SONOFF ZBDongle-E

   
Model ZBDongle-E
Vendor SONOFF
Description Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus (EFR32MG21) with router firmware
Exposes light_indicator_level, linkquality
Picture SONOFF 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 flashing. The guide also contains the link to the official SONOFF Router Firmware for the ZBDongle-E.

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 protocol 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.