SonOff Low Cost Wifi Switches for Home Automation

clint_silver

Progress, nearly there but not quite yet

I got an old android phone I forgot I had. Installed ewelink.

My home wifi SSID is VODAFONE-123
start ewelink.
press pair button on sonoff.
connect phone to ITEADxx network

back to ewelink, add new device, name device, now heres where Im stuck, Im on the sonoffs ITEAD network, I have to add the wifi that the sonoff is going to connect to in the "choose wifi" screen.
The wfi that Im connected to is defaulting as the only choice, I cant type over it. The only way I can change the wifi thats there to VODAFONE-123 is to connect to that, but then I cant see the sonoff.

If I leave it on the ITEAD network, then proceed, that wifi is what the sonoff tries to connect to which has no internet access obviously.

Anyone know how to select a different wifi in "choose wifi" without connecting to that wifi?

clint_silver

oh my days, I got it. So the android worked on what must have been the 4th or 5th attempt.
Connect phone to home VODAFONE-123 wifi (or whatever your home address is)
Have sonoff in pairing mode, in ewelink, add device, name device, go past "choose wifi" and "VODAFONE-123" (or whatever your home network is) should be selected with its password, in the bottom of that screen it says device "ITEAD-xxxxx" was found, after about 10 seconds, device registered. Lamp switches on and off from ewelink app, result.


Works from app on my iphone now as well so obviously just needed to get registration working.

I was literally on my last try and what Id done to get it working I know Id tried a few times


Playing with it for a few minutes, its a little bit flakey, getting frequent "device or network not available or "device is offline".
Wait a minute, try again, and it works. Its sitting beside router so I know its not a proximity thing. Is that common, its like the sonoff isnt continually connected, is there a wakeup timeframe?

b.gud

Hey folks, just came across this and am really interested in it.

What I'd specifically like to do is connect it to my heat timer so that I could remotely turn on/off the heat and set up timers for it. The timer I have in my house is like the one below just wondering do you guys think that the SonOff would work with this kind of timer?

clint_silver

b.gud wrote: »

Hey folks, just came across this and am really interested in it.

What I'd specifically like to do is connect it to my heat timer so that I could remotely turn on/off the heat and set up timers for it. The timer I have in my house is like the one below just wondering do you guys think that the SonOff would work with this kind of timer?

yes, theres a fairly advanced scheduler, on - off to the minute - repeat schedule.

If you're using it on an immersion I think you have to have the higher rated amp model due to power draw.

getoffthepot

b.gud wrote: »

Hey folks, just came across this and am really interested in it.

What I'd specifically like to do is connect it to my heat timer so that I could remotely turn on/off the heat and set up timers for it. The timer I have in my house is like the one below just wondering do you guys think that the SonOff would work with this kind of timer?

See post 142 - I followed this and it's working fine.

lochdara

just waiting on PM to deliver my 4 Ch Pro R2. I hope to hook it up to my gates which i have yet to buy.I'll test on a few simple devices first.

clint_silver

Ive several devices set up now with sonoff switches. All working great paired with alexa dot. Even though Ive set up alexa with the ewelink skills, everytime you add a device you need to go back to alexa app, settings, add devices, it scans ewelink for new devices.

Still cant get any one of 3 iphones to configure a sonoff, have to use the android. works in seconds once I do,

"alexa, turn on sitting room lamp"
"alexa, turn off clints lamp"

Has anyone found a way to ask alexa if a device is on? It seems to be switch on/off only.

"alexa, is sitting room lamp on?"

clint_silver

b.gud wrote: »

Hey folks, just came across this and am really interested in it.

What I'd specifically like to do is connect it to my heat timer so that I could remotely turn on/off the heat and set up timers for it. The timer I have in my house is like the one below just wondering do you guys think that the SonOff would work with this kind of timer?

I had this switch on my immersion and got the sonoff POW to replace it which came yesterday and I fitted today, the way mine was wired it was a bit messy to take away the old switch so I put the sonoff inbetween the timer and the shower on/off switch and left the old timer switch to on all the time. Gives me the option to use the hardware timer if I have issue with wifi.

Found the POW switch easier to wire up, and in the ewelink app I get a nice power draw meter.
Rediscovered with the alexa and now turn on and off with a voice command or the app. the scheduler in ewelink is great. On/Off times and countdown timer as well.

cletus

Folks where are people currently buying these switches. I went to the website linked in the first post, and whil I could get a sonoff basic for about a fiver, the cheapest shipping was almost 8 quid. Now i know its not loads in the grand scheme of things, but it irks me to pay more for sending me the thing than the thing itself actually costs

lochdara

got mine from banggood with about 5 weeks delivery for a euro or so.
I got the 4 chan pro r2 from amazon in a few days

clint_silver

Got one batch from ebay and one from aliexpress. Little in the price.

cletus

Thanks folks, had been looking at AliExpress all right, no issues with them?

lochdara

havent used them but no issues with banggood. Check Itead and amazon also

clint_silver

cletus wrote: »

Thanks folks, had been looking at AliExpress all right, no issues with them?

None. Got a pow switch in under 2 weeks. Works great on the inmersion.

Theres little in price between ebay and ali. A few cents. No difference in delivery time.

cletus

Ok, one last question. I was going to pick up a sonoff basic, and put it inline on the 6 gang extension lead behind the TV. The items plugged into it are Xbox, TV, Blu-ray player and computer tower, so less than the 10 amp rating for the sonoff, but looking online it doesn't seem that there is a ground pass through. There are some workarounds suggested elsewhere, but what have people here been doing, or are you all only using them on double insulated appliances

lochdara

If you buy the TH models you can connect earth into the device. Otherwise on a basic get a block connector and when you cut the cable of the extension cord connect live and neutral to sonoff and earths to block connector. To be extra safe put everything in a small junction box.
.
Drill a little hole on top so you have the manual activation of sonoff or remove the cover if you need it. I have my earths just joined but the sonoff device is hidden.

OldMrBrennan83

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clint_silver

as above did same with earth joined outside the box on a basic, but Im not comfortable with it like that so was going to get a junction box but then thought at which time Im nearly at the higher price of the higher rated sonoff anyway so Ive ordered a couple of them for extension boards that I have the basic sonoffs on.

cletus

Thanks folks, more or less my plan. It will be behind the tv unit so not really concerned, just wondering if i was missing something somewhere

Gulliver

This is probably the wrong thing to do, but I stripped a section of outer covering and only snipped the L and N wires (cutting out a section slightly less than the length of the Sonoff unit) and left the earth intact and taped it to the bottom of the Sonoff. Just check you haven't nicked it when stripping.

banie01

Can the dual channel Sonoff be used for control of both sides of an Immersion switch?
As in Bath or Sink being controllable as well as on/off?
Or is the preferred option to use a single channel TH16 for on/off only?

clint_silver

banie01 wrote: »

Can the dual channel Sonoff be used for control of both sides of an Immersion switch?
As in Bath or Sink being controllable as well as on/off?
Or is the preferred option to use a single channel TH16 for on/off only?

I had same thought and think this is doable with the dual, youd have to wire input to one and output to 2 so its not immersion on and THEN bath on or tap on, which is the hard wire method, its just a simple bath ON/OFF and tap ON/OFF.

air

I've used a 4CH pro with interlocking for bath / sink immersion, it's the easiest option for an immersion. I put it in an enclosure with 2 normally open contactors. You'd need to cascade 2 sonoffs and use a contactor with 1 normally open and one normally closed output if you want to do it with the regular ones. First Sonoff would be on/off and the second one would default to say sink, and switch to bath when switched on.

clint_silver

Russia closed off IPs from google and Amazon last night, as eWelink use amazon aws, thats all the Russian sonoffs turned into tiny hard switches.

In case that happened here on a permanent basis and assuming it included vpn's, are the switches flashable to use some firmware that allow LAN control?


edit: the block was because the messaging service Telegram wouldnt give russia their encryption keys so the regulator says ok feck you....
https://themoscowtimes.com/news/russian-regulator-blocks-over-2-million-amazong-google-ip-addresses-after-telegram-ban-61190

xckjoo

clint_silver wrote: »

Russia closed off IPs from google and Amazon last night, as eWelink use amazon aws, thats all the Russian sonoffs turned into tiny hard switches.

In case that happened here on a permanent basis and assuming it included vpn's, are the switches flashable to use some firmware that allow LAN control?


edit: the block was because the messaging service Telegram wouldnt give russia their encryption keys so the regulator says ok feck you....
https://themoscowtimes.com/news/russian-regulator-blocks-over-2-million-amazong-google-ip-addresses-after-telegram-ban-61190

Ya there's plenty of custom firmwares out there. Tasmoto seems to be popular. I think they're all only flashable via UART though so it takes a small bit of know-how and a USB->UART adapter.

banie01

I replaced my immersion timeclock with a sonoff already loving it.
The timeclock was on/off only with the immersion switched to bath and left on, then controlled by clock.
I have a Gen 3 nest heatlink in the hotpress too so I may get around to looking into how to getting the immersion wired to that.

taytobreath

Can u get a switch that will fit in the back of a standard switch box. To control lights?

Ok sorry i just found out the answer i think, i need to buy T1 light switches to replace the existing switches.

And u need a neutral at the boxes for these to work.

OldMrBrennan83

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Gulliver

Patww79 wrote: »

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Yeah, it said "Kill all humans".:pac:

Forgot to take a screenshot and put it through a translator.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.