SuperHouse #33: Sonoff Mini and S55: ALMOST perfect 

Jonathan I have been a fan forever you should have a much bigger following. You really are the one who got me in to the idea of home automation. Thanks man your the best.

Thx for giving us another great tutorial...... Glad that you are back

YES! A Superhouse video in my feed :) Always look forward to your stuff Jonathon, I really like your unassuming style and presentation. Also how you have been open in the past about your anxiety makes me feel better about mine too. Regards from the UK 🇬🇧 👍

Great new products! Thanx for making it look so easy to use it to our best intentions

Great tutorial, Thank you. Nice to see you in my video feed again

Great video. Straightforward explanations and no annoying background music

Thanks for the video. Love this channel ✌🏻

Your videos are always a pleasure to watch. Well thought out and always clearly explained. Job well done.

Well explained. Needed your video to finally convince myself to order some mini. Thanks

Crystal Clear explanation. Am ordering a bunch by year-end sale! Cheers!

Jonathan, I love that you asked Alexa to "please turn on the soldering iron". Nice manners! This seems so fitting of you.

Thank you for the post! Very interesting.

Thanks, brilliant as usual.

Fantastic, thanks for your help and info...

Dear Jonathan, Like the way you explain. Good work Keep it up! Love from India...

Sat on wc with coffee and iPad......very interesting, thanks for posting. Enough said 👍

Love the burn marks on the mat !!!!!

That is a very solid wood cabinet you have there!

Hi Jonathan good to see you again.

Man - so tempted! I'd love to not only do my lighting, but use the s55s on my pool solar pump and the filter pump... and move the logic to home assistant. Hmm

The best release that I've just seen is the SONOFF T4EU1C single wire wall switch, as UK lighting circuits don't supply the neutral at the plate this has just changed everything for me can't wait to get this. Thanks for all the great content !

Wow! Sonoff have cracked it!

Thanks man, you are the best :)

thank you for the video

Now that's awesome

Very thorough review of these 2 products. Happy to see a lot less expensive option to fit inside a gang box. Just not sure I am sold in using WiFi over Z-Wave, just quite yet. Maybe once we jump into ability to select between 2.4 and 5.8.

Nice skidmark on the bench :)

I'm fascinated by the connector ends you're using. I've noticed them on your high voltage, the low voltage duponts and the switch contact wires. I've searched for but haven't found them as of yet. The trouble I always run into with using the Sonoff is for mains tasks is that the wire never feels safe and seated. The connectors you're using looks to complete solve that problem. Love the content BTW. Love the out of the box approach and detail into the boards.

how in the world this video has any thumbs down, i cant understand this people. great job again as always

really useful video. Just got a few minis and use the OTW programming method and it worked fine. NO soldering, No Jig BUT you must follow the instructions very acurately. Might be worth doing a short ammed to the video which shows this method as an alternative for low volumes! You can always fall back on the hard wire method if you brick the device!

Thanks Jon another great reference video.

The outdoor points are nice because you normally can’t fit the smart plugs in an outdoor door outlet cover. I do wish it was a double outlet instead

The switch on the mini works exactly as one would expect. However, you are the first one who actually confirms it. Even when I asked itead they just gave a general sales pitch reply, so thank you for that. Will I order one? Hmmm the Shelley is interesting too but the main thing making me hesitant is the depth of dutch switchboxes: the already minimal space behind the switch often taken bij hard to bend stiff wires going to that switch and/or neighbouring switches or sockets. Darn! Who would give this video a thumbs down? Must be those Shelley boys

The Holy Grail would be a dimmer that works exactly like this!

Hi Jon, Do you have the programming Jig board available for sale yet? Doing my head in trying to flash a mini!

The 3D print model was made by the RU-vidr Andreas Spiess if I recall correctly

I hooked the Sonoff mini up to a two way light switch, it works great. I've also started using home assistant, and I've integrated ewelink. Now I can control all my lights without flashing them.

Super interesting Video You told, that you put the link for the housing for programming the mini in the description. I couldn’t find it. Are the stl’s available anywhere.

Great tutorial Jonathan Im curious about the mini sonoff logical terminal(switch) when I check the output voltage it has a reading of 90V. Is this safe?

Ive programmed my Sonoff minis to update Firmware OTA, so you only need to connect to the programming pins the first time (to upload the OTA capable firmware). I dont use Tasmota though, just basic Arduino to control the Sonoff in the same way as you showed with Tasmota including the toggle function. The advantage of using OTA is that the Sonoff can remain in the wall for firmware updates and its super easy to update all 20 of my Sonoffs with new firmware just by sitting at my computer.

The rubber band is almost at my level of problem solving skills 😁

If the Sonoff Mini was 'single wire' (no Neutral required) then it might be, as you say, "close to the Holy Grail" - but withe no Neutral anywhere near the switchbox as standard, it's ruled out for many countries unless you want a lot of work... I look forward to the video on the 'One Wire Touch' - those fit the bill, even if I don't particularly like the styling. Keep up the good work - Thanks.

6:47 - Sonoff's product media for the Mini is not to use a metal backbox. "It is recommended that the frontside of MINIR2 is installed outside during installation and do not install it in the metal junction box."

Jonathan - great work thanks so much. Its guys like you that give confidence that we can do this stuff ourselves. I'm just getting started on automating my home. I note the Sonoff Dual, TH10/16 and POW are certified by ERAC. You are in OZ like me and I note you are very safety conscious. What your take on using the Mini in OZ when its not certified?

Great video! The Sonoff Mini seems to be the answer to my long-standing question of how to automate my push-button TV bed (push and hold the button for 1 second and the TV pops up from the bottom of the bed). I don't need a small relay as it would just be inside the side of the bed. I was going to buy the BASICZBR3 for this task but I thought it wouldn't work because I want it to operate from both, the existing buttons (one on either side of the bed), and through Google Assistant, SmartThings etc. I'm pretty sure the Mini would work because one of the buttons could be wired into the terminals for the external switch. But, the mini is WiFi and I avoid WiFi for home automation. I will wait for a Sonoff relay of any size that operates with Zigbee and has terminals for an external switch. I don't think this exists, yet. Thanks again.

Another nice work Jon! Do you know if the switch will still work when the network is down?

Hi Jon Great video...Are you going to make the mini adaptor available on your store ??..Keep those video,s coming !!

Hi. Thanks for sharing this video. I would really like to get hold of one of your sonoff mini programming jig pcbs to do some flashing for the home automation system I want to set up. That would make it loads easier. Do you sell these at all?

I love the Sonoff mini - have put 4 in light switches already, and will be ordering more. You can actually do the initial flash OTA using curl on a Mac, and I have set up a shell script to do it in a single of command, but it helps if you can have a permanent sonoffDiy wireless network.

Hey Jon, you are right to say the "changeover switch" idea is ALMOST perfect! But I disagree, it is not intuitive for visitors coming to the house because half the time, the switch will be upside down. Most people are accustomed to seeing switch down means ON and so I think this would confuse people. Does the Sonoff Mini have a mode supporting momentary switches? (I'm sure this can be done with Tasmota just fine...) That said, I agree with Brant Winter, the Holy Grail would be a dimmer that works like this!

Hi! Thanks for this useful video! As this cool little thing uses zigbee, can this be added to Philips Hue Hub as well? Do you have any info on this?

It would be interesting to consider the case of a single light switched from multiple locations.

Thanks for the informative video as always. Quick question, what side Ferrules were you using there?

Great video, thanks a lot! I have a question about the Mini: Can it be set up to work in a mode where the power is on when S1 and S2 are connected and off when they're disconnected? I want to put a Mini between my boiler and my thermostat so that it all works as before (i.e. thermostat turns on the boiler by connecting S1 & S2) but also be able to override wirelessly? I could probably use Home Assistant to achieve what I want, but to set up the Mini in such a way that I can have heating even when my network is down. Also, do you know if I can flash a modified firmware where I can program a timer? That is, the Mini to turn cut the power off after a set number of seconds. (This is again for a heating setup where the thermostat connects wirelessly to a relay connected to the boiler. When the thermostat calls for heat by sending a signal to the relay, the latter turns on the boiler, but then turns it off automatically after some period, unless it hears again from the thermostat.)

Regarding your wired vs wifi video, would you trust such product for a light switch? Its a single component and you can still manually use it in case of a wifi jam

A note about Sonoff smart controllers: Not all are made equal. I bought some, from some site that i have previously never heard of, like 10 of the straight wire-through devices for $25, and i get mixed results. After they've run for about 6-8 months they get very touchy and don't want to pair as easily as the first time out. You end up pairing them in that alternate mode.

That bench looks like an AC bomb has hit it!!!

Make 3rd party mini cases with pogo pins built in -- that way it can function as a jig or permanent setup, allowing you to do field reflashes -- perhaps also grabbing the additional gpios to allow them to control perhaps a backlit switch for night time or status LED or something for unique/custom deployments -- you could even make a magnetic connector meant to be near to a faceplate allowing relfashes/resets without removing the face plate at all or at least minimally -- with one of those magnetic usb cables modified for the serial/jtag

Does the switch need to be an on/off type? Would a momentary switch do the job?

"She who shall not be named" "Proceeds to name her"

Hey man.. Great vid. Can you talk about this "Superhouse Dashboard" on your phone (18:06)? What is this? Thanks! Greetings from Brazil.

where do you get those connector thingys for wires to plug into terminals, rather than plugging in bare wire?

Hi do you think I can use the mini sonoff to turn on/off my gas fireplace? Thank's in advanced.

Jonathan great to see a new video, in the UK we have a few companies bringing out 2 gang sockets that have a controller built in, not looked into what type. They are a all in one unit, with a bypass switch on the front just like a standard UK main socket

That DIY tool from Itead is ugh! I've sent them to a pull request to fix the issues running the .py on Linux. As an aside, you can actually easily flash tasmota using nothing but lighttpd, curl and a mobile hotspot by utilising the ota_update API endpoint that is exposed on the stock firmware. I actually have a script that does this without issue *knock on wood* in lieu of having a fancy pogo pin adapter like this! :)

Have you got the T4EU1C single wire switch yet? Really interested to see how it gets power. Maybe a capacitor with high enough reactance to prevent the light turning on ? Has to be fair about of power for the esp. Hoping you discuss the schematic. Thanks

itead should really watch your videos to get inspired!

Question. If I have WiFi off, will mini still switch the light by S1 S2?

In shelly 2.5 or 1 both uses live wire for switch which helps to connect two way switch (2 physical switch one bulb). Is there a way to do same with Sonoff mini without using an extra wire.

HEY,its amazing to watch your channel and im slowly getting interested and dragged into home automation.thanks. a question about sonof mini.Au switches generally are looped and have lots of wire into one switch and on some light switch there is no neutral at the switch. some of them have neutral, but lots of active in and out.so how do we connect the switch and the active going to the light to sonof mini.?im sorry if its silly but im sure you would undesrtand my question. or i can email you my query with some photos. thanks.

I thought of another use for the mini.. I want to monitor when my water softener goes through a cycle, and how long each stage of the cycle happens. My softener has a cam wheel driven by a motor controllered by softeners timer. It has a microswitch riding on the cam wheel telling the timer the position of the valves. I put another micro switch in tandom, and run the common and N.O. wires from the switch to the S1 and S2 of the mini. Ewelink has a "Log" function so I can see to the second when each part of the cycle starts and stops. I'm not using the mini to control any power, but this makes for a pretty simple monitoring device.

@9:06min newbie question - is there 3.3V on S1, and when you close the switch then it is essentially 'sinking' or 'grounding' current to S2 to activate the logic input?

How do you make the wire like this good way to connection with sonoff?

Brilliant. Most encouraging for newbies. wasn’t clear what advantages were with Tasmota??? Pls tell. Thx.

in the UK.. You must use two brown for Live cables (Active)

Hi Jonathan - Ahem, if only British sockets were so neat...20 minutes into your video. The smartest thing I've done in recent times was starting the conversion to European plugs and sockets. In Spain I have many adaptors combining 2-way sockets (for lights etc) and 3 way (for power) - as many as 10-in-one - in the UK we have these honking great 3-way plugs and sockets just to power a light - and we have wiring that dates back to post-WW2 when we were (apparently) short of copper - in modern pretty materials - early this century we made the move from red (obviously dangerous) and black (not obviously dangerous) to brown and blue to harmonise with EU colours - but our wiring is NOT like other EU counties - certainly not like Spain (I have houses in both). We need the warning of course because of the way we do our wiring - with neutral connected to ground way back at the transformer or substation (not actually sure where). In our home in Spain there is no difference between the two wires which are completely interchangeable - plugs and sockets don't specify live/neutral etc. Folk in the UK will say AHH! the wiring in Spain is more dangerous - well, I've had a MANY shocks in the UK from JUST touching the LIVE wire (I started messing with electricity approaching 60 years ago as a child with dreams of jamming the neighbour's radio), but no shock from touching either wire in Spain. Anyway the upshot of this rant is I LIKE the switched socket you have at 20:03 into the video. Also, just got my first Sonoff Minis and after struggling with that DAFT DIY mode, I've fitted Espurna - LOVELY. I'll soon have more useful info up at tech.scargill.net (not sure if your channel will put that link in or destroy it). I also have my first Shelly 1... in the latter, I haven't found the need to put custom softeare in it yet... as from Node-Red, the API seems to work a treat as-is (http request node). Those external sockets I believe I have on the way.

One of the best smart switches videos, thank you. With you system & tasmoto. Can you program the Sonoff to work with Apple HomeKit ? It’s very strange there’s so few relays that don’t support HomeKit as it’s much more secure than Android.

Is it a MUST to have MOMENTARY SWITCH or you can use usual two way switches? A bit confused by your tutorial even though I found it super helpful.

Hello, thanks for video. I have problem: A fatal error occurred: Failed to connect to Espressif device: Timed out waiting for packet header. How can I check if S55 is working? Red light shining. Could you help me?

Any concerns about overheating? The Mini packs quite a bit of circuitry in a very small board, and it receives 110V. The Mini casing seems to be cheap plastic and board overheating could cause serious fire damage.

What are those bootlace type crimp fittings you are using?

Hi Jonathan, What happened s after a power failur? When the electricity comes back, is there any memory functionality of the light on/off state before power went down? Or will it start working back again with lights on? Off? Do you have any way to remember and restore the light state after power comes back?

Hey man! really awesome video. I've almost decided to make my home automation based on Sonoff minis.. but I'm worried about fire hazard. Do you have any information regarding that?

Hi I know you like everything hard wired but I have a concern about induction from lightning strikes. I had a major lightning strike very close to my house a few years back and it fried everything connected to my network. Since then I have installed lightning surge protectors on all my long lan cables. (Gets expensive) Now I want to install a sensor that tells me when my water pump is running if water is actually entering the tank. But my water tank is on on top of my house so my concern is if I connect directly to my pi or a Arduino Mega if I get a surge it might blow up my iot setup. Any thoughts? I think I'm probably going to go with a d1 mini

There is mains voltage on the antenna wire so I wouldn't put it outside the box. I have one outside my house in a metal weatherproof box so I installed a short piece of pvc pipe with a cap on the end that the antenna is in.

! ! ! The sonoff mini is *- NOT -* mains isolated ! ! ! Carefull there, you were very right to treat the switch pins as if they where live, because they are.

Fantastic mate 👍! I live in the u.s., and so my question isif I have a regular switch with a neutral and a load. Where do I connect that on the terminal of the mini? Would it make a huge difference is the poles were reversed?

old video I know just got an s55 realised in arrival it's a naff design the flap doesn't close when something is plugged in, so no longer waterproof. Meaning you can't have something plugged in long term

Hello I want to know what kind the connectors do yo you used in sonoff mini?

Sorry you may have covered this but just to clarify, will the mini work with an existing analog dimming switch? - I have a European style dimmer switch - round knob you dial for dimming and press for on/off.

I am about to smart my home and like Z-Wave/Zigbee more than wifi to use as primary wireless comunication, what would be different if we use son off basic or mini Zigbee? No tasmota possible?

I know I'm kinda late for this vid I'm just wondering. Is it possible to have 4 mini connected in parallel to 1 physical switch and what would happen if the switch is triggered and the 4 minis have different states.

What kind of terminal plugs are you using for mains to mini?

Hi Jonathan. I followed this video carefully but my ewelink app failed to detect and pair with 2 mini sonoffs. I tried everything I could without success. Do you know anything I can do that might help? I wondered if upgrading the firmware to Tasmota might do the trick, detect and pair my sonoff minis. And, in your setup, if you happen to reset your wifi router, do your sonoff units all lose their wifi connections?

Hello Jonathan, i was thinking to use this setup but with a switch to provide electricity to the sonoff. So if i switch it off no power. Mostly i will leave it on and put it on and off with a philips hue controller. Is this ok to do this ?

I really like your channel it gives me a lot to think about. Im disabled and I am using your info tutorials to help make my life a lot easier. so thank you. I have a question. I have a motorised recliner seat it has 2 control hand units one up n down other heat and vibrations. I have problem with hands so would like to voice control the up and down motion of the seat, is that something you could explain how to do? I m sure it would benefit a lot of people. Thanks

What do you do if the sonoff mini is connected to a power jack? Is there someway to protect it with a fuze if anyone will switch the device connected to this outlet to one that draws more power?

I have to ask an important question: If I create a bridge between switch 1 and switch 2 Will it stay always on? Because I have a switch that leads the main voltage into the sonoff, and it's work great - except for the fact that the switch only conducts the voltage but does not turn on the light. so i want to make this bridge.

Jonathan, can the sonoff mini be installed in a 3 way switch scenario? Thanks for the video

Small question. What if I have a 2 gang or a 3 gang switch? I will have to have one MINIR for each right? Well in that case I wouldnt have enough space to fit in. Right?