Thread Connection Issues — Home Assistant + Nanoleaf + Aqara + Apple Thread Network

Configuration Matter/Thread
1

Hey everyone — looking for some help troubleshooting what’s become a pretty frustrating issue.

I’ve had a solid Home Assistant setup for quite a while, but recently most of my Thread devices have stopped connecting or responding properly.

:white_check_mark: Working:

  • Home Assistant overall
  • Nanoleaf Shapes panels — working fine via the standard Nanoleaf integration (non-Thread)
  • Zigbee devices — all good, running on a SONOFF ZBDongle-E

:x: Not working:

  • Nanoleaf A19 bulbs (Thread, connected via HomeKit integration) — all suddenly stopped responding and now show as unavailable
  • Aqara T2 Matter bulbs (Thread) — one paired successfully to HA, the other fails to pair with both Home Assistant and Apple Home
  • OpenThread Border Router — fails to start up in Home Assistant, and I’m unable to add or re-add it manually through the UI

:jigsaw: Hardware / Network Details:

Raspberry Pi 4 running Home Assistant OS (Core 2025.10.3)

  • Thread radio:** ZBT-1 (Firmware: OpenThread RCP 2.4.4.0)
  • Zigbee radio:** SONOFF ZBDongle-E
  • Apple TV 4K** — Thread Border Router
  • Nanoleaf Shapes panel** — also a Thread Border Router
  • All devices configured to use the same Thread network
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Symptoms:

  • Home Assistant’s Thread integration shows the network, but the OpenThread Border Router repeatedly fails to start.
  • Attempting to manually add the OpenThread router fails or doesn’t persist.
  • Thread devices are able to join the network, but are unreachable after joining
  • New Matter devices (like the Aqara bulb) fail commissioning.

What I’ve Tried:

  • Restarted all border routers (Apple TV, Nanoleaf panel, HA Thread radio)
  • Power-cycled the affected bulbs
  • Verified all firmware is up to date
  • Checked logs — seeing repeated startup failures from the OpenThread add-on

At this point, it seems like something’s out of sync between Home Assistant’s Thread network and Apple’s, or possibly a firmware issue with OpenThread RCP 2.4.4.0 on the ZBT-1.

Has anyone run into similar issues with their OpenThread border router not starting in HA, or seen multi-border-router Thread networks go out of sync like this?

Would a full Thread network reset and rejoin be the best move here, or is there a known compatibility issue with this firmware version?

2

For sure this is the first problem that needs to be looked at.
Do the OTBR logs reveal anything?

3

Do you have a coverage issue that necessitates having three separate thread border routers? Ordinarily one or two is more than enough to get packets from one network to the other, and using repeating nodes is a better way to extend coverage. Remember, Thread is network infrastructure and HA doesn’t need to have its own TBR for the network to do its thing. I would argue considering disabling the HA OTBR add-on until you get your other TBRs straightened out.

Thread troubleshooting is inconvenient and poorly documented, but the best tools I’ve found are mdns / zeroconf browsers that show the IP addresses of Thread devices, allowing you to ping and traceroute to them to verify connectivity. If they’re on your network, your HomeKit (WiFi and Thread) devices will appear under the _hap._tcp.local service, and your Matter-over-Thread devices will appear under the _matter._tcp.local service. Devices with an open Matter commissioning window appear under _matterc._udp. If they are not appearing then either your browser is on the wrong vlan, or they are not on the Thread network yet, or there is a problem with one or both TBRs.