Which Thread Border Router?

[sinful aurora]

I'm currently using a SLZB-MR1 as my TBR which works well when it works, but seems too fragile for long-term use. All of my Matter over Thread devices take ~30 minutes to recover and be available in HA again every time there's a power cycle, and occasionally it just stops working over USB (especially during HA or system restarts) and the only solution is to unplug and replug until it decides to work again.

Wondering if anybody has a more stable product / better experience? I'm thinking of disabling the Thread radio in the MR1 and just getting an Apple product to use as my TBR, since I've heard they're really consistent.

[stark whale]

can it wait a few days? without confirming or denying anything there might be something of interest coming up... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSRvso6cbf0

[sinful aurora]

Interesting

Just as a clarification, is the behavior using OTBR over HA more dependent on HA’s implementation than the actual hardware it runs on?

[stark whale]

I dont know the specifics enough to answer this one, maybe someone else can jump in though.

[sinful aurora]

Just saw the change, looks interesting

[sinful aurora]

Do you think that this is a better solution as compared to using an apple product and adding to HA

[stark whale]

for home assistant compatibility this is likely going to be better

[sinful aurora]

I think that’s not necessarily a huge concern for me

I’ve been diagnosing the issue I’ve been having and I’m not quite sure what’s going on but have some ideas

One of my matter devices (a level bolt) seems to disconnect for no reason for extended periods of time, I think this is because it’s inside a metal lock and disconnects occasionally and struggles to reconnect

The others are pretty consistent, but consistently disconnect from the system for around 30 minutes every time I restart HA or the RCP host

I saw comments online from a HA dev saying that having a network link between the OTBR and RCP might cause issues causing devices to disconnect for up to 30 minutes, which is the route lifetime

My setup doesn’t have that (the TBR is connected directly to the RCP over usb) but it seems pretty coincidental that the disconnect is always around 30 minutes long

I’m wondering if there’s issues with proxying the USB from proxmox to my HAOS vm (or maybe the issue involves how they’re on two separate devices so there’s no guarantee the RCP board and it’s USB host controller are both up when HA boots and tries to start OTBR, or the other way around, maybe the RCP board doesn’t like being disconnected from its controller when HAOS restarts)

[sinful aurora]

With that in mind I feel like HA compatibility would end up being the same

Since it would also be proxying the USB connection, and still not necessarily power cycling in sync

I’m thinking of getting a dedicated TBR (OTBR controller and RCP integrated on one device) to see if that’s the problem

Currently leaning towards building my own using the espressif thread board

I think either that or an Apple TV 4K

Since I would want something that can be attached directly to the network, so I don’t have to worry about WiFi connectivity

[blissful bison]

since you use the usb connection, you could hook it up to a powered usb-hub, so power remains at reboot haos