i came here hoping there was something similar for the ESP Kit, to be honest. It has a ethernet module so this product was super convenient for me.
Greetings! I just wanted to mention the following for anyone following this thread (get it? thread? 
). Anyway:
I was able to purchase an ESP Thread Border Router/Zigbee Gateway Board for roughly $16 USD and, after following these instructions, I now have a fully functional OTBR acting as my preferred Thread network! I have it connected via WiFi to the same network as my HA and was able to commission my Eve Room with no issue. It’s been rock solid for the last week or so, but I’ll update here if that changes.
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That’s great news! Do you have Apple devices that you were able to join? I’m considering moving all my 25-30 Homekit/Thread devices (and a few Matter) back to my Apple HomePod Thread network, as that’s the only way to access the devices from their iOS apps to install firmware updates or access settings that are not exposed to the Homekit integration (e.g. the calibration offset for thermostats).
Edit:
To add the device, just add the Thread integration again and provide the IP Address of the OTBR. I used the IP v6 address, and it added. However, there was no secrets used, so how is it secured?
Edit 2:
Once the OTBR thread has been attached to Home Assistant, there is then a method to join it to the preferred Thread network (for me this was an Apple network).
So now I have an Espressif OTBR device sucessfully joined into the Apple Thread Network. Who Hoo!!
Hi @HackThePlanet - I have picked up the espressif OTBR as well (plus the ethernet adapter).
I can see the network it has formed from HomeAssistant.
How did you manage to join its Thread network?
thanks
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I have an Eve Room connected (which is a Thread-based HomeKit device) but I haven’t tested specifically with any Apple-made devices. I can tell you that the connection with the Eve Room has been rock solid. Much more reliable than BLE or Thread using SkyConnect.
PS: Sorry for not responding earlier. I guess my email notifications were turned off.
Sorry for not responding earlier. Glad to hear you got it working!
Heya - how did you get this to work? I bought (I think) the same board - (Amazon.com: ESP Thread Border Router/Zigbee Gateway Board : Electronics) and followed the instructions you linked, but it keeps failing - telling me that I"m using the wrong chip. If you’ve got any guidance, I’m stumped.
Cheers and TIA
Follow these:
https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-thread-br/en/latest/dev-guide/build_and_run.html
and you can try to switch USB port if flashing fails.
That was the ticket - they really need to include that in the docs.
Any idea if there’s a way to use this guy to onboard zigbee devices as well?
There is no multi-protocol stack, so no Zigbee.
Gotcha, thanks.
Just want to chime in. I bought the Espressif board for $10 off Amazon. I have been struggling hard to get this to work. I run through both sets of instructions but it seems like the config I save (wifi settings, auto start, etc) do not save. As I have tinkered with this, I have booted into the console of the board, and was able to specify wifi details, connect, and even start thread. But when I unplug the device from my pc and plug it into a power brick nothing happens (I am assuming the settings I entered did not save persistent through a reboot). Going to admit defeat and return this thing.