ITead "SONOFF Zigbee Bridge Pro" (ZBBridge-P) new CC2652P and ESP32 based Zigbee Gateway to WiFi Bridge

Hedda · January 12, 2022, 2:58pm

FCC leak show CC2652P and ESP32 based Sonoff ZBBridge-P v1.1 Zigbee Bridge coming from ITead.

UPDATE! ZBBridge-P (a.k.a. “ZB Bridge-P”) has now been released as “SONOFF Zigbee Bridge Pro”:

https://itead.cc/product/sonoff-zigbee-bridge-pro/

Wondering if can be hacked into network-attached remote Zigbee adapter for ZHA and Zigbee2MQTT?

Internal pictures posted from FCC show using an unannounced Texas Intruments CC2652P (CC2652P1) MCU chip based “SM-031 v1.1” radio module which must be made by CoolKit (the company that makes their EFR32MG21 based “SM-011 V1.0” module).

ESP32 (ESP32-D0WD-V3) has replaced the ESP8266/ESP8285, and it also looks like added an on-board clock-battery too, presumably for RTC (Real-Time Clock)?

FFC also leaked new Sonoff branded Door/Window Sensor, Motion Sensor, Temp/Humidity Sensor, and a Button as wireless Zigbee devices, all with the same CCC2652P (CC2652P1/CC2652P1F) chip which +20 dBm capable power amplifier is really overkill for battery-operated sensors and should on theory use more battery power than if they would have used the compatible CC2652R or CC2652RB.

Sadly it looks like even this new variant of Sonoff ZBBridge still uses Wi-Fi instead of wired Ethernet network like the newer ZB-GW03:

https://community.home-assistant.io/t/zb-gw03-ewelink-ethernet-zigbee-gateway-now-hacked-with-tasmota-zbbridge-so-can-be-used-via-mqtt-or-as-a-remote-zigbee-adapter-with-home-assistant-zha-and-zigbee2mqtt/341223

Ethernet is preferred by DIY users who flash Tasmota or ESPHome in order to use it as a remote Zigbee adapter with ZHA or Zigbee2MQTT because tunnelling serial communication over a serial stream server connection and the serial APIs of the Zigbee stacks are not robust/stable over WiFi as assume a direct connection, which is why both ZHA and Zigbee warns against using WiFi-based networked-attached Serial-to-IP Zigbee bridges/gateways/adapters:

https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/zha#warning-about-wi-fi-based-zigbee-to-serial-bridgesgateways

https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/advanced/remote-adapter/connect_to_a_remote_adapter.html

According to @digiblur who broke this news, these are slated to be released in March of 2022:

https://www.digiblur.com/2021/12/new-sonoff-zigbee-bridge-and-sensors.html

Not sure if this is intended to permanently replace the popular ITead Sonoff ZBBridge

https://community.home-assistant.io/t/sonoff-zbbridge-sonoff-zigbee-bridge-from-itead/187346

As I understand ITead have not abandoned Silicon Labs yet but it is just that Silabs chip stocks have suffered worse than most other companies during the still currently ongoing worldwide chip shortage.

PS: Assume it will use the same firmware for CC2652P as “Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus”:

https://community.home-assistant.io/t/sonoff-zigbee-3-0-usb-dongle-plus-by-itead-is-based-on-texas-instruments-cc2652p-can-now-be-ordered-for-10-99/340705/283

digiblur · January 12, 2022, 3:39pm

Curious to see the performance of the sensors and such as it stands their battery powered sensors are not on my recommendation list by any means.

francisp · January 12, 2022, 4:55pm

I have used a CC2530+CC2591+ESP01 for about 2 years before I switched to a CC2652. Never had the same problems as with the Sonoff ZbBridge (I have one for testing, don’t use it for production) WiFi don’t seems a problem for the TI Chips, unlike the Silabs chips.

Hedda · January 13, 2022, 8:05am

To elaborate, we already know that ITead outsourced the electrical engineering of “SM-011 V1.0” radio-module used in the original Sonoff ZBBridge as well as the design of their first “Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle” (without Sonoff branding) based on Silicon Labs based EFR32MG21 to CoolKit-Technologies / Shenzhen Cool House Technology Co., Ltd. (abbreviated as Cool House Technology) who is a OEM ( Original Equipment Manufacturer) of many products using the eWeLink platform for other companies.

Looking at the board pictures of "ITead SONOFF Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus" from NotEnoughTECH (Mat Zolnierczyk) my guess is it is the same engineer at CoolKit Technologies who engineered this “SM-031 v1.1” radio-module that helped ITead design the board for the SONOFF Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus adapter:

https://notenoughtech.com/home-automation/sonoff-zigbee-3-0-usb-dongle-plus/

https://notenoughtech.com/home-automation/is-sonoff-zigbee-dongle-plus-finally-ready-for-launch/

Will keep an eye out if CoolKit also start to offer this new "SM-031 v1.1” radio-module to third-parties or make other similar products with an Ethernet port for wired network as done with “SM-011 v1.0” module:

https://www.coolkit.cn/product/sm-011/

https://www.coolkit.cn/product/sm-031/

https://github.com/CoolKit-Technologies/DevDocs/tree/master/Zigbee

The "SM-011 v1.0” radio modules and other "SM-011 v1.0” based products are already sold on Alibaba and Aliexpress as the same radio module being used in other USB-dongles and other bridges/gateways, like eWeLink ZB-GW03 (which board is presumably also designed by CoolKit Technologies):

https://community.home-assistant.io/t/zb-gw03-ewelink-ethernet-zigbee-gateway-now-hacked-with-tasmota-zbbridge-so-can-be-used-via-mqtt-or-as-a-remote-zigbee-adapter-with-home-assistant-zha-and-zigbee2mqtt/341223

https://zigbee.blakadder.com/easyiot_ZB-GW04.html

https://github.com/zigpy/zigpy/discussions/586

Hedda · May 2, 2022, 11:11am

FYI, ITead has apparently now started selling “SONOFF Zigbee Bridge Pro” which I assume are the same as the previously leaked “Sonoff ZBBridge-P” model based on CC2652P and ESP32-D0WD-V3?

https://itead.cc/product/sonoff-zigbee-bridge-pro/

Its packaging is the same as and their previous Zigbee gateway/bridge and the only listed difference mentioned on its website is that it can handle 128 instead of 32 devices, contains a “buzzer” which webpage mention that the buzzer can be used as an alarm (siren?) or as a doorbell chime (if use Zigbee wireless buttons as doorbells), and a “built-in high-precision local RTC” (Real-Time Clock with clock-battery) for gateway time synchronization of local scene schedules.

Note that they are also still selling the older ZBBridge based on EFR32MG21 and ESP8266/ESP8285 which has already been hacked with Tasmota and ESPHome as a network-attached Zigbee adapter:

https://itead.cc/product/sonoff-zbbridge/

See also

https://zigbee.blakadder.com/Sonoff_ZBBridge.html

and

https://templates.blakadder.com/ewelink_ZB-GW03

Note that Zigbee2Tasmota (tasmota-zbbridge) is by the way already supported on Tube’s Zigbee Gateways with similar specifications:

https://tasmota.github.io/docs/Zigbee/

https://www.tubeszb.com/product/cc2652_coordinator/39

https://www.tubeszb.com/product/cc2652_poe_coordinator/47

https://github.com/tube0013/tube_gateways

(Tube’s Zigbee Gateways are based on ESP32 dev board (Wireless-Tag WT32-ETH01 or Olimex ESP32-POE-ISO) combined with either a Texas Instruments CC2652P based Zigbee module or a Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 based Zigbee module).

Hedda · May 16, 2022, 7:18am

FYI, both NotEnoughTech and @digiblur (digiblurDIY) have received theirs and while neither of them has tried to flash/hack it yet they posted some early thoughts on the original eWeLink hub firmware and hardware board, confirming that the first retail version ITead’s SONOFF Zigbee Bridge Pro with PCB board labelled “ZBBridge-P V1.1 2021.11.12” is indeed based on Espressiff ESP32-DOWD-V3 (that ESP32 variant by the way also has integrated support for Bluetooth 4.2 including BLE), Texas Instruments CC2652P Zigbee module labelled “SM-031 V1.1 2021.07.28” (so probably manufactured by CoolKit Technologies like the Zigbee module for previous Sonoff bridge), with a cell-battery for the RTC (Real-Time-Clock), a built-in buzzer for chime or alarm-siren, and also an Espressiff branded PSRAM (ESP-PSRAM16H) with 2MB/16Mbit capacity.

https://notenoughtech.com/home-automation/sonoff-zigbee-bridge-pro/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsIjFxCPJLA&ab_channel=NotEnoughTECH

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5op57y5i6k?t=920&ab_channel=digiblurDIY

Bassfiend · May 16, 2022, 8:27am

I got my Sonoff Pro last week but without a way to hook it up to Home Assistant it’s not actually much use to me - don’t want to use the eWeLink integration to add it … so it’s been added to the pile of about half a dozen different Zigbee hubs that I currently own - I would so love to do a proper comparison of them all!

(Have one of these arriving tomorrow too … ZB-GW03 eWeLink Ethernet Zigbee Gateway now hacked with Tasmota and ESPHome so can be used via MQTT or as a remote Zigbee LAN adapter with Home Assistant's ZHA integration or Zigbee2MQTT )

Hedda · May 16, 2022, 9:50am

Can you test if original eWeLink firmware is compatible with SonoffLAN custom component over LAN?

https://github.com/AlexxIT/SonoffLAN

Sonoff LAN custom component is available via HACS and does support their previous Zigbee bridge:

https://hacs.xyz/docs/repositories/integration/alexxit_sonofflan

Otherwise consider trying flashing/hacking the ESP32 inside it yourself with tasmota32 or ESPHome?

https://github.com/arendst/Tasmota/discussions/14419

https://github.com/syssi/esphome-zb-gw03

As this is a brand new device, trying to flash it with tasmota32 or ESPHome and get Zigbee working on it even just though remote serial is of course option meant for advanced users, hackers and developers.

Bassfiend · May 16, 2022, 10:31am

I’m pretty sure that the old Zigbee Bridge code won’t work on the “Pro” bridge as it has a different processor (as far as I’m aware) and a different chipset … NotEnoughTech said that there wasn’t a firmware available for it as yet too.

Cheers

Phil

Hedda · May 16, 2022, 11:49am

If you mean SonoffLAN custom component then it is not reflashing anything so not dependent on chip.

https://github.com/AlexxIT/SonoffLAN

However, if you mean only flashing existing tasmota-zbbridge or tasmota32 and esphome firmware images to access the Zigbee module on these then of course those already precompiled firmware images will not work as they were either built for the previous ITead Sonoff ZBBridge (with ESP8266/ESP8285) or standard ESP32 dev boards respectively and just as importantly they were built for boards with a slightly different pinouts mapping which will make old images not made for these use the wrong pins.

What I meant was that the new ITead Sonoff ZBBridge is based on a standard ESP32-DOWD-V3 (which I believe is the same chip as the generic Espressif ESP-WROVER-KIT development board and Espressif ESP32 Dev Module / Espressif ESP32-WROVER-E module) so it should, in theory, be possible to just flash a generic esphome and/or tasmota32 build image and try to figure out the pinout used by this device, then start developing from there, so obviously you need to be able to make builds yourself and code some if want to get started playing with Tasmota or ESPHome on this today:

https://tasmota.github.io/docs/ESP32/

"Tasmota32 is initially developed and tested with the dual core ESP32-D0WD-V3 and later expanded to include single core or PSRAM versions."

Generic builds would of course then not get the Zigbee2Tasmota bridge or serial stream server as that is not included out-of-the-box but it would act as the first proof of concept to see if can even flash Tasmota32 and/or ESPHome. So you would not be able to practically use it yourself unless you learn to make custom builds yourself with external components.

https://esphome.io/devices/esp32.html

“All devices based on the original ESP32 are supported by ESPHome. Simply select ESP32 when the ESPHome wizard asks you for your platform and choose a board type from this link when the wizard asks you for the board type.”

What he meant was that there are no precompiled firmware images available for it as yet for this brand new product. But if what digiblur said in this video is correct and the firmware is not locked then there is nothing technically stopping you from building and compiling yourself then flashing that to the ESP32.

Not having locked firmware means that there is nothing holding back developers from hacking these to flash different firmware, and after it it hacked/flashed with different firmware then hackers/developers can try to figure out the pinouts (GPIO pins) used for the Zigbee module. So some coding is needed.

Once those with ESP32 development experince have hacked these and got access to the Zigbee module then they will probably release prebuilt images that anyone can flash themself.

Devs should be able to build own firmware following ZB-GW03 guides as hardware is very similar. See:

https://templates.blakadder.com/ewelink_ZB-GW03

https://thehelpfulidiot.com/a-wired-sonoff-zigbee-alternative

and

https://github.com/syssi/esphome-zb-gw03/blob/main/docs/flashing.md

What is missing is a pinout mapping which can be figured out by tracing the paths on the PCB boards.

Bassfiend · May 16, 2022, 12:33pm

So given that I don’t “code” then it isn’t going to work for me with Home Assistant…

Hedda · May 23, 2022, 12:27pm

FYI, the Tasmota developer who coded their Zigbee2Tasmota (Z2T) now got one of these, he already started working on adding initial support for it, they are for now using Tasmota’s “tasmota32-nspanel.bin” build as a base because is it based on tasmota32 and have similar build specifications for PSRAM. etc.:

https://github.com/arendst/Tasmota/discussions/14419

It means that Tasmota and ESPHome do not work today out-of-the-box for these brand new devices, yes. So it means will have to have patience for someone else with coding skills to code all support for it.

Again this is a brand new device so not sure what you expected with out-of-the-box support, but please understand that since it does not have any new unique features it should in theory not take very long.

mercenaruss · May 30, 2022, 2:09pm

Can anybody provide all pinouts used to interact with CC2652?
I want to build a firmware for it.

Hedda · May 30, 2022, 2:28pm

Tasmota developers posted pinout here → https://github.com/arendst/Tasmota/discussions/14419

Summery, they initially figured out that this schematic digiblur’s contact at ITead shared look incomplete:

For starters, BSL GPIO should be set to DIO_8 which is not standard and DIO_8 is also used for SPI.

They since also found out that DIO_15 seems connected to PAD#15 on the CC2652 Zigbee module.

As well as that DIO_24 … DIO_29 seem to be connected on different pads.

Keep in mind that if you flash CC2652 firmware with wrong config then that will brick Bootloader (BSL) the Zigbee module and in order to unbrick Bootloader (BSL) will need to manually flash CC2652 with a cJTAG debug adapter, see → https://electrolama.com/radio-docs/advanced/flash-jtag/

Hedda · May 31, 2022, 6:31pm

FYI @mercenaruss posted in https://github.com/arendst/Tasmota/discussions/14419 that he has already made some progress on an ESPHome build for this new ZBBridge-P.

Before attempting this yourself however note that needs to be made clear that users should for now not flash unmodified CC2652P images from Koenkk which the community normally uses as the CC2652P Zigbee module in this ZBBridge-P does not use the standard pins for BSL so flashing an unmodified CC2652 firmware to the Zigbee module will mean that will not be able to flash it again via BSL and will instead need to use a cJTAG probe adapter.

Originally posted by @mercenaruss in https://github.com/arendst/Tasmota/discussions/14419#discussioncomment-2856425

I build a firmware on ESPHome,to be used with ZBBridge-P and Z2M. I managed to flash using cc2538-bsl & ZigStar MultiTool, unchecked AutoBSL. Trigered from webinterface Firmware Update and hit START in ZigStar MultiTool.

ZigStar-ZBBridge653×637 24.2 KB

Flash firmware using ESPHOME Flasher

Flash Koenk firmware using ZigStar Multitool

Connect to captive portal and setup your Wifi

Identify ZBBridge IP and setup in Z2M, port 6638 ( port: tcp://ip:6638 )

Enjoy
zs-zbridge-p.zip

Working like charm in Z2M. P.S. Will add Reset button capability,buzzer and led indication of status. Also will added to ZigStar GW firmware

mercenaruss · May 31, 2022, 9:20pm

Thank you for pointing this out.
Community can use modified firmware what is available on tasmota repository.
At the moment,firmware is working properly,without any issues.

mercenaruss · June 1, 2022, 8:00am

I managed to identify all GPIO’s used in the board.
You can enjoy Tom Cruise theme on link below:

Hedda · June 1, 2022, 10:09am

For reference that would be the CC2652 firmware from arendst’s Tasmota repository on GitHub here:

https://github.com/arendst/Tasmota/tree/development/tools/fw_SonoffZigbeeBridgePro_cc2652

jeroen.nijssen · July 15, 2022, 7:21am

Just ordered a Sonoff Bridge Pro, is it possible to flash trough web interface or is soldering still required? i’m looking to use it for z2m.

Hedda · August 4, 2022, 9:36pm

GPIO flashing is still required but can be done without soldering, for tips see → ITead “SONOFF Zigbee Bridge Pro” (ZBBridge-P) new CC2652P and ESP32 based Zigbee Gateway to WiFi Bridge · Discussion #14419 · arendst/Tasmota · GitHub