I started my IOT “career” with my own wired solution before WiFi was a thing – but no sooner did I get into proper IOT than I had my first Sonoff BASIC (WiFi) devices – wonderful stuff – and when Zigbee came on the scene, my first “coordinator” was a Sonoff coordinator – used firstly on Raspberry Pi 2, then 3 etc etc until I moved on to a mini-PC for my Home Automation base – in fact I still have some of the Sonoff USB dongles – both the P and E varieties – though I mostly use the Ethernet coordinators now.
So this morning I was excited to see that Sonoff had sent me their very latest Z-Wave 800 Dongle Plus. That is until I woke up and realised it was Z-wave, not Zigbee. If you’re not sure, Zigbee runs in the 2400Mhz range while Z-Wave runs around the 900Mhz range. Both have their advantages but I have a complete setup comprising Zigbee and WiFi devices in 2 countries – no gripes and no immediate plans to change.
And so I was sitting there wondering what to do with this spiffy new 800 Dongle Plus when it occurred to me: give it to someone looking into the blog!
Compatible with Home Assistant and OpenHAB and uses the EFR32ZG23.
So, if you have or are looking at a Z-wave setup this might be your lucky day. On the blog (right panel if you’re on a PC) I have a PayPal donations button. All you have to do to own this delightful new USB gadget, boxed, unopened with USB extension lead – is firstly confirm with me as I only have the one – then make an ADEQUATE donation to FULLY cover my postage to wherever you are. I’m in Spain and the standard Correos International postal service is fine or I can use whatever service you like as long as it’s easy for me and ends up costing me nothing. The donation should appear immediately we agree it’s yours (mark it friends or PayPal will take a cut) and I’ll get down and put the package in the post.
Merry Christmas 🙂