I have a working thread network with my ZBT-2. I have a ZBT-1 that is not connected to anything. If I power it on will it act as a thread repeater? Or do I need to add it to the thread network somehow?
#Can I used a ZBT-1 as a thread repeater?
left sonnet
round gyro
The way Thread has been implemented, most of the Thread stack resides in the Thread Border Router and not the ZBT-1, so in order to use it in a Thread network, it will need to be attached to an OTBR.
left sonnet
so short answer no, long answer no? haha
i have a server rack and my ZBT-2 downstairs. upstairs and across the house, i have my office and desktop workstation. any way to set up OTBR on my workstation with the ZBT-1 to connect to the thread network, or would it just mess things up and i should find something else to act as a repeater?
minor dust
You will need to do a firmware update as stated on https://www.home-assistant.io/connectzbt1/
It works, since both zigbee and thread use the 802.15.4 radio standard.
This doc page should answer of all your questions, it should be easy to do since the flashing for the zbt1 is integrated into HA
left sonnet
https://support.nabucasa.com/hc/en-us/articles/26124710072861-Switching-from-Zig...
I'm not trying to use it as a thread router, I already have a ZBT-2 active as a thread router in HA
I'm wondering if it can be used as a repeater/node, not connected physically to the HA server.
minor dust
Oh sry i should have read it correctly. No.
Currently it's just like the stick, but larger. It needs a border router. You could use a raspberry pi with an otbr docker container or some equivalent to get another border router, or use an esp32 h2 as a repeater.
"No, at the moment Connect ZBT-2 does not have this capability. This is technically possible, and we’ll explore enabling this, but there is no guarantee that this will happen."
left sonnet
the ZBT-2 is set up and working great. No issues there.
Just making sure before I spend more money on something to act as a repeater, that I cannot use the ZBT-1 that is now unused for that purpose.
it seems I cannot.
minor dust
I don't know about the hardware the zbt2 is using, but maybe they would need to use multi-pan (thread and wifi at the same time on the same radio) to accomplish this, but idk. But i can recommend just getting a lot of esp32 h2 or c6. They do come in handy because esphome is so easy to use.
left sonnet
ignore the ZBT-2 haha