Sonoff Zigbee Bridge | How to flash with Tasmota and setup in Home Assistant with ZHA

[@Adam-to2gt]

Great video! Followed it and flashed by Sonoff bridge first time. I did make the mistake of buying jumper leads that were too big, but rather than do some tiny sobering I used a Stanley knife to lighty shave some of the metal of the jumper leads so they were small enough to fit :D

[@HomeSight]

Good skills! Loving the engineering approach!!

[@martinfoot1182]

Thanks for the video! I'm looking at this device as I'm researching getting started with home automation. One benefit of the bridge over a dongle is that I plan on running Home Assistant in my home Raspberry Pi Kubernetes cluster, and if HA crashes or a Pi dies, HA can just fail over and still contact my ZigBee devices. I'd have to plug a dongle into every Pi to get the same otherwise.

[@HomeSight]

Ah yes, that’s a great benefit! I don’t run my HA in any kind of cluster. I guess the alternative is to have multiple cc2531s!

[@reoproedros]

thank you , everything worked just like you show

[@lukaszskiba1416]

Best tutorial, works 100%

[@nielskuijper2119]

Hey man, thx for the video. I`m running in a issue. With setting up the ZHA integration, I get "failed to connect". Could you help me out please?

[@valentinene]

Sonoff ZB bridge with ZHA was my first attempt after moving on from Smarthings. It works okish but some Ikea spots and remotes were unstable so I added also a Conbee2 stick with Deconz - works perfect with those Ikea devices. Still use the bridge for some Blitzwolf motion sensors as Deconz doesn't recognize them

[@HomeSight]

Hi Vali, good to know! I’ll be adding lots more devices (including some Ikea ones) and seeing how it does. So far my zigbee2mqtt with my cc2531 has been pretty impressive with compatibility, so it’s got a lot to live up to!

[@p.ramiro7980]

Impresionante, no entiendo nada, de nada, de n... de Ingles y solo con las imágenes, lo he conseguido a la primera, muchas, muchas, muchas... gracias. Impressive, I don't understand anything, you're welcome, n ... English and only with the images, I got it the first time, many, many, many ... thank you.

[@HomeSight]

Glad to help!

[@parvubogdanraul]

Hi & thanks for your tutorial! This is my first time flashing a smart device, and is all good so far, thanks to you. Would you be able to add in the description the command at minute 10:17 pls. Keep up the good work!

[@HomeSight]

Hi, apologies, this has now been done.

[@ashoktvm]

when trying to upload the UART file it says Upload Failed Invalid file signature. I am running Tasmota 12.3.1. What to do?

[@mfkfx5807]

Does ZHA support more than one Zigbee coordinator to extend it’s range (repeater not possible because of distance). For example one Sonoff bridge and one USB Stick (Sky Connect) at one time? Thank you

[@quasimodo1427]

Hey, nice video. I appreciate you setting up ZHA and I'll be great if you can connect it with those down lights from your last video.

[@HomeSight]

Thanks! I’ll do a follow up and try all my zigbee devices.

[@RichSimpson]

Interesting video, I did this over Xmas as my first steps into zigbee and Home Assistant. I find the reliance on wifi a bit of an issue, maybe my router, home network, not sure as just changed that from a atermarket back to the ISP provided one and my network drop outs seem to be better suddenly. I had previously tried a cheap cc2531 zigbee stick before but that seemed very hit and miss. The Sonoff bridge replaced it and is far better. Just waiting on a conbee ii to arrive to see if working with zigbee2mqtt is more reliable as would prefer to combine everything to one box talking to the various zigbee devices. I had 9 motion sensors (sonoff) but they seem unreliable, not sure if that's my setup or the devices (get what you pay for). I have reverted to some hue motion sensors for now which are far superior but would like to get the sonoffs working reliably too, just because. And at around £10 versus £40 a piece it makes sense! The Sonoff motion sensors seem to drop offline or get stuck in a clear state or detected state forever, particularly if the network is rebooted for some reason. MQTT is new to me, but I have flashed a load of my tuya wifi plugs, a few sonoff basics to tasmota, and now with my latest purchase of the sonoff zigbee basic switched I am ready to carry on playing about.

[@HomeSight]

MQTT is great! Gives you great interoperability and flexibility! Being able to pick out what you want from your devices with templates using config.yaml is a nice little get-out-of-jail-free card sometimes!

[@RichSimpson]

@@HomeSightConbee arrived and I tried to use in HA with ZHA but each reboot it forgot everything, like the stick wasn't connected. I am now setup with the deconz link to the devices. Some don't show in Phoscon but show in HA ok (Tuya Humidity Sensors) but otherwise seems ok. Would like to try zigbee2mqtt but just can't get my head around it. In other news, the Sonoff motion sensors are still a bit - meh. Via deconz, if you are in a room moving around they sense you enter, then after a minute (refresh time?) they go to 'clear' again and ignore you. Maybe Zigbee2Mqtt might be better, maybe they are just junk... happier that I am not relying on the bridge via wifi now to control devices.

[@HomeSight]

Have you got an MQTT broker running like mosquito? That’s what I use and it’s rock solid. There is often a timeout on some motion sensors. I’m looking for another video to do, maybe I should setting up zigbee2mqtt, mosquito and explain how to configure devices?

[@RichSimpson]

@@HomeSight yes running a pi with home assistant and mosquito. I reflashed some tuya Wi-Fi plugs and they are connected via that protocol and were auto discovered, nothing special done or code written, not sure how I managed it really. An idiots guide video on setting up and how to make a switch or plug turn on or off would be awesome. Spent some time today removing what I did yesterday with deconz and reset home assistant to use the stick via zha. With that I now have everything working to some extent and the Sonoff motion sensors seem to be working better. Recognising presence in a room and staying in a ‘detected’ state for longer.

[@HomeSight]

I’ll get planning a guide for it! Glad you got your presence working.

[@nonsuch9301]

I just wanted to query something you said at the beginning of the video when you said @02:11 "you needed to do this to add it to HA ". I'm not sure you do , you can use the Ewelink app to join the device to your home network (as you said) and then just use the Sonoff LAN integration available through HACS to control it through HA ? If you prefer to use MQTT/Tasmota then go ahead and flash it , but I'm not sure it is required .

[@HomeSight]

Hi, yes you are right you could use the eWeLink app, I just don’t like this method.

[@mothafucka]

@@HomeSight Soldering, using your own firmware, etc... it's all interesting, but from the functional perspective, what's the benefit of doing all that compared against doing the same thing through the Ewelink application?

[@DaleMarriott1337]

do you have a link to node ncu flasher that works on windows 10

[@ahmedel-akkad6587]

Hello, Im trying to reflash sonoff zigbee bridge with tasmota, I connected it with serial to USB adaptor and now its blinking blue and green is constant and I get Failed to connect to ESP8266: Timed out waiting for packet header when I try to flash. It wont enter flashing mode, it already had tasmota on it but I changed the network and reflashed but no AP showed up, so Im trying to reflash it again but no matter what it wont got into flashing mode again, I redid all the cables again more than 5 times to make sure they are correct and then are. Any help?

[@usmangojra]

hi, first i was not able to connect with bridge as per the jumpers arrangement. Then came to a reddit discussion where many people advised to connect Z_RST to GRD as well in addition to GPIO0. I am able to flash successfully this way , tasmota AP appears, i can connect and enter my wifi ap details. bridge can connect to my router and i can access it with IP. the problem i am facing is that it is constantly connecting and disconnecting to router , normally both LEDs on bridge are off but every 20- 30 LED1-Zigbee (green) on bridge blink and then LED2-Wifi (blue) starts blinking, meaning its disconnected to router and then it connects again but few moments later again LED1-zigbee blink and LED2-wifi also starts blinking and bridge is disconnected from router again. I cant proceed further with flashing zigbee chip. I tried falshing bridge several times but same happnings....can anyone help whats wrong am i doing?

[@HomeSight]

Hi Usman, that sounds rather odd. Do you have another WiFi network you can try?

[@m1m1414]

Hello, i have a problem to flash my bridge. The software said me it's flashed but when i connect the bridge, i can't see the tasmota wifi. I don't know what is going wrong. I use the ‎DSD TECH ‎SH-U09C. Thanks for your help

Me again... :-) By me, it doesn’t look like it by you. Does not appear: starting TCP server on port: 8888 i don't know what's wrong... again. :-( when i connecting to "zigbee Bridge", in HA, cannot connect do the Bridge, any ideas what I can try? 00:00:00.032 CFG: Loaded from flash at F7, Count 15 00:00:00.035 QPC: Count 1 00:00:00.038 SNS: Hardware Serial 00:00:00.040 Project tasmota Tasmota Version 9.3.1(zbbridge)-2_7_4_9(2021-02-23T12:05:44) 00:00:00.527 WIF: Connecting to AP1 WIFI Channel 11 BSSId 34:81:C4:C3:71:B2 in mode 11n as ZbBridge... 00:00:01.754 WIF: Connected 00:00:02.005 HTP: Web server active on ZbBridge with IP address 192.168.0.39 19:49:55.025 RSL: tele/tasmota_04B768/INFO1 = {"Module":"Sonoff ZHABridge","Version":"9.3.1(zbbridge)","FallbackTopic":"cmnd/DVES_04B768_fb/","GroupTopic":"cmnd/tasmotas/"} 19:49:55.026 RSL: tele/tasmota_04B768/INFO2 = {"WebServerMode":"Admin","Hostname":"ZbBridge","IPAddress":"192.168.0.39"} 19:49:55.027 RSL: tele/tasmota_04B768/INFO3 = {"RestartReason":"Software/System restart"} 19:49:58.479 QPC: Reset 19:49:59.461 RSL: tele/tasmota_04B768/STATE = {"Time":"2021-03-06T19:49:59","Uptime":"0T00:00:09","UptimeSec":9,"Vcc":3.475,"Heap":30,"SleepMode":"Dynamic","Sleep":50,"LoadAvg":19,"MqttCount":0,"Wifi":{"AP":1,"SSId":"WIFI","BSSId":"34:81:C4:C3:71:B2","Channel":11,"RSSI":68,"Signal":-66,"LinkCount":1,"Downtime":"0T00:00:03"}}

[@fabioamado6725]

Hello, I followed this without problems. But right now, my ZBBridge is losing connection, I have to run the rule again in console. Any idea of how to solve this problem? I would like something more reliable..

[@jaimesamaniego5763]

Please your help. when flashing procees ends I had the message MD5 of 0xFF is 4ec2e29ca3952043a72fadadd997769a, what I must to do. Thanks.

[@iftikharkhan5257]

Great video, how can we upgrade the zigbee bridge to tasmota firmware without opening and soldering just by pairing in ewelink

[@HomeSight]

Hi, I don’t think it’s possible since you are needing to flash the chip unfortunately. Maybe have a look on eBay for pre-flashes ones. I know there was someone selling them in the Uk at one point

[@eddie_303]

Is it possible to flash Tasmota using a Raspberry Pi instead?

[@ManfredRotgers]

Finally received my new Sonoff device (see other reaction, cannot flash EZSP firmware to my old device ) This time it is working so happy to get tasmota flashed (9.3.1.1) and also flashed NCP UART EZSP firmware (6.7.8.) Already 25 devices connected. But I see in the instructions "backlog rule1 on system#boot​ do TCPStart 8888 endon ;..........." I copied the command and on my device after a reboot TCP is not started! only after I enter the command 'TCPStart 8888' it is started. How do I get tcp automatically started after a reboot?

[@HomeSight]

Hmm... I didn’t find that mine needed anything else other than the commands shown... I’ll have a look tomorrow for you!

[@ManfredRotgers]

@@HomeSight I think I found it: in the cmd in this description 'on' is lowercase when I enter it with 'ON' (uppercase) 'Rule1 ON System#Boot do TCPStart 8888 endon' (without quotes) it is working after a restart

[@HomeSight]

Ah! Good I couldn’t see why it wouldn’t work!

[@EduardoGarcia-on8mv]

gracias!

[@imreszabo9438]

Hi Simon, I really enjoy your focusing and dynamic videos. Now I have been trying to tasmotise a Sonoff ZB, BUT even the flashing is failing as FDI does not recognised by Win7 (as it normally does if no device attached) The R and TX led slightly blinking, so seems some data is moving however the green led is on on the device. Do you have any guess how to start flashing with Tasmotizer? Rather annoying now... Aganin huge thumb up for the tutorials!

[@HomeSight]

Hmm, I’m not sure what that would be if I’m honest…

[@fpguerreiro]

Hi... Great vídeo... Just have question, how to use the tasmotized Bridge with node red.... Dont found any way to do it...

[@HomeSight]

Now that the bridge is working with tasmota and allows you to add devices to HA, you can just use node red with standard nodes like check state, change state and call service.

[@richardhall206]

Switching from zigbee2mqtt to ZHA, I deleted each zigbee2mqtt device and replaced with a pairing of the device with ZHA, using the same device and entities names that I used previously. This way, I was able to retain ALL of my node red flows and Lovelace dashboards. It's a bit painstaking but less effort than rebuilding NR automations and changing Lovelace code.

[@drreality1]

Thanks so much Can I use it alongside conbeeII? i.e zha and deconz at the same time?

[@HomeSight]

I don’t see why not. I’m running zigbee2mqtt and ZHA at the same time!

[@Adam-to2gt]

Is flashing the bridge enough to allow your Sonoff devices to work without an internet connection or do you need to also flash the individual smart plugs, switches etc... to stop them sending loads of data to china?

[@HomeSight]

Hi, yeah flashing with tasmota would stop it sending anything externally.

[@Adam-to2gt]

@@HomeSight cool. So need need to flash everything individually

[@paulhyland3528]

Hi simon how has stable has the bridge been for you, I've had a lot disconnection issues with my sonoff sensors. I tried upgrading the firmware the other day and really annoyed it. I'm hoping to see if i can reflash it using your guide to see if i get different results.

[@HomeSight]

Hi Paul, in all honesty I don’t use it that much other than for testing. I find the ZHA isn’t as widely supported as Zigbee2mqtt, and I prefer all my devices to be managed in 1 place.

[@ManfredRotgers]

Hi Thnx for sharing, tried your steps, but last step updating firmware does not work in my network. updating tasmota to 9.0.2 was no problem. but updating Zigbee firmware via menu in flashed bridge ended in error using ncp-uart-sw_6.7.8_115200.ota file Sonoff ZbBridge Module Tasmota Upload Failed Upload aborted I use Unifi USG and set local firewall to accept all, do you have suggesting how to solve this?

[@HomeSight]

Have you tried the latest tasmota version (9.2.0)?

[@ManfredRotgers]

Yes, flashing to 9.2.0 was no problem

[@ManfredRotgers]

I see now in my original question an typo 9.0.2 should be 9.2.0 sorry

[@HomeSight]

Ah ok, you said 9.0.2 in your first comment. It shouldn’t be a firewall issue since you’re uploading to the device and then it’s running an internal routine. Have you tried downloading again? Or maybe try 6.7.6 as that is classed as the “stable version” at the moment.

[@HomeSight]

Make sure you stay on the upload page until you get “upload successful”

[@JamieCashin]

When I go to ZHA Integration, and follow all the steps, when I click submit I get "Failed to connect". Any suggestions?

[@thiagovania2426]

I had the same problem. You should restart Tasmota module and then run this command (again) on the console: Rule1 on system#boot​ do TCPStart 8888 endon - After this, restart again and try connecting. It should work.

[@JamieCashin]

@@thiagovania2426 Thanks for the reply. That did not work for me but I started over from scratch using instructions from another video and it worked for me. Enjoying my Tasomta F/W ZB-Bridge!

[@edgarespinosa3479]

Hi same problem here I ran the comand in the console as @thiago vania suggested but it didnt work can you post the other tutorial, thanks in advance

[@chewitt86]

Soldering?! Unbelievable! Seriously though, good video, seems very easy to follow. Just have to hope I don't melt anything in the process. Not sure those jumper cables you linked will work unfortunately.

[@HomeSight]

James, why won’t they work? The looked a lot smaller gauge than the ones I have...

[@chewitt86]

@@HomeSight well it mentions 0.1" spacing but now I read it it might mean that more than one of these would fit in the same as 0.1". Going to buy some anyway

[@HomeSight]

Hmm, I might have to too

[@chewitt86]

@@HomeSight mine arrive tomorrow

[@chewitt86]

@@HomeSight I can confirm that they fit!

[@anderskrause5841]

Im curious to hear what are your thoughts on ZHA vs. ZIGBEE2MQTT PROS: CONS: thanks for your awesome guides!!

[@HomeSight]

Thanks Anders. I’ll definitely be doing a video on that soon! Probably after my next one which is a new auto blind motor (also zigbee)

[@nhotuoi674]

Im interested in the comparison as well. Thanks for the video.