HA running "bare metal" on a mini PC, ZBT-2 Thread radio. Located in the middle of a 4 bed bungalow.
I've got a load of Ikea Thread devices, but have been suffering a lot of "offline/unavailable" problems with the GU10 lightbulbs in the rooms at both ends of the house. Seemingly completely random. They come back online after power-cycling, but within a few hours a different one (or four!) go offline.
4 days ago I added my Apple TV in the living room as a second Border Router to the ZBT-2 Thread network, and that side of the house has been fine ever since.
I want to add a third Border Router to the other side of the house to improve stability there, but not sure what the best device would be?
We could add another Apple TV or an Apple speaker (neither of which we actually need), or replace one of the older generation Echo Show devices.
What's the best value dual-purpose device to get that will do something useful, as well as beefing-up the Thread network?
I have a related question. I use a Sonoff Dongle for Thread and it works fine.
However in the Thread Integration it shows Amazon as a second available Thread router. How do add this / make it work ?
Adding more Border Routers is not recommended to stabilise a Thread Mesh. Especially when you mix up different brands (Amazon/Apple and so on) it could even destabilise everything if the border routers don't perfectly work together. Another border router only adds some kind of redundancy to the system in case the first border router goes up in flames or something...
Adding more ROUTERS like plugs and bulbs WILL stabilise and extend your mesh and is surely more reasonable.
Get some Ikea Grillplats (about 9€/$) and spread them throughout your house.
You should also have a look at your WiFi Settings (2,4Ghz) and make sure that your Thread radio channel doesn't overlap or interfere with WiFi.
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I've already got 14 Grillplats plugs, spread as evenly as possible around the house.
Opinion seems to be split regarding having more than one Border Router, which is why I tried pretty much everything else before adding the Apple TV to my Thread network.
Wifi is on channels 5,6 and 11. Thread is on channel 25
In my case, adding it has helped stabilise that side of the house.
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Thanks for the explanation.
