Zigbee range and how to improve

[Hedda]

@Peter_West

My eyesight is not the best and the writing on the chip is super small, but through a use of my mobile and zooming in I think I managed to determine that mine is a Dongle-P.

The writing on the back of mine only says USB Dongle PLUS, nowhere does it explicitely say Dongle-P or Dongle-E. But this could be due to it being older stock. There is a date (which i’d presume is maybe date of manufacture) on the back near where it says USB Dongle PLUS which reads 2021-07-29.

I’ll flash it with the correct firmware and can then do some experimentation…

You must have“ZBDongle-P” then. The “ZBDongle-P” was previously known as “Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus” before was renamed when the “ZBDongle-E” variant was released in July of 2022.

Yes it would be best to start by upgrading to a later firmware since yours is relatively old stock, see → https://community.home-assistant.io/t/iteads-sonoff-zigbee-3-0-usb-dongle-plus-model-zbdongle-p-based-on-texas-instruments-cc2652p-20dbm-radio-mcu-now-sold-for-19-99/340705

And again, also read and follow the general tips which applies to all Zigbee implementations → https://github.com/zigpy/zigpy/wiki/Generic-best-practice-tips-on-improving-Zigbee-network-range-and-general-stability