Sonoff has been making waves in the smart home industry, and their line of Zigbee products is no exception. Whether you’re looking for a compact and portable solution, or a more powerful central hub, Sonoff has meticulously crafted Zigbee products tailored to your specific requirements. This comprehensive review delves into the intricacies of these gateways and sensors, shedding light on how they empower you to elevate your smart home to unprecedented heights. Embark on a journey to optimise your home automation with Sonoff’s market leading Zigbee innovations.
Gateways
Having a suitable Zigbee gateway is a prerequisite to using any Zigbee devices in your home network, and Sonoff’s range of gateway products provide a great way to get up and running with a Zigbee network in your home. Sonoff’s diverse gateway product range emerges as an exceptional solution, guiding you towards establishing and optimizing your Zigbee network effortlessly. By seamlessly integrating with the eWeLink Smart phone app, Sonoff Zigbee Bridge products offer a user-friendly avenue to swiftly set up and operate Zigbee devices and bridge them into your network. This option is best suited for Sonoff devices and sensors.
For those seeking a more advanced approach, Sonoff caters to your needs with two specialised Zigbee dongles, meticulously designed to operate along with open automation platforms like Home Assistant, OpenHab, and Jeedom. Embracing these platforms unleashes the full power of Zigbee, opening compatibility with an extensive array of Zigbee products from major vendors, including Aqara, IKEA, Moes, Tuya Zigbee, Philips Hue, and many more. You can check device compatibility with the open platforms on the Blakadder compatibility site. Discover how Sonoff revolutionizes your smart home experience through its Zigbee innovations.
Sonoff Zigbee Bridge: This gateway device was the first of its kind from Sonoff, and it serves as the central hub for all your Zigbee-compatible devices. With its simple setup process, the Zigbee bridge creates a bridge between you WiFi network and Zigbee. The Zigbee Bridge makes it easy to connect all your smart home devices and control them using the eWeLink app. It can also be flashed with Tasmota, allowing it to act as a Zigbee Hub for your open automation platform such as Home Assistant. However this product is now obsolete and is being replaced by the Zigbee Bridge Pro. We still however have limited stock of this item remaining in both eWeLink and Tasmota versions. This product has been discontinued, in favour of the Zigbee Bridge Pro.
Sonoff Zigbee Bridge Pro: The new Sonoff Zigbee Bridge Pro takes things to the next level, with a faster processor and more memory it can support many more devices. The Zigbee Bridge Pro is also supported by Tasmota. Once this device has been flashed with Tamota it acts as a universal gateway, allowing users to connect their Zigbee devices to their smart home system using Zigbee2MQTT and ZHA. Breaking free of the vendor lock in that is normally associated with these products. The majority of Zigbee devices from most manufacturers will work. This provides users with greater flexibility and control over their smart home setup, and allows them to integrate their devices into a broader range of smart home platforms and ecosystems. We also sell the Tasmota version to save you from the hassle of manually flashing the device.
Sonoff Zigbee Dongle Plus: The Sonoff Zigbee Dongle Plus is a compact and portable option for those who want to add Zigbee functionality to their existing smart home setup. Simply plug it into a USB port, and you’re good to go. This dongle is designed to be a universal gateway, supporting Zigbee devices from many different manufacturers, making it a great choice for those looking to build a comprehensive and flexible smart home setup. This is the original dongle and is still the preferred dongle for users of Zigbee2MQTT. Limited availablity due to global chip shortages.
Sonoff Zigbee Dongle Plus V2: The Sonoff Zigbee Dongle Plus V2 is the latest version of the Dongle Plus, featuring an updated chip for a faster and more stable connection, and better compatibility with more devices. It too is designed to be a universal gateway, supporting Zigbee devices from many different manufacturers. It is well supported by all open automation platforms, this dongle can also provide support for Matter and Thread when combined with Home Assistant and community firmware builds
Sensors
Zigbee technology has revolutionised the smart home industry by providing a low-power, low-cost, and secure way of connecting devices. The Sonoff Zigbee Sensors are a great addition to your smart home, providing a range of features that are both useful and convenient. All of these sensors operate on battery power, with a long battery life and can last up to two years, ensuring that they are low-maintenance. Installation is a breeze with the included 3M double sided tape.
SNZB-01 - Wireless Button: The Sonoff Wireless Button is a simple and versatile wireless button that allows you to control your home with just a press of a button. It supports single, double, and long press actions, which can be programmed to perform different tasks. This is a great way to control smart lights or other smart devices in your home. Discontinued 2024/01
SNZB-01P - NEW Wireless Button: Keeping all the features of the previous version, This button features a sleek new design, vastly improved battery life, new mounting options and upgraded internal hardware that make it ready for the future of Matter and Thread with possible future firmware updates. Available Now!
SNZB-02 - Temperature and Humidity Sensor: The Sonoff Temperature and Humidity Sensor provides real-time temperature and humidity readings for your home. It has a wide range of temperature detection range from 0°C to 60°C, and humidity detection range from 0% to 100%. The sensor is also equipped with a high accuracy of ±0.3°C and ±3%RH, ensuring that you receive accurate readings. Use it to provide climate control in your home activation air conditoner or fans at a set temperature or humidity. Discontinued 2024/01
SNZB-02P - NEW Temperature and Humidity Sensor: The Sonoff Temperature and Humidity Sensor continues to be improved over the very popular predessor. This new sensor features a sleek new design, vastly improved battery life, new mounting options and upgraded internal hardware that make it ready for the future of Matter and Thread with possible future firmware updates. Available Now!
SNZB-02D - LCD Temperature and Humidity Sensor: This is the newest product in the Sonoff Zigbee Sensor line-up. It adds a large LCD, which allows to see the current temperature and humidity at a glance. All other features are the same as the SNZB-02.
SNZB-03 - PIR Motion Detector Sensor: The Sonoff PIR Motion Detector Sensor is a reliable and accurate device that detects motion in your home. Increasing security in your home, you can activate cameras or alarms when detecting motion, or perhaps just use for the convenience of activating lights when motion is detected. The optional swivel base improves installation options and allows for easy aiming of the detection area of this device.
SNZB-04 - Door/Window Sensor: The Sonoff Door/Window Sensor is a smart device that can detect the opening and closing of doors and windows in your home. It features a tamper-resistant design and can trigger alerts when someone tries to remove it from its place. Trigger events when a door opens or use as an extra layer of security.
Smart Plugs and Relays
Sonoff also have an extensive range of Smart Relays and Smart Plug products that operate to control Mains powered devices. These products can further extend your Zigbee network and increase its versatility by allowing control of lights, heaters, fans and more. You can find the full range of these products on the Sonoff Site. We havent covered these devices in this article as the Sonoff mains powered devices are currently lacking certifictaion for use in Australia.
In conclusion, the Sonoff Zigbee product line offers a range of options for building a fully integrated smart home system, from gateways to sensors. Whether you’re looking for a simple and convenient way to control your smart home devices using the eWeLink App, or a more advanced setup using Home Assistant with a universal gateway and multiple sensors, Sonoff has you covered. So why wait? Start building your smart home today!
If you are located outside Australia you can use the following links for purchase of Sonoff products while supporting this blog:
Zigbee Bridge Pro
SNZB-01P Smart Button
SNZB-02P Temperature Sensor
SNZB-03P Motion Sensor
SNZB-04 Door window Sensor
SNZB-04P New Door window Sensor
SNZB-06P Human Presence Sensor
Sonoff ZBDongle-E
Sonoff ZBDongle-P
Links
Zigbee Compatibility Database
Zigbee2MQTT
Zigbee Home Automation (ZHA)
OpenHab Zigbee Bindings