How to: Flash SonOff USB Dongle to be a Zigbee Repeater/Router & Set Transmit Power

Only way i ever got mine in pairing mode was the automatic pairing mode after a firmware flash. None of the rebooting or button pushes ever worked.

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I have both a P and E dongle ..
The P get's in pairing mode with me after pressing reset button...

but with the E no luck yet..
I have tried to fix and flash the E dongle with the Python utility... but still stuck ...

*~/elelabs-zigbee-ezsp-utility $** python3 Elelabs_EzspFwUtility.py flash -f Z3RouterUSBDonlge_EZNet6.10.3_V1.0.0.gbl -p /dev/ttyACM0
2023/06/24 20:16:58 Elelabs_EzspFwUtility: EZSP adapter in bootloader mode detected:
2023/06/24 20:16:58 Elelabs_EzspFwUtility: Gecko Bootloader v1.12.00
2023/06/24 20:16:58 Elelabs_EzspFwUtility: Allready in bootloader mode. No need to restart
2023/06/24 20:17:00 Elelabs_EzspFwUtility: Successfully restarted into X-MODEM mode! Starting upload of the new firmware... DO NOT INTERRUPT(!)
send error: expected ACK; got b'\x18' for block 1
send error: expected ACK; got b'\x18' for block 1
send error: expected ACK; got b'\x18' for block 1
send error: expected ACK; got b'\r' for block 1
send error: expected ACK; got b'\n' for block 1
..
..
2023/06/24 20:17:06 Elelabs_EzspFwUtility:   Firmware upload failed. Please try a correct firmware image or restart in normal mode.

All support appreciated.

Also tried the 'dialedin' web flash tool , which looks pretty awesome. You can upload any firmware you want..
It recognized the dongle E... But failed to flash it...

I use the ti flashing tool in windows

Hey @Stan1 , I'm trying to follow your flash instructions for the "E" dongle above in this thread in March of '22, but I'm really struggling once I get to the "follow factory instructions" step. I can't figure out how to enter bootloader mode (step two). In part, this could be because I can't find any documentation that shows which of the two tiny buttons are which (boot vs. reset).

The instructions say to keep pressing the boot bottom while "restarting" the dongle. But "restarting" appears to mean removing and reinserting the USB-A port. This sequence is not generating bootloader mode on the terminal window, so I must be misinterpreting the instructions.

Any ideas anyone? TIA...

EDIT: For anyone who follows me, I think the "E" version of the dongle is locked down. Unable to flash. $25 mistake on my part. For those who follow, don't do it! Stick with "P"!

Now that I have a couple of these sonoff dongles on my mesh (and allowed my zigbee mesh to rebuild), I can already tell how great these little suckers are! So happy with them.

But I do have a question for the dongle experts around these parts: I know the dongles improve the functioning of the zigbee mesh, but do they also have better reach (distance)? I use this awesome zigbee sensor in my car and would love for my zigbee mesh to see my arrival home another couple hundred feet sooner. Is this a thing?

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Yes, depending on what you set the power to be.

I don't see a way to set the power of the dongle. Or are you referring to the zigbee antenna on the hub?

As of FW 20220125 the P dongles default to 9db power setting.

I don't remember anyone sharing a way to directly set power level directly on the SonOff Dongle P.

You could increase the hubs Zigbee chip power setting but that might upset your current mesh, and won't affect the dongle's power setting.

I have a dongle P in my garage and the same awesome Zigbee arrival sensor in my car that you do, and the dongle can pick up my car when I'm beyond the end of my driveway (about 30 to 40 feet away) but I haven't seen anything like 100'.

You could try a longer antenna on the dongle, which will give you a flatter/wider signal. I use these (6db) on my Sonoff:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KBU61S8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Antenna info:
image

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Have a similar setup I actually have 2 transmitters in my vehicles one to show the car home and one to show the car running (so it doesn't accidently trigger my garage and locks open).
One is Zigbee arrival sensor the other is a Xbee3pro. They both work pretty much the same.
It is not so much the power/range.
But the biggest issue is the devices transmit rate. I am not at home right now but off the top of my head it is around 5-10 seconds. You can actually drive pretty far in 5-10 seconds.
The Xbee3's transmit rate is settable (which is what I use for opening the garage door) and transmits when it is first powered on. so it opens the garage door when you first turn on your car.
For the Xbee3 in this instance faster transmit rate is fine (since it gets powered down after I turn off my car) but you don't want your hub flooded with events it might crash your hub.
If I stop and pick up my mail 1/2 km (1/4 mile) away my garage door will be already open when I get home but depending how fast I drive and don't pickup my mail the garage door might not be open untill I arrive.

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I purchased a Sonoff dongle E and used @Stan1 technique to flash the repeater file to it. I saw it upload the file on the Putty software window. I'm not sure it is extending my mesh. I have 3 sengled bulbs that I want to connect to the repeater instead of the hub. In the ZigBee graph I see this

I reset and re-paired the bulbs prior to taking that graph screenshot. I have a group setup this way

Using a basic rule machine rule, I use a button press (on a Zooz z-wave switch set on smart bulb mode) to try to toggle the group as a switch on and off. Only one bulb turns on and off. Shouldn't the graph be showing the bulbs (preferably connected to the repeater)? I know I must be doing something wrong.

Here is the ZigBee table

From the individual device pages, I can toggle on and off with no problem.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

TIA

Wow...had to re-join one of my P dongles today - it must have taken 20 tries to get it to join. Hadn't had this much trouble in the past.

First I tried the process where you hold the reset button while connecting to power w/Zigbee pairing already started, that wasn't working. Then tried re-flashing it with Zigbee pairing already started, that didn't work. Then tried the first method again and it finally worked.

So just wanted to note this here, to provide hope if you're having issues getting the dongle joined. FWIW I'm on Zigbee channel 15 - recently changed to that channel. The last time I paired the dongles (many months ago) I was on channel 20. No idea if that channel change is part of the issue. My other two dongles were already paired when I made the channel change and they didn't seem to have any issues connecting to the channel 15 after the change.

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You’re probably holding it wrong :rofl:
But seriously, this is always a PITA. Why oh why couldn’t they have put a hole in the case to push the darn button. I probably should have drilled it out the first time :disappointed:

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i just added another one for the garage.. and the only way i have ever gotten my p's to pair was hold top button while plugging into computer.. and continue to hold for 10-15 seconds.. release...

put hub in pairing mode and then re-flash it..

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Story of my life... :slight_smile:

I was only holding for a second or two after plugging it in...that's what I've always done. Maybe I'll try the longer hold next time, though hopefully I won't need a next time). :slight_smile: I changed Zigbee channels on my C8 to see if that would help w/continuing occassional drops of devices which started up again a few weeks ago after things being solid for a month or more. I noticed a not nice neighbor has put his network between 6 and 11 so it's squarely over Zigbee channel 20 (who does that!?) Hoping moving it away from that extra noise may help.

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So about a month ago, I bought two of these and flashed them successfully... Easy peasy... Could never get them to pair to my hub (C8) for anything, no matter what I tried... Ended up sending them back... :frowning: Figured it had something to do with the crazy Zigbee issues everyone was having, but that was the reason I was getting them to begin with... I ended up messing with some of my WiFi AP's and changing channels on them... My Zigbee hub is on channel 22... Got my Zigbee issues to calm down, but never revisited these... I still think some of the more recent hub changes had more of an affect on Zigbee than was thought...

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As long as you've moved your Wi-Fi away from channel 11 and you don't have nearby neighbors using 11 for their Wi-Fi, being on 22 should work...based on the overlapping of Wi-Fi and Zigbee channels. But as they say, even if you haven't confirmed all that, if it ain't broke... :wink: :smiley:

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Hi guys,just want to double check...
Im about to flash my SONOFF ZIGBEE DONGLE PLUS version P, the firmware i need is this one right?: CC1352P2_CC2652P_launchpad_router_20221102.zip

thanks

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Yes, the launchpad one is what you want. After clicking the firmware update, be clicking add Zigbee device on Hubitat. The pairing window is very brief.

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I made it,its now, my Sonoff dongle usb is working now as a repeater/router :grinning: :grinning: :grinning:following the video with the python method,althoug first try with the Texas instrument flash Programmer 2 without succes and to pair it with the Hubitat i need press the resset button and conecting the sonoff and that did the trick while the Hb was in pairing mode

Thanks :slight_smile:

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