SONOFF SNZB-01 ZigBee wireless button (Wireless Switch)

The Sonoff SNZB-01 Zigbee “smart” button is a battery-powered wireless remote control using the Zigbee protocol to control both WiFi and Zigbee devices via eWeLink over a Sonoff Zigbee Bridge. If you have more serious plans, it can also be part of your Home Assistant server with the manufacturer’s own integration.

What’s in the box, what do you need to know?

The SNZB-01 zigbee wireless smart button is a tiny 43mm * 43mm plastic device. It is capable of three action types with a single, double or long press. It requires a Zigbee hub to connect to the eWelink app. Of course, if you have a Zigbee hub from another manufacturer that works through the Smart life app, you should be fine there too.

There’s not much in the box, just what you need: a short quick installation guide, SNZB-01 zigbee button and a 3M sticky base to fix it anywhere. I use it freely and take it with me wherever I go in the studio.

What is Zigbee?

Zigbee is a communication solution specifically designed for low-power devices where high data bandwidth is not required, but where it is important to minimise the time delay. Zigbee is a good choice for battery-powered sensors, for example, where the uptime is several times that of WiFi. Zigbee devices are capable (under certain conditions) of mesh networking and can reach huge distances between two endpoints.

The Zigbee sensors cannot be used on their own, they need a Zigbee hub to connect them to your home/office network. One per system is sufficient, taking advantage of the above options.

What it can be used for, ideas

The Sonoff SNZB-01 is a “button” with several functions under its simple surface. This means that it can be paired with a different action when pressed once, quickly pressed twice or held down for a long time.

A great example of this is my video lights (one light for me and one backlight) which I use with this
– click once: they both turn off or on
– two quick clicks turns off or on the backlight
– long press: haven’t figured this out yet, but I’ll find some useful function 🙂

Installation

1. Launch your eWelink or Smart Life app where the Zigbee hub is already active and ready for battle (in my case I use Sonoff’s ZBBridge-P hub.
2. Find the add button and click on it in the app
3. Remove the back of the button, check that the battery is not protected
4. You’ll also see a hole with a tiny little RST label where you insert a needle until you feel the tiny reset button click (gently, don’t poke the needle thru the whole thing…)
5. After a few seconds the other tiny little hole will flash red, indicating that it is in Pairing mode
6. They find each other in 5-15 seconds and your phone screen will display the relevant information

That’s it 🙂 After that you can configure what you want to control.

Automation

App dependent, but stick with the manufacturer’s eWElink mobile app. In this case you need the “Scene” option from the bottom menu. Here you can set most of the automations for Sonoff and your other eWeLink devices.

You choose what the condition is (press the SNZB-01 switch button once) and then what it does.

In my case:
– Condition: SNZB-01 button pressed once
– Action: toggle the selected S26 smart plug with a stationary lamp connected to it ON or OFF.

This is of course the simplest example of automation, because I could plug in my SNZB-03 zigbee motion sensor and the light switches on (or off if I set the switch) for motion detection…this is good for hallways when we come home and the sunset is a condition, don’t switch on the light in the light 🙂