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.