I wanted to continue this thread started by Ristin, but its closed ... so Matter for Dummies II is created

I need a Dummies guide to Matter dongle on the EISY.

I have a mix of Insteon and z-wave devices, google home (speaker) and / or Alexa Dot

It would be nice to a comprehensive guide as per UD of how this should all work

You should ask more specific questions. But as far as the ZMatter dongle goes, it has hardly...mattered (bad pun) yet. Matter is based on IPv6 and most line powered devices will be using IP (wifi or hardwired). Battery powered devices will more likely use Thread, which is IPv6 over a Zigbee network. The few tests I have done with Thread were with Nanoleaf bulbs, which use Thread even though they are line powered. The ZMatter dongle (which is ZWave/Zigbee really) is meant to allow direct communication with Thread, as well as conventional Zigbee. But I don't think this has been implemented yet. Instead, UDI has been supporting Thread based Matter through a border router, which is what I did, using a Echo in my case. Border routers are "transparent", simply bridging IPv6 packets, across wifi/hardwired IP and Zigbee networks.

There has been very little in terms of announcements from UDI since the initial release and excitement last spring. But in reading the notes in the sysconfig.txt file of the latest release (6.0.3), some additional Matter fixes were added. I don't have access to that right now, but I've seen some mentions of Matter among the changes.

Thanks for the reply and it seems to be a deep subject ... when I first read the spec on Matter, it sounded very simple in as much ... all these companies signing on to provide one command method of coms across a vast offering of hardware .... but they had to make it difficult :-(

Specific questions, well it's winter here, snow is deep, stuck inside, thought maybe I could play and just maybe, get something working and a bonus would be voice commands

Do you have a Matter device to try? Ideally something that's just on/off like a switch, or light bulb.

I have understood that "matter" is in the early stages for UD and, as such, documentation and user manuals is not something we should expect. I have had some luck with matter devices over wifi, but matter devices over thread have not worked consistently for me. In fairness, the thread devices (nano leaf bulbs) I have tried also do not consistently work with echo or google, either, and am willing to consider the possibility that the problems might be with the nano leaf bulb, rather than with the EISY. I keep looking for other thread devices to try, but I don't see many around.

At this point, I'm not going to invest in a technology which is not reached any industry deployment standard ... it's just not worth it

Maybe I'll spend my time modding an Insteon switch into a laser trip sensor or turn a dimmer into proximity distance switch, something useful

But I will keep my eye on matter & UD progression more closely

Edited Friday at 03:24 PM2 days by jim_

Matter is still preliminary for many companies, not just UDI. The trick is to start small, just to get familiar with it. It's a first real effort at interoperability by home automation companies, so there are lots of players involved. I haven't implemented anything with it yet, but just learning the basic premise has been useful. You commission a device on one platform, then share it. The use of PIN codes or QR codes, etc. The reliability will eventually be there, and I'll then be ready for it.

For the Nanoleaf bulbs, there have been firmware updates, a sign that things are still being sorted out.

About a year and a half ago, I bought 3 Eve Home Energy (Matter) modules (On/Off) to use to control our inside Christmas decorations replacing the Insteon modules I had been using. These Energy modules include a Thread Border Router and after installing all 3, they began to communicate with each other. Some links were weak as they are spread around the house, but they worked. They are as fast as if not faster than the Insteon modules. I have started using Apple TV for my TV connection instead of the cable boxes, so I have several around the house. The newer Apple TV's include a Thread Border Router. I added the Eve Energy modules to Home Kit on one of the Apple TV's and it joined the existing Thread network. Now all the Apple TV's are on the Thread Network. This has given me a very solid network for Matter devices. Initially, I used Home Kit to automate the Eve Energy modules and they have been very reliable. I don't remember the exact release, but it's now possible to join eisy to devices on an existing Thread network using the Set Up code for the device. I did that using UD Mobile. Adding worked as expected. Now I can see these devices in eisy and II have all programming for the Eve Energy modules in eisy. It's working great. I'm sure there's more to come from UD, but there's enough there to get started with something useful.

That's also been my observation: commissioning the device on something else (like Alexa or Google Home) and then sharing to the eisy usually worked. Initial commissioning to the eisy hasn't been very successful.

11 hours ago, mbking said:

bought 3 Eve Home Energy (Matter) modules (On/Off) to use to control our inside Christmas decorations

My experience with the Eve Home Energy (Matter) modules was also very useful. I have a ton of relatively new Insteon switch devices and an eisy hub for lighting control in my house. I also have Home Assistant set up to integrate a lot of non-Insteon devices in my environment, such as a dozen Smartwings Shades (with Matter over Thread motors). For the longest time, I could not get them to reliably stay online, even with their latest firmware update (1.3) which supposedly implemented improvements in that area.

As you mention, the Eve On/Off modules include a Thread Border Router. After I installed a couple of those around the house, my Matter/Thread network and the Smartwings shades have been rock solid. I've also converted a bunch of YoLink sensors to use the local Matter network via their YoLink Local hub, and they have also been rock solid, and maybe even slightly better performing with signaling being local versus using the cloud. I even have a Shelly 1 Mini device integrated through the Matter interface in eisy that I use to control on/off (via an Insteon switch) and scheduling (via an eisy automation) of an old towel warmer device near a shower.

I'm not a Matter/Thread expert, and Matter/Thread is clearly early in its evolution, but I credit the improved coverage and reliability in my environment to those Eve devices.

Edited yesterday at 02:19 PM1 day by dwengrovitz