MultiPan. MQTT fine. OTBR does not connect

[worthy stump]

I am a bit out of waters here, trying to connect Matter devices. The companion app tell me I need a Router. I think the issues is that I cannot get OpenThread Border Router (iHost) to connect to 'Silicon Labs Multiprotocol' (from iHost ). MQTT connects correctly and works fine. The Dongle (E) is flashed with MultiPan. Have anyone ran into similar issues?

[hidden knot]

MultiPan is being phased out because it is unreliable, much better to have dedicated Thread or dedicated Zigbee firmware, and two radios if you want to run both

Also just checking that when you say Matter you mean Matter over Thread

[soft island]

Did you sync your credentials via the companion app?

[worthy stump]

Yes, however, the problem is a bit before that. I am not evenable to connect OTBR to the SLM

[worthy stump]

Well, since a third party is developing multipan, how can it be phased out? (And yes, matter over thread)

[ornate dome]

multipan on silicon labs radio is discouraged when using the home assistant otbr add-on. for other methods of running a border router, you should probably contact the support channels for the specific project you're using for help.

[worthy stump]

yeah, that is why I went for a third party OTBR. However, since I am slowly loosing my mind, I guess ill bite the bullet and order another sonoff Dongle-E and flash it with different firmware

[thick snow]

Did you manage to get it up and running?

I've recently bought myself a Sonoff Dongle-M and some of the new Ikea Matter over Thread gear to try it out but since I've only gotten so far to connect Zigbee2MQTT to the Silicon Labs Multiprotocol addon. When I try to turn on the OTBR Agent it seems to work alright and also shows up in the Thread intigrations but when I try to pair a device my phone tells me that it cant connect to the network (even displays my network name)

(translated using google lens)

[ornate dome]

assuming that's the correct thread network name, that probably means that the phone is unable to talk to the thread device via the thread border router. this usually happens if the phone is on a wifi network which is a different network from where the thread border router is connected.

[thick snow]

Do I need to commission the Thread Border Router here somehow or is it enough that I just have the Thread Intigration here?

Oh and then there is the Open Thread Border Router integration, do I need that one aswell?

[ornate dome]

the matter server doesn't really need to know about thread, it just talks to matter devices over ipv6 network. If home assistant already knows the credentials for your thread network in the thread integration, then you don't need to manually add the OTBR integration.

make sure you do step 3 of https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/thread#case-1-making-home-assistant-your-first-thread-network

[thick snow]

okay in this case I only need my Silicon Labs Multiprotocol intigration (bc that one already handles my OTBR Agent) and not the seperate Open Border Router (intigration) one?

[ornate dome]

using multiprotocol is, as is said before, not recommended. Please clarify if you are talking about integrations or add-ons.

[thick snow]

I was talking about this intigration, because I have "Enable OpenThread Border Router" checked in the Silicon Labs Multiprotocol intigration

[ornate dome]

that is not an integration, that is an add-on

[thick snow]

my bad

[ornate dome]

you do need the openthread border router add-on, since that's what implements the required thread border router functionality. without it, nothing could talk to thread devices.

unless something weird goes on with multiprotocol, i'm not very familiar with it tbh

[thick snow]

but isn't that intigrated in the silicon labs one? those are the exact settings availible on the other addon. It even has the web UI

[ornate dome]

huh. alright then, i guess something weird is going on and the multiprotocol add-on includes its own openthread border router?

in that case, you don't need the separate openthread border router add-on

[thick snow]

okay, but the original otbr addon had another intigration (#1452651244677103778 message) thats missing in this case. is that required?

[ornate dome]

note that because it's not supported, the multiprotocol add-on isn't really updated any more, so if there are improvements to the openthread border router made in the main openthread border router add-on, you won't get them.

if home assistant already knows the thread network credentials, you don't need to add the openthread border router integration.

[thick snow]

For context, I'm not using the core addon as it is deprecated

https://github.com/iHost-Open-Source-Project/hassio-ihost-addon/tree/master/hassio-ihost-silabs-multiprotocol

[ornate dome]

anyways, going back to your problem: make sure you do step 3 of https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/thread#case-1-making-home-assistant-your-first-thread-network to ensure your phone has the thread network credentials set up.

other than that, you need to make sure your phone can talk to the thread border router (it needs to be able to make mDNS queries answered by the thread border router, and it needs to receive IPv6 router announcements sent by the thread border router.)

[thick snow]

seems to have done something, imma try again

nope.

[ornate dome]

alright, so an issue with communication between your phone and the thread border router. make sure they're both on the same network (no vlans). you can try installing an mdns browser app on your phone to verify that it can see the _meshcop._udp service (that's the thread border router), and also check the wifi status to see if the phone has an ipv6 address starting with fd.

[thick snow]

this one's fine? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mdns_discovery.app

[ornate dome]

i don't have any app recommendations. it looks like it would probably work (you can see the "service type" field in screenshots)

[thick snow]

looks fine to me

[ornate dome]

that's fine, but strange that it got it on ipv4 rather than ipv6. check that your phone is connected to the wifi with an ipv6 address that starts with fd

[thick snow]

wait let my check on my router if there is some kind of vlan active

doesn't look like there are any active filters

[thick snow]

i wasn't even on my 2,4 ghz network

[thick snow]

nope, same error

[thick snow]

any ideas? I mean HA does have an IPv6 adress configured

[ornate dome]

it's not even getting to the point where HA is involved (other than the thread border router). I don't really have any other ideas. See if you still have the problem without multiprotocol? Go to the support for your third-party add-on for help, I guess :/

[thick snow]

yeah i guess so, but there isn't really a good support for it yet. best thing I've seen so far is a sonoff blog post that just copy pastes the readme from the multiprotocol repo.

[thick snow]

#1452651244677103778 message
I was asking wondering about the HA ipv6 because of this message, i mean 192.168.0.10 is ma HA instance, but that makes sense as it is an addon in HAOS

[thick snow]

*And zigbee works without problems so far

[soft island]

Offtopic: Your OpenThread Silicon LabsMulti Protocol has Thread Version (tv) 1.4.0. This is not the case with the official OTBR addon, right? 🤔

[worthy stump]

No, its not. The official is 2.15.3

And now I get the exact same error using a second DongleE Flashed with Thread Firmware, time to pull out some hairs again

[soft island]

Addon version is not the Thread version. The question is which Thread version is shipped with 2.5.13. Imo it’s still Thread version 1.3.0.

[worthy stump]

Oufa, sorry, missunderstood

[thick snow]

Okay would it technically be possible to use the original thread addon using the exposed "EmberZNet EZSP/ASH port" from Silicon Labs Multiprotocol?

[ornate dome]

no - the "EmberZNet" port is the virtual serial port which talks the Zigbee protocol.