I have a setup, where the house and garage are far (~300 feet) apart. Currently I have separate Zigbee networks in both buildings done with SLZB-06 devices, Zigbee2mqtt in HA. I was about to add Thread to both buildings with similar setup, but this article discouraged to take that path.
Due to the distance, I’m not quite sure a single thread radio would suffice. I do have one outdoor light with Zigbee bulb between these buildings. I could replace this with a Matter/Thread bulb and thus extend my mesh to the garage. Any comments? Single point of failure at least.
Based on what I have now read, my choice of radio would probably be ZBT-2 attached to my HA-server in the house. I’d like to go as HA-native as possible and avoid third party apps and configuration. Is there some way of attaching another ZBT-2 in the garage? I have been more than happy with my Zigbee setup as I have LAN cabling between the buildings and POE switch in the garage for the SLZB-06.
According to OTBR guides, a thread network govern by single thread key can be partition in case of connection to a leader in the thread network is lost. In this case, a new leader is selected in group of device that lost connection to previous thread network leader. So technically you can have multiple *otbr, which act as a leader on a different partition, running and routing traffic to thread network on each partition they handle. Not sure how the implementation is done by each manufacturer, but at least that is how otbr do things in their docs. OTBR Thread Primer guide
Thanks! Insightful link for a thread-beginner. I learned a lot. From Thread perspective a network can be split to two islands. But I may have been a bit unclear in my first question. I’ll try to rephrase.
If I have OTBR on HAOS server with ZBT-2 as radio, and this HAOS server is located in my house, could I add another radio (and another OTBR, I assume) in the garage and have all devices of both networks visible and usable in the same HA. This one HA covers my whole property.
If possible, I’d like to do this avoiding 3rd party devices such as Homepod. From what I have read, it just seems to add another layer and app to configuring things.
The more I think of this, I am able to add some Thread devices to work as routers in between the buildings and strengthen the network. At least this seems quite easy and I only have one Thread network to work with.
But I would still be thankful for suggestions on two networks.
If you have good wifi signal in both locations, adding a second TBR makes sense for this scenario. You will get better performance from a second TBR than you would adding several-hop path to the mesh which could add latency and choke bandwidth.
While you could even make them completely separate meshes, there are a couple of incentives to making each segment part of the same network: (a) in the off chance a Thread device on one segment wants to communicate directly with a Thread device on the other segment, Thread will create an encapsulated tunnel over the WiFi (called TREL); but more importantly, (b) commissioning UX on both Apple and Android platforms are so bad right now they won’t let you pick a dataset (credentials) to use if you have multiple to choose from, so having only one dataset stored on your phone is the safest bet when adding new devices.
Regarding your concern about third-party TBRs, I’d offer my experience that, having both OTBR and HomePods mini, I find the OTBR cumbersome and the HomePods effortless. They just work. Rather than adding a layer of configuration, they don’t actually let you configure anything — this can be a challenge if they don’t see a dataset in your keychain they’ll create a new one and you have no UI to set or change it, forcing you to use it on your OTBR as well. I’m basically keeping the OTBR on my network just to serve as a UI for Thread mesh status and info.
I would try adding another HA system in the garage that is just for running/managing an OTBR and use your LAN cabling to it. You may have to experiment with it. You could start by having the Garage OTBR be on the same Thread network as your house OTBR, and see if TREL works in the event you have permanent or temporary partitioning taking place of the Thread network. I really don’t know how well TREL works these days, but I have seen in the past where it doesn’t work so well. If it turns out to not work so well, you can create a new Garage Thread network, and repair the Garage devices to use the new Thread network.
This seems to be a matter of taste, maybe? My (only) source was this video. Referenced device was Matter over Wifi, but I still can easily relate to having multiple apps to configure several things. Actually, this was my primary reason to start HA in the first place. One to rule them all…
Then again, maybe worth a try and an easy start to Matter/Thread by getting a 3rd party TBR. But alas, back to square one; which TBR would be a good choice for garage.
Interesting. I do have an extra raspberry Pi available for garage HA. But then the experimental part. How do I connect those two HA’s so that the Garage one is just a “slave” to run OTBR? All devices and automations would be in the primary House HA. Some investigation produced for example this Reddit post, but for a bit different application.
The physical connection is not a problem, both buildings have the same LAN. But configuration of HA?
Assuming TREL works…
Then you can think of the Garage HA like its some other additional OTBR as part of the same Thread network. Thread was designed for multiple TBRs on the same Thread network (and same LAN), so it “should” just work (but there have been cases where it doesn’t work so well).
The trick will be in getting the House Thread network credentials to the Garage OTBR so that the Garage OTBR can join the same Thread network. This can be done, and there are couple of ways to do it, but I will hold off on that for now.
As far as the Garage HA as a separate HA instance, you can manage it stand-alone by using a different IP address/name and use a Web GUI to manage it. You can even use a Companion App to manage a second HA instance. After the HA instance and its OTBR are setup, there won’t be much to manage other than software updates. It won’t be managing devices.
If TREL doesn’t work…
Then you can make the Garage OTBR is own separate Thread network.
The only tricky part will be commissioning devices onto the Garage OTBR since in this case, the Thread credentials used in the garage are different than the Thread network credentials used in the house. The HA Companion Apps generally can’t deal very well when it comes to commissioning involving multiple Thread credentials, so you may have to dedicate one mobile device for commissioning devices on the house Thread network (it will only contain the house Thread network creds), and a separate mobile device for commissioning devices on the Garage Thread network (it will only contain the garage thread network creds).
In either case, the house HA’s Matter Server will be the one to manage/control devices whether these devices are on the same or separate Thread networks.