Sonoff RF BridgeR2 on HA hosted on Synology NAS Docker

ESPHome
1

I am really struggling to get ESPHome flashed onto a Sonoff RF BridgeR2. I think part of the challenge is due to the fact that I’m running HA from my Synology NAS’s Container Manager (Docker) so otherwise-simple things like using the ESPHome add-on to detect, configure, and flash new devices is off the table.

The docs all seem to expect provisioning from within HA vs. doing it manually, and I can’t even get my UART bridge to successfully send/receive with the RF BridgeR2 using the standalone esphome python package.

I’ve tried:

  • forcing 115200 baud
  • stepping down to 9600 baud
  • making sure to hold down the reset button until the light flashes quickly (which I think is its flashing mode)
  • triple-checking the wiring is right
  • upgrading python to latest stable version and fully upgrading my esphome install (2024.10, from memory)

I cobbled together my yaml config file from others who have come before me and I think I have the basics enough to get it added into HA via wifi for OTA updates. If I can just get my USB-UART bridge connected and communicating…

Has anyone here gotten this device to work without using the esphome addon within HA?

My NAS doesn’t have a USB port anyway, so even if I did get the add-on installed, I don’t think it’d solve my flashing problem.

Frustrating… but I would welcome any pointers or ideas. Let me know what other information would help from here (and thanks).

2

Install ESPHome as a stand-alone docker?

docker pull ghcr.io/esphome/esphome

That is basically what the ESPHome add-on is; you only use it to program ESP’s; the addon itself doesn’t have anything to do with HA (I only run it when I need to update my ESP’s (or add new ones)).

You could also use it from the command line (which I used to do from my W10 machine)

3

If you have a compiled binary you could use the ESPHome kickstarter first. After that you could upload the other bin via the web interface.

If you need to compile a ESPHome config you will need the ESPHome dashboard. Just install it as a docker like you did with HA. If you access the ESPHome dashboard with a Chromium browser you can have the device connected to you local computer.

1 Like
4

Thanks for the great suggestions! I will give these a try!