Hey everyone,
I’ve had an nRF52840 USB Dongle (originally from MakerDiary) lying around for some years now, to create an OTBR, but have never really got it to work.
I wanted to ask if there have been some updates to the hardware support of dongles with this chip, as the skyconnect seems to be functionally of the same kind, offering the same protocols.
So, is it possible right now to use HomeAssistant and an nRF52840 USB Dongle in a similar fashion as the SkyConnect?
No, the Skyconnect does multiprotocol (fast switching beween Zigbee and Thread), the nRF52840 does not. However, the nRF52840 works fine with HA as an OTBR, if flashed with Thread firmware (I have 2 as OTBR, on 2 HA instances)
Thank you very much for your answer! I don’t need multi-protocol at the moment, so that is fine by me.
Do you have a link explaining what firmware to use, and how to integrate the nRF into HA? I’m guessing it’s RCP firmware?
Install the Openthread Border Router add-on, and the Open Thread Border Router integration
I had to compile the firmware myself
Okay, i have an idea how to do it then, i will try it later. I just wasn’t sure if it’s enough to install the addon, and if it will detect the stick on its own.
Okay, i have HA running with the Add On, but it’s not really working correctly right now.
I’m guessing the most probable answer is, that i don’t have the right firmware yet.
this is the manual I’m following up until “Flashing the firmware”. Can you, or someone else see, if there’s something wrong with it? The nordicsemic manuals are honestly a bit confusing for me to figure out, where to start.
Edit: and for completionist sake, this is the log of the add on
[16:33:09] INFO: The otbr-web is disabled.
s6-rc: info: service mdns: starting
s6-rc: info: service s6rc-oneshot-runner: starting
s6-rc: info: service mdns successfully started
s6-rc: info: service s6rc-oneshot-runner successfully started
s6-rc: info: service fix-attrs: starting
s6-rc: info: service banner: starting
s6-rc: info: service fix-attrs successfully started
s6-rc: info: service legacy-cont-init: starting
s6-rc: info: service legacy-cont-init successfully started
[16:33:09] INFO: Starting mDNS Responder...
Default: mDNSResponder (Engineering Build) (Jan 20 2024 23:48:40) starting
-----------------------------------------------------------
Add-on: OpenThread Border Router
OpenThread Border Router add-on
-----------------------------------------------------------
Add-on version: 2.4.4
You are running the latest version of this add-on.
System: Home Assistant OS 11.4 (amd64 / generic-x86-64)
Home Assistant Core: 2024.1.5
Home Assistant Supervisor: 2023.12.1
-----------------------------------------------------------
Please, share the above information when looking for help
or support in, e.g., GitHub, forums or the Discord chat.
-----------------------------------------------------------
s6-rc: info: service banner successfully started
s6-rc: info: service universal-silabs-flasher: starting
[16:33:10] INFO: Checking /dev/ttyACM0 identifying xHCI Host Controller from Linux 6.1.71-haos xhci-hcd.
[16:33:10] WARNING: No firmware found for the selected device, assuming firmware is installed.
s6-rc: info: service universal-silabs-flasher successfully started
s6-rc: info: service otbr-agent: starting
[16:33:10] INFO: Setup OTBR firewall...
[16:33:10] INFO: Starting otbr-agent...
otbr-agent[189]: [NOTE]-AGENT---: Running 0.3.0-02421b0-dirty
otbr-agent[189]: [NOTE]-AGENT---: Thread version: 1.3.0
otbr-agent[189]: [NOTE]-AGENT---: Thread interface: wpan0
otbr-agent[189]: [NOTE]-AGENT---: Radio URL: spinel+hdlc+uart:///dev/ttyACM0?uart-baudrate=460800&uart-flow-control
otbr-agent[189]: [NOTE]-AGENT---: Radio URL: trel://wlp3s0
otbr-agent[189]: [NOTE]-ILS-----: Infra link selected: wlp3s0
otbr-agent[189]: 00:00:00.011 [N] RoutingManager: BR ULA prefix: fdc3:f957:1203::/48 (loaded)
otbr-agent[189]: 00:00:00.011 [N] RoutingManager: Local on-link prefix: fdd2:c3f7:ae87:3eb0::/64
otbr-agent[189]: 00:00:00.044 [N] Mle-----------: Role disabled -> detached
otbr-agent[189]: 00:00:00.050 [N] Platform------: [netif] Changing interface state to up.
otbr-agent[189]: 00:00:00.057 [W] Platform------: [netif] Failed to process request#2: No such process
otbr-agent[189]: 00:00:00.058 [W] Platform------: [netif] ADD [U] fe80:0:0:0:30e0:b60e:c062:21e3 failed (InvalidArgs)
otbr-agent[189]: 00:00:00.058 [W] Platform------: [netif] Failed to process event, error:InvalidArgs
otbr-agent[189]: 00:00:00.058 [W] Platform------: [netif] ADD [U] fd47:e583:c877:c913:6442:c2d4:8ed2:c86 failed (InvalidArgs)
otbr-agent[189]: 00:00:00.058 [W] Platform------: [netif] Failed to process event, error:InvalidArgs
otbr-agent[189]: 00:00:00.058 [W] Platform------: [netif] ADD [U] fd47:e583:c877:c913:0:ff:fe00:7400 failed (InvalidArgs)
otbr-agent[189]: 00:00:00.058 [W] Platform------: [netif] Failed to process event, error:InvalidArgs
otbr-agent[189]: 00:00:00.058 [W] Platform------: [netif] Failed to process request#6: No such process
s6-rc: info: service otbr-agent successfully started
s6-rc: info: service otbr-agent-rest-discovery: starting
s6-rc: info: service otbr-agent-configure: starting
s6-rc: info: service otbr-agent-configure successfully started
[16:33:11] INFO: Successfully sent discovery information to Home Assistant.
s6-rc: info: service otbr-agent-rest-discovery successfully started
s6-rc: info: service legacy-services: starting
s6-rc: info: service legacy-services successfully started
otbr-agent[189]: 00:00:26.806 [N] Mle-----------: RLOC16 7400 -> fffe
otbr-agent[189]: 00:00:26.808 [W] Platform------: [netif] Failed to process request#7: Operation not supported
otbr-agent[189]: 00:00:27.191 [N] Mle-----------: Attach attempt 1, AnyPartition reattaching with Active Dataset
otbr-agent[189]: 00:00:33.691 [N] RouterTable---: Allocate router id 29
otbr-agent[189]: 00:00:33.692 [N] Mle-----------: RLOC16 fffe -> 7400
otbr-agent[189]: 00:00:33.693 [N] Mle-----------: Role detached -> leader
otbr-agent[189]: 00:00:33.694 [N] Mle-----------: Partition ID 0x787f88b
otbr-agent[189]: 00:00:33.730 [W] Platform------: [netif] Failed to process request#8: File exists
otbr-agent[189]: 00:00:33.730 [W] Platform------: [netif] ADD [U] fd47:e583:c877:c913:0:ff:fe00:fc00 failed (InvalidArgs)
otbr-agent[189]: 00:00:33.730 [W] Platform------: [netif] Failed to process event, error:InvalidArgs
otbr-agent[189]: [NOTE]-BBA-----: BackboneAgent: Backbone Router becomes Primary!
otbr-agent[189]: 00:00:34.588 [W] Platform------: [netif] ADD [U] fd47:e583:c877:c913:0:ff:fe00:fc38 failed (InvalidArgs)
otbr-agent[189]: 00:00:34.588 [W] Platform------: [netif] Failed to process event, error:InvalidArgs
otbr-agent[189]: 00:00:34.589 [W] Platform------: [netif] ADD [U] fd47:e583:c877:c913:0:ff:fe00:fc10 failed (InvalidArgs)
otbr-agent[189]: 00:00:34.589 [W] Platform------: [netif] Failed to process event, error:InvalidArgs
otbr-agent[189]: 00:00:35.865 [W] Platform------: [netif] ADD [U] fdc3:f957:1203:1:cab6:a371:48e3:189e failed (InvalidArgs)
otbr-agent[189]: 00:00:35.865 [W] Platform------: [netif] Failed to process event, error:InvalidArgs
Leaving this here; my build instructions for buildnig and flashnig the nRF52480 connecting over USB… As I had great difficulty finding workign instrctions myself
git clone --recursive https://github.com/openthread/ot-nrf528xx.git
cd ot-nrf528xx
git submodule update --init
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cmake gcc-arm-none-eabi
./script/bootstrap
./script/build nrf52840 USB_trans -DOT_BOOTLOADER=USB
arm-none-eabi-objcopy -O ihex output/nrf52840/bin/ot-rcp output/nrf52840/bin/ot-rcp.hex
Copy HEX File:
ot-rcp.hex to your Windows machine.Open nRF Connect for Desktop:
Enter DFU Bootloader Mode:
Flash Firmware:
ot-rcp.hex.Hi there! Have you been able to find a solution? I tried the guide on the reply above me, I got to the flashing part but it turns out that my nRF52840 dongle is not the same one as theirs. There are 2 versions of this USB dongle on the market, first one is the official (I assume) one, the second one is from MakerDiary that ends with MDK. MDK version does not have the SW1 button to switch it into the DFU bootloader mode, it uses a different bootloader I assume. Looking at its docs, I found this but idk if this is actually what we want, to turn this dongle into an OTBR.
How do we actually turn the MDK one into an OTBR?
edit rereading it - that’s basically what you linked - but yes, that should work
Hey @PandaEngine! I just wrapped up doing this with the mdk version. Here’s what I did:
once you’ve compiled the firmware, you’ll need to convert the hex file to a UF2 file using uf2conv per these instructions Using UF2 Bootloader - nRF52840 MDK USB Dongle
Then on the dongle you can hold the button up top while you plug it in and it’ll flash green and mount as UF2 mass storage device
Then you should be able to just drag the UF2 file onto the device and it’ll flash the application firmware automatically