Use SONOFF switch without MQTT

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Hello community,

i now played arround with my four sonoff´s for some weeks. They are all running EspEasy R108 and are stable and reliable now.

My only problem was that they loose the connection to the mqtt server from time to time. Of course they reconnect quite soon but on reconnect they mostly reset the state of the relay. thats really annoying when the light in the living room goes on in the middle of the night! Probably this is an issue of my wlan… but i looked for a other solution… and i finally stepped over http commands that i can send directly to the sonoff device.
I´m running this solution for over a week now and no problem until now.

Here is what you need:

a sonoff device with EspEasy R108 (maybe also versions from R78 and higher, but not tested)
some time to create the shell device in pimatic and to configure the sonoff device itself

First step: configuring the SONOFF Device

Access the web-initerface of your sonoff with your browser: e.g. http://192.168.xxx.xxx

under CONFIG you can switch the protocol to STANDALONE as you don´t need the additional mqtt service anymore!

Second step: setting up ShellSwitch device in pimatic

create a new device like this:

{
      "id": "sonoff_1",
      "name": "GangLicht Decke",
      "class": "ShellSwitch",
      "onCommand": "curl --silent http://192.168.xxx.xxx/control?cmd=GPIO,12,1",
      "offCommand": "curl --silent http://192.168.xxx.xx/control?cmd=GPIO,12,0",
      "getStateCommand": "curl --silent http://192.168.xxx.xxx/control?cmd=Status,GPIO,12 | grep 'state' | cut -d ':' -f2 | cut -c 2-",
      "interval": 900000
    },

If you don´t want to check the state you can leave out the lines with the "getStateCommand" and "interval"
Don´t forget to replace the 192.168.xxx.xxx in the IP adress with the adress of your sonoff device!

Last Step: Try your newly created switch in the pimatic webinterface
and when every thing is fine -> be happy!

Comments and additions are welcome !
Next step will be to test connected sensors and so on…

Enjoy your day with pimatic
Johnny11

Nice work as such, but did you see this enhancement for ESPEasy: https://forum.pimatic.org/topic/2001/esp-easy-pimatic-controller-plugin

It works very nice. I’ve been running it now for 1½ weeks and it seems very stable.

thanks johnny 11

I have tried your configuration, but i receive an error

[ShellSwitch#espeasy01] Error: Command execution failed with exit code 6 (Error: Command failed:)

espeasy01 is the name of my device …

If I use the command : http://192.168.2.14/control?cmd=GPIO,12,0 -> the device react …

I have used the standalone -mode…

@krissie: can you please post me the part of your espeasy01 device from the config.json ?
have your tried to execute curl --silent http://192.168.2.14/control?cmd=GPIO,12,1 at the linux promt?

@johnny11

I have tried to excute teh command at linux prompt and this works

this is my config

{
“id”: “espeasy01”,
“name”: “GangLicht Decke”,
“class”: “ShellSwitch”,
“onCommand”: “curl --silent http://http/192.168.2.14/control?cmd=GPIO,12,1”,
“offCommand”: “curl --silent http://http/192.168.2.14/control?cmd=GPIO,12,0”
},

in your post above is a mistake:

your write :

“onCommand”: “curl --silent http://http/192.168.2.14/control?cmd=GPIO,12,1”,
“offCommand”: “curl --silent http://http/192.168.2.14/control?cmd=GPIO,12,0”

there is a http:// to much in your line

it must be:

"onCommand": "curl --silent http://192.168.2.14/control?cmd=GPIO,12,1",
"offCommand": "curl --silent http://192.168.2.14/control?cmd=GPIO,12,0",

Please correct it, and then it should work!

thanks ! now is working ! stupid from me !

only i had to remove the option “getstatecommand” maybe you are using an other bin-file for your sonoff ?
Do you have a link for that bin-file ?

No problem!
Sometimes you don´t see the obvious things just in front of you!

I use the “official” R108, here to link to the esp8266.nu homepage:

download: ESPEasy_R108

What do you do when the IP of the device changes?

@dpressle: you have two options :

first method:
you assign a static IP for this device in your router

second method:
you name the device in your router e.g. sonoff-1 (works very well in the FritzBox)
then you can access the device like this: curl --silent http://sonoff-1/control?cmd=cmd,GPIO,12,1

i prefer the first method, but that´s my personal opinion!
they work both!

@johnny11 said in Use SONOFF switch without MQTT:

@dpressle: you have two options :

first method:
you assign a static IP for this device in your router

second method:
you name the device in your router e.g. sonoff-1 (works very well in the FritzBox)
then you can access the device like this: curl --silent http://sonoff-1/control?cmd=cmd,GPIO,12,1

i prefer the first method, but that´s my personal opinion!
they work both!

Thanks for your answer.
The options are known ones, setting static IP in router is not user friendly and most users will hate doing it for every device in home, i know how to do it but prefer not to (what happens if i replace the router).

The second option does not really work (for me) on raspberry, i can never access the host names of the esp devices

This is why i like the mqtt so much, one address to rule them all.

Is it possible to use hardware button on sonoff with this solution?
Does it reports the status changed using hardware button?

How often should I ask device for the status. In MQTT status is being pulled or is pushed by device?

@kohnout

In MQTT status is being pulled or is pushed by device?

pushed by device
https://forum.pimatic.org/topic/1372/sonoff-wifi-wireless-smart-switch-for-mqtt-coap-smart-home/13