Sonoff 4CH Pro R3 - random switching

[inversions]

I bought a 4CH Pro R3, and flashed it successfully, setting it up so each of the 4 buttons controls the relevant relay. It all works fine except that buttons 3 and 4 seem to trigger on and off randomly (as well as working normally), triggering relays 3 & 4 respectively.

I have a suspicion it may be to do with the 433MHz receiver and was hoping to find a way to disable it. Does anyone know if this is possible?

It looks like the earlier R1 device at least had an S5 switch to clear any 433MHz settings, but this doesn't appear to exist in the R3 version.

Any thoughts on how to resolve the random switching would be helpful.

[Ath]

Adding a de-bounce value (something from 50 to 150 msec) on the switch configuration could help.
De-bouncing is best set up for any switch device being used as an input.

[TD-er]

Hmm sounds like your node may receive "KAKU" or "COCO" signals from neighbors switching their lights?
Or maybe other signals which are abundant in the ether on 433 MHz.

Maybe you can cut the lines of the 433 MHz radio module?
Either cut the power or the line to the ESP or is there another chip present on the R3 unit?

[inversions]

I have played around with debounce values, but it has no effect - and the random switching is happening by itself, not when I have just pressed a button.

I saw another post on here about an R2 version of the 4CH box having similar problems, which it seems turned out to be "KAKU" or "COCO" systems sending signals. It could be that - I do have a fair number of 433MHz devices that I use with an RFXCom bridge connected to my Domoticz server, some of which send regularly (temp & humidity every minute I believe) and so could be the cause of that (the switching is fairly continuous). There are others around the area too, I can see.

Since I won't be able to deactivate them all, I do need to stop receiving them on the 4Ch Pro R3. I don't know enough to know if there's a new chip, but the boards looks pretty different to the R1 design here: https://www.itead.cc/wiki/Sonoff_4CH_Pro. There doesn't seem to be an R3 version of that page to refer to though. I could upload a photo of the R3 board if that would help?

[jgrad]

I use same HW and i dont have such problems - it is also true that I dont use 433MHz devices in combination with Sonnof.

What about if you disable receiving 433MHz signals with connecting antenna to ground?

[inversions]

That's a good idea, and less irreversible than cutting a track which I suspect would lead me to cutting the wrong track!

Is the 433MHz antenna a copper spiral? Bottom-right in this image?

IMG_20210222_153432.jpg (4.54 MiB) Viewed 20645 times

[jgrad]

yes, copper spiral

[inversions]

Well, this doesn't seem to be working for me. I've tried connecting a wire from the coil to the GND terminal where you would connect wires for flashing the board, and it make no difference. I also tried wrapping the coil in foil to try to screen it, in case the coil itself was insulated, but no change.
I monitored 433MHz signals coming in to my Domoticz server and I saw a signal, usually from a thermometer, timed with each of the random switches, so I'm pretty sure that's the cause, but I've not been able to stop it yet.
As a workaround, I have recoded the buttons so button 1 switches relays 1 & 2, and button 2 does 3 & 4. The random switching stops then because I'm no longer using buttons 3 & 4 (GPIO 4 & GPIO 15).
It'll let me use it for now, but it's not as practical.

[Ath]

You could de-solder the coil antenna, and also solder that connection to ground. If it then still switches the relays spuriously, then the only solution I see is to interrupt/disconnect the connection from the 433 MHz receiver to the ESP.

[TD-er]

If you want to "short" an antenna, you must do it as close as you can to the solder joint of the antenna or the chip itself.
You cannot use a wire or something like that to make a short to GND as the antenna itself is probably already "DC" shorted to GND so that will not be effective.

HF electronic signals do act completely different from DC signals.
So the only way you can short an antenna is directly at its input into the receiver.

[inversions]

I could try desoldering the antenna - and then I would connect a wire directly from the pad to GND, correct?

I'd rather not doing anything irreversible though. Thanks for the suggestions, it's very much appreciated!

[TD-er]

Yep and try to find a GND pad as close to the antenna point as possible.
Or you can try to connect it to the solder point of the antenna.

[shorawitzcontrol]

Thought I'd add some more info to this thread. I have a cheap temperature monitor from ACURITE. Seems the temperature sensor transmits to the base every 30s. Wouldn't you know it, switches 1 & 4 were toggling at that same interval. Confirmed by removing the battery from the ACURITE, then placing it back in and BAM! Switch 1 & 4 toggled again and then again in 30s.

ACURITE model: 00606TXA1 (this is also most of the FCC ID and IC)

I'd like to figure out how to disable the 433.92 MHz radio on the Sonoff 4CH Pro R3. I liked the temp monitor, but not at the expense of having my lights go on/off every 30s.

Another oddity, when I originally installed the Sonoff 4CH Pro R3, it didn't exhibit this behavior. So something has jumped channels. The Sonoff was a pain to get paired to my network. I had to use "Compatible mode" to get my phone to see the Sonoff. It tool me a while and a lot of button pressing on the Sonoff to get it into that pairing mode. I'm wondering if I did something with the buttons to cause the Sonoff to switch channels.

[TD-er]

Not sure if I understood you correctly, but just want to warn about drawing conclusions about 433 MHz stuff.
When using 433 MHz stuff, you can 'suddenly' get into a lot of troubles.
For example a weather station running on low battery voltages can 'spam' messages continuously and making it next to impossible to use the 433 MHz band reliable in quite some range.

[erki27]

Hi,

I would use this thread for my peculiar behavior of this device. I am having build R148 for ESP8285. I am controlling the device with Domoticz. Sometimes I see that the device is turning after few seconds itself off. And when Domoticz sends "off" command, it is always repeated by the "off" command by the device. Here is snapshot of the log:
2022-07-08 08:00:04 On timer
2022-07-08 07:00:05 Off Admin (IP: 192.168.10.61) - this is the device IP
2022-07-08 07:00:04 Off timer
2022-07-08 04:00:05 On timer
2022-07-08 01:05:58 Off Admin (IP: 192.168.10.244) - this was manual switching with my Mobile phone, not timer
2022-07-08 01:05:43 On Admin (IP: 192.168.10.244) - this was manual switching with my Mobile phone, not timer
2022-07-08 01:00:10 Off Admin (IP: 192.168.10.61) - this is the device IP
2022-07-08 01:00:05 Off timer
2022-07-08 00:57:38 On Admin (IP: 192.168.10.244) - this was manual switching with my Mobile phone, not timer
2022-07-08 00:01:15 Off Admin (IP: 192.168.10.61)
2022-07-08 00:01:01 On timer

When I tried v2.0, this was happening very often, with R148 it happens once in a while. What is causing this? Why is the "off" command always repeated by device if sent by Domoticz?

I am using the following rules:
On TurnOn1 do
gpio,12,1
EndOn

On TurnOff1 do
gpio,12,0
EndOn

On TurnOn2 do
gpio,5,1
EndOn

On TurnOff2 do
gpio,5,0
EndOn

And Domoticz command for switching: http://192.168.10.61/control?cmd=event,TurnOn2 or http://192.168.10.61/control?cmd=event,TurnOff2.

[Ath]

Please update your unit to the current ESPEasy release, R148 and v2.0 are quite old. Get the latest build from the Github releases page.
Many 'unexpected actions' have been resolved since those old(er) releases.