Matter Device Support - ST platform

This thread is a place for users to discuss:

  • Matter WiFi/Thread devices on the ST platform
  • Tips and issues for connecting Matter devices
  • Matter device issues after connecting (drivers or ST app UI)

intended as an offshoot of the following thread on Matter in the iot_industry (to keep specific ST stuff separate and because they are buried over there) : Matter - smart home connectivity standard (formerly Project CHIP)

now I just need to convince @JDRoberts to merge some of the posts to this thread :slight_smile:

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Do you really want them all in one thread? I would think one thread per device model, or at least per device class/edge driver, would make it easier on future readers. :thinking:

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THIRDREALITY Dev Edition for Matter,Night Light Dev Kit with WiFi Support.Build in Motion and Light Sensor,Color LED Unboxing and pairing with Smartthings

Setting this device up was a little difficult. Very little instructions, just a piece of paper stating to go to their Github site and follow the directions there. On there Github site it was not straight forward and I had to look through all the different folders to find it. There were directions to pair it with Homepod, Nest and Echo V4 no Smartthings because it had not been tested with ST.

I was determined to get it paired with ST first as that’s how I wanted it. It took about 15 tries to get it to finally pair and ST to add it as a Matter Switch. During the pairing process ST kept saying that the device was not Matter certified and it may not work correctly. The device is Matter certified as I googled it and found the certification. I had to look at the Homepod directions and found a URL that I was able to print out the QR code to pair it. The process that finally worked with ST was, Scan Nearby and then it found a matter device. Then Scan the QR code I found on Github for Homepod and then pick my Wifi ssid and then it finally added the device. It took several minutes at a screen that said adding it to your ST account. All works in ST except the motion sensing ability and color changing ability, you get white or off.

QR code

https://project-chip.github.io/connectedhomeip/qrcode.html?data=MT%3A6FCJ142C00KA0648G00

Next, I wanted to try the multi admin aspect of Matter. Device, 3 dots at top and then “Share with other services” Click share and ST gave me a new QR code and a 11-digit code to enter manually. Opened Alexa, add new device and then other then Matter device and then entered the 11 digit code. Night Light went back in to pairing mode as indicated by yellow light on device. Alexa added it right away as a Matter dimmable light. Alexa has all the different colors etc the only thing thats missing is motion. . Alexa sees this device as Matter certified but then again Thirdreality makes most of their devices for Amazon.

Its really cool and something to play with. It comes with a Matter dev kit that I don’t know anything about yet but plan on playing with after I get back. I’m leaving for India tomorrow for work so it will have to wait until I get back. This was very difficult to pair and it took a few hours for me to finally figure it out. I guess in all fairness it was not tested with ST so…… I don’t think that Matter is quite ready for primetime yet as the Video that another user linked suggested. Maybe if I had paired it with Alexa first and then with ST it would have worked out better and ST would be able to control the color. I may reset it and try it that way.

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Thanks for your post about setting up this device. I would have pulled my hair out trying to figure out where to get the QR code.

I had good luck getting it paired with my ST Family Hub on the fridge running version 45.11, but it won’t operate the device at all. I keep getting “This device has not updated all of its status information yet. Please try again later.” It also showed up in Alexa since I have the ST->Alexa skill installed but since it doesn’t work in ST, it also doesn’t work in Alexa. I don’t have another Matter controller where I can add the device and see if it works there.

Also, the ST app tells me the device is not Matter certified regardless of whether I directly scan the QR code or I do a Scan Nearby and then scan the QR code. To add insult to injury, I’m getting an error when trying to do logcat logging to the Family Hub so I can’t see what is happening with the Matter driver.

Did your device install as a Matter switch with profile light-level and what hub type do you have?

Thanks!

Yes, it installed as a Matter switch with profile light-level. I have a 3rd Gen 2018 Hub. In ST I can turn the light on and off, No color and no temperature. I paired it to Alexa with multi admin feature and in Alexa I have on and off, color control but no temperature.

:frowning: quote=“mlchelp, post:499, topic:180934, full:true”]
Yes, it installed as a Matter switch with profile light-level. I have a 3rd Gen 2018 Hub. In ST I can turn the light on and off, No color and no temperature. I paired it to Alexa with multi admin feature and in Alexa I have on and off, color control but no temperature.
[/quote]

Thanks for the info. The light-level profile only has on/off, dimmer level, firmware update, and refresh capabilities so that’s we can’t manage temp or color. My guess is there isn’t a fingerprint in the driver for this device so it defaults to a basic Matter switch.

My Family Hub does know when the device is connected vs offline so some basic functionality is working. However, I’m guessing there is some bug in the driver when it is installed on the fridge Family Hub vs a v2/v3/Aeotec hardware hub. Unfortunately, logging from the Family Hub is broken so can’t see what is going on with the driver. :frowning: We’ll see if the cases I have open with support go anywhere.

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Please let me know what you find out. It is Matter certified and works with Alexa except for the Temp.

I’ll let you know what I find.

But, if there is one thing I’ve learned in my over 30 years of doing networking, a certification or standard doesn’t guarantee interoperability. There are simply too many variables involved:

  • Imprecise standards language like MUST, SHOULD, MAY often creates grey areas where some vendors implement things that others don’t
  • Not all vendors adhere to the “Be strict in what you send and liberal in what you receive” philosophy
  • There are multiple moving software parts where bugs can exist; the ST app, the ST hub firmware, the device firmware, etc.

And right now, I can’t even tell what the driver is doing since there is a bug in the ST CLI for logging from the Family Hub (which incidentally runs the exact same firmware as my ST WI-Fi Hub where logging does work).

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I think it’s a driver thing, In ST you only get on and off and brightness, no color or temperature. In Alexa you get on and off, brightness and color, no temperature. I was reading that even though Matter devices are going to be compatible across the different platforms that all functions will not work on all platforms. Makes sense to me, different platform different driver. I do think there should be some kind of standardization on the driver or capabilites if that’s even possible. Were still in the same boat as before, I can buy this device because it has a Matter logo on it but will the color function work on my platform? Custom drivers again? Its early in the rollout of all this so we will have to wait and see.

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I really don’t understand this. The matter attributes definitions are supposed to be based on zigbee clusters, and those were standardized with different device classes for lights with RGB color and without. So the device tells you what it is, and the platform handles it. I don’t understand why matter integrations wouldn’t do the same thing. :thinking:

I was reading that even though Matter devices are going to be compatible across the different platforms that all functions will not work on all platforms.

I had thought up until now that this anpplied only to functions that were either not included in the matter specification yet, or that were advanced or manufacturer-proprietary, things like childlock or panic mode for lights.

@Automated_House

This will only work if all the platforms create their drivers correctly with all of the capabilities. There should be some kind of requirement for each platform to get their drivers certified. ST is telling me that this device is not certified during the pairing process even though I checked and it is. Alexa didn’t give me that error and also has the color function that ST doesn’t.

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In this case, the driver has multiple profiles to support different capabilities of different switches. There are only specific fingerprints for the Eve devices. The rest fallback to the generic Matter section which maps to a profile based on the deviceTypes and deviceLabels. I need to go back and re-install the device while using their serial output board to see what the device supplies as its deviceType (I might be able to get the info from driver logging if it worked). Since it installed as a light-level profile, it could be that the device is using deviceType 0x0101 which doesn’t include color and temp as part of the profile. That would be an issue with how the manufacturer identified the device in its firmware (if I have some time I might see if I can do a new build of their firmware with a different deviceType and install it on the device) This could also be worked around by adding specific fingerprints for this device to map to a different profile in the ST driver.

As for Alexa providing access to more capabilities, I don’t know their process of determining what the device is, but I can guess that their mechanism maps to some sort of “driver” that has more functionality than the mapping in ST.

All of which goes back to my comment in the other topic about standards don’t insure interoperability for the reasons mentioned PLUS they don’t control the actual implementation of the standards.

light-binary.yml
light-color-level.yml
light-level-colorTemperature.yml
light-level.yml
m5stack.yml
matter-thing.yml
plug-binary.yml
plug-level.yml
switch-2-level.yml
switch-2.yml
switch-binary.yml
switch-color-level.yml
switch-level-colorTemperature.yml
switch-level.yml
matterGeneric:
  - id: "matter/on-off/light"
    deviceLabel: Matter OnOff Light
    deviceTypes:
      - id: 0x0100 # OnOff Light
    deviceProfileName: light-binary
  - id: "matter/dimmable/light"
    deviceLabel: Matter Dimmable Light
    deviceTypes:
      - id: 0x0101 # Dimmable Light
    deviceProfileName: light-level
  - id: "matter/colorTemperature/light"
    deviceLabel: Matter Color Temperature Light
    deviceTypes:
      - id: 0x010C # Color Temperature Light
    deviceProfileName: light-level-colorTemperature
  - id: "matter/color/light"
    deviceLabel: Matter Color Temperature Light
    deviceTypes:
      - id: 0x010D # Extended Color Light
    deviceProfileName: light-color-level
  - id: "matter/color/temp/light"
    deviceLabel: Matter Color Temperature Light
    deviceTypes:
      - id: 0x010D # Extended Color Light
      - id: 0x010C # Color Temperature Light
    deviceProfileName: light-color-level
...etc...
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Just for clarification, this device dosent support Temps, it has a motion sensor, and light sensor. Im old, I got confused. :blush: Those are missing in both ST and Alexa

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Sure, but the source of the missing features is rooted in the same issue (at least for ST). It’s how the device identifies itself and/or is identified by the driver in order to map to the appropriate capabilities.

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This thread (:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:) demonstrates very well why I can’t get excited about Matter right now. Did anyone seriously think SmartThings would have this down at this point. (Question mark intentionally left off).

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I can be excited about the idea of Matter, but I’m waiting to actually install anything until it’s truly production ready for both thread and Wi-Fi. I’m not going to actually try any devices until it’s officially announced to be fully operational on Apple, Alexa, Ikea Dirigera, and Aqara.

Once those companies have it, I expect smartthings to catch up if it’s not already ahead.

I could be wrong on all of that, of course, we will have to wait and see. But I think it’s way too early to actually try devices right now unless you’re in full on early adopter hobbyist tinkerer mode. :sunglasses:

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And hopefully, trying things out early can help work out the kinks and make things work smoother earlier rather than later.

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Just ordered the A19’s, cant wait to try them. More toy’s :smile: I dont have high hopes of the color working right now but eventualy it will.

https://www.aidot.com/products/matter/smart-bulb.html

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Starting to see reports on multiple forums from people who are having trouble onboarding matter devices who don’t realize that they have an older router or a powerline device that is not supporting IPv6 multi casting.

The problem is obviously common enough that Meross has recently added a support FAQ with a link where you can test your IPV6 compatibility. Note that what you see in that first page that starts with 1234 is just an example: you have to follow the tiny link to actually do the test. (It seems clear the page at Meross support was put up a hurry!)

Google also has a really simple one test page:

https://ipv6test.google.com/

So, if you are having trouble adding a new Matter device, that might be the first thing to check. And if it turns out you don’t have IPv6 support, you’ll probably need to talk to your Internet provider first, then possibly tech support for your router.

@Automated_House @jkp

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Thank goodness we are loosing the complex IDE for Matter…

Matter is much simpler for users

Bigest crock of crap i ever heard

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