ITead’s “Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus V2” (model "ZBDongle-E") based on Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 radio SoC/MCU

thank you, i will take a look :slight_smile:

@Hedda
Using the dongle-E as a router at the moment. I have a network in ZHA based on dongle-P, it is pretty stable, I have around 60 router devices, 2 Sonoff Ps and 1 Sonoff E as routers, the rest are Ikea bulbs, tuya/samsung/sonoff switches.

Any reason to migrate to the Sonoff E as the main coordinator since I am on ZHA? Also will using the migrate feature actually mean I cant use the sonoff P as a coordinator again? I read somewhere around IEEA address constraints with the dongle E, couldnt find the post again, wasnt sure if it was only for 1 particular scenario.

Thanks in advance and apologies if this was already answered before

If things are stable, I’d leave it be.

The only advantage of the E isyou can potentially use it with the multiprotocol stack for thread. It’s not worth risking zigbee stability to test a few thread devices if you ever get any. Just use the E as a second thread specific controller.

Changing the ieee address on the SILabs chip is a one time, almost irreversible process. Supposedly it can be reset using a jtag programmer, but it is probably easier and less expensive to just buy a new E at that point.

The replaced P could still be used as a new router though. Unlike SILabs, the TI chip address can be changed repeatedly using normal firmware update software tools.

Anecdotally, I found the P to be the more stable coordinator, but there have been firmware updates since then.

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Thanks @jerrm

I was planning on getting another E to be specific for thread/matter, having 2 protocols on one sounds like trouble :smiley: Seeing more on the forum people complaining of stability when they have it enabled.

The have both dongles as routers but seems like the E has a better connections compared to the P. I am on the new router firmware for the P dongle and have tried multiple power levels but they dont really make any difference.

I’ll leave it alone for now, enough tinkering :slight_smile:, there are still some IKEA Styrbar battery remotes that become unavailable after 24h for some reason. They still work though when I press them, not sure why this is the case. I thought signal was the issue but might be something else.

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Because of these same issues, I’m rethinking to re-flash the E to a coordinator and the current P as Router. The P coordinator is quite a disappointment atm due to the low LQI and disconnecting routers and end devices. Using the Zstack 20221226 P coordinator firmware.

IMHO, if using ZHA then there should not be any reason to migrate from ZBDongle-P to ZBDongle-E or vice versa, they should be equally good as each other. As mentioned the only reason is if absolutely want to use a Multi-PAN RCP with Zigbee and Thread on a single dongle, but I personally recommend against that as it is much better to use a separate dedicated radio for each wireless protocol (just make sure that not using the same channel frequency on two different radios).

Try to follow all these tips first → Zigbee networks: how to guide for avoiding interference and optimize for getting better range + coverage

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Same for me. With Dongle P, I had very low LQI, and devices kept dropping off. With Dongle E, everything is super stable, and also, I have very good LQI all over.

Do you have a link where the process is explained? If the IEEE can be changed during the “Migrate Radio” process, why isn’t it possible to simply revert back?

How do you do change the power level? Recompiling is beyond my current skill level and the Sonoff documentation doesn’t explain much about doing this via serial port (using what software? is that change persistent? etc.) If that process is described somewhere, I’d appreciate a link to it.

For the jtag? No. Never had the need to pursue personally.

You’d have to ask SI Labs. Maybe to sell more chips?

It is a chipset limitation, not specific to the ZBDongle-E, SkyConnect suffer the same issue.

When migrating to an SI Labs coordinator, HA does throw up a not-scary-enough warning about the address change being permanent.

zha:
  zigpy_config:
    source_routing: true
    znp_config:
      tx_power: 12
    ota:
      ikea_provider: true                        # Auto update Trådfri devices
      ledvance_provider: true                    # Auto update LEDVANCE/OSRAM devices
      salus_provider: true                       # Auto update SALUS/Computime devices
      otau_directory: /config/ota_ha

I believe as long as you are on the latest firmware, what you need is the tx_power under znp_config entity.
I didnt notice any difference though so I am not sure if this really works

Later ZHA works around this limitation so it should be a non-issue if using latest ZHA.

That works when using as a Zigbee Coodinator. Changing power on a Zigbee Router is only possible with ZBDongle-P as routers.

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Oooh… was not aware of that. Any idea what they are doing?

Sorry yes I misread, dongle p has it as an entity if a router. Weirdly dongle E shows up as a light in zha if acting as a router

Thank you, Hedda, for your directions. Appreciated.

As I already have met most of the requirements

  • Zigbee channel 15

  • Wi-Fi channels 2.4G : 11 - low power / 5G :48 - medium power

  • 2.0 USB HUB with USB 2.0 extension cable, ZBDongle P ~ 5 meters outside home lab middle of
    the three floor house where no Wi-Fi AP is present

  • most devices are router integrated devices, distance between devices ~ 2-3 meters

Am I missing the obvious due to my blind spots?

Current topology:

I do not remember exactly but believe it was something puddly added to the bellows radio library for zigpy → GitHub - zigpy/bellows: A Python 3 project to implement EZSP for EmberZNet devices

OK so just to test and since I am still in the return window, I flashed the Sonoff E into coordinator again using the latest from Firmware Flasher Darkxst

Migrated the radio from the P dongle. Looks good, had to repair some mains powered devices but seem to be good now.

However I flashed the P dongle to act as a router and unable to be added. Anyone else encountered anything similar? Flashed the router firmware multiple times now and started the pairing process before connedting the P dongle, still no dice

If you migrated the E dongle from the P dongle, they now both have the same IEEE-address. You will need to give the P-dongle a new IEEE-address.

https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/guide/adapters/flashing/copy_ieeaddr.html

Damn I didnt take note of the new coordinator IEEE address. Is this something I can generate?

I had the same problem, I just changed the last 4 digits of the existing IEEE-address.

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Thanks that worked brilliantly.

Will report after a few days on how things are different or same :smiley:

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