James shows us how to connect Zigbee compatible devices including smart bulbs, smart plugs & wireless buttons.

N.B. This feature will be deprecated from COGS 6.

If you are already using Zigbee, see the ‘Depreciation Plan’ below.

If you are thinking of using Zigbee for an upcoming project, we advise you not to do so and look at the ‘Alternative Solutions' section below.

Deprecation plan

Any existing COGS 5 setup using Zigbee will not be affected, and we will continue to support users who are relying on it for their shows.

We will remove the feature in COGS 6, and this will be accompanied by a warning beforehand to prevent accidentally updating to a new version with a project relying on Zigbee.

From this point on, a show using Zigbee should remain on the last version that supports Zigbee and auto-updates to COGS should be disabled.

Alternative solutions

There are a number of alternative solutions that can be migrated to over time, or used instead for new projects.

Philips Hue

• This is available now. Our current Philips Hue pluginallows Philips Hue scenes to be triggered. These scenes are configured via the Philips Hue app and can include the full range of Philips Hue lighting and smart plug hardware (see https://docs.cogs.show/plugins/)

• We shall be investing in improving this plugin over time to make the initial setup simpler and to be able to view your scenes directly within the plugin

DMX

• For lighting applications (e.g. LED tape), DMX offers a wired alternative which is the industry standard across theatrical installations. For more information on DMX see our tutorial here: https://cogs.show/tutorials/v/dmx

Wi-Fi smart devices

• We are currently investigating how to best control Wi-Fi smart devices such as the Shelly range. For venues with good Wi-Fi coverage already, this may prove to be a great alternative.

We are also looking into other alternatives that allow use of Zigbee devices without relying on the USB dongle that COGS currently uses.