Itead WiFi Gadgets and More

Sonoff SNZB-02

I have just received a second temperature-sensing module (see my recent articles on Zigbee) which I have suitably renamed from the default cryptic name to SNZB-02-2 and this came complete with a battery sitting at 100% – here’s a thing, outside in our pergola,

I’ve had a DHT22 module attached to an ESP8266 which runs on my solar installation – for a couple of years – and for some time I’ve thought the humidity reading was rubbish (way too low).

I’ve taken the opportunity to replace this with the attached by the supplied adhesive pad and positioned so it does not get attacked by rain. The humidity reading is perfectly reasonable and despite the Pergola being maybe 10m away from the main building, the Sonoff Zigbee device is transmitting temperature and humidity back to my Zigbee2MQTT coordinator no problem.

I’m looking forward to seeing how long this retains accurate readings (of course the SNZB-02 also transmits battery voltage and power % which is rather handy.

Sonoff MiniR2

Also in the post I received a . I like the new connectors. The Mini handles 10A and has separate terminals for L-in, L-out, L-load and N-load as well as 2 switch terminals.

Operation with the EweLink APP is of course simple – hold in the top button for 5 seconds+ to put the device into pairing mode and it flashes to let you know it is ready to pair with the APP.

Once done, you have at your disposal (as well as the local switch) normal APP operations such as ON/OFF, timer, loop and scheduler. The latter does not seem to have dusk-dawn controls.

I am more interested in the DIY mode and so off I went to the Itead site to look for more information. The upgraded can work with their APP or locally on the LAN. In US dollars they are quoting $8.49 but of course the end price depends on where you are and where you get the device from.

From the Sonoff website – a list of features, some of them new.

The MiniR2 will fit into an existing electrical back-box and this time around has an internal antenna – I wasn’t keen on the original with it’s clumsy external wire – though it worked just fine. On the new device, “edge” mode allows you to use normal household changeover arrangement for, say upstairs and downstairs switches – see the link above. And here’s the online manual which comes in various languages.

And here is the all-important DIY mode information. At this point I have both the Sonoff MiniR2 and the Sonoff DIY Micro working perfectly with the Sonoff eWeLink App but cannot get either to successfully go onto DIY mode.

More as I learn more.