tl,dr: Any idea how to pair a specific blasted Matter over Thead device to my network?
So it seems that Ikea’s new ALPSTUGA air quality sensors are giving everyone a lot of grief getting connected to Matter.
The customer reviews on their own site for this and other new Matter products list a litany of problems (yes, I read the translations) - including:
unable to pair at all - including with Ikea’s own Matter hubs,
clocks resetting,
unreliable readings,
the TIMMERFLOTTE temp and humidity sensor product not having support for calculating even a single decimal point for temperature despite that being a core complaint about their previous Zigbee products,
a manual that doesn’t fully explain each coloured light, and
not pushing actual values into Apple Home if paired via Homekit.
Well, I’ve become the latest person to have similar issues.
Network: UniFi Express 7, and associated unmanaged switches
mDNS/avhci is on
Border router: Apple Homepod Mini (with an Apple TV 4th Gen available if needed), credentials have been sync’d, and this router is set for Android and iOS credentials (symbol is showing)
Steps taken to resolve
Removed Matter, Thread, and Open Thread Border Router integrations in full.
Reboot rpi.
Re-add Matter and Thread integrations.
Attempt to pair via HA companion app
Result: no success. Reaches Setting Up, then after 3-5minutes returns Unable to add accessory - pairing failed; with bonus error of Failed to save thread network credential, error: Thread network credentials does not match with any of the active thread networks around
Attempt to pair via Apple’s Home app
Result: no success, same error as (4)
Power cycle accessory, and attempt 4 and 5
(same behaviour).
Attempt factory reset per manufacturer’s manual
Result: unsuccessful first time, behaviour does not work as documented, repeat behaviour and try step 4 again with success.
And just as I finish writing this, after having performed another factory reset on the device, and attempt to pair via the HA companion app… it bloody well decides to start working.
AARGH.
Anyway, going to leave this here in case it helps anyone out. Good luck.
I guess I lucked out, I had no issues pairing mine at all–I’m using an Apple TV 4K Wifi+Ethernet and a Nest Hub as my thread border routers (they’re on the same Thread network). I’m not using Ikea’s Drigera Hub or the Open Thread Border Router integration.
I paired the device to Home Assistant first via the companion app, then shared the Matter device over to Apple Home. So far the temperature and humidity readings have been consistent and appear relatively accurate, though I haven’t compared it to a calibrated reference yet. The CO2 and particulate readings are consistent, but I’m skeptical that they’re well calibrated–CO2 in particular looks implausibly high. That wouldn’t be unexpected, and generally I’m of the opinion that most of these consumer-grade air quality sensors should be treated more as directional/approximate indicators of air quality rather than as accurate and precise measurements.
In regards to the clock–this one frustrated me a bit. I initially set the clock manually, but the device’s clock has no internal battery, so unplugging it will clear the set time. And while the device supports syncing the clock, it wasn’t doing so when paired to Home Assistant, and I’m not sure why. I saw a mention on Reddit that it worked when paired with Apple Home, and sure enough once I shared the device there the clock immediately synced.
I just managed to pair one of these after struggling to set up a brand new Thread+Matter network with the ZBT-2 I just received.
The ALPSTUGA was the very first thread/matter device I ever tried to pair, and I struggled a lot. After trying countless things including deleting thread/matter integrations/addons, rebooting etc I finally managed to set it up and actually pair stuff. I think what got me out of the endless error loop was using my phone, and in the HA app go to Settings->Companion App->Troubleshooting->Sync Thread credentials. For me the “Send credentials to Home Assistant” button on the Thread integration always failed. Anyway, once I did this I was able to pair this device as well as their BILRESA remote controls with no issues.
Same here, it only starting working after a reset (10 seconds hold on the button and red led’s displayed). This seems to work good for most new IKEA matter devices, except the bulbs off-course …
Same here - Synch Thread credentials was done but I also needed around 10 tries without changing anything in the configuration. Just kept trying.
Good luck everyone here!
Bought one of these this weekend and set it up this morning. Already dropped off the network 3 times!! Powering it off and back on seems to work (for a while).
In contrast, I bought the Myggbett door sensor and set that up 2 weeks ago and its been solid ever since.
I also had problems connecting the ALPSTUGA sensor to HA. I have Thread network set up using ZBT-1. I have tried twice to add the device using HA Companion App on iPhone, but each time I got a pairing failed message. Then I tried to restart the device by simply disconnecting it from power and after restarting, the device paired immediately.
I wasted at least a day trying various variations of OTBR docker containers and their settings but was always unable to add the Alpstuga using the Companion app. It always gave an error message saying it needed a border router! Following your instructions and a factory reset on the Alpstuga and it immediately connected.
And by factory reset you mean holding the left button until the countdown finishes? I always get the error “pairing failed” on my ZBT-1. Disconnecting it from power did nothing for me, neither after I reset with the button nor alone.
Update: For me switching the ZBT-2 → Thread and the ZBT-1 → Zigbee made the difference.
Seems like the ZBT-1 wasn’t able to provide a Thread-Network thad ALPSTUGA could connect to.
This worked for me too! It makes no sense though, I was able to add other Ikea devices. I added a BILRESA just minutes earlier but the ALPSTUGA was having none of it! Re-sync the credentials and boom the ALPSTUGA added correctly.
Wanted to share an alternative method for adding in HA, in case others find this thread but the steps here don’t work for them. It bypasses using a phone: How to use Home Assistant to add Matter devices without a phone | Matter Alpha I hope it’s ok to share this link as it was the method that finally worked for me.
You need your HA to have access to a bluetooth device for this to work - e.g. via a USB dongle or if it’s running on a computer with it built in.
Background for me: I have two ALPSTUGA and couldn’t pair either. I’m using Home Assistant and a ‘Sonoff universal zigbee 3.0 usb dongle plus’, flashed with Thread firmware. HA runs inside a VirtualBox on Mint Linux, on a Beelink N150 box.
I tried a lot of things recommended in various places across the web: ensure 2.4ghz only for wifi, IPv6 enabled in HA and router, factory resetting the ALPSTUGA, syncing the credentials a bunch of times, ensuring phone/router/alpstuga/HA box+dongle all physically very close together. Double and triple checked my set up within HA. I added some Wiz bulbs (which I think are Matter over wi-fi but at least it showed some of the process working). Restarted iPhone, updated iPhone, checked Android version etc. Switched the Matter server in HA to use beta.
I tried it with two phones - an iPhone and an Android, but neither worked. Android gives more information and showed that it was consistently falling over at the Thread credentials step, but as I say, attempts to resync the credentials didn’t work. I looked at the Thread and Matter server logs but couldn’t understand it well enough to glean anything useful.
(I do have another instance of HA running in docker on the same computer, that I’m transferring away from. I haven’t done anything with Matter/Thread in the docker one, but my phone companion apps are connected to both HA instances. I have just wondered if that could interfere with the Thread credentials on the phones somehow. I haven’t tested and don’t plan to since my devices are now working and I don’t want to risk messing it up.)
