I use my EISY for Insteon devices and scenes.

I'm looking to add automated window shades to my house and need to choose the type of motor (Zigbee, ZWave, Matter over Thread).

I'm leaning toward Matter over Thread for the shades. I don't have Zigbee, ZWave or Matter/Thread in the house right now.

I'd like to control these from my EISY rather than adding HA to the mix (probably through a bhyve VM).

Would an Aqara Hub M3 theoretically work with the EISY Matter Beta support? Since it would plug into my network, the EISY would need to find it that way. Of course I can fix the IP address and specify if needed.

If it's Matter over Thread, you'll need a border router. If the Aqara Hub is also a border router, it should do. You don't need the ZMatter dongle. You'll need to configure the device on the Aqara hub first, then share it to the eisy. There's also the question of whether the device itself will work with the eisy (Matter is still in alpha testing). If it's basically an on/off device, chances are good that it will work.

I suggest you look at Ryse for controlling your shades. There is a Plugin and they regularly run sales.

I have them in two locations and they work well with UD's systems.

Edited yesterday at 02:00 AM1 day by DennisC
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10 hours ago, Guy Lavoie said:

If it's Matter over Thread, you'll need a border router. If the Aqara Hub is also a border router, it should do. You don't need the ZMatter dongle. You'll need to configure the device on the Aqara hub first, then share it to the eisy. There's also the question of whether the device itself will work with the eisy (Matter is still in alpha testing). If it's basically an on/off device, chances are good that it will work.

Thanks, Guy. The docs for the Aqara Hub M3 state that it is a border router. It also supports Zigbee and bridges between the protocols, not that I have any Zigbee.

I plan to use Smartwings shades. I expect they have more than on/off (up/down?) capabilities but will look for their protocol documentation.

I suppose I can use HA as a temporary solution if EISY isn't yet ready for the required support, but would prefer not to. I was hoping someone else beat me to the integration.

1 hour ago, DennisC said:

I suggest you look at Ryse for controlling your shades. There is a Plugin and they regularly run sales.

I have them in two locations and they work well with UD's systems.

Thanks, Dennis. I'm looking to install new shades with the motors built in.

Do you have the zmatter board?

My experience with matter so far is not good. I have echo and nest border routers but cannot successfully share several matter devices (all lights) to EISY. I have not tried the Aqara devices.

I used zwave for shades, and they work very well for me. In fairness, I have a decent number of zwave devices in the house and this may help with communication, but Zwave would be my recommendation based on my own experience.

8 hours ago, Sticklizard said:

Thanks, Guy. The docs for the Aqara Hub M3 state that it is a border router. It also supports Zigbee and bridges between the protocols, not that I have any Zigbee.

If you get Thread devices, then you will have Zigbee... The Matter protocol uses IPv6 and runs over wifi/ethernet for many line powered devices. If it's a Thread device, then the IPv6 is sent over Zigbee. This also means that if the devices (shades in your case) are spread out throughout the home, you'll need to have Zigbee establish a mesh network. The border router simply bridges the wifi and Zigbee networks. This is still quite new to most of us, and I've been experimenting with Matter, as has been @oberkc . Just days ago I've also begun trying out Zigbee on it's own. For example, I have an Amazon Eero 6 router with two satellite repeaters. These also act as Zigbee repeaters for Thread. I'm looking to see if they will also repeat non-Thread Zigbee traffic, given that this is a separate "network" in terms of inclusion, etc. Lots to learn.

Just be aware that Matter itself is still quite new, and even newer for the eisy. Just days ago an update was released which includes Matter improvements. I don't want you to go out and get the shades, and be surprised or disappointed if it doesn't work out of the box.

Zigbee and Thread traffics share Physical and MAC layers and can coexist over-the-air.

However at a network and App layer, they are mutually unintelligible. One does not get you the other. Zigbee does not use IPV6

40 minutes ago, paulbates said:

However at a network and App layer, they are mutually unintelligible. One does not get you the other. Zigbee does not use IPV6

No, but a device like the Eero could be designed to repeat both types of traffic. That's what I'd like to determine.

3 hours ago, oberkc said:

Do you have the zmatter board?

My experience with matter so far is not good. I have echo and nest border routers but cannot successfully share several matter devices (all lights) to EISY. I have not tried the Aqara devices.

I used zwave for shades, and they work very well for me. In fairness, I have a decent number of zwave devices in the house and this may help with communication, but Zwave would be my recommendation based on my own experience.

I don't have the zmatter board because the site lists it as out of stock with no indication of when that might change.

It's seeming that Matter isn't ready for primetime and that zigbee and thread are crippled by range issues, leaving ZWave. I'm trying to avoid ending up with orphaned interfaces in the next 5-10 years but the state of the industry isn't supportive of that strategy.

And if the UD Z interface doesn't become available, I might not have the option to use EISY as my sole home controller.

The Zmatter board is absolutely needed if you want Zigbee devices. Otherwise for Zwave you have the option of getting a Zooz dongle, and for Matter you only need a border router somewhere in your setup. I still migrated from Zooz to Zmatter because I could, and wanted to start messing with Zigbee.

7 hours ago, paulbates said:

Zigbee and Thread traffics share Physical and MAC layers and can coexist over-the-air.

However at a network and App layer, they are mutually unintelligible. One does not get you the other. Zigbee does not use IPV6

I had a bit of time this afternoon, and tested this. Not the most rigorous test conditions but enough to satisfy me that the Eero 6 Zigbee network appears to be doing a good job of forwarding both regular Zigbee and Thread commands. My test Polisys are in a basement office at one end of the house, and my work shop is at the other end, about 50 feet away and going through several walls, including a concrete wall with a door. I don't yet have any Zigbee devices in actual use, just a few Jasco modules still in boxes to experiment with. So the only Zigbee mesh network is my 3 piece Eero 6 router setup (well, 4 piece since I also have a 4th generation Echo, located in the office). I configured and tested the Jasco module in the office space, then moved it to the far wall of my shop, and closed the door. One of my Eero 6 satellite repeaters is on the ground floor, almost right above it. Module works fine in the work shop. I then repeated the same test with my one and only Thread device: the infamous Nanoleaf bulb. Works fine, though the bulb sometimes takes time to respond, living up to it's infamous reputation.

We are needing to get shades ordered for the new house as the afternoon sun is too much.

I guess I'll make my choice independent of EISY capabilities since 1) The UD ZMatter hardware is not available with no projected availability date published and 2) Software support doesn't seem to be a priority.

I'll set up a parallel HA system if I need to.

Thanks all for your input!

29 minutes ago, Sticklizard said:

I'll set up a parallel HA system if I need to.

3) This won't cost very much (money; time is separate matter) and provides boundless opportunity for more automation fun. If you're into that sort of thing.

-Tom

42 minutes ago, Sticklizard said:

We are needing to get shades ordered for the new house as the afternoon sun is too much.

I guess I'll make my choice independent of EISY capabilities since 1) The UD ZMatter hardware is not available with no projected availability date published and 2) Software support doesn't seem to be a priority.

I'll set up a parallel HA system if I need to.

Thanks all for your input!

I have four Somfy shades working fine with the Somfy plugin. It's older RTS technology, and requires a URTS-II serial device and interface. For newer technology, I'd go with Zwave, since you could get a Zooz dongle to use with the eisy.

Well, for what it is worth....

There was an update to IoX to version 6.05.something. It claimed to include improved matter support.

I assume it is not coincidental that I have now successfully added a couple of matter devices (those relying on wifi). Even now, however, adding the Thread device continues to elude me.

24 minutes ago, oberkc said:

Well, for what it is worth....

There was an update to IoX to version 6.05.something. It claimed to include improved matter support.

I assume it is not coincidental that I have now successfully added a couple of matter devices (those relying on wifi). Even now, however, adding the Thread device continues to elude me.

Do you mean successfuly adding directly, without by using a share pin? Which devices exactly?

Just to be clear, up until now I've been able to add both wifi devices (Cync bulb and Cync smart plug) as well as the Thread bulb (Nanoleaf), but always by first adding them to Google Home, then generating a sharing PIN to add it to the eisy.

Edited 7 hours ago7 hr by Guy Lavoie

1 hour ago, Guy Lavoie said:

Do you mean successfuly adding directly, without by using a share pin? Which devices exactly?

Yes, by first adding to Alexa, then sharing to google home, then sharing to EISY. Until recently, this has not worked for me but now does. I have two Govee Devices, a Cync Bulb, and Nanoleaf (over thread). We will see how long things stay connected, but the way things worked this time, I am hopeful that this matter connection will last.

There is a bit more history to this than I let on here and if you are interested, send me a PM.