Eve Energy smart plug thread over HomePod mini

Hello,
first steps with Apple HomeKit.
I have connected my HomeKit App from my Handy to the HASS Bridge integration.
HA has discovered my HomePod mini.
Now i have two smart plugs conneted to the power, i go to the new integration tap and click on “HomeKit-Controller” and the next Tab is “No unpaired devices found” and the HomeKit-Controller is not on my dashboard.
How can i pair the smart plugs with HA?

Hmm… it is possible that i need an other border router?
I see a list of router: Nanoleaf, eero 6 , Echo 4, Nest
Has anyone had experience with it?

@lendrod hey, I want to make sure I’m on the same page as you. First, some terminology.

HA can act as a HomeKit controller, which is normally a function performed by a smart phone.

HomeKit over Thread needs a Border Router. The HomePod Mini is such a device as well as the others you mentioned.

The pairing process for HAP/Thread devices today requires you to use an iOS device to to initial pairing and setup. This will provision the device with the Thread network credentials and begin communicating with your Border Router. After the device connects to Thread (use the Eve app or any mDNS Service Browser app to verify), you then need to unpair (but NOT factory reset!) the accessory from the iOS Home app. After that is complete, it should show up as a newly discovered device in HA. Some devices need a reboot (again, NOT a factory reset) to make them pairable after the unpair from iOS.

I have both a HomePod mini and a Nanoleaf Elements. Both work fine as a Thread Border Router.

I’ve managed to add Eve Energy as Thread device but some values are presented with a lot decimals.

Is that something you can help with how to properly format?

@lambdafunction Thank you for your explanation.
I have now paired 3 smart plugs with my HomeKit on my iPhone.
I can see the 3 plugs on the Eve App too, but when i discover with the App the threat network, i can see that all plugs connected via bluetooth and thread is deactivated. Is this, because all plugs are on the same room for the setup?

@lendrod is the HomePod mini also paired to the same iPhone? I don’t believe there are any other requirements than to have a Border Router and the accessory paired to the same device for Thread to be provisioned.

What is the model of your smart plug?

@smartmatic I’ll start a discussion about adding rounding to floating point numbers in the HK controller

@lambdafunction
The HomePod is paired to my iPhone too.
The smart plug is Eve Energy 20EBO8301. No firmware available.

I’ve noticed that the Thread Map in the settings in the Eve App is sometimes not equal to that what you can see in the device settings. You can also check in the device settings in the Eve App which protocol is used. There is an area Settings > Device > ID
How is the status there? Which protocol is shown?

The Map shos me nothing an under the ID tap i see BLE only.
Thread-Status:deactivated

Hi, so far my window sensors are working as well as Eve Energy.
Unfortunately I have the problem that I have to reload the integration often because some sensors simply go to unavailable.
I have the border router in each room, so it can not be because of that.
Any ideas?

Thanks!

Delete Integration, pair new to HomeKit with eve app. After this delete and add it in HA, then it should work again.

Ok, all steps done and re paired with the eve app to the homepod, but still all of the Eve Energy smart plugs are conneted via ble

@clipse I’m trying to track down that issue currently. Unfortunately it rarely happens in my home so I’m forced to wait.

@lendrod Just to confirm again as your first post mentioned a bridge: both the HomePod mini and the Eve devices are directly paired with the iPhone, nothing in the middle? Can you please provide a few other pieces of info: the firmware version of the HomePod mini & the iOS version of the iPhone? If everything is up to date, you may want to try resetting everything (the HomePod mini + Eve devices) & starting fresh. Pair to the iPhone using the Home app starting with the HomePod mini, then add the Eve devices.

I don’t know what triggers the iPhone to push the Thread credentials or what requirements there are but I do know from my development with the HAP+Thread code that the iPhone (if the mystery requirements are met) will check Thread status & push credentials every time it connects to a BLE device, if that device is not connected to Thread already.

Today I had to re-learn all sensors again :confused: the window sensors are mostly not accessible after a restart. Is stupid if then the heating goes out or no longer goes on :confused:
Again very briefly to the procedure, my Minis are already in HomeKit, then first the Energy on, then the window sensors.
Then remove everything from HomeKit and add via HA. Correct?
The funny thing is that the eve sockets actually work constantly, only the sensors make problems…
I don’t know if this works, but another option would be to create a sensor, group it in HomeKit, then HomeKit should control them at the same time.
Do you think that works?

What a mess, but it works now.
I musst everything reset.

  1. HomePod pairing to HomeKit
  2. Paring the smart Plugs over the EveApp to myHome (thread is working now)
  3. remove all plugs from homekit
  4. Note that you write down the ID from the plugs like Eve 0B28
  5. Paring HA with HomeKit
  6. Now paring the smart plugs with HA
    Notice that the HomeKit-Pin is like xxx-xx-xxx

Now all is fine

But, last question.
Anyone knows a network map for thread now there i can see the signal strengh.
In Eve i could see it, but now the devices are integritated over HA and i can’t discover the thread network with the eve app

I’m experiencing similar behavior. Homekit Controller Thread accessories are pairable and work very well, but will sporadically become unavailable and require some combination of Reloading the Integration, restarting Home Assistant, power cycling all homepod mini’s (thread border routers) and as a last resort a factory reset + repairing of the device itself.

I am seriously considering ripping every thread accessory out of Home Assistant and directly pairing with Homekit again until these random disconnects can be sorted out because it’s making these devices useless half the time

1 Like

I am experiencing the same and so far there is no stable solution available. Maybe @lambdafunction can give more insights and advices as the whole Thread stuff sounds more complex in the background regarding trouble shooting as other protocols.

@smartmatic please see HomeKit Accessory Protocol (HAP) over CoAP/UDP (was: Nanoleaf Essentials bulb via Thread/CoAP) - #265 by lambdafunction for a possible fix

People you don’t want to believe it, it’s actually come true Today I was able to successfully insert my Eve Plugs into HA with Matter via HomeKit (coupling code)!!

Edit: Also Door/Window Contact works