Hi,
I just found out that the Eve Shutter Switch has only Thread but no Matter Support. Is there still a way to add it to my Home Assistant Thread Board Router without any Homekit Device (I don’t have any Apple Device).
BR,
Martin
According to the HomeKit Device integration docs, there are two ways to add a HomeKit-over-Thread device to HA: using Bluetooth first and converting to Thread, or using an Apple border router. Since you don’t have an Apple TBR, review the prerequisites for using Bluetooth and hopefully that will work for you.
Thanks a lot got it working!! Did not think that I can add Homekit Devices without an Apple device.
For initial device setup it requires Bluetooth from your HomeAssistant (I just had to forward the Bluetooth USB device via Proxmox to Homeassistant).
Then I was able to follow the instructions to switch the device from Bluetooth to Thread. Works now really great and also a lot faster and more reliable then via Bluetooth.
In Generale that means I can also use all Thread Homekit devices now!! That’s awesome.
The only issue is with the setup, as the device needs to be nearby to home Assistant Server.
Is it also possible to use the phone Bluetooth for the pairing and switch to Thread?
As of today, the developers of the HA mobile companion app for iOS haven’t added this feature for HomeKit-over-Thread pairing yet, but it does work for Matter-over-Thread should you ever have one of those devices.
You can, however, use Bluetooth proxies to extend the reach of your HA server’s listening range, which can be created by installing custom esphome firmware on an inexpensive esp32 module. (interestingly, Bluetooth proxies do not help extend range for Matter commissioning).
Yes i have also Matter over Thread Devices and their the commissioning via the Android App works (no Bluetooth Proxy is needed).
Just for Homekit Devices their is no commissioning via the phone possible. You can just add Devices that are already found by the Home Assistant Server.
Would be great if I could just use the Phone as Bluetooth Proxy for Home Assistant until I switch the Homekit Device to Thread.
Just as a side note to this topic: The Eve Shutter Switch is supposed to receive a firmware update to support Matter in the future.
BUT you will need a HomeKit device to perform this upgrade. If you do not have the Shutter Switch yet and can wait for some time, it might be easier to buy them when they start to sell the Matter version (usually shortly after the upgrade is out).
Firmware update via Home Assistant will not be supported?
I already setup two Eve Aqua with the Home Assistant Homekit Integration.
It does not seem to be the case, at least this is not the designed way (I have no information whether there will be an unofficial way.):
Make sure a Thread Border Router capable Home Hub like a HomePod (2nd gen.), HomePod mini or Apple TV 4K (2nd gen. / 3rd gen. 128 GB) is connected to your network, updated to version 16.4 (or later).
Source, scroll to How to upgrade your Eve device / System requirements
HA does not support OTA upgrades of HomeKit devices. Once the device runs Matter protocol, the vendor can (optionally) implement OTA upgrades that can be done via HA.
I succeeded with the setup for the Eve Aqua but still have issues with the Eve Shutter Switch.
I was able to add the Device to home assistant and configure it for Thread but unfortunately i can’t do the initial setup via the home assistant homekit integration. Without the setup the shutter position is unknown and i can only press the down button in the home assistant. It seems the Eve App is required for that. Any suggestion what i can still try?
Shouldn’t the Shutter switch also work as a “dumb” switch? Maybe you could move the shutter to both end positions manually and that counts as a calibration.
(I know devices like phones or laptops do not measure battery level precisely, but rather estimate it. If that estimation is off, there is some procedure to calibrate again, e.g., keep it some hours at the charger, drain battery until it turns off, then charge again. Maybe there could be a comparable underlying mechanism for the shutter switch.)
Otherwise, I would just try setting it up in the Eve app, which by now is also available on Android if I remember correctly.
FYI: Matter update is finally there.
Edit: Also, the new version with Matter can be bought as of now.
Is there some way to upgrade to Matter without an Apple Device?
Would be great if that would work via Home Assistant HomeKit integration.
My educated guess would be that this is rather not possible. Are you able to do regular firmware updates with the HomeKit integration?