Question

What's everyone's take on Sonoff stuff? I'm sure many of the benefits are lost on me. They seem to offer a ton of stuff.  

Answer 1

For the price they are ok, my biggest gripe is they have no earth terminals, but you can sort that out, but they are very limited to what you can do with them, I would say they are more of gimmick. I personally dont like anything that requires you to share your info on a cloud with china.  

Answer 2

Re flash them with tasmota and the uses are endless. No online servers needed.  

Answer 3

So out of the box there are better options I take it? Even at the price point.  

Answer 4

Amazing and cheap but connectivity will be reduce when they loose ifttt support and go paid

Answer 5

The biggest negative is no electrical certifications. One reason mentioned above, no ground terminal. Before installing them permanently, check your homeowners policy, using these devices could cause issues when you have a claim, like a fire.  

Answer 6

If you reflashed with tasmota and use them over mqtt (eg via node red on a Raspberry Pi) they are awesome. I've got more than 10 (and flashed more at my local hackspace). I've never even powered one up on stock firmware and have no desire to.  

Answer 7

Cheap and very reliable from my experience.  

Answer 8

I have a number of the Sonoff minis around the house - I think they're great once Tasmota is loaded onto them!  

Answer 9

I'm also a tasmota convert. The sonoff R2 pro looks awesome for controlling lighting around the garden or maybe a pond / sprinkler set up. Very tough to beat for the money. For me they've been fit and forget.  

Answer 10

I have been using them for years, very reliable, very responsive however I slightly prefer flashing them with ESPurna over Tasmota :-)

Answer 11

What kind of electrical certifications would you like? In which jurisdiction? They are CE marked (not “China” CE but genuine - although CE is self certified). Why do they need earthing, the cases are plastic and do not expose metal, which is the only reason to earth. Anyway my take is that you should get one, flash with Tasmota, and hook in to your favourite automation system (Node RED, HA, whatever) and don’t look back. They are good.  

Comments

The product does not Earthing, but your circuit does, so they could do with a straight through earth connection,  

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@vine That’s what Wagos are for!  

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Sure but they should be in an enclosure so can you see how it would be easier to have a straight through terminal

Answer 12

When it comes to hardware, awesome products for a great price. Software i don't care about. Flash the lot with Esphome and take full local control over your smart home

Comments

@bcd Mulder I keep hearing people say to flash them. I'm not quite up to speed on that process

Answer 13

Im using a tasmotized s31. I like it a lot. but cant remember how I got tasmota on the effin thing. I have 4 more I would like to get new fw on but have not been able to get it in to flashmode. theyve been on the bench for a year. I should try again.  

Comments

Last time I failed I was pressing the on off button thinking it grounds gpio0. I think the time I was successful 2 years ago I may have used some other way to ground gpio0.