Smart-home setup · box hunt

Find your Zigbee kit

Six bits of your Amazon order are the smart-home gear. Here's what each looks like and exactly what's printed on the box — so you grab the right one without unboxing the lot. Start with the two below.

Plug these in first

Need this now
SONOFF

SONOFF Zigbee dongle

The hub. It's the radio that lets the 4090 talk to every Zigbee gadget.

SONOFF · "Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus"
white USB stick + aerial ~6 cm + antenna

Plug it into a USB port on the 4090. It's the only stick in your whole order with an antenna — hard to mix up.

Need this now

Zigbee RGB bulb

The light you'll actually switch on and off from the iPad.

Zigbee · "RGB" / "colour" · often "hub / gateway required"
normal bulb shape check base: screw or bayonet

Screw it into a lamp near the 4090 and switch it on. Check the base fits your lamp — twist-in (screw) or push-and-turn (bayonet).

The rest of your kit · for later

Later

Zigbee smart plug

Makes anything you plug into it switchable — and it measures the power it draws.

Zigbee · "smart plug" · "energy monitoring"
Later

Zigbee scene button

One press fires a routine — e.g. "all lights off".

Zigbee · "button" / "scene switch"
Later

Zigbee contact sensor

Two parts that sense open/closed — a door or a drawer.

Zigbee · "door / window sensor"
Later

WiFi IR blaster

Controls old remote gear (TV, aircon). Note: this one's WiFi, not Zigbee.

"IR" · "universal remote" · WiFi

How to tell the Zigbee boxes from everything else

Your order also has webcams, mics, an ESP32, sensors and speakers — none of those are what we want right now. The smart-home ones nearly always print the word Zigbee on the box, and usually a line like "hub / gateway required".

The SONOFF dongle is the odd one out — it's the only piece that goes into the PC, and the only USB stick with an aerial. Find that and a bulb and you're set.

Illustrations show shape & size only — the sure check is the text printed on the box.