

If you need more information about the firmware version (CC2531ZNP-Prod firmware), check this link: Z-Stack-firmware. I will be buying one (right now it is out of stock) to check if everything works as expected. If you don't want to wait, consider reading this article and buying one from Aliexpress or Banggood.