Sonoff S26 Wifi Smart Plug

34 thoughts on “Sonoff S26 Wifi Smart Plug”

1. Does anyone have any info on the long-term reliability of these devices?

   My LightwaveRF devices are starting to fail after a few years. Not yet sure what the issue is but they just die one day.

   1. I have a couple of Sonoff S20 devices in daily use (without issue) at home for 2 years now.

      Likewise Sonoff Basic (2 of these in daily/24/7 use on lamps)

      I have a Sonoff POF that’s been in daily use on a water heater at my holiday home for about 18 months too.

      No issues on any of them – in fact they are my weapon of choice over RF433/Energenie devices which I am replacing with SONOFFs for everything apart from high wattage fan heaters (inductive load + chinese tech = scary)

2. Oops, I obviously need lessons in banggood. First time order I followed the link here – it defaults to Type F (EU) but I selected UK then had to register to checkout. Either the registration process messed up or the supplier did as I just received a Type F which is totally useless to me. Not blaming you Pete I’ll persevere to get a UK version, I just need to work out the banggood returns process if there is one. 😀

   1. If you do end up buying some more smart plugs I would strongly recommend something like these. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B079JGDQJD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

      Always on special deal from Amazon for approx £8 each with next day delivery, claim to be 15A capable but buyer beware, smaller than the Sonoff devices (of which I have many), includes power monitoring and reporting and best of all is easily Tasmotized without opening the unit up.

      1. Hi,
         The ANOOPSYCHE smart socket looks interesting and a reasonable price too. Do you have a link to instructions on how to ‘Tasmotize’ them?
         I have just set up a pi to control Zigbee based devices using mqtt/node-red/Alexa. I am mainly using Ikea devices as they are cheap (e.g. Tradfir smart socket is £9).
         Details can be found here:
         https://diyprojects.io/test-zigbee2mqtt-project-hack-xiaomo-aqara-smart-home-gateway-assembly-demo-nodered-3d-printed-case/#.XPt-DVxKjRb

         1. I used tuya-convert which Mr Shark has referenced a few times or can be found with a simple google search. I used a clean install of raspbian and it took less than 15 minutes to install tuya-convert and flash 3 devices with Tasmota. I have also got a zigbee2mqtt setup to control Xiaomi devices and it works well, It is the best solution as the Xiaomi hub only comes with a chinese plug. I am thinking of switching to
            Deconz because of the larger device limits

            1. Thanks for the information.
               I have not come across Deconz before, it looks very interesting and seems a good alternative to zigbee2mqtt.

      2. Just note the issues with sockets that have switches.

3. Be aware that, as Tuya are actively trying to block the replacement of the native firmware, it is clear that there is a financial aspect to using these devices.

   Most likely, there is a profit share going on where Tuya resell whatever information they can glean from your use of their cloud service. Typically, your use is aggregated with other data to support targeted advertising.

   If you are uncomfortable with the level of commercial tracking and aggregated data collection done to you, I would think twice about using them.

   Of course, while you can still get versions that can be reflashed, that is fine.

   1. i think i never used a single tuya device without reflashing it, and i’m “harvesting” more devices than i need to have them just in case (example the very nice blitzwolf bw-shp6), eventually there are always friends and collegues to whom (is “whom” correct?) resell them… oh, no, i had an e14 rgb lamp connected to tuya, but even that is now reflashed…

4. 1) NEVER connect sockets to tuya or smartlife, or AT LEAST do not allow them to upgrade firmware… out of the box, ALL OF THEM are hackable, there are no report of items shipped with hack preventing firmware right now…
   2) just retry, sometimes step 1 is completed, so while just rerunning the tuya-convert you can skip that and go to second part…
   3) there’s a discord room on drzzs channel where you can get live help, Travis (digiblurdiy) is often there…

   1. Neither device had updated firmware and at least one of them was never allowed to connect to house wi-fi but both were completely dead after the upgrade had seemed to complete – even the manual switch refused to work so not only could it not switch on or off but also it could not be put into pairing mode. This is the device I used and previous reports state that it is compatible with Tuya-convert so I can only think that it is shipping with modified firmware because I went through the process by the book. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07CVJYV3G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

      1. try ask on discord, as said it can still be recovered

         1. try redoing the procedure, but run directly last step:
            curl http://10.42.42.42/flash3

            p.s.: just tasmotized via tuya-convert a brand new plug, this one: https://it.gearbest.com/smart-power-socket-plug/pp_009960087679.html

            

            1. i just published tasmota template for this last one: https://blakadder.github.io/templates/bilikay_SP10.html

      2. I too had problems with one of my switches. I unplugged it for a while and tried again. Seems to me I had to try a few times but eventually it worked (it may have been working after the second time and I had been looking for the wrong IP address)

         1. i did at least 10 different devices, and uploaded 7 different templates on blakadder site, never bricked one…

5. i think that aside the cheap basic, sonoff is loosing its appeal on any other sector… the s26 is nicer than the s20, but it’s still HUGE… competitors are able to pack into a SMALL, NICE form factor the same hardware, PLUS temperature protection AND POWER MONITORING, for the same price… easily convertable to tasmota using tuya convert, no need to even open them…
   https://www.banggood.com/BlitzWolf-BW-SHP6-EU-Plug-Metering-Version-WIFI-Smart-Socket-220V-240V-10A-Work-with-Amazon-Alexa-p-1356981.html

   

   1. Those are not much use if you live in UK!

      1. They certainly are! Get the UK plug version. I’m happy to use adaptors 50% of the year as I travel back and forth.

      2. then the SHP4 is the one for you 🙂
         https://www.banggood.com/BlitzWolf-BW-SHP4-UK-Plug-WIFI-Smart-Socket-220V-240V-10A-Work-with-Amazon-Alexa-Google-Assistant-p-1356956.html

         

         1. Can you flash tasmota to these OTA or do they need opening up?

            I like the price tho.

            1. that’s what Tuya-Convert does, look at the video pointed in other comments

               1. Thanks! 🙂

         2. The Sonoff’s appear to be rather large due to the beefy components inside. The relay looks a decent size, as does the power transformer. The Tuya devices look far smaller. I’d be concerned about them overheating or not being able to handle the same kind of load.

            1. many tuya devices integrates a thermoswitch to turn off everything in case of overheat… sure i’ll not leave a heavy load attached to them unattended, better using a sonoff with a 16A relay… hopefully now many of them are certified for EU regulations, should be better made, too… in the sonoff basic r3, all the low voltage part is on a separate board, for example…

         3. The SHP4 UK is no longer available.

   2. I live in North America so have a few different smart switches to work with. I found this video useful in learning about tuya convert. https://youtu.be/O5GYh470m5k

   3. I tried using tuya-convert on a couple of power monitoring plugs running Tuya and bricked both of them. It seems that later versions of the Tuya firmware explicitly prevent re flashing the Esp8266. This was as of 6 weeks ago and maybe things have moved on since.

   4. Antonio, I prefer amazon prime if they list similar products with similar prices, taking in account they arrive in one or at most few days, you have 30 days to return them for whatever reason, and a full 2 years very efficient guarantee 😉
      Did you tasmotize some of these products, i.e. https://www.amazon.it/dp/B07PJGR263 ?
      On similar items I installed Espurna by opening the plugs and reverse-engineering the board to find the best solding points, but I think one can more simply tasmotize and the install espurna or other Arduino/ESP firmwares on them.
      In your experience is it generally possible?
      I don’t know tasmota details, mainly because i feel confortable with espurna’s software architecture and C coding standards.
      Thanks,
      Piero

      1. me too, if on amazon for about same price or little more, and obviously less time, it’s a go…

         about those sockets, i “think” to have one… i’ve bought so many… for sure i didn’t open it, but just used tuya-convert…

         in description says smartlife, so tuya-convert should work…

         i use both, espurna and tasmota, but for dumb sockets like these i go for tasmota, while i’ve espurna on my sonoff rf bridge with DIRECT hack

   5. I will agree after doing two S26 to tasmota tonight followed by two no-name tuyas via tuya_convert, that the tuya_convert process rocked!!!!
      I have had my tuyas for some time but did not use them due to the cloud control. Reading this thread and comments after ordering the S26s peaked my curiosity.
      I had a recent headless pi install already powered up. I ssh’d in and followed a tech sites instructions to set up for the Tuya to Tasmota transfer….
      “Priceless”…..
      (Too bad this process will likely not last forever)

      One note: I had one of these tuyas already working via the cloud. It had no issue using tuya-convert. The second unused unit refused to work until first connected to the cloud. I stopped in both cases when it asked to upgrade firmware…

6. Thank you for the tip! A new clean Sonoff solution like this will be welcome in the house!

   1. My three new S26 units arrived and I was able to easily* load Tasmota on the first two tonight. They are integrated into the house. My wife prefers them over the old Basics and their cord tails! Thanks again for the tip!

      *OK being honest the soldering was a bit challenging. I pulled out my small soldering vice with rubber jaws and did battle. I used some tiny wire from the old wire wrap days successfully.

      Both of these new units (USA style) failed to work in the house wall outlet as delivered. I was able to bend the prongs slightly to make them both work. Another words the USA style plug failed to electrically engage the female outlet as delivered. A very small mechanical tweak solved the problem for both!!

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