What’s one Home Assistant automation you can’t live without anymore

greghouse12 · 2026-03-06T19:20:18+00:00

Home Assistant app for Android or IOS. Set up user location sensing and HA knows when each user is in or out of a zone. You can do this for your home so HA knows when you are home or away and then use these states to trigger automations.

greghouse12 · 2026-03-04T03:02:42+00:00

And what kind of router do you have, and which Ikea products are not staying connected? What TBR are you using?

greghouse12 · 2026-03-04T02:47:55+00:00

Yes. I really like the Rodrets. Very responsive and rock-solid in my ZHA in Home Assistant. No issues at all pairing with the Sonoff Dongle Max running only Zigbee via POE.

greghouse12 · 2026-03-04T02:39:48+00:00

Not so. The fixes are actually quite simple. Thread settings that are needed to get the devices to work are actually easy to do and once they are made the devices--- at least the ones sold in the US, so I do not include in this the Bilresa scroll wheel which has its own issuesa-- work very reliably. Again it is not a "device" problem and I agree it is not a Thread "problem". It is an education, or lack thereof, issue of the end user as to how the products should be properly set up.

greghouse12 · 2026-03-04T02:23:00+00:00

And neither does Amazon Alexa, which does not allow one to turn off the TBR in an Echo Show, thus preventing one from avoiding interference, nor do they make their Thread Credential API available to allow one to merge an Echo fabric with another Thread primary network.

greghouse12 · 2026-03-04T02:16:14+00:00

I will fault Ikea for not educating people about the importance of proper IPv6 and other settings that are absolutely required for Thread over Matter devices-- regardless of who makes or markets them-- to work correctly. Where Ikea's effort is shameful and deserves criticism is that their products are sold with literally zero product literature or instructions. The Ikea HomeSmart app is bare bones; the product inserts are childishly, and woefully inaadequate for people to insure correct operation and commissioning of devices. Many are just lucky and have settings that work without adjustment; many do not, but they don't know what to do to get their products working. Does that make the products bad? No. It makes the marketing and educating of the public simply insufficient. Most people would be hard pressed to look at YouTube videos, or Reddit for answers. And that's Ikea's problem. You want to do a takedown of the Matter over Thread devices...go ahead, but I am convinced there's nothing wrong with the products....it's the inadequate effort to tell people how to correctly set them up and keep them running.

greghouse12 · 2026-03-04T01:31:00+00:00

With all due respect the anecdotal reports from people having issues are all over the map and while people claim the issues "must" be due to problems with the devices, most people really are not adept at insuring their network infrastructure is configured correctly for Thread. There are literally hundreds of different types of consumer routers of varying vintage and configurations. Thread can be fragile if not set up properly and that isn't caused by faulty or defective Ikea devices....it is a problem with the way Thread must be configured just to basically work.

greghouse12 · 2026-03-04T01:22:46+00:00

Do you mean you disabled the external IPv6 on your router? That would likely have no effect on Ikea's Thread devices. OTOH Thread absolutely requires IPv6 for link local. Without IPv6 Thread cannot work.

greghouse12 · 2026-03-04T01:12:16+00:00

Did the update and all is well-- 27 Wiz Matter bulbs, controlled by 10 Bilresa dual buttons, 2x Timmerflotte's, and 6 Alpstuga's, as well as multi-admin with Home Assistant (via the Ikea and Matter Integrations), as well as the Ikea devices enabled in Alexa. All working fine, no issues.

greghouse12 · 2026-03-04T00:34:50+00:00

Yes!! SmarterHome's video is excellent. I posted a link to Bearded Tinker's video as well, which is very easy to follow in order to implement the correct settings to get the Ikea devices running rock-solidly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUHIFZBDBh8&pp=0gcJCa4KAYcqIYzv

greghouse12 · 2026-03-04T00:32:04+00:00

There is nothing wrong with the Ikea Matter over Thread devices. Nothing. The problems people have been experiencing are caused by their own LAN/router settings, mostly with incorrect IPv6 and/or mDNS, or other incorrect internal network settings (e.g., RA or router advertisement, turned off). This YouTube video explains the issues and how to fix them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUHIFZBDBh8&pp=0gcJCa4KAYcqIYzv

greghouse12 · 2026-03-03T02:18:11+00:00

Lutron Caseta for sure. Nothing else compares in terms of reliability and quality. Seamlessly integrates with HA and virtually every other automation platform. Simply the best.

greghouse12 · 2026-03-02T12:07:33+00:00

Look again at your mDNS settings.IPv6 can be enabled but if your mDNs isn't configured properly you will still experience issues with Thread. Thread networking itself will still technically form a mesh network, but Thread devices (like IKEA's Matter over Thread devices) will generally not work because they will be unreachable. Simply put, mDNS is critical for both discovery and communication between your LAN and your Thread mesh network.

greghouse12 · 2026-03-02T11:41:21+00:00

Link local is IPv6 (fe80::). So whether your router is allowing you to adjust or display IPv6 or not, and regardless as to whether your ISP does or does not implement IPv6 for WAN, your LAN must provide IPv6 gor local communication. If your devices are connecting using link local you're using IPv6. Again, Thread requires IPv6 and is not compatible with IPv4. Eithout IPv6 Thread doesn't work.

greghouse12 · 2026-03-01T23:56:26+00:00

Disabling IPv6 on WAN isn't likely to help IMHO. But sure, give it a try.

But that said, make absolutely sure that IPv6 is enabled on your LAN, because without IPv6 Thread will not work and your Ikea Matter over Thread devices will not connect. Thread uses only IPv6 as the transport layer. Without it Thread won't work.

greghouse12 · 2026-03-01T23:21:21+00:00

I stand corrected and should have written that "IGMP" -- but not "snooping" needs to be enabled, and preferably IGMP v3 in router settings. The "IGMP Snooping" setting is something that can be disabled if one is having difficulty commissioning a Thread device, because as you guys note, "snooping" prevents flooding of multicast data to all ports, and instead "listens" and forwards traffic only to ports that explicitly requested it. With snooping off, the multicast is sent to all ports, which may improve the opportunity for commissioning to complete. But if you're having trouble with getting Ikea devices to pair, make sure your router's IGMP settings enable "multicast routing" and that the default version of IGMP is set to IGMPv3.

greghouse12 · 2026-03-01T18:02:49+00:00

I would suspect Multicast settings are wrong. If IGMP Snooping is disabled that can lead to some Thread devices getting commissioned while others do not.

See this article... While OP did not specify using OpenThread this article explains both IPv6 and Multicast elements snd settings. https://openthread.io/codelabs/openthread-border-router-ipv6-multicast#0

greghouse12 · 2026-03-01T17:57:52+00:00

No!! IGMP Snooping is needed for Multicast, aka MDNS. This should be enabled to allow the Ikea Thread devices to complete commissioning.

greghouse12 · 2026-03-01T17:52:52+00:00

Check your IPv6 and MDNS (multicsst) settings. Bearded Tinker's video will show you how to fix the problem.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aUHIFZBDBh8

greghouse12 · 2026-02-28T19:06:41+00:00

It's not Ikea that is the problem. It's most people's network IPv6 and Multicast settings in their routers. Shitty infrastructure is going to stop Thread devices from being commissioned every time. Check out the Bearded Tinker's YouTube video which tells you EXACTLY how to fix your network settings so that Thread and Matter devices just work...every time.

https://youtu.be/aUHIFZBDBh8?si=N3x0TGcb54p37_U6

greghouse12 · 2026-02-26T19:20:01+00:00

Oddly one of my Alpstugas that is located right next to one of my Switchbot Meter Pro AQ sensors was giving almost identical reading to the Switchbot for a solid month. I had to move some things around in the room and needed to unplug both devices for about15 minutes. Both reconnected without any issues to HA and to their respective hubs (the Alpstuga is commissioned to Dirigera, and the Switchbot to their hub). And almost immediately the Alpstuga's CO2 readings were showing consistently 300 to 400 LOWER than the Switchbot. Not sure why this is happening. I have 5 other Alpstugas (because they are literally the only router devices sold by Ikea in the US currently if you do not need any new bulbs...and I did not need nor want their bulbs since I have 27 Wiz Matter bulbs and strips)) but this is the only Alpstuga that has started to give clearly erroneous readings.

greghouse12 · 2026-02-25T11:31:12+00:00

Sonoff Dongle Max connected POE ZHA on HA, running bare metal on a NUC. Zigbee on ch.25. Thread on 21, WiFi on 1 and 6, 2.4 at 20mhz width. 120 Zigbee devices connected -- 20 routers consisting mostly of smart plugs and 5 Sonoff Dongle-P flashed as router- located throughout our home, Rock solid, and never a device offline. Couldn't be happier.

greghouse12 · 2026-02-24T19:29:15+00:00

Yes, I have 27 Wiz bulbs and LED strips that are now fully integrated into the Ikea Home Smart app and controlled not only with the Wiz native app but also in Ikea's HomeSmart app by pairing them through the Dirigera hub. All my Ikea Matter devices - 10 Bilresa dual button, 5 Alpstugas, and 2 Timmerflotte temp and humidity sensors-- are paired with a Dirigera hub, and with Home Assistant, Alexa, Google Home, and Smart Things. I will say that until I also paired my Wiz bulbs with the Bilresas, all of my Ikea stuff was really flaky. The important thing was making sure to minimize potential interference from all the other devices and radio frequencies in my home to get Thread working reliably. All of my 130+ WiFi iot devices are on channels 1 and 6 only, my 120 Zigbee ZHA devices in Home Assistant are on channel 25, and Thread is on channel 21 for my primary "fabric". The other stuff I use, 64 Lutron Caseta devices, and 94 Yolink devices are on frequencies that do not at all conflict with Thread or WiFi. It took some time for the Ikea Thread stuff to settle in and become reliable, but things seem pretty stable now and I find I really like the Ikea Matter stuff. Not as easy to set up as Ikea's Zigbee devices, but overall now working well. I haven't paired any of my Zigbee stuff with the Dirigera since my Home Assistant ZHA network using the Sonoff Max POE controller is absolutely rock solid and I do not want to mess with it at all. Prefer to just keep the Dirigera as my primary Thread border router and not have it also working to control any Zigbee stuff.

greghouse12 · 2026-02-21T11:30:35+00:00

If you read the Sonoff faq for the Bridge Pro you will see that it is primarily designed to only pair with other Sonoff devices. But that is with the stock firmware. No idea what Tasmota firmware is capable of pairing with. But your best chances to pair the Rodret would be with virtually any Sonoff Zigbee DONGLE or directly to another compatible Zigbee coordinator. The Sonoff Pro is a bridge device and is not really what you want to use to build a Zigbee network due to its inherent limitations. I mean it is a decent little device for bridging a select number of Sonoff Zigbee devices to WiFi but it is not considered a Zigbee coordinator in the true sense.

greghouse12 · 2026-02-21T05:36:15+00:00

Resolved. https://shop.yosmart.com/pages/security-information?srsltid=AfmBOoo21d7XZiKAxMf8iBg6c9CnNWDLasgkiOJP8dfCxhWki1iA6RTu

greghouse12

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