Table of Contents

Using the Itead DIY tool

Verify and/or update eWelink firmware version
Flash Tasmota
Clean up

Manual Flash

Requirements
Verify and/or update eWelink firmware version
Discover the device ID
Flash the firmware and confirm

Post Installation

Video tutorials
More info:

Some new Sonoff devices support the new Itead DIY architecture which allows OTA firmware upload. With Sonoff DIY, a user has more control over the hardware features of the device and also allows for upgrading the firmware without additional hardware. The following procedure upgrades Sonoff eWelink firmware to Tasmota.

IMPORTANT: There are some reports suggesting that the Windows version of Sonoff DIY Tool contains a trojan. It is not clear if it actually contains the malicious code or these are just false positives due to the way Python code was converted to native executables. Nevertheless, proceed with care.

Compatible devices

Currently the following devices officially support Sonoff DIY:

Sonoff Basic R3
Sonoff RF R3
Sonoff Mini

As Sonoff DIY is enabled by connecting GPIO16 to GND it may well be possible that other Sonoff devices running eWelink 3.1 or higher will also support it.

⚠️ The OTA process Sonoff provides through the Sonoff DIY procedure does not create a backup of the Itead firmware on the device. If you use this OTA method to flash Tasmota on the Sonoff device, you will not be able to revert to the original factory firmware. ⚠️

Flash procedure

Using the Itead DIY tool

Verify and/or update eWelink firmware version

Open the device and remove the jumper labeled OTA if present
Power on device and connect to eWelink
eWelink firmware updated to at least 3.1

Flash Tasmota

Download the Sonoff DIY tool_01DIY85 from Github:
- ./tool .exe (Microsoft Windows)
- ./code .py (not yet tested)
Power off the Sonoff DIY device and install the DIY OTA jumper
Modify your PC configuration to provide a Mobile hotspot:
- SSID: sonoffDiy (case sensitive!)
- Password: 20170618sn
Power on the Sonoff device and verify that it shows up on the Mobile hotspot Settings page
Start the tool_01DIY85 utility
The utility should discover the device
Select the device and toggle it ON and OFF to verify you are connected to the right device
Select Firmware flash (Brush machine on newer versions of the tool)
Select a Tasmota binary (e.g., tasmota-wifiman.bin) or your own self-compiled binary. It must fit in the available free program space. You can use the 2.3.0 Core for this initial flash since it has the smallest program memory footprint. Do NOT use the tasmota-minimal pre-compiled binary as it does not allow you to change any settings.

You may wish to compile your own firmware with all the features you require and disabling the features you do not. This will usually result in a "full" binary that is under 500k. You can use the resulting firmware file instead of the pre-compiled tasmota-wifiman.bin.
Select the device in the flash pop-up and then select OK
Tasmota will be uploaded and started

If the firmware update gets stuck at 0%, the Sonoff device could not reach the manufacturer server because your mobile hotspot does not share the Internet connection. If this happens, use the DIY tool to set the SSID and password of your Wi-Fi network on the Sonoff device. The device will connect to your network. Disable the hotspot and use your Wi-Fi for DIY tool laptop as well. Now start Brush machine again, flash Tasmota. Then continue with this guide.

Clean up

Quit DIY mode tool
Stop mobile hotspot
Power off the device and remove DIY jumper as it is no longer needed and might interfere with future Tasmota features that use GPIO16

Manual Flash

This procedure is recommended for MacOS, but also works for Linux.

Requirements

eWelink firmware updated to at least 3.1
OS with curl and a network services discovery tool (e.g., mDNS for MacOS or avahi-browse for Linux)
sonoffDiy SSID on your local network. Use a router/access point or configure your laptop/smartphone as a hotspot with the proper SSID and password.
A <webServer> available on the same local network. Very simple web servers like SimpleHTTPServer will not work. For Mac, the OSX built-in web server is recommended.
A Tasmota binary (e.g., tasmota-wifiman.bin) or your own self-compiled binary. It must fit in the available free program space. You can use the 2.3.0 Core for this initial flash since it has the smallest program memory footprint. Do NOT use the tasmota-minimal pre-compiled binary as it does not allow you to change any settings.

You may wish to compile your own firmware with all the features you require and disabling the features you do not. This will usually result in a "full" binary that is under 500k. You can use the resulting firmware file instead of the pre-compiled tasmota-wifiman.bin. This way you will not have to perform the secondary OTA firmware update. Nevertheless, it is still recommended that you perform a Reset 5 immediately after the Sonoff DIY flash completes.

Upload the firmware file to the <webServer> available on the same local network.
SHA256 <SHAsum> of firmware binary file

$ shasum -a 256 tasmota-wifiman.bin

1da0e89be4c01df033fa6da9d0c1db58c3deea354d7ad194f607d1f518db48f9

Verify and/or update eWelink firmware version

Open the device and remove the jumper labeled OTA if present
Power on device and connect to eWelink
Update eWelink firmware to at least 3.1

Discover the device ID

Power off the Sonoff DIY device and install the DIY OTA jumper
Create a new SSID on your router:
- SSID: sonoffDiy (case sensitive!)
- Password: 20170618sn
Wait for the Sonoff device to connect
Obtain the <deviceIP> address (search on the router or perform an IP scan)

Discover the Zeroconf details.
In this example, the <deviceID> is 1000988699

MacOS

$ dns-sd -B _ewelink._tcp

Browsing for _ewelink._tcp  
DATE: ---Mon 12 Aug 2019---  
20:19:31.956  ...STARTING...  
Timestamp     A/R    Flags  if Domain               Service Type         Instance Name  
20:19:31.957  Add        2   5 local.               _ewelink._tcp.       eWeLink_1000988699

Linux

$ avahi-browse -t _ewelink._tcp --resolve

+ wlp3s0 IPv4 eWeLink_1000988699 _ewelink._tcp local
= wlp3s0 IPv4 eWeLink_1000988699 _ewelink._tcp local hostname = [eWeLink_1000988699.local] address = [192.168.1.109] port = [8081] txt = ["data1={"switch":"off","startup":"off","pulse":"off","pulseWidth":500,"rssi":-47}" "seq=1" "apivers=1" "type=diy_plug" "id=1000988699" "txtvers=1"]

Flash the firmware and confirm

Test with /zeroconf/info POST

$ curl http://<deviceIP>:8081/zeroconf/info -XPOST --data '{"deviceid":"<deviceID>","data":{} }'

{"seq":2,"error":0,"data":"{"switch":"off","startup":"off","pulse":"off","pulseWidth":500,"ssid":"sonoffDiy","otaUnlock":false}"}
Unlock OTA updates at /zeroconf/ota_unlock

$ curl http://<deviceIP>:8081/zeroconf/ota_unlock -XPOST --data '{"deviceid":"<deviceID>","data":{} }'

{"seq":2,"error":0}

If OTA unlocking gets stuck, the Sonoff device could not reach the manufacturer server because your mobile hotspot does not share the Internet connection. If this happens, POST a request on /zeroconf/wifi with '{"deviceid":"<deviceID>","data":{ "ssid": "yourssid", "password": "yourpasswd" } }' to set the SSID and password of your Wi-Fi network on the Sonoff device. The device will connect to your network. Disable the hotspot and use your Wi-Fi as well, and restart /zeroconf/info and /zeroconf/ota_unlock.
Flash firmware at /zeroconf/ota_flash

$ curl http://<deviceIP>:8081/zeroconf/ota_flash -XPOST --data '{"deviceid":"<deviceID>","data":{"downloadUrl": "http://<webServer>/tasmota-wifiman.bin", "sha256sum": "<SHAsum>"} }'

{"seq":2,"error":0}
Ping the device for about 30 seconds until it has rebooted

Post Installation

Once the firmware upload completes and the device restarts, the usual tasmota-xxxx SSID should now be available.

Set up Wi-Fi to connect your device to your network
Perform a Reset 5 to wipe any flash remnants BEFORE attempting a Tasmota OTA flash for the first time
If you flashed tasmota-wifiman.bin, it is recommended that you upgrade to the firmware and Core variant that is needed for your device and use case (e.g., tasmota.bin). You must perform this update using the local File upload OTA. Do not use a web OTA for this step. Download the firmware file from the repository to your computer.

Some users have reported that upgrading via web OTA from tasmota-wifiman.bin to another binary has resulted in an unresponsive device which has required a wired flash to recover.
Once the desired firmware is on the device, continue the regular Tasmota setup process. Use the the appropriate Template from the repository to assign the device components to the GPIO pins. For example, the Sonoff Mini template assigns these GPIO:

GPIO Tasmota
Component Device
Function

0 Button1 (17) Button

4 Switch1 (9) S1/S2

12 Relay1 (21) L Out

13 LED1 (56) Link/Power Indicator

GPIO	Tasmota Component	Device Function
0	Button1 (17)	Button
4	Switch1 (9)	S1/S2
12	Relay1 (21)	L Out
13	LED1 (56)	Link/Power Indicator

Video tutorials

More info:

Michel Deslierres

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