SMHUB Nano

<section class="review-transcript"> <p><strong>Hello and welcome to Kennet Teknik.</strong></p> <p>Today we’re looking at a device that looks like many others from this company, but is actually something completely different. This is the <strong>SMLIGHT SMHUB Nano Mg24</strong>.</p> <p>At first glance it looks like what we already know from Zigbee, Thread, and even Z-Wave products, but this is much more than that. <em>This is a Linux box</em>, and it’s pretty wild that inside this very small device there’s actually a full Linux server.</p> <p>You might ask, why put a whole Linux server into something like this? Partly because they can, but more importantly because it allows you to do a lot. You can run Zigbee, Z-Wave, Matter and other protocols, but you can also run <strong>Node-RED directly on the device</strong>, run <strong>Zigbee2MQTT directly</strong>, and even run a <strong>Mosquitto MQTT broker</strong> on it.</p> <p>This means the device can take over many tasks from your Home Assistant. And because everything runs locally, even if your Home Assistant goes down, <em>your automations will continue to run</em> if they are handled by Node-RED or the built-in automation tools. That’s really impressive, especially considering everything is packed into such a tiny box.</p> <p>The device has the familiar external antenna, but one of the really exciting things is the <strong>USB-C port</strong>. You can attach a USB hub and expand it with many additional devices. It can act as a standalone unit in a summer house or a remote location, communicating back to your main system via MQTT.</p> <p>Because Node-RED runs locally, the device can operate completely on its own. Even without an internet connection, it can continue to function independently and only report back to Home Assistant when possible.</p> <p>Once powered up using <strong>PoE</strong>, the device comes online quickly. The web interface is easy to access, and since it’s a brand-new product, you can immediately see dashboards, release notes, and built-in services.</p> <p>Inside, you’ll find <strong>Zigbee2MQTT</strong>, <strong>Matter Bridge</strong> (which lets you expose Zigbee devices to Matter ecosystems like Apple Home and Google Home), <strong>Node-RED</strong>, and even <strong>Z-Wave</strong> support. There’s also an app system that allows you to install only what you need, keeping performance optimized.</p> <p>If you want a minimal setup focused entirely on Node-RED automations, this device can do that too. You don’t necessarily need dashboards, statistics, or even Home Assistant. <em>Everything can live inside this one box.</em></p> <p>The device also supports firmware updates, LTE via an external dongle, detailed MQTT user settings, and <strong>WireGuard</strong> for secure VPN access. This makes it perfect for remote installations where you still want full control.</p> <p>There are countless ways to integrate this device. You can run Zigbee2MQTT locally, bridge MQTT instances for resilience, expose Zigbee devices to Matter, or even run multiple units connected to a central Home Assistant for redundancy.</p> <p>Matter support is especially interesting, allowing Zigbee devices to be exposed directly to Google Home or Apple Home. While Matter isn’t fully mature yet, this device already makes experimenting with it very easy.</p> <p>Another big advantage is that <strong>your smart home keeps working even when Home Assistant restarts</strong>. Lights and automations don’t go down just because the central server is rebooting.</p> <p>Of course, if this device itself goes down, everything connected to it stops. But in practice, a simple power cycle usually brings it back online quickly.</p> <p>After testing Zigbee pairing, Node-RED integration, updates, and overall performance, it’s clear that this is an extremely capable device. It may be somewhat niche, but for advanced users it offers enormous flexibility.</p> <p><strong>Overall, I’m very impressed.</strong> It’s not the cheapest device, but it’s far from overpriced considering what you get. Around 400 DKK for a standalone Linux smart home controller with this level of capability is very reasonable.</p> <p>You could even skip Home Assistant entirely and use this as a bare-bones smart home system, running everything locally without unnecessary complexity.</p> <p><em>A really great product, with excellent possibilities and a fair price.</em> Thanks to SMLIGHT for sending it in for review. They have no influence on my opinion, and although I haven’t had time to test every scenario, what I’ve seen so far is extremely promising.</p> <p>Thank you to everyone who supports the channel. I truly appreciate it. And thank you for watching - take care of yourselves and each other.</p> </section>