As expected, SONOFF has now launched the Dongle Max (also known as Dongle-M) Zigbee coordinator and Thread Border Router with Ethernet, WiFi, and USB connectivity.
The company also highlights PoE or USB power supply options, web console access, and support for advanced features such as Webhooks, MQTT, WireGuard VPN, and Turbo mode.
SONOFF Dongle Max specifications:
- Wireless SoCs
- Silicon Labs EFR32MG24
- MCU core – Arm Cortex-M33 MCU @ 78 MHz
- Memory – 256 KB RAM (300% more RAM than ZBDongle-E)
- Storage – 1536 KB flash (twice the flash of ZBDongle-E)
- Radios/Protocols – 802.15.4, Matter, OpenThread, Zigbee 3.0, BLE, Bluetooth Mesh, Proprietary 2.4 GHz, Multiprotocol
- Espressif Systems ESP32-D0WDR2-V3
- MCU cores – Dual-core Xtensa LX6 32-bit microprocessor up to 240 MHz
- Memory – 520 KB SRAM + 2 MB embedded PSRAM
- Wireless – 2.4 GHz 802.11 b/g/n WiFi 4 and Bluetooth: v4.2 + EDR
- Silicon Labs EFR32MG24
- Storage – 16MB flash for ESP32
- Wired networking – Ethernet RJ45 port with PoE support
- USB – 1x USB Type-C port
- Misc – Two antennas for WiFi and Zigbee
- Power Supply
- 5V/1A via USB Type-C port OR
- 48V/0.25A for PoE port
- Dimensions – TBD
- Temperature Range – -10°C to +60°C
The Dongle Max ships with a mounting bracket, double-sided tape, screw packages, two SMA antennas, a one-meter USB Type-C cable, and a Quick Guide. The features are somewhat similar ot the SMLIGHT SLZB-06M Zigbee 3.0 PoE adapter but with more recent chips, although I can see SMLIGHT has an updated model with the MG24 SoC.
The main advantages of the Dongle Max compared to the just-released Dongle Plus MG24 are the addition of WiFi and Ethernet connectivity besides just USB, PoE support, and a web console for easy configuration.
It still ships with EmberZnet (EZSP) Zigbee Coordinator firmware by default, but also supports Zigbee Router, Thread RCP, and MultiPAN (Experimental) firmware. It’s designed for integration with Home Assistant, Zigbee2MQTT, IoBroker, and OpenHab. You’ll find more details and instructions to get started on the documentation website.
Having said that, it has been pointed out to me that it is not recommended to use a Zigbee Coordinator via a Serial-to-IP bridge over WiFi or VPN due to reliability and stability issues, as highlighted on the Zigbee2MQTT and Home Assistant websites. So Ethernet is recommended in that case. As I understand it, Thread is not impacted by this issue.
The Dongle Max PoE-enabled Zigbee/Thread dongle is sold for $42.90 on the SONOFF store. As usual, you can get a 10% discount on any item there when using the coupon code cnxsoft. Paisit got a sample of the Dongle-M, so we should expect a review with Home Assistant in the next few weeks.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
Support CNX Software! Donate via cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or purchase goods on Amazon or Aliexpress. We also use affiliate links in articles to earn commissions if you make a purchase after clicking on those links.
You might want to change the title and text as according to Zigbee terminology this is still only a ”Zigbee Coordinator” and not a ”Zigbee Gateway”, because according to Zigbee terminology ”Zigbee Gateway” is the software application running higher in the stack on the host that handles ZCL (Zigbee Cluster Library) and ZDO (Zigbee Device Object) application state management and more. I guess that techically this product is a Serial-over-IP bridge or a UART serial tunnel proxy server since what is basically does is allow you to remotly connect to the Silicon Labs SoC chips serial UART port over a… Read more »
I understand, but SONOFF calls it a “Zigbee gateway” in their email and product page.
It doesn’t have dual band WiFi, it’s single band, you’ve even shown this in the article so I don’t know why it’s in the title.
Also ZigBee coordinators aren’t recommended over ethernet either, it’s not just WiFi to be avoided
Who doesn’t recommend it?
Why to avoid? Can you please provider sources. Thx
The mention of MQTT in the features made be hope that you could use MQTT to control Zigbee devices directly (i.e. that the functionality of Zigbee2MQTT was somehow integrated into the device), but apparently the MQTT features are there only to control the gateway itself.
Does anyone know if there are any efforts to have Zigbee2MQTT-equivalent functionality run on an ESP32? If you want to run many such devices the current solution (with many Z2M instances each connected to one gateway using serial over IP, initiated from Z2M) is quite clumsy IMHO.
Tasmota can run on an ESP32 and act as a Zigbee to MQTT gateway. It worked well for me on a Sonoff Zigbee Bridge Pro.
@Jacques Tasmota has a variant branch called Zigbee2Tasmota that can run a Zigbee Gateway to MQTT bridge locally on an ESP32 in combination with a Silicon Labs or Texas Instruments radio MCU, but it is very limited in scope and not user-friendly so use cases for it is very niche, like a remote location with just a few Zigbee sensors, see -> https://tasmota.github.io/docs/Zigbee/
Great, thanks!
You can check Smlight SMHUB for that.
They won’t ship to the USA
Many sites have suspended shipping to the US, mostly because dozens of national postal services have done the same because of the tariff situation (mostly the removal of the de minimis exemption).
They also removed the minimis exemption in Thailand a few years ago, and it had no direct effect. I think it’s more because of the volatility of US tariffs. Those fluctuate a lot during the negotiating process, and once laws/rules are stabilized or trade deals are signed, I would expect services to return to normal.
My understanding is that the real issue is that along with the end of the minimis exemption, they added additional requirements for info to provide, but haven’t given the specifics of what info and/or how to provide it or something like that (there are actually exemptions, but with different reasons than just the amount).