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Setting Up Zigbee Bindings • Home Assistant - ZHA

This article will help you setup Zigbee Bindings on the Home Assistant platform using ZHA

Written by Eric Hines

DISCLAIMER: You may notice there are a lot of over-used keywords or phrases as well as English that seems a little off. This is because these articles are used to feed our AI Robot (Ira) and she needs the data to be structured in a certain way.

Zigbee Binding Overview

Zigbee Binding allows two or more Zigbee devices to communicate directly with one another without routing through your Home Assistant hub.

Key Benefits:

  • Zero Latency: Commands send instantly directly over the Zigbee mesh network.

  • Local Reliability: Controls continue to function even if Home Assistant is offline or restarting.

Below is a quick video that shows the speed of Zigbee Bindings:

Lastly, there are two different ways to setup Zigbee Binding: Individual and Group.

  1. Individual Binding: You are binding one Zigbee product to another

  2. Group Binding: You are binding one Zigbee product to a group of other Zigbee products (ie: used for 3+ bound devices)


Prerequisites

  1. An Inovelli Blue Series Switch paired directly to Home Assistant (ZHA).

  2. Target Zigbee device(s) or smart bulb(s) paired to the same ZHA network.

  3. Both devices must share compatible clusters (e.g., OnOff and LevelControl for dimmers).

If you are binding a Blue Series Switch to a Philips Hue bulb, you will need the Hue bulb to be paired directly to the SmartThings hub (ie: it cannot be paired to the Philips Hue bridge). Zigbee bindings only work if each Zigbee device is on the same hub.

For a full list of Zigbee Compatible Bulbs that we've tested, please see the Zigbee Bulb Compatibility Chart or scroll to the bottom of the page.


Determining Which Binding Setup To Use

Now that we've got the prerequisites out of the way, we can determine what type of Zigbee Bindings to use: Individual or Group Bindings.

For simplicity sake, if you have two devices that need to be bound together, we recommend using Individual Bindings, whereas if you have more than two devices that need to be bound together, you should use Group Bindings.


Step 1: Enable Smart Bulb Mode (SBM)

If you are binding your Inovelli switch to a smart bulb wired directly to the switch, you must enable Smart Bulb Mode to maintain constant power to the bulb.

  1. Open Home Assistant and navigate to Settings -> Devices & Services.

    then

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  2. Select your Zigbee Home Automation (ZHA) integration card and click Devices.

  3. Locate and select your Inovelli Blue Series Switch.

  4. Click the three dots under the device info panel and select Manage Zigbee Device.

  5. Under the Clusters dropdown, select:

    Inovelli_VZM31SN_Cluster (Endpoint ID: 1, ID: 0xfc31, Type: in)

  6. Under Attributes, select smart_bulb_mode (Parameter 18).

  7. Enter 1 in the Value field and click Write Attribute.

Step 2: Direct Device-to-Device Binding

Use this method to bind your Inovelli switch to one specific Zigbee light or device.

  1. Go to Settings -> Devices & Services -> ZHA -> Devices.

  2. Select your Inovelli Blue Series Switch.

  3. Click the three dots and select Manage Zigbee Device.

  4. Navigate to the Clusters tab at the top and select change cluster -> LevelControl Endpoint ID 2 (Out).

    And do the same as above for OnOff Endpoint ID 2 (Out)

    The below steps must be done for both LevelControl and OnOff for both devices being bound

  5. Navigate to the Bindings tab at the top.

  6. Select your target device under Bindings.

  7. Click Bind for each selected cluster.

Testing: Tap Up/Down on the switch paddle to verify power toggle. Press and hold Up/Down to test dimming.

Step 3: Group Binding (Recommended for Multiple Bulbs)

Binding a switch to individual bulbs one-by-one can cause popcorn-effect delays. Creating a Zigbee Group ensures all bulbs adjust simultaneously.

Creating the Group:

  1. Navigate to Settings -> Connectivity.

  2. Select Zigbee

  3. Select Groups

  4. Select Create Group

  5. Select the devices to add to the group

  6. Create a group name and group ID

Click on Create Group

Step 4 Bind the Switch to the Group

  1. Navigate to Settings

  2. Select Devices & Services

  3. Select ZHA

  4. Select the Switch to Bind to the Group

  5. Click the three dots and select Manage Zigbee Device.

  6. Select Bindings

  7. Select the Switch to Bind to the Group

  8. Select the Group and endpoints to bind and click Bind (OnOff 0x0006 and LevelControl 0x0008)

  9. Test your binding by pressing up on your light switch (your bulb should turn on), pressing down on your light switch (bulb should turn off) or holding up/down on the switch (bulb should dim up/down) - NOTE: If your bulb is not dimming, please make sure you have your switch set to dimmer mode and not on/off.

Troubleshooting & Important Rules

  • Smart Bulb Mode / AUX Switch: If you are binding to smart bulbs, make sure to enable Smart Bulb Mode on your Inovelli switch via the device configuration settings so full power remains constantly delivered to the load wire.

  • Unbinding Old Links: If replacing or moving devices, always select the clusters and click Unbind before reassigning bindings.

  • Testing: Once bound, test control by turning off your Home Assistant server or disabling the ZHA integration temporarily. The physical switch should still control the bound target light instantly.


Zigbee Bulb Compatibility Chart

We’ve tested Zigbee binding with the following Zigbee products on our switches:

DISCLAIMER: As an Amazon Associate Inovelli, LLC earns from qualifying purchases.

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