Zigbee2MQTT

SONOFF ZBDongle-E

ModelZBDongle-E
VendorSONOFF
DescriptionSonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus (EFR32MG21) with router firmware
Exposeslight_indicator_level, linkquality
PictureSONOFF ZBDongle-E

Notes

How to create a SONOFF ZBDongle-E Router

You can create a powerful Zigbee router from an ordinary Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus (Model "ZBDongle-E" with EFR32MG21 chip) by flashing a router firmware onto the device. You can find the official guide for flashing the device here: SONOFF Zigbee 3.0 USB dongle plus firmware flashingopen in new window. The guide also contains the link to the official SONOFF Router Firmware for the ZBDongle-Eopen in new window.

Hints

The guide from SONOFF is not very detailed. Here are some additional hints:

  • First, you have to disassemble the device and pull the logic board out of its housing. You need a J00 Phillips screwdriver for this.
  • Second, you need a software supporting the XMODEM file transfer protocolopen in new window for sending the firmware image to the device. On Debian Linux like Ubuntu you can use lrzsz,

    • install XMODEM transfer protocol and terminal emulator Putty with

      sudo apt install lrzsz putty

    • user needs to be in dialout group in order to access serial ports

      sudo adduser $USER dialout

    • log in and out so that group membership comes into effect

  • Third, you must operate on the naked logic board while it is plugged in. This is a lot easier if you use a USB extension cable.
  • Forth, to enter the Bootloader Mode, you have to

    • Plug the device in

    • Connect to the device with the serial software (for serial connection parameters, see guide)

      putty -serial -sercfg 115200,8,n,1 /dev/ttyACM0

    • Press and hold the "BOOT" button (upper button in the lower right corner next to the USB plug in the photo below)

    • and then press the "RST." button (lower button in the lower right corner next to the USB plug in the photo below) to restart the device

  • Fifth, to upload the file, in the bootloader terminal press '1' to initiate the upload

    • Open another terminal on the host system to send the file through XMODEM

      sx Z3RouterUSBDonlge_EZNet6.10.3_V1.0.0.gbl < /dev/ttyACM0 > /dev/ttyACM0

    • Wait for 'Serial upload complete', then press '2' in the Bootloader Terminal to restart the dongle.

  • Finally, the dongle LED blinks green, inidicating it is in paring mode. Pair as usual with Z2M.

Exposes

Light indicator level (numeric)

Brightness of the indicator light. Value can be found in the published state on the light_indicator_level property. It's not possible to read (/get) or write (/set) this value.

Linkquality (numeric)

Link quality (signal strength). Value can be found in the published state on the linkquality property. It's not possible to read (/get) or write (/set) this value. The minimal value is 0 and the maximum value is 255. The unit of this value is lqi.