In my previous post, we looked at sniffing Zigbee traffic using the older TI CC2531. While great for learning, it’s not the hardware you want running your actual home. The CC2531 is excellent for sniffing because it simply runs the sniffer firmware—that is what I used it for, and that is what I will keep using it for.

Following my own advice, I bought myself a Sonoff Dongle Max on eBay to act as a proper Zigbee Coordinator. In that previous post, I could only see a few Zigbee and other 802.15.4 devices from neighbors, but where is the fun in that? It got me curious and looking to get my own home automation started!