#EVE Energy plug

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

ebon tapir
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Hi
I bought myself a smartplug from EVE. This plug supports MATTER and can be integrated into Google Home. I already added the device to my Google Home. But now I would like to add the device to Home Assistant. What prerequisites do I need to meet to be able to add the device in my Home Assistant world?

Because currently when I try to add the device with the device code it always fails. Unfortunately I do not get any usable error log (or I do not find it).

Thanks for your help.

ebon tapir
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Has anyone an idea about this?

lofty bloom
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First you need to install the Matter integration on HA. Then you need to get the matter code through HomeKit and then use that one to;pair in Ha.

ebon tapir
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Always when I try to pair it fails with an error. Unfortunately I don't get a specific error code.

warped nacelle
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Do you have IPv6 configured in your network? I recently added a bunch of eve stuff. I have unifi gear and multiple vlans. I ended up having to enable IPv6 and also move my HA to the IOT VLAN that I had so far tried to keep isolated.

fierce crane
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@ebon tapir :
Since you were talking about Google Home, I assume you have a Google/Nest border router in place:

  • Install the Matter Server Add-On (that will automatically install the matter integration as well)
  • Install the Thread integration (but not the Open Thread Border Router one)
  • Go to the settings of the thread integration and make your Nest/Google border router's network (PAN) the preferred thread network.
  • Mark one of you border routers as "used for Android + iOS credentials" via border router's context menu. A "mobile phone with key" symbol will show next to the chosen border router entry.
  • Open your companion app and import your thread network credentials into the app (settings > companion app > trouble shooting). These are needed while commissioning your device.
  • While your device is already in the Google Home fabric you cannot use the original matter codes from the stickers. You have to create new ones in the GH App. Open the device settings in the GH app, and start the commissioning flow from there.
  • You probably have to stay somewhere near your device while commissioning because at some point bluetooth might be involved.

You don't normally have to fiddle with your IPv6 settings. The involved devices will negotiate the needed ULA addresses by themselves.

steel rune
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Ok this is a really dumb question but do you have a Thread coordinator
This device does not operate over wifi

fierce crane
fierce crane
steel rune
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Ok man you understood what i meant enough to pedantically correct me

ebon tapir
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Or can I somehow create Thread Border Router with a Raspberry Pi? I currently have HA installed on a Raspberry Pi....

fierce crane
# ebon tapir Hoi Boris, I thank you very much for the detailed information. But currently I ...

There is no such thing as a Matter Border Router. We have Thread Border Routers and Matter Controller. In your scenario you want Home Assistant to act as a Matter Controller and your Nest Hub to act as a Thread Border Router. As long as you have Home Assistant and the Nest Hub in the same W(LAN)/network, the Nest Hub will appear in step 3 of the above instructions. Steps 2-5 are specifically only there to tell you how to add the Nest Hub as a Thread Border Router to your Home Assistant environment.
If you can see the Nest PAN (network) in step three you're on the right path.
Do you see your Nest Hub's Thread network in step three?

fierce crane
# steel rune Ok man you understood what i meant enough to pedantically correct me

I am sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. I just try to keep the lingo as precise as possible for a beginner, because the topics are confusing enough already: As you can see OP responds referring to a Matter Border Router -- another thing that just doesn't exist. The more we talk about things that don't exist the less we understand each other and the topics at hand.

fierce crane
ebon tapir
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All things OK. No offense taken.

I see a PAN Network in the Thread integration. But I am not sure if this is working correctly. How can I check that I have the correct PAN network.
In my case I have a server network where my HA resides and a client network with my clients and Nest Hubs. That's also a point about I am not sure if this is a good idea.

As I do not really have to have the EVE plug in Google Home I deleted it from there and tried to add it directly to the HA-Matter server. But even like this I get an error.

fierce crane
# ebon tapir All things OK. No offense taken. I see a PAN Network in the Thread integration....

If you see something like "NEST-PAN-0abc" in the thread integration, and it is listed under "Preferred network", then it's OK. You should also be able to see your Google Nest Hub listed as border router under the "NEST-PAN-0abc".
If that is not the case it is most likely due to the fact that you have separate networks for HA and the Nest Hub. In that case please try to put the Nest Hub into the server network (for the time being) in order to see if things will work then.

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Another thing you can check is if you can find a service entry for your Nest border router in the _meshcop._udp.local. service domain of the Home Assistant mDNS browser. You can find it here: Settings > System > Network > Network Discovery > Zeroconf browser
If you don't see an entry there, then that would hint at the same cause (network setup).

ebon tapir
fierce crane
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You can enable mDNS forwarding between your networks in the main network page of your Unifi UI, but that will only enable discovery of the devices. While this is essential for HA to know that the BR exists (and all devices hosted on the thread network), you will also have to enable routing between HA and all BRs you want to have in your client network.

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Also, be aware that the unifi mDNS forwarder will (by nature of mDNS) always forward queries and responses in both directions, meaning all your devices in the client network are discoverable from the server network. Just saying. That is unfortunately the price for a) the mDNS design choice with matter and thread and b) the fact that all commercially available working border routers are co-located on consumer devices that for their main function you usually want to host in your client network.

ebon tapir
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Thanks. From a point of view of security IoT and especially Smart Home devices lack of many better design decisions. I could write a book on this....

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I did everything as you described. But I still get an error during the commissioning after adding the code from the Google Home App into the HA App.

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Where I am not sure is point 5 with the credentials. If I click on the displayed buttons it directly copies the credentials to the Companion App and the HA.

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Is there something I am missing in this process?

fierce crane
# ebon tapir Where I am not sure is point 5 with the credentials. If I click on the displayed...

After you completed step 5 you can start to commission the Eve plug from the HA app. This will of course only work if communication between all parties (Raspi, Nest Hub, and your mobile phone works adequately). In order to find out if it works or would work in general, I suggest you temporarily put the Nest Hub (and probably your mobile) into the server network (or vice versa, put your HA into the client network if that's possible). If it works then you would be able to trace down the problem from there on.
Also, you seem to have installed the matter server already. It could be helpful to see the logs in context: Settings > System > Logs > Upper right corner: Switch to "Matter Server"
Moreover: Can you paste the exact error message?

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Another option is, what you actually already suggested, to host the BR on another Raspi. You will have to get yourself a supported ZigBee USB stick and flash it with the Open Thread firmware. There is also an Open Thread Border Router Add-on for HA, but people here in this discord have recently reported that the Add-on is outdated and doesn't work well (personally I can't tell, I don't use it). All this is an adventure by itself, so I strongly suggest you make sure your environment/setup is ready for this by trying out beforehand (as in: do the experiment I outlined in my previous post).

fierce crane
ebon tapir
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Hi Boris,

Thank you very much. I will have to try it again with putting HA into my Client network. I will reply as soon as I tested it.

ebon tapir
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Yesterday evening I put my HA-Server into the network of the EVE-Plug. And suddenly it worked.

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@fierce crane : Thank you very much

fierce crane
ebon tapir
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Hi @fierce crane

I was able to add the device and use it until a restart of my HA-Server.
Now is my idea to buy an additional USB to Ethernet-Adapter and add my HA to the client network this way. But I am currently unsure if this would also be possible adding a WLAN config to the HA-server. Is there a way to use multiple LAN/WLAN connection add the same time?

fierce crane
# ebon tapir Hi <@1242107810477506621> I was able to add the device and use it until a rest...

Hi @ebon tapir , that is a good question and one I actually cannot generally answer.

Is there a way to use multiple LAN/WLAN connection add the same time?
I depends on how you host your Home Assistant. HAOS for example ist designed for a single primary network interface.

So in that case (HAOS) you would have two options:

  • put a dedicated Thread Border Router into your server network
  • or follow the path that @warped nacelle suggested. That involves a full IPv6 configuration in your router for booth the client and the server network, because thread is IPv6 and therefore the route from HA to the Border Router has to be IPv6 capable. You would also have to enable mDNS forwarding between the the two networks.
ebon tapir
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Hi @fierce crane
But how would the thread border router improve the situation?
I have the feeling that when I add this router it would force me to add the eve plug to the server network.
And as I reread the post of Mathoosala it seems he had to put his HA-server to the "eve"-network too.

Or am I wrong here? Am I missing a point here?

blissful adder
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if you have multiple thread border routers in the same thread network, it's important that all of them are able to talk to home assistant. Because messages sent from thread devices to home assistant can go via any thread border router.

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for matter over thread stuff to work properly, I highly recommend having home assistant, the thread border router(s) (which might be co-located with home assistant if you use the otbr addon), and a wifi access point (for your phone, for commissioning) all on the same network link. because of how thread border routers work (they allocate a separate ipv6 subnet for thread devices, then advertise themselves as ipv6 routers via router announcements) it's very difficult to route traffic to/from them.

fierce crane
# ebon tapir Hi <@1242107810477506621> But how would the thread border router improve the si...

Hi @ebon tapir , your question makes me think, and yes, what I talked about would lead to having your eve plug more directly connected to the server network than to the client network. And I was believing that this is what you actually wanted: When you said in the beginning that your HA resides in the server network I made two assumptions:
a. That was an explicit decision you made, and I took it as a constraint
b. You were already having other IoT devices (directly) controlled by your Home Assistant
So I drew the conclusion that you wanted your IoT devices to live in/near the server network. I didn't ask though -- my bad.

And yes, what @blissful adder says is also true, and this is why my idea was to put the border router(s) into the server network as well: Because that is the easiest way to ensure HA and the border router(s) can talk to each other (assuming you wanted HA in the server network).

But of course, if you actually wanted the IoT devices to be in/near the client network, then putting HA (and the border routers) into the client network would be the most simple setup ensuring connectivity.

The most complicated/complex and in several scenarios not so reliable set-up could be to have border routers and HA in separate networks. I am not saying it's impossible, but a lot also depends on your network gear and IPv6 setup.