Ikea and Home Assistant (Grillplats)

Configuration Matter/Thread
1

Hi everyone,

this is my first post so i hope i can provide all needed information.

Issue: So i am trying to pair my Grillplats (Smart Plugs Matter over Thread) with my Ikea APP and Home Assistant. The reason is that i want to be able to use Alexa with them without paying for an additional subscription. I can pair the Grillplats easily to the IKEA App but then i am unable to link them to my home assistant.

System: I am using a Ugreen DXP 4800 Pluis and run Home Assistant OS via Virtual Machine. I use Ikea Dirigera as a HUB and have it paired as preferred Network in HA.

Problem Solutions i tried:

  1. Activating IPV6 in the Settings and via Console
  2. Unpairing and Pairing the Dirigera Hub in the hopes of the Matter Devices like the Grillplats getting carried over - Does not work
  3. Syncing Thread Network via Companion App -> Troubleshooting -> Syncing
  4. Trying to pair with Home assistant first. (this caused another issue that when the Dirigera hub went offline once all devices in HA did not pair again and were basically useless in HA)

I used google search and tried Troubleshooting with AI without success.

I only find negative points on this topic. So is Ikea not doable or am i overseeing something?

2

I don't know if this is helpful, but I added the Grillplats directly to HA without a IKEA App, by using the Thread method. I am not sure that one can have access to Alexa without a Nabu Casa subscription or another pathway to Alexa.

3

Thanks for the reply - In the beginning i had this aswell but i looked around and was not able to integrate Alexa so i went back to adding it to ikea first.

I also had a completely different issue aswell with just having the Plugs in HA. When they lost connection to the dirigera hub, because i restartet it they all showed as unavailable in HA and i was not able to make them available again.

At this moment i am just really close to quitting ikea Smart Home alltogether as it just does not work properly. (Or atleast in the way i think it's good)

4

I dont think that Ikea is the issue. I have several Grillplats plugs and leak sensors as well. They work fine. You may have an issue of Thread.

5

Do you have a Thread Border Router on your HA computer?

At first I just tried adding a single Ikea Thread motion sensor to HA using my Apple TV as the Border Router. I didn't have an Ikea Hub.

Once I had proven to myself that the sensor worked, I bought a ZBT-2 Border Router, and added that to HA, set up as my preferred Thread network.

I bought a load of other Ikea Thread devices. I added the Grillplats plugs first (add Matter device), then the lightbulbs, finally the battery-powered switches and sensors. All done via the HA Matter integration.

I then used the "share this Matter device" option in HA to generate the pairing code, and added the device to Alexa.

All my Ikea plugs and lightbulbs can be directly controlled by Alexa (voice, or routines), and the Ikea switches can be used to trigger Alexa routines.

I do most automations using HA, but Alexa voice/switch control is very useful, especially since I've got a couple of devices which HA simply cannot control, but Alexa can.

1 Like
6

Most common problem with Matter over Thread is the IPv6/mDNS forwarding when HA ist running in a VM. Can't exactly tell you what to configure since I'm running HA on a RasPi but i know there's a solution. Can't find the Thread at the moment but with a little research probably doable.