My first contact with Sonoff, years ago, was about all the original Sonoff BASIC and BASIC RF units – dirt cheap ESP-based smart mains power controllers. And they were basic, just an ESP8266 board with built-in mains psu controlling a relay with a common neutral. No frills, no sensors. I could not tell you how many of those I’ve owned over the years, some ending up with DS18B20 temperature sensors added by me. I never did make use of the RF, preferring normal WiFi control via my Node-Red installation of the time. I’ve had every variation of the Sonoff BASIC since then and many are in daily use with Home Assistant.
Of course we all want a little more these days and MATTER compatibility is increasingly important. I generally pair Sonoff devices with Home Assistant via the eWeLink integration, but it looks like that may no longer be necessary with the new gen 5 device. Note that the price remains (adjusted for inflation) as low as the original Sonoff BASIC.
So what’s new? Matter compatibility… large touch surface for manual operation, can use it as a “magic switch – that is for use with double pole light switching… and completely local control. By large touch area I mean just press the top. 10 Max resistive load remains the same, 2.4Ghz WiFi remains the same. Indoor use. Schedules, timers as always via the eWeLink app if using that. So basically the familiar Sonoff BASIC but MATTER. Voice control with Matter devices like Google Home, Amazon Alexa, apple Home, Home Assistant, Samsung SmartThings.
On the unit came a sticker with a QR code to “watch the video before install” – well, most seasoned Sonoff users would otherwise have just jumped right in I guess.
The upshot is I used the provided metal disk to open the top which normally just presses down – and remove the top… inside the old familiar PCB button… indeed it all looks VERY familiar inside from original model. I have an early version so it’s perhaps not surprising that Matter integration via Google Home didn’t work however I added the device in my Home Assistant eWeLink integration (+) easily.
On/Off in HA seems to take up to a second – again early… the first BASIC 1GS entry above is the ON/OFF control – goodness knows what the other three are for – they return “unknown” likely as I’ve not yet had any load on the device?
Note the extras on the left are slot-in wall and din-rail mounts. So – firmware at v1.00 – I’ve just updated it to (took a couple of minutes) 1.01 – and cut and restored power just to be sure as I could not find a reset option – made no difference to speed or controls.
Lights – there is one blue light – stays on all the time – flashing when pairing. ON/OFF state has no light. Turn off the network indicator – the light still doesn’t come on with relay on. A backward step?
I intend to do some more testing now the release date has come and gone – I expect the device to improve – but right now I’m stuck, temporarily in the UK without access to the hardware, so it will likely be early October when I get back onto this.