SONOFF
SONOFF Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus (ZBDongle-P)
- Zigbee
Verified September 2026
The TI CC2652P sibling to the Silicon Labs-based ZBDongle-E already in this list — a different chipset with its own firmware/flashing story (Z-Stack 3.x), +20dBm output and an external SMA antenna. The antenna ships in the box but isn't pre-fitted, so screw it on before first use. No USB extension cable is included; grab a cheap one anyway, since keeping the dongle off a PC's USB3 ports cuts interference. Aluminium housing keeps it compact despite the aerial. With over 5,000 UK reviews at a mid-4-star average, it's one of the most battle-tested coordinators going — solid if you'd rather run Z-Stack than EmberZNet, or just want the cheapest reliable ZHA/Zigbee2MQTT entry point.
In Home Assistant
| Control | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Zigbee channel | Select | Sets the 2.4GHz channel for the Z-Stack network; changing it after devices are joined forces a network-wide migration. |
| Transmit power | Number | Radio output up to the dongle's +20dBm ceiling; Z-Stack firmware allows this to be set higher than most stock images default to. |
| Coordinator backup | Action | Exports the network key, device table, and frame counters to a file — the only reliable way to restore state after a firmware reflash or dongle replacement. |
| Firmware version | Sensor | Reports the currently flashed Z-Stack build; used to check whether a reflash is needed for fixes or router-capacity increases. |
| Permit join | Switch | Opens or closes the network to new device joins, subject to Z-Stack's shorter default join window than EZSP adapters. |
Z-Stack firmware updates go through TI's own serial bootloader rather than Silicon Labs' flashing tooling the ZBDongle-E uses — and the dongle has a physical slide switch to force bootloader mode before flashing, so there's no software GPIO toggle to get wrong. Z-Stack coordinators also have a shallower outbound transmit queue than EmberZNet, so on large or busy networks you can see timeout errors in the Zigbee2MQTT log during bursts of commands (e.g. a group scene trigger) that an EZSP adapter would just queue and drain. Before any firmware flash or dongle swap, take a Zigbee2MQTT coordinator backup — Z-Stack's memory format isn't portable the way EmberZNet's is, and a failed or partial reflash without a prior backup means re-pairing every device rather than a clean restore.
Specs
- usb
- USB 2.0 (Type-A), USB extension cable not included
- chip
- Texas Instruments CC2652P
- capacity
- ~50 direct child devices, ~200 with routers
- firmware
- Z-Stack 3.x, Zigbee 3.0
- tx power
- +20dBm with external SMA antenna
- dimensions
- Approx. 111 x 40 x 17mm (dongle with antenna attached), aluminium housing
- included accessories
- Dongle, SMA external antenna (screws on, not pre-fitted), user manual