$4 ITEAD CC2531 Zigbee USB Dongle Works with Zigbee2MQTT Out of the Box

Hardware
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Now it’s possible to buy Zigbee USB dongle what works directly (without flashing) with Zigbee2MQTT.

Here is the article.

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I hate to break the news for you, but that’s nothing new… :open_mouth: Pre-flashed sticks are available at Amazon or Ali for quite a time now (I bought my first one over a year ago). It is new, that itead as manufacturer of the Sonoff devices now sells them, but that’s unfortunately all… :slight_smile:

But flashing a CC2531 isn’t that difficult, it is done in five minutes withour prior knowledge. :slight_smile:

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I’ve just ordered on piece of that.
Do we know which Zigbee devices are compatible with this itead usb dongle?

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Check zigbee2mqtt.io/devices. A big list.

1 Like
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@paddy0174

I have one of these and would like to flash it to a newer configurator. Supposedly it has a serial bootloader and I should be able to flash it without needing any additional hardware such as the CC Debugger but cannot for the life of me find the TI software that does this. And a Google search led me down several blind alleys.

Can you help?

Thanks

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@unmesh59 I’m not sure I understand your question right… :wink:

Depending on what OS you have (on the device you’re trying to flash with) you need either the TI software (Windows) or the cc-tool (Linux/Mac).

Check out this guide: https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/information/flashing_the_cc2531.html

As I said, I’m not sure, if I understood it right. If not, just write back (and explain further :smiley: ). :slight_smile:

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I bought it with an older version of the koenkk configurator firmware pre-flashed and am interested in bringing it up to date. Supposedly there exists software that will do that with the dongle simply plugged into a USB port. I am able to run Windows or Linux.

It may be called sbl_tool.

Or have I misunderstood that capability?

Thanks

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Here we go, now I get it. :slight_smile:

Yes and no. There is software out there to flash the CC2531 via USB. It is called SBT (SerialBootTool) where you can flash the dongle, if it already has been flashed with a firmware that has a SerialBootloader. We could asume, that these pre-flashed dongles have that, but to be there sure one would have to check that with the manufacturer. I’d guess yours has it.

But that is not really a straight forwarded process, it needs some tweaking. I found an older issue at Github where it is explained very well (tbh it’s the only place I know someone talked about): https://github.com/Koenkk/zigbee2mqtt/issues/320

The last posts say, that the SBL is implemented in a special branch of zigpy. Here: https://github.com/Koenkk/zigbee2mqtt/issues/320#issuecomment-640274393

But, and that would be my first question, do you have any problems with the installed firmware right now? If not, don’t make any updates. :wink: It simply is not necessary in almost all cases. There are no real security concerns to it, and in this case I’d strongly advise to not touch it. History shows, that these devices are best left alone, as long as they work as expected.

On a side note: I’m flashing all my CC2531 without the CC-debugger, just by using a Pi and a few cables. That works very well for me and has shown no problems so far. So if you really, really need to update, I’d use this way as it is cheap and a few jumper cables are easy to get. Especially if you have a “third hand” (another person) it is a process without soldering. :slight_smile:

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I have no big problems (other than my Ikea router sometimes dropping off the network sometimes and needing to be power cycled) but am a sucker for doing unnecessary upgrades and getting into trouble :slight_smile:

Having said that, the z2m log describes the firmware as

“maintrel”:3,“majorrel”:2,“minorrel”:6,“product”:0,“revision”:20180507

and I’m not sure whether it is the 5 device or 20 device version.

I do have a couple of Pi’s, several USB-to-Serial dongles and Dupont jumper wires.

I also have a slae.sh CC2652RB dongle on the way and should probably get that working first before potentially bricking the CC2531 one I have. Can I transfer the settings or do I have to re-pair the Zigbee devices?

Thanks

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May I ask as how to know if the Itead Sonoff CC2531 stick that I’ve purchased from AliExpress is preflashed with Zigbee2MQTT firmware? (I purchased them in Feb 2021)

Another question, can I use ZHA and Zigbee2MQTT integrations simultaneously?

Thank you.

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I’d wait for that dongle. :slight_smile: “Never touch a running system” is one of the most frequented sayings in IT, but in this case it seems to be true. For all I’ve read in the last months and years these dongles are some sort of princesses and best left alone, as long as they work as expected. :slight_smile: I’d leave it, but if you try, let us know how it worked out. :wink:

As far as I know you will have to re-pair the devices as it’s a new dongle, but that is just a guess. Best would be to ask Slaesh, but as it seems, he has some RL problems, that’s why the dongles are taking a long time to arrive. In these uncertain times no wonder… :frowning:

Does the dongle work with your Zigbee devices? If so, you most likely have a firmware flashed. :slight_smile: In most cases iTead (or any other manufacturer of pre-flashed devices) uses the Zigbee2MQTT firmware. It is the de-facto standard firmware.
The opposite would be, if you had flashed your dongle yourself. Then you may have taken another road, but preflashed normally equals to Zigbee2MQTT firmware.

In theory you should be able to run both (ZHA and Z2M) simultaneously, but why? You will def. get errors and wrong values over time. Why would you want to do that? Any problems?

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The reason as why I wanted to go after that route was because my Zigbee network was quite unstable - end devices dropping off the network almost every day or the next. But now by adding more routers/repeaters in the network it work much more stable and responsive than before. But I have only been to this state for a week now so probably too early to make a verdict??!