Issue with Zigbee2MQTT Pairing - Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 Dongle Plus

[HantZ (HTZ)]

Hello everyone,

I’m having trouble pairing Zigbee devices with Zigbee2MQTT. Despite multiple attempts and checks, my Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus appears to be detected, and Zigbee2MQTT starts without issues. However, no devices are joining the network, even when pairing mode is enabled.

My setup:

• Home Assistant OS (HAOS)
• Zigbee2MQTT Add-on installed from the official repository (45df7312_zigbee2mqtt)
• Mosquitto MQTT Add-on installed and working
• USB Dongle: Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus (CC2652P-based)
• Zigbee2MQTT version: 2.0.0
• zigbee-herdsman version: 3.2.1
• Dongle firmware: zStack3x0 20210708

Zigbee2MQTT Configuration (excerpt)

mqtt:
  base_topic: zigbee2mqtt
  server: mqtt://core-mosquitto:1883
  user: mqtt
  password: XXXXXXX

serial:
  adapter: zstack
  port: /dev/serial/by-id/usb-ITead_Sonoff_Zigbee_3.0_USB_Dongle_Plus_6e02b54d23b6ed11a9ebe10ea8669f5d-if00-port0

advanced:
  log_level: debug
  channel: 15
  network_key: GENERATE

permit_join: true
frontend:
  port: 8099

---

What is working:

The dongle is detected properly:

ls -l /dev/serial/by-id/
# Output:
usb-ITead_Sonoff_Zigbee_3.0_USB_Dongle_Plus_6e02b54d23b6ed11a9ebe10ea8669f5d-if00-port0 -> ../../ttyUSB0

Zigbee2MQTT starts successfully:

ha addons logs 45df7312_zigbee2mqtt

[info] Zigbee2MQTT started!
[info] Connected to MQTT server

Mosquitto MQTT is running and Zigbee2MQTT is connected:

mosquitto_sub -h core-mosquitto -u mqtt -P XXXXXXX -t zigbee2mqtt/bridge/state

{"state":"online"}

Pairing mode activation works:

mosquitto_pub -h core-mosquitto -u mqtt -P XXXXXXX -t zigbee2mqtt/bridge/request/permit_join -m '{"value":true, "time":255}'

[info] Zigbee: allowing new devices to join.

---

What is NOT working:

Unable to pair any Zigbee device
Even when putting a device into pairing mode, no new devices appear in Zigbee2MQTT.

No pairing attempt logs in MQTT
When running:

mosquitto_sub -h core-mosquitto -u mqtt -P XXXXXXX -t zigbee2mqtt/#

I see no connection attempts from new devices.

“Invalid Payload” MQTT Error at first
Initially, when I tried:

mosquitto_pub -h core-mosquitto -u mqtt -P XXXXXXX -t zigbee2mqtt/bridge/request/permit_join -m '{"value":true}'

I got this error in the Zigbee2MQTT web interface:

z2m: Request 'zigbee2mqtt/bridge/request/permit_join' failed with error: 'Invalid payload'

Since adding "time":255 to the command, pairing mode activates successfully, but devices still won’t join.

---

Steps I have tried:

1. Verified Zigbee2MQTT is running → OK
2. Checked MQTT connection → OK (mosquitto_sub works)
3. Confirmed the dongle is detected → OK (ls -l /dev/serial/by-id/)
4. Restarted the USB dongle & Zigbee2MQTT → OK
5. Tried switching Zigbee channel (from 15 to 25) → No pairing
6. Reset the Zigbee device (long press + full reset) → No pairing
7. Tried different USB ports for the dongle → No improvement
8. Disabled & re-enabled permit_join + HA restart → Still nothing

---

Questions for Zigbee2MQTT experts:

1. Why do I see no device connection attempts in MQTT logs?
2. Did I miss any steps to enable device pairing?
3. Could this be a compatibility issue with certain Zigbee devices?
4. Could my dongle be misflashed? Should I reflash with a different firmware?
5. Are there any specific parameters to test in configuration.yaml?

---

Thanks in advance for your help! Any suggestions are welcome.
I can provide additional logs or run specific commands if needed.

• Home Assistant OS (HAOS)
• Zigbee2MQTT Add-on installé via le repository officiel (45df7312_zigbee2mqtt)
• Mosquitto MQTT Add-on installé et fonctionnel
• Dongle USB : Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus (basé sur CC2652P)
• Version de Zigbee2MQTT : 2.0.0
• Version de zigbee-herdsman : 3.2.1
• Firmware du dongle : zStack3x0 20210708

version	core-2025.1.4
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timezone	Europe/Paris
config_dir	/config

Home Assistant Community Store

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GitHub Web	ok
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GitHub API Calls Remaining	5000
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Available Repositories	1505
Downloaded Repositories	22

AccuWeather

can_reach_server	ok
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Home Assistant Cloud

logged_in	true
subscription_expiration	31 août 2025 à 02:00
relayer_connected	true
relayer_region	eu-central-1
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Home Assistant Supervisor

host_os	Home Assistant OS 14.2
update_channel	stable
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agent_version	1.6.0
docker_version	27.2.0
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healthy	true
supported	true
host_connectivity	true
supervisor_connectivity	true
ntp_synchronized	true
virtualization
board	rpi5-64
supervisor_api	ok
version_api	ok
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Dashboards

dashboards	2
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views	15
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Recorder

oldest_recorder_run	18 janvier 2025 à 02:40
current_recorder_run	30 janvier 2025 à 23:13
estimated_db_size	384.89 MiB
database_engine	sqlite
database_version	3.47.1

Spotify

api_endpoint_reachable	ok

___

[groveh1 (Greg H.)]

Have you tried an extension USB on dongle?