elfin belfry
I'm running Home Assistant using the OVA in VMware ESXi. All of a sudden my Matter devices exposed via Thread keep becoming unavailable until I restart the VM. The Thread network is all HomePods and AppleTVs as border routers and a latest gen wired AppleTV is the device used for credentials.
How can I track down the cause of this sudden issue and fix it for good?
Network stack is all UniFi switches and pfSense for the router. None of that has experienced a change lately
elfin belfry
I would really like some help with this. No one ever responded and this is happening again
ancient canyon
what do your logs in the matter server for HA say as well as OTBR?
I've found that sometimes the OTBR addon stopped, so I have watchdog turned on myself
elfin belfry
Most thread devices come back online but usually 1-3 of them get stuck unavailable for some reason. I also now have one that I cannot repair after removing it in an attempt to get it back.
ancient canyon
My experience with matter and OTBR is that its not great
and these issues youre running into are what I've ran into
elfin belfry
So I should avoid further Thread/Matter devices for now as this will continue?
ancient canyon
All I do is make sure that both addons have the watchdog checked and it's been working. I sometimes have to use the native app to wake devices up to get them talking on OTBR again
ancient canyon
So I should avoid further Thread/Matter devices for now as this will continue?
That's up to you. Personally, I find it way too complicated in comparison to it's counterparts: Zwave or Zigbee
elfin belfry
I did start setting up a ZWave network using some box (I forget the name) as my Hass is a VM in ESXi.
For now though I'd like to figure out how to get Thread/Matter working again and just try not to mess with it until I can replace those devices
ancient canyon
Start by watching the logs
and writing up issues against otbr and matter server when you find issues
there really isn't much that can be done to troubleshoot issues from what I've found
you're at the mercy of those addons working properly
which should just "work" without fiddling
I'm running my matter and otbr on a shitty Pi4, and it takes about 3 minutes for otbr to start after reboot as well as matter server
once it's up and both addons haven't crashed, it just works. But again, I've seen issues where both crash randomly. So keeping the watchdog turned on will ensure the addon restarts when it crashes
elfin belfry
This all started from the wifi AP being rebooted, despite all Thread devices being via Apple Home hubs (and the primary hub being wired Ethernet)
tribal osprey
I would really like some help with this. No one ever responded and this is happe...
Did it get better and then worse again, or always been bad since May?
elfin belfry
Did it get better and then worse again, or always been bad since May?
It did manage to get fixed once and this happened again after the AP rebooted all these months later.
tribal osprey
Super interesting, I have nothing to add to the thread, but has the AP been restarted again?
elfin belfry
Yeah the switch that provides POE to it was also rebooted due to a UPS replacement
Well finally got the broken devices to be accessible again. Some required their own power cycling (so thank God none of them were hard wired wall outlets) and one required a full factory reset
elfin belfry
Ugh this is happening again. 2 more Eve plugs are now unaccessible to Home Assistant but work fine in HomeKit
I really want to know how to get this resolved
elfin belfry
That's up to you. Personally, I find it way too complicated in comparison to it...
What do you recommend for ZWave smart plugs? Also what are some good brands of ZWave products? I'm about done with this BS and ready to replace my Eve Home devices and Nano Leaf bulbs to just get off Thread entirely
ruby notch
Maybe not directly related, but it's always a good thing to set reserved/static ip's for your devices including HA in your router, and set the devices itself to automatic, hence this could resolve dhcp lease issues.
And always check DNS, it's all in the name 😉
check wireless channels not overlapping eachother, as far as possible.
if virtualizing from VirtualBox... there seems to be a few issues at VB update 7.2 and 7.2.2
ancient canyon
What do you recommend for ZWave smart plugs? Also what are some good brands of Z...
Plugs? I don't really have a recommendation. I use Zooz double plug and it works OK. Brands I like are Zooz (for sensors and many things), Jasco (if you're in the USA) for dimmers, switches, and fan controllers. I have other products that work well too, fibaro, aeotec, fortres. My thermostat is Honeywell T6 which is great too
ruby notch
confirming the honeywell
ancient canyon
I usually go with Jasco or Zooz for most things. Jasco because they can control any LED fixture, where as other brands may cause LED bulbs to flicker.
Zooz for anything Jasco doesn't offer and sensors
elfin belfry
Thanks! I’ll start looking into replacing things slowly but for now I still need to figure out how to get the current stuff stable again. It seems the unavailable devices randomly switch between 2-5 of my 9 total thread devices
ancient canyon
I avoid bulbs on zwave, I have zigbee for bulbs and I exclusively purchase phillips hue because the offer the best colors.
zwave has 0 good bulb manufacturers IMO
elfin belfry
I used to love Hue until they started forcing a cloud account
elfin belfry
In that case I just need a good zigbee box as my Hass is an ESXi VM
ruby notch
but unpair first in app
elfin belfry
Maybe not directly related, but it's always a good thing to set reserved/static ...
All home auto stuff has DHCP reservations.
Doing a full stop of the Thread network by unplugging all hubs with Hass offline. After the wired AppleTV being up for 20 minutes, now I'm powering on Hass. HomePod minis all still unplugged. If things come up as stable, I'll start slowly adding the minis back
I appreciate you both helping debug this. Seems like Matter add-on logs are much cleaner starting up this time. Devices detected much quicker. I'll leave it like this for an hour or two before adding back HomePod minis
elfin belfry
Looks like after an AP reboot I should bring up 1 border router then hass, then slowly add back border routers
dark gyro
Can anyone recommend a thread router node (don't need a border router -I have ZBT-1) - I n need to extend my Thread network but all I am finding are smart plugs and wall switches. The Nanoleaf bulbs seem to switch too much between router and end node, which makes my network unstable.