Just wanted to say that I have a dozen of SNZB-02D, and there was never a need to push the button for update. The updates are more stable if they are done near the bridge, but in general stable relays with good signals do the trick (S26R2ZB are not so stable to my subjective knowledge, S60 seem to be better). I don’t believe SNZB-02P is different in that case.
Also, for your case, just if you missed it, they have SNZB-02LD and SNZB-02WD for outdoors now, I already use 4 of them. There is only temperature sensor (no humidity) but they are ip65 and -40°C~115°C. The battery should last up to 2 years. Thus no need for that fancy boxes of yours.
When I made first version of that box - there was nothing from Sonoff working as outdoor temp and humidity device.
So I made my own.
I ran into a similar issue with one of my outdoor sensors. That little guy turned out to be especially fond of rain or rather, rain was fond of getting inside it. I ended up solving it in a pretty similar way, because water was sneaking in through the ventilation holes like a ninja, flooding the enclosure and sending humidity readings into full drama mode.
So yeah, I totally get what @JMZ was going for.
I was a bit worried about how low temperatures might mess with the sensors, but they turned out to be surprisingly tough. My experience lines up with what @mrmad-cat observed, though.
In one spot, I deployed a selfmade sensor based on an ESP32, stitched together with love and caffeine. It sends data to Home Assistant via MQTT, and besides temperature and humidity, it also reports pressure, because why not go full meteorologist? ![]()
The enclosure I built for it looks suspiciously similar to JMZ’s design. For spider defense, I used a fine mesh from PC dust filters. It’s been running smoothly for its second season now. Since it’s WiFi-based, I just have to keep an eye on the battery. In this particular location, providing power via USB or adding a solar panel is neither feasible nor justified.
Thanks for answer.
My idea was to create box that will have 2 sections
1 - dry with no air flow - where batteries and smart sensor will be installed
2 - empty part - where air flow is allowed - and sometimes some rain drops can get in - but not stay
This is why I have large holes at front of the box in that empty part section, on the both sides and at the bottom.
No holes at the back as they make no sense.
Now the smart sensor is installed with position of sensor itself at the edge of both sections.
In result - stay dry - but will get proper air flow from outside.
I have 2 main units on both sides of the house. So during sun travel one is in shade and one exposed to sun.
Then afternoon situation change.
Temperature values are very accurate as average from both - because one exposed to sun another not.
But are the same in cloudy day or at night.
Comparing to nearest Accuweather station - temp values are almost perfect when sun is not playing the game.
But also this give me more info about what temp I will have in sun and what in shade.
Going for longer walk to the forest I know what to expect.
Humidity - here is bigger problem. Sometimes is accurate to Accuweather - sometimes up to 10% difference.
I’m thinking about second version for that project.
Bit larger box. Hidden and accessible from bottom via push rod waterproof button. So just in case I will need push it - no need to open the box.
Second thing - I’m thinking about spider protection.
I see 2 ways - protecting mesh - but must be stainless steel or plastic
or instead of large holes - 8mm - do more holes but 2 or 3mm
This would prevent large spiders to get inside and create nest.
I know that at current time Sonoff is offering outdoor versions.
But I’m not fully convinced to it.
If I will hang it just on the wall or fence. Sensor will be at the bottom of device and device will not be covered. Then water may stay outside the device exactly in the sensor area.
Then during winter - will freeze and block sensor.
Maybe I’m wrong - but I prefer box with 2 types of sections - knowing that smart device sensor area - will never be exposed to water.
It will always stay dry - but will be exposed to air flow from outside which will let sensor to read value of temperature and humidity of the air.
Wish that Sonoff could do more pro version of my project or whole weather station.
This would be great.
Another thing. I also used second gen of Sonoff smart button as door bell. Just installed it in waterproof box with waterproof button outside. This runs on standard battery.
Wish to see Sonoff making outdoor waterproof smart button.
I’m surprised that Sonoff could sell more devices - if follow my ideas.
Many would use it as door bell buttons - or weather stations.
Also why Sonoff don’t have air quality sensors or gas detectors.
Hi, guys
The OTA function is a standard Zigbee cluster capability, but the user experience may vary across different platforms.
Sensor OTA updates often face similar issues.
This happens because sensors only wake up periodically to send battery or status reports to the gateway. If the gateway has received an upgrade task for a sensor, it will send messages to keep the sensor awake once it detects a report from it, and then start the OTA process.
● SONOFF’s own gateway considers this behavior — it uses the sensor’s maximum wake-up interval to set the sensor OTA timeout, ensuring the update can finish even without user interaction. Manually pressing the button or triggering the sensor can speed up the process.
● However, for third-party ecosystems, the OTA timeout for sub-devices may not take this factor into account, since each brand’s sensors can have different wake-up intervals. For example, Z2M and ZHA also mentions the need to manually wake up the device in advance.
So, when using SONOFF sensors within the SONOFF ecosystem, pressing the button can speed up the OTA process.
When using SONOFF sensors in third-party ecosystems, it’s best to press the button to wake up the device before starting the OTA. This will be more reliable.

