home automation

How to update Sonoff ZBDongle-E firmware

Maciej Filutowski

• 2 min read
How to update Sonoff ZBDongle-E firmware

When setting up your home automation system, one of the most popular devices to connect all your sensors is the Sonoff ZBDongle-E. It is commonly used with Zigbee2MQTT and Home Assistant.

The first step you should take after purchasing one is to update the firmware, or in other words, flash it. This ensures you have the latest security and stability updates installed.

In this short tutorial I will show you how to update the firmware.

Updating Sonoff ZBDongle-E

In my case, I used a MacBook Air, but you perform the update on any operating system. 

You should use browsers like Chrome or Microsoft Edge.

  1. Head over to this Github page https://darkxst.github.io/silabs-firmware-builder/ . You will notice several options. 
  2. Scroll down a bit, and you will see Connect button. 
  3. After a few seconds, you will need to choose which firmware to install. I suggest selecting the default one - the latest. At the time of writing this article, the latest stable version is EZSP 7.3.1.0. 
  4. Proceed with the update process. After a few minutes, you should see a result similar to the screen below:

For Windows users

You may be prompted to manually update device drivers. If so, follow the link provided there and download the latest drivers. Then, go to Device Manager, locate the Dongle, and Update the driver by right clicking on the Dongle. You will have to provide directory where you saved downloaded drivers. After successful update, remove and replug in the dongle. It should now be visible in Chrome/Edge.

Troubleshooting

During my research, quite a lot of users had problems connecting to the Sonoff Dongle-E. Each time they clicked Connect button, they had an error.

To avoid this:

  1. Make sure that you are using the latest versions of Chrome or MS Edge.
  2. Disable any kind of ad-blockers.
  3. Have device drivers always up to date.

There is also another way of flashing the dongle, but I will cover that in later tutorial.

Conclusion

In this tutorial I shown you how to update your Sonoff ZBDongle-E device to the latest version. Now you should be ready to connect it to your home automation solution.

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References:
https://darkxst.github.io/silabs-firmware-builder/