How to reset/pair a Sonoff ZBMINI without physical access to switch from Deconz to Zigbee2MQTT?

Hardware
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1

Hi all,

I have three Sonoff ZBMINIs installed inside electric outlets in my home, so they are not easily accessible.
I am in the process of switching from a Deconz (using Conbee 2) to Zigbee2MQTT (using a SONOFF Zigbee 3.0 Dongle). Both dongles are attached and running on a RPi 4 with Home Assistant OS.

According to this manual you need to push a button on the ZBMINI for 5 seconds to factory reset it and put it into pairing mode. I would like to avoid this, since the device are not easily accessible.

Does anyone know, if I can send command through the Phoscon/Deconz to put the devices into pairing mode? I have tried removing them from Phoscon, but was unable to pair it with Zigbee2Mqtt. Interestingly though, I was able to re-pair it with the Conbee 2 network after it did not work with Zigbee2Mqtt …

2

I have a similar question for a no-name Zigbee switch. I am using ZHA. I’ve looked under “Manage Zigbee Device” but can’t really identify any parameters there, but I’m guessing their might be one??

3

So I found (by accident) that the following worked for two out of my three devices:

  1. Remove the device in the Phoscon App (it was listed under “Lights”).
  2. Cut power to the device, wait a moment, and restore power. I waited ~10 seconds… although I did not time it.
  3. Pair the device with Zigbee2MQTT.

I stumbled across this by accident, while testing and I cannot guarantee that it will work, because for one of the devices it did not for some reason. Also I did not find any information on this procedure anywhere online.

4

It is explained here:

https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/devices/ZBMINI.html

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5

This is great. I had not seen it. Thanks so much for this!

6

Easer way to do it (tried&tested): Press 10 consecutive times the connected external switch.

Best! D.

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7

Is this still an issue?

Recently cut the power over at least 25 min, and the ZBMINIL2 works just fine afterwards :thinking:

8

If you want to move from ZHA to Z2M then you can simply remove the zbmini device from ZHA and it will be in pairing mode immediately, without powering done.
Then enable pairing on Z2M and it will be paired. No need to open the wall box.

9

For those having issue to reset Sonoff ZBMINI without physical access to the reset button. Hope my notes below help.

  • Found that Philips Hue dimmer switch v2 doesn’t work as suggested in SONOFF ZBMINI control via MQTT | Zigbee2MQTT. Having not problem to reset Hue bulb with the same instruction though.
  • Power on and off consecutively 4 times. The tricky part is on right after off. We need to allow the MINI power off completely which takes 6-7 secs after power off. So a typical power cycle would be: (On → 1 sec → Off → 7 sec) → next cycle for 4 times. Once done. Power off wait for at least 7 sec to complete power off. The device should be in pairing mode after power on.

Note: MINI directly goes to pairing mode after the 4th cycle. But a power off followed by on after “permit join” is enabled in Z2M would help to confirm MINI does go to pairing mode. MINI should immediately join the network once powered on.

BTW, the reason I need to repair Sonoff ZBMINI is that I lost all my paired devices in Z2M for some reasons and it’s not possible to remove the device from Z2M. I know that if the device is removed from Z2M properly (i.e. not forced remove), it will be in pairing mode immediately or after a power cycle.

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10

This worked perfectly thanks! How did you figure it out???

11

Wow thanks so much for this it saved me so much time. Have no idea how you figured this out but it worked perfectly. Pull up zigbee2mqtt dashboard on your phone and go to your circuit breaker for where that device is. Turn it off for 7 seconds then on for 1 second. Repeat that 4 times and you will see on the Z2M dashboard it shows that those devices have been removed. Click join and they will all come right back.