Sonoff zigbee 3.0 dongle P and E

Hey ther
I got a sonoff zigbee dongle P and E from someone and it seems like I flashed both now as repeaters on my windows computer
however I dont know if Im a fool or what, but I cant find either when i search for any zigbee devices on my app?
what am I doing wrong here? I try to connetwith the dongles in 5V adapters for the wall sockets, I also tried to find them connected to my computer
Any help appreciated thanks

Only way i can get them to pair easily is for 20 secs immediatly after flashing. There is some sort of button press/release when powering it up but never got any of mine working that way.

Recommend you be near hub , plug dongle into computer, load up flashing tool, and just before you hit the flash button put hub in zigbee pairing mode.

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I second this. I could NEVER EVER get them to pair other than using this method. Many people have no problem, but mine never pairs and when it falls off I have to start the whole darn flashing thing over again. The dongle does not behave like this in Z2MQTT.
I gave up on mine, what a PITA having to flash every time they fall off

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See this topic for lots of info:

SonOff USB Dongles have to be paired to your hub, just like any other Zigbee device.

Regarding pairing, from that topic, the steps below have worked for me to pair the dongles to my hub each time I've tried it:

My experience was totally different. I flashed my P dongle, waited awhile cause I had no idea what I was doing and didn't know how to determine it if worked or not. After awhile, I removed it from my computer, plugged it into a wall outlet with a USB A port. Then I paired it with Hubitat with absolutely no issues, and it's lived there and worked perfectly ever since.

Could be affected by differences in firmware versions used when flashing. Your approach did not work for me.

Curious, which version of the firmware did you flash on yours? I used the 20221102 version.

thanks for the replies, it seems Im not the only one having problems getting these to work at all, Il, try reflash these again and start over
I was just aware that I use USB 3.0 ports for connecting, Ive rad it have to be 2.0 so that may cause the issue maybe.
if this wont work, Im thinking about using the aeotec dongle zi-stick or range extender zi

I mainly wanna get some strong zigbee routers connected because of using a bunch of mmwave sensors

The SonOff dongles should work great once joined to your hub - it's the joining to the hub that can be difficult, primarily SonOff issue. The dongles work well on both C7 and C8 hubs (C8 is Zigbee 3.0, C7 is not) so the Zigbee version differences don't matter - the SonOff will work, and will join either hub.

I recommend you try the approach I posted above before using other methods - it has worked perfectly for me multiple times. Follow it step-by-step.

If you are not sure if your dongle has been flashed that is the first thing you need to verify - contact the friend or seller that you received it from, and verify that the dongle(s) were flashed to be repeaters/routers. If they haven't you won't have success.

thanks for input, well they were not flashed as routers, but as coordinators, Im pretty sure i got at least the P flashed online correctly, atleast windows see it, the E dongle is still unknown, I tried to load it into the Secure CRT software but it wont see it ot don anything with it, not moater how long I try to hold the button. the E dongle have been a headache to get done, none have really been working as I was hoping, Ill try to look into it later tonight and try to flash again for both P model and E model

There is info on flashing the E single on the Sonoff thread I linked to... That might help you. Good luck!

oh I tried with both, and its all downhill with these 2 dongles, I cant see why this should be such a problem, but they are, with the E dongle I tried folow the video and it wont evebn find the the dongle, I see it in windows on which com, but it wont connect on exstraputty, no connection at all,
herea just a few screen shots from the P dongle


if anyone see the error, please point it out to me :slight_smile:

Im aware that one picture shows other_router, but its the launchpad_router I use

Afraid I have no experience w/the Windows approach, I do all my flashing from a Pi.

One suggestion - go to the SonOff Dongle topic I posted above, and search the topic for appearances of the text "windows" to see if you find useful info there.

I guessing your python.exe is not in the default windows path. You can add the python.exe folder to the windows path(s)

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i use ti flash programmer under windows.. but have only flashed p versions.

none of these are working, so it all seems like a huge hassle of trial and error,
I wish I could get them to work, but maybe eventually it will happen

I think Ill grab the FRIENT siren Ill need anyway:

and also the range exstender:

Ill assume this will be much more easy to get rolling

both of these are zigbee mesh 3.0 routers

All Frient gadgets are of a very good quality and comply with the ZCL standards.
(being Zigbee 3.0 or not - this is irrelevant for the home automation profile that we use. Nowadays every Zigbee device is 3.0)

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Yes Frient is a danish brand, most tech from Denmark are high quality, but also much more expensive, but I guess you get what you pay for haha
Ill go for the frient siren and extender and a few mini plugs as well

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Sounds like a very good solution to your problems. To bad you had trouble with the Sonoff dongles, hopefully you can pass them on or sell them to someone else.

yeah its a bummer with the sonoff dongles, but for the people it works for, Im happy for them, but Ill join the line of people where it dont work. Ill keep them and play with them eventually, but for now what ill use the routers for, its just too much hassle to jump through all these hoops trying to get them flashed and then even getting them collected sounds like its even more of a hassle :slight_smile:
No thanks spending more time on this for now, I guess my first and also last sonoff devices.
So Frient it is now, also hoping that frient intelligent key pad eventually will work with hubitat

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