Hello darkxst,
When I go to the website and try to unlock the bootloader for my SLZB-07 the USB port menu does not pop up. It works for the other models and I have tried other supported browsers and computers (mac and pc) but still, the menu doesn’t pop up for the SLZB-07 page. I sent a ticket to smlight so waiting on a response, but do you have any ideas about the problem or a fix? Thanks in advance (:
It seems broken atm.
You can flash this to unlock bootloader, use universal-silabs-flasher as you would to flash normal update.
https://github.com/darkxst/silabs-firmware-builder/raw/main/firmware_builds/slzb-07/BTL_SLZB07.gbl
1 Like
I have no direct experience with this new device mentioned in OP (SLZB-07) but I have been using their model SLZB-06 device since July (about 6 months now) and it has been operating flawlessly (as far as I can tell) and I am very happy with it. I am currently up to 37 Zigbee devices, and adding more all the time.
Of course I took care to do my homework and followed all the recommendations about Wi-Fi and channels, building out a backbone of router devices before adding end devices, etc. I think most people who claim Zigbee is unreliable are probably not doing these things.
Anyway, they seem to make nice hardware which is reasonably priced, so I thought I would share my experience.
hi,
any chance you support this new dongle on your website?
smlight online flasher doesn’t seem to work 
10x…
Yes I will add it eventually, but until then you can use “custom URL” option to install SLZB-07 off my github, just make sure you use the raw links.
What is wrong with it? You should probably file a bug for this with Smlight!
you mean flashing from CLI?
I’m asking because the device (SLZB-07) don’t show up when I press on “Connect” on either of the 3 options you have on the web flasher.
I’m guessing you filter by device id?
oh it matches on the usb serial chip, but thats different. I have added SLZB07 to webflasher now!
2 Likes
@Hedda hardware wise, any reason to prefer Sonoff Dongle-E or SkyConnect over this one from SMLIGHT?
They have different pros and cons that makes me personally choose and recommend the Sonoff ZBDongle-E (or Sonoff ZBDongle-P) for Zigbee:
-
Sonoff ZBDongle-E comes with unlocked bootloader, has a metal enclosure that works as EMF shielding, which the others do not. Sonoff ZBDongle-E also ship with a unique USB product description written to the USB to Serial bridge/converter chip so it can be automatically detected via USB Discovery.
-
SkyConnect purchase sponsor the Home Assistant developers. There is also an official addon for upgrading firmware inside Home Assistant. But it does not have an external antenna, and the board has no EMF shielding. It does however feature unique USB product description written to the USB to Serial bridge/converter chip so it can be automatically detected via USB Discovery.
-
SMLIGHT SLZB-07 comes with a locked bootloader which is means that you can only flash it with their firmware unless you first unlock it, fortunate they allow users to unlock the bootloader if and when their web flasher is working (which it currently is not) but they they remove that then users who have not already unlocked it are screwed. The board also has no EMF shielding. In addition, SMLIGHT SLZB-07 does not ship with a unique USB product description written to the USB to Serial bridge/converter chip so it can be automatically detected via USB Discovery.
SMLIGHT could relativly easily fix these issues by not shipping a locked bootloader (just like everyone else), add some EFM shielding to board (i.e, a grounded metal cover), and feature unique USB product description written to the USB to Serial bridge/converter chip so it can be automatically detected via USB Discovery.
Thanks for the detailed reply.
EMF Shielding is indeed an issue I didn’t think of.
Re. locked bootloader on the slzb07, I don’t think it’s a big issue since it’s possible to unlock it via @darkxst web flasher.
I do wish they had a unique ID instead of a generic cp210x, I wonder if they can fix it for current owners via firmware update…
They all use the exact same chip?
Btw, I don’t like the idea of supporting the development of Home Assistant via inferior hardware, SkyConnect seems very cheap shipping without an antenna especially for its high cost.
I support Home Assistant development via my Nabu Casa subscription.
Bottom line, I think that assuming they all use the exact same chip, and based on your input as well, the Sonoff will be top priority, followed by SLZB07 and SkyConnect being last
Its hosted on my webflasher also now 
However I also believe the bootloader should be unlocked on newer production stock. Not tested yet though.
USB product strings are coming as well. Next hardware revision will also have hardware bootloader reset (since there is no space for physical buttons)
2 Likes
They can fix it is they are using CP210x, and that is what Itead did after they also missed doing so for the first batch of Sonoff ZBDongle-P they shipped, (they released a script that wrote their custom USB product description string to it that they shipped with later batches), see:
What’s the purpose of hardware bootloader reset support?
If you install router firmware, its required to switch back to normal firmware. Also if you flash wrong firmware or the firmware gets corrupted while flashing etc, it allows you to recover.
got it, so the new hardware revision will support resetting the bootloader without performing for the tweezer hack they show on their website
btw, is there an open source router firmware for this device? I only see OpenThread on top of NCP & RCP in the builds section
Can you clearify what exactly do you mean by “open source router firmware”?
“OpenThread Border Router” (OTBR) is the “ot-rcp” builds there, but as there is no OpenThread NCP builds yet you are going to need to use the OpenThread Deamon, see → تصميم معالجات معالِجة | OpenThread
FYI, there are no open-source Zigbee stacks, so no open-source “Zigbee Router”.
I meant ZigBee router.
I want to flash some of my spare dongles (both slzb07 and sonoff dongle e) as routers, but I thought that like the ncp firmwares, there are router firmwares being built by the community.
I guess that’s not the case.
I don’t like flashing unmaintained versions
There are a few community image builds compiled with Silicon Labs EmberZNet Zigbee SDK that work with many EFR32MG21 based adapters (as long as they are pin comatible), but just to clarify; they are not technically “open source” (as still depend on the propriatory Silicon Labs EmberZNet Zigbee stack ), see → Router firmware with latest ezsp · Issue #15 · darkxst/silabs-firmware-builder · GitHub
If that ITead’s EmberZNet 6.10.3 Zigbee Router firmware works then that is currently good enough for a dedicated Zigbee Router.
FYI, most commercial Zigbee products that you can buy do not use that new firmware on their devices, instead they use and older and well-tested version that has proven over the year to be stable, and EmberZNet Zigbee 6.10.3 has proven that.
Yep
Yes I still recommend this build to ZBDongle-E users, I’ve not seen a reason to build 7.x router firmware just yet. But it may come eventually.
1 Like