Sonoff Zigbee Bridge Simply as a Router in HE

🚧 Developers
#1

Has anyone added a Sonoff Zigbee bridge to HE to be a Router only?

I bought one about a year ago to use w/ Home Assistant but it has been sitting in a drawer since I abandoned HA. I just found this from DigiblurDIY from about a month ago: How to Convert the Sonoff Zigbee Bridge into a Router / Repeater

Since it was just sitting in a drawer, I gave it a shot. Once I was patient and followed the steps carefully, it worked and I was able to pair to HE hub as a Device. It's showing up in the Zigbee table so I assume it is doing it's job.

You can't do anything with it but you can't have too many Zigbee routers right?????

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Is there a use for the Sonoff zigbee bridge I just bought?
#2

The Sonoff zigbee USB dongle can also be flashed to work as a router for Hubitat. Also works well for that purpose.

#3

I flashed my dongle(that sounds obscene) with the launchpad version of router firmware, but can't get it to pair at all, on 3 different hubs. Reflashed twice and still no luck, zero response in zigbee logs, other discovery started & stopped

#4

It should work - unless your flashing failed. The last person I know who flashed one of these recently was @Ken_Fraleigh, and his paired up.

#5

Thanks Aaiyar. I was discussing with Ken. He said he did nothing special to pair it. And I know 100% that the flash completed correctly according to the SmartRF programmer app

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#6

I can’t understand why yours doesn’t pair. I would have to wonder if something is interfering with it. I read that you just have to push either button on the stick to get it in pairing mode and can’t think of anything outside of that that I might have done. Since adding the three to my mostly end devices mesh, I have not had any ill effects, and one Iris contact sensor that would occasionally have a dropped “closed” message has not had that happen since. Also, all routers now show lqi of 254-255, where previously I had a couple that would drop to ~150.
EDIT: I do recall that it took the entire time to pair and configure with each one. I also paired them from my computer on the second floor and the hubs are on the first floor.

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#7

Not sure if you are still having issue but here's what I did to add my dongles.

  • Start your hibitat ZigBee paring.
  • Plug in the Sonoff dongle.
  • Press and hold the boot button on the Sonoff dongle for around 2 seconds.
  • Sit back and enjoy.
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#8

Ah Ha! That did it !
Thank You.

However it keeps falling off the mesh. Tried using Markus' driver for generic zigbee repeaters, and it still falls off

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#9

I have 3 on one mesh and 2 on the other and no problems with them staying connected. Did you use the firmware dated 1/25/2022 from the develop branch? Also, I kept them all within 20 feet of the hubs, figuring that they would have far better reception than the hubs do.

#10

Hi Ken, Thank you, yes I did use CC1352P2_CC2652P_launchpad_router_20220125.hex

What driver are you using? how can you tell it's still communicating?

#11

I’m just using the generic “device” driver. I can only tell they’re connected by seeing them on the childandrouteinfopage.

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#12

The Ikea Tradfri Repeater driver works with it (at least "Get Link Quality" works).

I'm using this driver:
CC1352P2_CC2652P_launchpad_router_20210128.hex

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#13

I don't have dropping off issue at all and they are not close to the hub either.
Here are my logs for one of my xbee and one Sonoff both with Ikea repeater driver.

Screenshot_20220404-210426
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Screenshot_20220404-210321
Screenshot_20220404-2103211080Ă—841 228 KB

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#14

Thanks for mentioning this :grinning:. I wish the routing report worked with these like it does when using the Ikea Tradfri outlet driver with my Hue outlets. It’s nice to get some better insight into how well they are working. The problem is that now I’m thinking I’m going to need an Xbee so I can get a complete network map and I’m sure you can understand that I blame you for this :wink:

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#15

If you'll take my word, the Sonoff USB sticks work well as repeaters. I have several end devices repeating through the one that I have.

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#16

I know. I could see the lqi for some of mine from the Hue outlets. They appear to be quite a bit stronger than the HE hub. I’m using the newer firmware for them that boosts their output to 9dbm.

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#17

Yes, I just updated. I'll see what happens in a few days.

#18

There’s another update coming. It’s only available for the coordinator firmware so far.

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#19

Hi everyone. I´ve been playing with a Sonoff Bridge I had flashed some time ago, and kept in a drawer for some time.

I updated Tasmota and Zigbee Router firmware as suggested, and finally I configured it according to digiblurDIY.

He suggests to configure Module, and select SonoffZbBridge (75), and later on he suggests to configure Template as a Sonoff ZigRouter which changes the Module to Sonoff ZigRouter(0).

I can select any of the two modules (SzBridge(75) or SZRouter(0) by hand, but both have different menu options on the GUI.

Does anyone can suggest how to define which one is the correct one to make the device to act as a Zigbee Router?

#20

Hi Dear Stephen

Got my new HE hub C7 before launching the latest one. Nevermind, after taking decisions to with HE,i want to strengthen coverage, will flashing Sonoff ZigBee bridge Pro can connect to HE through same steps demonstrated in ur article?

Download the Hubitat app