Given that Ikea seem to be transitioning their devices from Zigbee to Matter over Thread, I thought I would get myself a USB dongle to add this functionality to my HA instance. I’ve already got a SONOFF Universal Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus which seems to work flawlessly for Zigbee so I’m considering the Sonoff EFR32MG21 for use with Thread. Is this a good choice? Is there a better choice for a similar cost? Will it be as simple to get it up and running and add Matter over Thread devices as it was with Zigbee? I’ll probably get an Ikea Myggspray motion detector as my first device.
I ordered a second Sonoff Zigbee/Thread dongle. I flashed it to Open Thread 2.4.4 and in the hardware of HA this dongle shows. However the Thread integration does not 'see' it.
In order to add a Thread router to the integration it asks for "Provide URL for the OpenThread Border Router's REST API" , but I have no idea where to find this.
What helped immensely with the stability of my thread network was a bunch of thread-enabled smart plugs strategically places around the house to form the 'core' network.
I just flashed an Espressif ESP32-C6 dev board with Espressif’s example code for an RCP and it works fine plugged straight into Home Assistant’s USB port. This is a standard $10 part you buy on Amazon. What you don’t get is a nice plastic enclosure.
An ESP32-H2 would work as well. The example is buildable for either chip.
The example code is packaged with the Espressif native development system in a folder called “examples”. Build using the defaults.
That said. You do NOT need a dongle for Matter over Thread. What you need is a Border Router. An Apple HomePod Mini has a Border Router inside and that is enough. The Apple device will move data between Thread and WiFi but costs $100. The dongle lets you run a Border Router on the HA server, which costs far less, as little as a $10 chip. or $50 for the Nebu Casa dongle
As for commercial-made products, the cheapest comerccial border router I own is the Aqara M100 hub. It has many functions, one being a border router. It costs $29 on Amazon. It does NOT plug into HA. I have mine plugged into a USB-C charger in an upstairs bathroom.
