[REQUEST] ESPurna firmware on Sonoff ZBBridge (Sonoff Zigbee Bridge)

[Hedda]

Please consider porting ESPurna to the new Sonoff Zigbee Bridge (Sonoff ZBBridge)

• https://www.itead.cc/sonoff-zbbridge.html

Itead has just launched Sonoff ZBBridge as an inexpensive Sonoff Zigbee Bridge which is somewhat based on a similar concept/idea as the Sonoff RF Bridge (which I believe your firmware already has support for?).

• https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/04/16/sonoff-zbbridge-wifi-to-zigbee-gateway/

According to the teardown on notenoughtech.com it sounds as if it is based on Silicon Labs EFR32 (Mighty Gecko) for Zigbee 3.0 radio module support and ESP8266 ("ESP8266EX") for WiFi and bridge/gateway/controller software

• https://notenoughtech.com/home-automation/sonoff/sonoff-zigbee-bridge-preview/

As you probably already know, Tasmota does something similar with Zigbee2Tasmota but by connecting an ESP8266 to a Texas Instrument CC2530 module instead however it too is using a serial communication protocol, see:

• https://tasmota.github.io/docs/Zigbee/

From the images in notenoughtech.com teardown, it even looks like Sonoff are reusing the same injection moulds as for the Sonoff RF Bridge housing/enclosure which Tasmota already supports

• https://sonoff.tech/product/accessories/433-rf-bridge
• https://www.itead.cc/sonoff-rf-bridge-433.html
• https://www.itead.cc/wiki/Sonoff_RF_Bridge_433

EZSP serial protocol interface that Silicon Labs uses is also well documented and already used by open source projects, see example the bellows radio library written in Python (which is used by Home Assistant's ZHA integration component via the zigpy library):

• https://github.com/zigpy/bellows

• https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/zha/

• https://www.silabs.com/community/wireless/zigbee-and-thread/knowledge-base.entry.html/2017/05/25/build_an_ezsp-spiho-2VE8

https://www.silabs.com/documents/public/user-guides/ug100-ezsp-reference-guide.pdf

Z Smart System also has a Java device driver for Ember based serial dongles (among other dongles):

• https://github.com/zsmartsystems/com.zsmartsystems.zigbee
  • https://github.com/zsmartsystems/com.zsmartsystems.zigbee/tree/master/com.zsmartsystems.zigbee.dongle.ember
  • https://github.com/zsmartsystems/com.zsmartsystems.zigbee/tree/master/com.zsmartsystems.zigbee.dongle.ember.autocode
  • https://github.com/zsmartsystems/com.zsmartsystems.zigbee/tree/master/com.zsmartsystems.zigbee.console.ember

For reference, Z Smart System also has a sniffer library written in Java which uses same serial interface:

• https://github.com/zsmartsystems/com.zsmartsystems.zigbee.sniffer

[Hedda]

FYI, The alternative today is to build your own Zigbee2Tasmota bridge with an ESP8266 and a TI CC2530 module, but that is not a complete hardware solution and the Zigbee module included in Sonoff ZBBridge is much more powerful than TI CC2530, plus the EFR32 based module in the Sonoff ZBBridge supports Zigbee 3.0 while TI CC253x only supports Zigbee Home Automation (HA) 1.2

[xoseperez]

This is an interesting device, very much in the line we should go (less WiFi devices cluttering our home networks). My current approach is using zigbee2mqtt with a CC2531 which provides the same functionality used with NodeRED or alike.

[Hedda]

@xoseperez Have you by any chance tested Zigbee2Tasmota (a.k.a. Z2T) as a Zigbee to MQTT bridge?

https://tasmota.github.io/docs/Zigbee/

It is similar to Zigbee2mqtt but you connect a CC2530 module to an ESP8266 via serial instead.

Problem with Zigbee2Tasmota is that device translation is not as complete as it is in Zigbee2mqtt.

Using Zigbee2Tasmota with example Home Assistant is for example not as simple as Zigbee2mqtt.

[Hedda]

One workaround for Home Assistant users could be to simply present a Zigbee radio module as a remote adapter to Home Assistant's ZHA (their Zigbee Home Automation integration component)?

• https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/zha/

You could use something like ser2net to allow ZHA to remote connect to it via serial over network, like:

• https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/how_tos/how_to_connect_to_a_remote_adapter.html

Then you need a radio library for zigpy that works with the serial protocol used. For example with that Sonoff ZBBridge you would need a zigpy radio library for EZSP protocol used by Silicon Labs EFR32

• https://github.com/zigpy/zigpy

Hopefully, their bellows radio library should already be compatible or could be made to be if updated

• https://github.com/zigpy/bellows

zigpy devs already do something similar to connect remotely with ESP8266 based "ZiGate Pack WiFi"

• https://zigate.fr/produit/zigate-pack-wifi-v1-3/
• https://github.com/fairecasoimeme/ZiGate/
• https://github.com/zigpy/zigpy-zigate

As proof-of-concept you could do this with a CC2530 remote to zigpy-cc from a ESP8266 using ser2net

https://github.com/zigpy/zigpy-cc

[xoseperez]

Haven't tested Zigbee2Tasmota, my setup is zigbee2mqtt running in a docker container on a server. I'm trying to move more and more things to higher level layers in my setup (keeping them in my network, that is). The dumber the devices the better.

[Hedda]

So then it might be a smart idea to have a Sonoff ZBBridge with ESPurna running some kind of basic serial server (like ser2net or similar) in order to allow remote connection from bellows and zigpy or?

Ex: ZHA component (Home Assistant) -> zigpy -> bellows -> ESPurna with ser2net on Sonoff ZBBridge

At least from an end-user perspective it could be made easy to just enter IP and port in ZHA config.

Again, that is kind of what is needed from an end-user perspective to setup the "ZiGate Pack WiFi".

Benefit with Sonoff ZBBridge is its nicley packaged and has a much more powerful Zigbee 3.0 radio

[Hedda]

Do you think that you could maybe use the serial bridge from esp-link for a serial forwarding feature?

• https://github.com/jeelabs/esp-link
  • https://github.com/jeelabs/esp-link/tree/master/serial

[Hedda]

ESPEasy (ESP Easy) can otherwise be used as a generic Ser2Net gateway (serial port wrapper)

• https://www.letscontrolit.com/wiki/index.php/Ser2Net

• https://github.com/letscontrolit/ESPEasy

[Hedda]

oxan slook to have a serial server solutions for ESPHome firmware in esphome/feature-requests#660

[mcspr]

Also note that we probably need these if we want to implement EZSP UART protocol:
https://www.silabs.com/documents/public/user-guides/ug100-ezsp-reference-guide.pdf
https://www.silabs.com/documents/public/application-notes/an706-ezsp-uart-host-interfacing-guide.pdf
(Assuming that Itead used Silabs SDK and built apps based on the things there, reviews of the zibgee bridge only describe EWLink side. We don't want that :)
Hardware is missing, still. Need to wait until May / June?

If following the serial bridge route... note of the serial<->tcp library at #1314. idk how extended was the testing though, we do need to make sure it does not break when networking goes down / up unexpectedly and there are no issues with missing packets (that were mentioned somewhere upstream)
We don't have the v2 model too, I think the way to go is to move Serial / Serial1 / SWSerial management into a separate entity. That way we can configure serial once and 'attach' it to any consumer that wants it as generic Arduino Stream ('thing' that we can read and write into). That would help with GPIO locking too.

[Hedda]

Almost any ESP8266 development board (like a NodeMCU or a Wemos D1 Mini) with a Silicon Labs EFR32MG based Zigbee module like the Ebyte E180-ZG120B would just about be about the equivalent to having a hacked Sonoff ZBBridge, so such a setup could be used as a development environment.

E180-ZG120B (and the older E180-ZG120A) modules are sold on eBay and Aliexpress at low prices.

• https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&SearchText=%22E180-ZG120B%22

Example:

• https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000473346234.html

Ebyte also makes an inexpensive development board called "E180-ZG120B-TB" made for testing it.

• http://www.ebyte.com/en/product-view-news.aspx?id=896
  • http://www.ebyte.com/en/downpdf.aspx?id=896
• http://www.cdebyte.net/test-board/zigbee-3-0-module-usb-test-board-kits.html

This Zigbee 3.0 capable module has a powerful MCU and great radio specifications for its price:

• https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/04/27/ebyte-e180-zg120b-tb-zigbee-3-0-evaluation-board-features-silicon-labs-efr32mg1b-zigbee-thread-soc/

This development is sold for less than $9 US-dollar on Aliexpress or about twice that on eBay UK:

• https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000538003718.html
• https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EFR32-Zigbee-3-0-Test-Board-USB-Port-2-4GHZ-E180-ZG120B-TB-Test-Kit/233517910970

Note! Ebyte is now making two EFR32MG12 based modules called E180-ZG120A and E180-ZG120B

• http://www.ebyte.com/en/product-view-news.aspx?id=842
  • http://www.ebyte.com/en/downpdf.aspx?id=842
  • http://www.ebyte.com/en/pdf-down.aspx?id=161

This Zigbee 3.0 capable module has some very powerful MCU and radio specifications for its price:

• https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/04/27/ebyte-e180-zg120b-tb-zigbee-3-0-evaluation-board-features-silicon-labs-efr32mg1b-zigbee-thread-soc/

The downside to using such setup instead of Sonoff ZBBridge is that the E180-ZG120B module will likely not come preloaded with firmware so have to build EmberZNet Zigbee Stack firmware with coordinator device type config and flash firmware to the E180-ZG120B module first.

Sonoff ZBBridge could be the perfect hardware if it was not for the case that it needs to be hacked.

[Hedda]

The idea with Sonoff ZBBridge would be to replace the complete firmware the ESP8266 MCU SoC with ESPurna FW but hopefully just leave the EFR32 Zigbee MCU SoC Zigbee coordinator firmware as it is.

@mcspr FYI, believe that bellows library can already handle serial connection disconnect & reconnect.

[mcspr]

@Hedda My comment regarding connectivity & library was referring to the esp8266 networking side, nvm that.

I am still slightly confused by the terminology used by Silabs / Zigbee docs.

• does EmberZNet only implement the driver side or does it touch devices too? review has a vague mention at the end that it did not work with some devices, does it mean it expects some proprietary stuff / it is some Zigbee generation (version) issue?
• we can assume that Ebyte evaluation board simply installs a UART<->USB chip and connects it to the EFR32? Meaning, we can read data stream directly?
• anything we can read on zigbee itself to better understand underlying stack itself?