Even if you have a closed smart home network, you may want to upgrade the firmware on your Zigbee and Z-wave devices when there is an upgrade.
When you upgrade the firmware on a device, it will both correct errors and remove any security holes. It can also come with new and improved functionality.
Do you drive e.g. Zigbee2MQTT in Home Assistant, it’s a small matter to upgrade the firmware for your Zigbee devices.
Zigbee2MQTT supports OTA (Over The Air) upgrades from the following vendors, among others:
- IKEA TRÅDFRI devices
- Ubisys devices
- Some Xiaomi devices
- Salus SP600 Smart plug
- Osram/Ledvance
- Philips Hue devices
- Sengled devices
A complete overview can be found here: https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/guide/usage/ota_updates.html#automatic-checking-for-available-updates
To upgrade a device, do the following.
- Open the Zigbee2MQTT console
- Press OTA in the menu
This will bring up a list of all devices that Zigbee2MQTT supports to upgrade the firmware. If you get a blue button that says “Check for new updates” then it is probably the latest firmware. If you click on this button, an additional check will be run. By default, Zigbee2MQTT automatically checks for new firmware once a day (every 1440 minutes).
If, on the other hand, it says “Update device firmware”, there is a new version available. Press this button and you will upgrade the device.
Note – DO NOT upgrade more than one device at a time, it takes up a lot of bandwidth in the Zigbee network, and there is normally not much capacity to pick up.
If you are upgrading a device on battery, it must be awake first. Therefore, be sure to wake up the device before pressing upgrade. It can be done e.g. by pressing one of the buttons on the remote control.
It is a good idea to check this a couple of times a year. Do you have e.g. a device that behaves a little strange, then the solution may be to upgrade the firmware.