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• (edited )
NSFL Thoughts on the matter protocol

I recently picked up a new ZBT-2 device for my Home Assistant system and set it to be thread. It took several tries to get the device to be recognized and it's only a "bronze" level compatibility (it's an official device, wtf?) but that's another story for another day.

So the first thing I try to do is add a Matter device, specifically a TImmerflotte (wooden raft) temp/hum sensor from Ikea.

I immediately discover that this type of device, matter over thread, won't just pair like zigbee does. With zigbee, you simply press a button until it goes into pairing mode, the host says "Hey, there you are, what are you" and a conversation happens and you have new device. End of story.

Matter? Nope. No way to pair it without some sort of third party interrogator. You can scan the device's QR code with the host's application or interrogate via bluetooth which then passes it to the thread bridge. You literally cannot just add a device without doing this.

But that's not all. In addition to needing a phone with a camera or bluetooth if the device supports it, it requires IPV6.

That's right, a fucking local radio protocol requires IPV6 For what? I have no fucking clue. I couldn't get the device to pair without it. I've had IPV6 turned off on my router since the day it was installed in the rack, because IPV6 on a local network is not needed...but sure enough, the minute I re-enabled the package on the router and told Homeless Assistant that it could use IPV6, it worked. But before that? No indication that anything was wrong, it just didn't work. Failed to pair. No error, no "IPV6 is not enabled." It was slow to fail, and slow to pair when it did work.

This is supposed to be the future of home devices? It literally took the ease and intuitive installation of zigbee and tossed it out the fucking window for some zoomer wet dream. I'm not unhappy I have it installed, but fuck me running, this is overly complex.

Thank you for listening.

I recently picked up a new ZBT-2 device for my Home Assistant system and set it to be thread. It took several tries to get the device to be recognized and it's only a "bronze" level compatibility (it's an official device, wtf?) but that's another story for another day. So the first thing I try to do is add a Matter device, specifically a TImmerflotte (wooden raft) temp/hum sensor from Ikea. I immediately discover that this type of device, matter over thread, won't just pair like zigbee does. With zigbee, you simply press a button until it goes into pairing mode, the host says "Hey, there you are, what are you" and a conversation happens and you have new device. End of story. Matter? Nope. No way to pair it without some sort of third party interrogator. You can scan the device's QR code with the host's application or interrogate via bluetooth which then passes it to the thread bridge. You literally cannot just add a device without doing this. But that's not all. In addition to needing a phone with a camera or bluetooth if the device supports it, it requires IPV6. That's right, a fucking local radio protocol requires IPV6 For what? I have no fucking clue. I couldn't get the device to pair without it. I've had IPV6 turned off on my router since the day it was installed in the rack, because IPV6 on a local network is not needed...but sure enough, the minute I re-enabled the package on the router and told Homeless Assistant that it could use IPV6, it worked. But before that? No indication that anything was wrong, it just didn't work. Failed to pair. No error, no "IPV6 is not enabled." It was slow to fail, and slow to pair when it did work. This is supposed to be the future of home devices? It literally took the ease and intuitive installation of zigbee and tossed it out the fucking window for some zoomer wet dream. I'm not unhappy I have it installed, but fuck me running, this is overly complex. Thank you for listening.
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[–] • 1 pt

If you ever want ideas for your automation or homelab. Just ask.

Though. Yep. Fucking apple.

[–] • 1 pt

Same here. I got lots of solutions from over the years.

[–] • 1 pt

I'll let you know when the last X10 device that's been here since the 90s dies.

[–] • 1 pt

Fuck bro. Get out of my head. I was x10 (love the old cheap radio shack stuff), then Insteon, then Zwave, then added zigbee. Only have a few 2.4ghz WiFi shit….mostly zwave and little zogbee.

[–] • 1 pt

X10 is fine if you use it within it's capabilities. Nothing more.

I have a lot of ZigBee devices here, they've been perfectly fine - even those sus Tuya ZigBee things you get from China.

Before that stuff was around, I used RoomAlert devices I got from eBay to do monitoring. Would not suggest using those, they're expensive if you attempt to get them new. I've been slowly retiring the ones I have in favor of modern tech.

[–] • 1 pt

I gave up in x10 at least 10 years ago. I know some people still run it but I had too much interference around me and stuff would trigger randomly sometimes for no reason at all.

[–] • 2 pts

Yes, I had that problem as well. I abandoned it for a while when CF bulbs were common - but about 10 years ago, I started playing with it again, especially when I started getting into Pi stuff. Heyu + sunwait + some scripts were a godsend.

I put in some repeaters and a couple of noise bridges where there were some heavy interference causing devices, and it seems to work well. I keep it because it has a standalone timer-clock, and can failsafe if the computer running the main system crashes or the RS-232 bridge decides that it doesn't want to take commands that moment.