Sonoff ZBMINI

There are several factors here.

  1. National Electrical Code is a misleading name. It is not "code" as in "law" (i.e. tax code or such). Many municipalities follow it pretty closely, though some tweak, adapt, or interpret things differently. The last NEC class that I took was over 20 years ago, so I am not certain how they are handling smart home controls.
  2. UL is not the only game in town, though they are perhaps the best-known testing lab.
  3. Your insurance company may have an opinion on using certified products. Your liability might be at stake should there be a product failure causing a property damage claim. To me, this is a bigger factor.
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Thanks for the feedback. I am removing my ZBMINI.

Hi There,
this is my first posting, so please excuse any errors.

I have 3 of these ZBMINI in my house. They work as repeaters, but I think they have a really small range. I used the generic zigbee switch, works well for me.
The Hubitat itself reaches battery powered end devices, but not zbmini at the same place. ZBMINI to ZBMINI is not more than 3 meters with a small wall between.

My main use for the zbmini is as repeaters, the switch function is optional for me.
Child and Routeinfo looks like this:
Neighbor Table Entry
[Sonoff Switch 3, 785B], LQI:87, age:4, inCost:7, outCost:5
[Sonoff Switch 1, 8663], LQI:41, age:7, inCost:7, outCost:0
[Sonoff Switch 2, A688], LQI:70, age:4, inCost:7, outCost:5

Route Table Entry
status:Unused
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Sonoff Switch 1, 8663] via [Sonoff Switch 2, A688]

Questions:

  1. Is this a normal range? Or is one probably faulty?
  2. I'm trying to build a stable mesh. What are the alternatives for repeaters. I would like to keep them hidden. So no tradfri or other plugged in devices. Because not using bulbs (as recommended in another thread they're in their own Hue Zigbee Mesh) I would need around 20 of the zbminis to have a stable mesh all over the house. Before investing in buying and installing I would like to know more about them.

Thank you very much in advance for your support. Great community here.

I will answer myself :slight_smile:

I got two tradfri repeaters. They have a much better range than the zbminis. The two of them reached almost everey corner of the house. If the tradfris have a bad range (as in another thread stated), the zbminis are way worse.

One additional thing: With the zbminis and also only with the hubitat, my xiaomi sensors did often not refresh. Looking at the device page, they were some hours behind, and sometimes needed a new pairing.

Since the tradfris, they work perfectly. The last value is never older than 40minutes. And I didn't need to pair one of them again.

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Thanks for the info!

Using this following wiring diagram, the zbmini combined with a SPST switch overcomes the 'No Neutral' problem in current US wiring methods.

The SPST switch now toggles the light.

(C4 / Generic Zigbee Switch)

I am admittedly confused. What is the "no neutral" problem when using a neutral connection? Perhaps I am not understanding something.

In the US, it is common wiring practice to drop a 2-wire switch leg down to the wall switch --the SPST switch just breaks the "hot" wire. The neutral is not present in the wall switch box. With the ZBMINI in the light fixture and S1 & S2 being the switch leg, this works on HE with existing wiring.

I think that I understand. I was stuck in semantics and pedantics.

You are suggesting placing the ZBMINI where there actually is a Neutral (fixture box).

Let me play devil's advocate, then. Where does Lin come from? In the wiring configuration described, it would be the output from the switch. In that case, you might as well just use a smart bulb and have more features.

Correct. In this original type of US wiring, the line comes to the fixture box, but does not directly connect to the fixture yet. The line then loops down to the spst switch. I don't care for smart bulbs, but I also want to keep the existing functionality of the manual switch. My installations will be for attic & closet lights that I want to programmatically turn off if they've been left on.

hi guys,

is it possible to replace N with L? in the wall behind the switch reaches N, I have an old double switch and I can bring in my case L, and I will have N (direct), L (from the connection bulb) and a wire that reaches the bulb where N reaches, so the scheme would be the other way around, will it work?

@mike.maxwell / @martyn - having some issues with these.

Added 2 out of the box and tried to use the generic zigbee driver.

As requested earlier I have attached a fingerprint and log output. I can see some differences for @martyn 's logs so wondering if it could be a different version/build of the device?

fingerprint profileId:"0104", endpointId:"01", inClusters:"0000,0003,0004,0005,0006,FC57", outClusters:"0019", model:"01MINIZB", manufacturer:"SONOFF"

Looks like the fingerprint/clusters have changed. FC57 and 0019
C5 v. 2.3.0.121

Just added a new SONOFF 01MINIZB and while it didn't automatically pick the Generic Zigbee Switch driver, once that driver was manually selected it appears to work normally.

SONOFF 01MINIZB joining

image.png

I just wasn't being patient enough, initially selected the generic zigbee switch, got no status feedback - On/Off etc, however, have gone back a few hours later and it's now working.

Maybe just a busy hub or a little too far from the hub (although I do have a decent mesh working in the area).

I'll try again today/tomorrow next to the hub,

Ok looks like I had two issues.

1: The device fingerprint is different on this model of the ZBMINI, this can be overcome by selecting the 'Generic Zigbee Switch' post Zigbee/Device discovery.

2: Distance from hub. I moved one of the ZBMINI's closer to the hub (about 5m) and it worked straight away after pairing.

I guess I better go away and look at my mesh/Zigbee repeater setup as it's not as solid as I thought, d'oh!

@mike.maxell
Is it possible to support the other modes that this switch can do? According to some documentation, it looks like it should be able to support different switch modes such as a momentary switch.

What are new trigger modes for MINI's external switch?- Pulse Mode - SONOFF Official

MINI is WiFi, ZBMINI is a different device.

Oh, I see. The ZBMINI may not support those modes. I ordered a Sonoff hub and I’ll try it. It’ll take a while to get it though.

Hello,

Im new here xD I added a Sonoff smart switch to my hubitat hub. But it doesnt work. When l add the switch it has a ''device'' driver and when l change it to ''Generic Ziggbee Switch'' it doesnt work. Can someone help me please.

Thanks in advance

fingerprint profileId:"0104", endpointId:"01", inClusters:"0000,0003,0004,0005,0006,0007,0020,FC57,FCA0", outClusters:"0019", model:"ZBMINI-L", manufacturer:"SONOFF"

dev:402022-08-03 20:17:25.795 traceZCL version:03

dev:402022-08-03 20:17:25.790 traceSoftware Build Id:1.0.5

dev:402022-08-03 20:17:25.789 traceModel:ZBMINI-L

dev:402022-08-03 20:17:25.787 traceManufacturer:SONOFF

There can sometimes be an issue with the more inexpensive ZigBee devices during the provisioning phase while adding to your hub.
I've taken to doing a double pairing with these devices, it seems to help with them working as expected.

  1. Follow the normal ZigBee pairing process.
  2. Reset the device (do not exclude it from the hub) perform the Start Zigbee pairing process again and the hub will recognize your device and any outstanding configuration should complete.

It can help to perform the initial pairing close to the hub.

For more info about your device have a look at this thread: