Hi, i have a Sonoff basic that is connected to a desk lamp.
I would like to have a wall switch or something similar that could send wirelessly on/off information to the Sonoff basic. I know it is possible but how could i do it? Could i use my Sonoff RF bridge to control it? I’m using Hassio.
You could use a zwave, zigbe, mqtt, wifi, RF or whatever platform you have available but whatever you use will have to have an input into HA.
If I was you I would Tasmota it.
in my office
I have tasmota the Main Light , DeskLamp
I can press wall switch main light on off and if I LONG press it it toggle the desklamp.
and in the hall if a long press the switch it all so toggle the office main light
I totally missed that they were using a Sonoff still with the factory firmware. we talk so much about flashing other firmware on them that it’s easy to just assume that EVERYONE has already flashed them.
I think I remember, tho, that there’s now a way in the latest Sonoff versions to use the factory firmware in HA. Is that right or am i screwing that up too? 
Sorry, i also should have mention that my Sonoff is flashed with Tasmota but like you said that you assume EVERYONE flashes them 
.
Tell me if i’m right. Could i use an Sonoff Touch wall switch with two buttons? The other one could control ceiling a light and the other one for the desk lamp. Is it enough that i just push the button without it being hooked up/wired to my Sonoff? Then with automation i would check for state change for the pushbutton and then toggle the desk lamp?
What kind of switches do you use and how do you set LONG press?
Pretty simple. All of the devices you mention are basically MQTT nodes. I do something like this where my sidetable lights are two Ikea Tradfri lights, each individually controllable with their remote buttons or their name via Alexa. And a Sonoff Basic inside a wall switch box that basically sends an MQTT payload. I generally use Node Red to wire my MQTT devices, but I am sure it could be done exclusively in Home Assistant.
As finity said, it’s remarkably rare to find someone using their Sonoff devices with the factory firmware. I don’t think you can use the Sonoffs on Home Assistant without flashing Tasmota.
Apologies in advance for the dumb newbie question, but is there a definitive source of information on how to flash a Sonoff Basic?
Yes, I’ve searched. A lot of information is old. There’s disagreement about OTA vs. soldering. There’s talk of “old” and “new” versions that do or don’t work different ways. There are apparently many different Sonoff devices. There’s lots of scattered wisdom, but I’ve yet to find one clear, step-by-step source which doesn’t assume I’ve done it all before.
I can solder. Not well or quickly, but I’ll go that route if need be. I’d rather not buy any more hardware. It would be easier to toss the two Sonoff Basics I have and buy something that doesn’t need to be flashed. But if I can use them without building myself a dedicated Sonoff flashing lab, I’ll give it a shot.
If you are a windows user i think this is the easiest way to flash a Sonoff Basic
Check video description for links to apps used in the video and .bin file.
I didn’t use any 3d printed gizmos i just held the Serial Adapter down with some bluetac.
Here is another good tutorial
all of that is correct.
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Thanks! It still feels like setting up a whole new lab, and I really can’t justify spending any more on hardware for this. But it does look interesting. And since when did I ever need an excuse to buy more hardware?
One huge pet peeve I need to get off my chest: I hate YouTube videos for things like this.
Trying to follow along, I took 12 screen shots before I gave up, half-way through. A simple web page or Word document, with all the links and screen shots, would have been so much easier for the author to produce, and for me to use. I’ll never understand the whole “pivot to video” thing.
But thank you anyway, this is the best and most current tutorial I’ve found yet!
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It’s not a huge investment- less than $10 for the USB to TTL Serial Cable. I am not a big fan of Superhouse. The information is all there but he tends to put 10 pounds of information into a 2 pound bag. It’s like buying a car and the salesman tells you all the places you can go before getting to the price of the car.
You probably should learn to flash your Sonoff’s because once the IOT bug bites, you won’t want to stop. The reason it appears so confusing is because there are a remarkable quantity of methods to flash the Sonoff.
If you say where you are, you might find a Home Assistant user near you who would flash them for you and show you how.
To your original question- yes, you can use the Sonoff Switch to control a ceiling light and another light on a Sonoff Basic. Once you have the Tasmota firmware flashed, it’s just a matter of sending and receiving mqtt messages to and from the various switches or other devices.
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