I have an Onvis HS2 that doesn’t make any sense when it comes to pairing with HA. I have other Thread/Matter/HomeKit devices which have all been setup either natively in HA or simply paired with HomeKit and then shared with HA, so it’s not like I haven’t done this before (or read about other people setting it up), but this particular device only pairs with HomeKit and when I go in to share it with HA, it’s simply not an option - I can only remove it. I’ve read through other people’s write-ups for this device and I simply do not have the same experience. If I put the device into pairing mode, HA immediately picks it up, but then times-out when preparing to configure it. I’ve done this with the Bluetooth dongle attached to the server, I’ve done this with a BT proxy on the other end of the house… all produce the same issue.
Before anyone suggests adding it to HomeKit and then removing it so it stays on the Thread network… that doesn’t work either. I’ve looked at my OpenThread border router as well as Onvis’ app and I can confirm that the device is now on the Thread network and not stuck in BT, but I simply can’t find a way to set this up in HA.
If anybody has either set this up or knows of some obscure way to configure this, I will be eternally grateful because this is a pretty sweet switch and I’d really like to use it.
I think I may have figured this out after a lot of button pushing. So much button pushing that the battery in the thing is down to 20%. Here is what I did. Reset switch to factory setting. Take out battery for good measure. Put battery back in. Add the switch to the onvis app. Go to Thread integration. I assume you have an Apple Thread Border router that the switch can connect to. Mine is a HomePod mini which I did integrate into HA (don’t think this is important though). Here is the important piece…
Go to your list of thread border routers and for the Apple router, click the three dots and select - Used for Android + iOS credentials
Make sure the key icon is next to the Apple OTBR…
Then try adding the device using the Apple HomeKit.
This seemed to work for me. Have not set up any automations yet. But we shall see. I hope it works for you!Happy to share anything else I find out as fumble through this.
Thanks for replying but I’m pretty sure I’ve done all (except for add through the Onvis app) before. I recreated your steps including pulling the battery and using the app, and I still have the same issue. Curious, when you say “Apple BorderRouter”, is that a separate entity in your preferred network? I have the homepods and the central-ish one in the house is the one that I have set to use for mobile credentials (iOS). Am I missing something in my configuration? I have other thread devices that were easy to share with HA but this still only presents me with the option to remove the device. If I do that and then try to add it in HA, I get a different error complaining that the device is already paired.
Hmmm…I have 2 thread border routers - A Tado X and An Apple HomePod mini. When I look at my preferred network it is actually named after the Tado, but both are listed. I assume they are part of one big network, but I am new to thread so I am not exactly sure. I do have some Nanoleaf lightbulbs that I tried to switch to the apple thread router, but that router was not an option. So perhaps they are separate things.
I retried my steps and was successful in adding a second Onvis switch. I pulled the battery tab, added it to Onvis app. To me, it seems that using the onvis app is key. When I added it in the Onvis app the HomeKit integration could not find it saying there are no unpaired devices. I went into the onvis app, found the button, went to button settings. Clicked remove accessory. The I did that the HomeKit integration immediately found the button. It was literally immediate. Let me know if I can add any other insight.
Is it just me or does this only register every button input as a long press? I’m clicking as fast as possible, and there are no signs of latency, but I only ever see long presses, not shorts or doubles.
Mine also registers as long press. Restarting takes care of it, you say…I am going to dig into that next. There was another thread that was discussing this, but I passed it by. Will go back.
I did add a second button automation and it did work so I think it is in order. How exciting when it all comes together.
Just FYI because it sounds like you’re just beginning to program out the buttons for this: there’s a blueprint that looks to make this a very simple task:
@Pre Did your buttons happen to stop working today? Sometimes HA notes the trigger, but automations don’t go. I can’t add anymore switches either. I think there was an update yesterday but not sure if that was the issue. Hmmm…I note also that all the triggers are missing when making a new automation. The buttons are gone.
@matthew.over.thread Hmm… I haven’t fully programmed it yet, but it’s been sitting on my desk and a couple of times I’ve gone and tested it and it has worked exactly as intended. Are you running HA OS or some other version (Docker/Core)?
I am running HA Yellow. It was all working beautifully and then not sure what happened. I tried to add them again, but HA now says they are paired already reset and try again. Ug…
I still haven’t programmed mine yet (it’s intended to be a master controller for people without access to HA as well as a convenient way to turn things off when leaving/returning so I need to be a little methodical with it.) Regardless, I just tested it again and it’s still working exactly as expected, so fingers crossed it stays working from here on out.
These do seem to be a bit fickle with HA (the catalyst for this topic) but at least mine seems to not have any issues with staying on the Thread network since it would also work as expected when I could only pair it through HomeKit.
I hate to do the generic tech support thing, but are you running the latest version of HA? Have you changed anything else, especially HomeKit or Thread related? If you open up the OpenThread web ui (don’t forget API as well - my web ui wouldn’t load until I did that), do you see them when they’re joined? Consistently, as soon as I would reset the device and then pair it with the Thread network, I would get a stable connection. I would delete it from HA, reset it by holding the center button for 15-20 seconds until the light blinks through a few colors, and then try just adding it and monitoring it on the router for a day or two. If that appears stable, you might have an issue in HA; I’ve found certain things related to connectivity in HA can have significant impact on things. Like I have a matter button that turns on a lamp that has five matter bulbs in it. If one of those bulbs has high-latency, it can sometimes break the light helper that the button toggles which in turn breaks the whole chain until I restart HA. Not saying HA has issues with dangling operations, but it’s a soft correlation.
@Pre Thanks for the tips. I am not sure what happened. It was messy. I tried to reconnect them but only have had a little luck.
I am pretty sure I am running the latest HA and I don’t think I changed anything, but obviously something changed. I ended up rolling back with a backup and started fresh, but it wasn’t easy getting anything paired. Of the ones I did get paired, only one is working.
I used a network view app and I see some of them on the network. It actually looks like some of them are repeated - same address with an extra 1 added. Not sure how to fully remove them from the network and start fresh. Can you tell me what Open Thread ui is? Perhaps this could be helpful.
I have this issue with some Nanoleaf bulbs. It is interesting that when I use Siri the bulbs behave, but when I attempted to use the Onvis switch it was a crazy display of lights blinking.
I also tried to commission the Onvis switches through a bluetooth proxy thinking it would be easier then using the Onvis App. This was a dud. The switches were recognized immediately but the errors kept coming, in particular an error about not having enough slots? and also an error that said maybe the device isn’t compatible. This should not be the case, but I could never get it to pass from bluetooth to thread. I am not going to give up on the switches yet, but they make me wonder if zigbee would not be easier. Again, thanks for the help!
Baaahhh! My cats knocked it off the wall this morning and the back-lid popped off, jostling the battery and resetting it. Now I’m having trouble pairing mine again. Not quite ready to quit, but I am close.
OpenThread Border Router is an add-on for Thread integration. I’m assuming you are running it. If you go into to configure it, you can set the exposed ports for the web and API interface and then directly view your thread network and the nodes attached.
I had the same problem(s) with a bluetooth proxy.
Sorry I can’t be of more assistance. Would love it if someone else chimed in here but I doubt it now that the original post is solved. I’m going to spend a few minutes seeing if I can get this button paired again but I’m really losing my patience with it.
I’m sorry @matthew.over.thread, but I am reopening this and have unmarked it as solved. I’ve spent about an hour doing the same exact thing as before and now it’s not working. Hopefully somebody has a reliable way of doing this and happens to find their way into this topic.
@Pre Don’t apologize! I was only able to get 3 re-paired and I don’t know why. The other 3 won’t budge. They seem to be paired to some other house or device. Who knows where! I have not given up yet either, but I may return them.
Thanks for the tip on Open Thread. I am actually using a Tado X border router. Seems to work, but not sure which the things are connected to - The Tado or my HomePod mini. May seat up an open thread and see if that helps. I had such high hopes for the Onvis. Such as life in the smart home space.
