#Need to Add a Thread Border Router - Which Hardware/Setup?

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

clear silo
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Hey everyone! I'm a bit overwhelmed by options and I'm looking for some help.

Current setup info:

  • Running HA as a Proxmox VM on a Lenovo ThinkCenter SFF
  • **Zigbee ** 12 devices today, via USB SMLIGHT SLZB-07 passing through to the HA VM, using Z2M
  • Z-Wave 1 device left via Samsung SmartThings Hub V2 (SmartThings hub is in-use for some other Samsung devices)
  • Matter over Thread 0 devices today, have my first one waiting for a border router, considering adding 6-8 smart blinds
  • Wifi Ubiquiti dream machine + mix of U7 Pro Max + AC Pro APs
  • Voice Google/Nest devices

Budget: whatever it needs to be for this to work well. I'd like to stay under $200 but that's a soft limit. I value stability and usability much more than a lower price.

There are a bunch of options for border routers that I've seen and I'm not sure which way to go. In no particular order:

  1. Home Assistant SkyConnect / ZBT-1 flashed with Thread firmware
  2. USB SMLIGHT SLZB-07 and its many variants with Thread firmware
  3. PoE SMLIGHT SLZB-06 and its many variants with Thread firmware
  4. PoE SMLIGHT SLZB-MR1 and its many variants (two SoCs: one for Zigbee, one for Thread)
  5. Aeotec SmartThings Hub (would replace my existing Samsung SmartThings Hub V2)
  6. Google (Nest) Hub 2nd Gen or TV Streamer 4K
  7. Apple TV 4K
  8. Various DIY options with an ESP32
  9. Various other off-the-shelf hubs
  10. Something I'm probably missing

I'd really appreciate any thoughts and recommendations anyone is willing to provide. Thank you!

viral bolt
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being in the same position myself i am partial to getting a second zbt-1 to sponsor nabu casa. i do not want a network based hub as i want the thread network to not depend on ethernet or wifi being up

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another factor for me is that a local dealer sells the zbt-1. i like buying from local shops when i can to keep them alive

swift yacht
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depending on the area you have to cover with thread radio, you might want to consider having more than one BR. To my knowledge, you can only run one OTBR on HA directly. As I was able to get Nest Hubs for around 50 EUR every now and then in local DIY shops, I went that direction. That was not the best decision in the beginning, but they have become pretty stable with later firmware updates (and keep getting them).
Of course, in order to get good coverage, I had to put them in places where I cannot use any of the original functionality. A bit of a waste, admittedly...

hushed lake
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I went with the DIY ESP32 option and it ... actually works quite reliably, but it's certainly not a user-friendly experience at the moment. I had to build the demo code provided by espressif myself.

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If possible, I do recommend an option that uses ethernet rather than wifi. and given that you're using unifi hardware and have HA on a VM, you will almost certainly run into problems caused by network configuration :/

clear silo
hushed lake
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if you have separate subnets configured for different purposes, you may run into issues where the ipv6 traffic for thread can't be routed to either one or both of home assistant or the mobile device you're using for provisioning the thread devices, and you may also run into issues with mDNS across subnets

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if you can get home assistant, the thread border router, and a wifi network (with internet access, if you're using android devices) all on the same subnet, then everything should work.

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the thread border router is an ipv6 router, and thread devices are in a separate subnet that the rest of your network equipment won't know about unless that network equipment receives and processes the ipv6 router announcements made by the thread border router.

clear silo
hushed lake
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keep in mind that with multiple thread border routers there can be some dynamic stuff going on, tho the general case with a single-partition thread network is that all the thread border routers will be advertising the same route.

granite pollen
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Apple TBR is usually recommended by most vendors;

Google TV Streamer will be a prioritized device to receive latest Matter/Thread features from Google

Avoid ST, they use multi-pan, performance is compromised.

Other options may give you more access to management, but OTBR could have more bugs than these vendor ones. Imagine you were using DIY Wi-Fi AP and router...

wide gull
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I've got one strong Thread mesh with Google Streamer, Ikea Dirigera and OTBR in HA (via SkyConnect).