Tasmotized eWelink Zigbee bridge ZB-GW03 connection problem / Port 8888 not opening up

Configuration Zigbee
1

I need to get this LAN/WIFI - Zigbee bridge (Hub? Router? whatever, do not know the name) to work.

I need to get HA to talk to to this bridge so I can use my zigbee-devices connected to bridge

2 of these are going to be at my house (Wifi or LAN) and 1 on the house next to mine (LAN)

Unit is eWelink Zigbee hub ZB-GW03, and Aliexpress seller has already flashed this with Tasmota firmware (Tasmota 12.5.0 by Theo Arends)

Tasmota integration in HA recognises this, but I can not add any zigbee devices ← main problem here. “Zigbee Home Automation”-integration does not connect to this, sends an error.
When I give the address and port (socket://192.168.1.153:8888 115200) ZHA gives error “! Failed to connect”

I have watched 3 youtube tutorials, they all give the same advice for the settings, but that does not work for me.

HA would like to discuss with Tasmota bridge via port 8888 , but I can not open the port in Tasmota bridge unit.

When I try the TCP starting command, I write in console: TCPStart 8888, and the answer is:

23:54:04.796 CMD: TCPStart 8888
23:54:04.802 MQT: stat/tasmota_ZBHUB_1/RESULT = {"Command":"Error"}

and I belive it should be something like:

02:16:54.798 TCP: Starting TCP server on port 8888
02:16:54.802 MQT: House/ZigbeeBridge/RESULT = {"TCPStart":"Done"}

I have watched tutorials, but they are all for sonoff-Tasmota, this is eWelink. BUT if I understand correctly, these have same firmware.
Google and ChatGPT 3.5 are not helping anything.

In aliexpress people are telling how it works for them, but it does not not for me.

Please do not tell me to install usb-dongle, I have one of these and another on the way, and impossible to install via ethernet cable to another house.

Is there some Guru here that can help me, or am I trying to do this the wrong way? :thinking:

It is this product

Tasmota hub
Tasmota hub1072×531 120 KB

Product can be also found here: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005269351360.html

Ps. I started installing my first HA 26 hours ago, so I know very little of these, and I am maybe approaching this the wrong way!

2

Don’t watch YouTube, read
https://thehelpfulidiot.com/a-wired-sonoff-zigbee-alternative
(Pay attention to the part to setup for ZHA)

3

Now the unit is bricked :rofl:

I will order some programming board, and tasmotize it again, and start from scratch :slight_smile:

I will be back if that does not work :ok_hand:

Just googling for what to order.

4

it is hard to brick an esp.

https://tasmota.github.io/docs/Device-Recovery/

Procedure~

  1. Cut power from the device completely for 30 seconds
  2. Power the device on and off six times with intervals lower than 10 seconds and leave it on after seventh time
  3. Fast power cycle device recovery should activate and the device should be reset to firmware defaults

If you flashed a precompiled binary you can reconfigure the device using the web UI after the reset.

5

I did it somehow anyway :sweat_smile:

I have usb charger that makes high pitch sound when there is no load, and I can hear this goes on off rapidly. Nothing else is working, than red light in the front panel.

Power cycle 7 times does not work. Tried it 4 times.

I believe it was flashing zigbee-part that broke the whole thing :thinking:

I am now trying one more time with other charger, and see if it is registered to my network (I do full network scan without LAN cable, and with LAN cable, so I can see when there is IP added) :thinking:

But I am confident I can fix this issue somehow. Usually I do not give up on things, I just try to learn how to do it.

EDIT: Did not help, it does not reserve an IP.

6

I unbricked it with windows and software named: ESP-Flasher-X86

Here are the WORKING firmwares for this particular board (ZB-GW03 V1.4): https://github.com/xsp1989/ZB-GW03_firmware/tree/master/tasmota

This helped me to get TCP to start: Serial to TCP Bridge - Tasmota

So what you must do the following in Tasmota web interface:

  1. Configure Module
  2. Choose “ESP32-Devkit (1)”
    -device will reboot-
  3. Configure module, and set TX GPIO1 → TCP Tx and TX GPIO3 → TCP Rx
  4. in console add: tcpstart 8888

I did not get it fully working yet, but at least in HA, ZHA is trying to connect, will do another post about that.

7

Seems that was not the way to go.

Instead do this:

Compile your own firmware with this guide (thanks francisp): A Wired Sonoff Zigbee Alternative – The Helpful Idiot

Remember, when uploading this to the ESP32, you must have internet connection on that machine, it will download firmware file “bootloader_dio_40m.bin” from github while preparing the flash.

Finally add to console:
backlog rule1 on system#boot do TCPStart 8888 endon ; rule1 1 ; TCPStart 8888

and now it will listen to port 8888, even after reboot :ok_hand:

8

@Janiporo I bought from the same aliexpress seller and saw your message in the reviews directing to this post. I am happy to say that all these issues are now ironed out. I only had to do the below and everything is working as expected. Device came with Tasmota 13.2.

Update the ZigbeeTX and ZigbeeRX in template to TCPTx and TCPRx.

Enter following commands in Tasmota Console:

TCPBaudRate 115200
tcpstart 8888
Rule1 ON System#Boot do TCPStart 8888 endon
Rule1 1

Works even after restarts on the coordinator or home assistant.

9

Oh I wish I’d read this post before I ventured down the road of trying to flash from scratch.

10

Does anyone have a backed up copy of the firmware that came with the pre-flashed version of the 1.4 hardware? My own backup copy appears to be no good, no LEDs, no DHCP lease.

11

Sorry I am not sure how to get the firmware out of the device. If you have some instructions, I can and extract it for you.