I’ve a friend who has a 2024 samsung tv and two eero mesh routers which are thread enabled.
I was going to suggest he has a play with SmartThings with zero hardware outlay other than a couple of ikea MoT devices. However if this combo is likely to be bothersome I’ll tell him not to start. So just wondering if anyone has tried this combo (or even the tv but different external tbr) and can comment on its stability ?
I have a 2 router Eero mesh system which as such runs without issues. However 2 points -
Eero update their router’s firmware every other day, or at least a couple of times per week whether you like it or not. You only have the option to choose your preferred time. This can destabilise a system.
As a Thread Border router (also as Zigbee) the Eero interacts through Alexa which means it is inaccessible for certain possible functions e.g. trying to unify Thread networks. It can be switched off is the only interaction available if needed.
Don’t know if these are important points in your friends’ possible setup but better to be aware of them.
I have a Q60BD, circa 2022, that I have the dongle for to get the zigbee/thread antenna support with and took this exact approach - figured I had the TV, it was always plugged in, and so always on, so why not play with it with the intent of investing in an actual thread hub at some point. Never had any issues with the TV as a hub and have never had a reason to think about replacing it. It has a mix of about 25 matter, lan, and zigbee devices configured on it and seems to work as well as the dedicated Samsung hubs.
One thing to keep in mind when starting to play is how the network mesh fans out from the TV. Connectivity of battery driven devices is questionable at best. Consider that you’ll not get good connectivity with battery powered matter over thread devices with more than a wall and 20 foot of distance between without any kind of mains powered repeater. If you have unobstructed line of sight you’ll get maybe 30 foot. And at those distances, pairing a device can be difficult.
The small difficulty he might have is that the eero hub and his alexa account are using different accounts (emails). He did this because he has 2 properties and set one up for eero with a different profile to his Alexa account. He can’t change the eero account to match his Alexa one because he’d then have two properties aligned to the one account, which is not allowed. He’s also not keen on changing the Alexa account as he’s got too much effort invested in what he has already.
Update on this: he’s tried this. When he enabled the hub on the tv it’s appeared in SmartThings app straight away. However on the hub three dot menu there’s no option to add or manage a thread network,
However, if he scans a thread device into the SmartThings app it detects the eero thread network and he is able to add the thread bilresa button after providing the credentials.
Just an FYI, as of right now his TV’s hub more than likely will not have the ability to manage a Thread Network even though he may have version 58.xx. For some reason Samsung didn’t make that part of the firmware available to Appliances/Smart Device with Built-in-Hubs (except the Smartthings Station). A few of us are hoping they will make this available when they update the hubs to version 60.xx. At least this is how my hubs have worked, my 2 Stations allowed me to managed the thread network with firmware 58.10 and still with version 60.13, but my TV (2023, no need for dongle), Fridge with dongle, and Soundbar all still have version 58.13 and all these can’t manage their thread networks as of yet even though they had a higher firmware than my Stations did. They all support Matter version 1.4 and my Stations supports 1.5 now with the latest firmware. Considering the Appliances/Smart Devices firmware updates lag a few weeks normally behind the Stations (which the Stations lag behind main hubs a few weeks as well), I would say in about 2-3 weeks his hub along with mine will update to 60.xx and again many of us that have these hubs are hoping they will finally implement the manage thread networks feature when they do.
I’m not so sure that Stations running 60.13 support Thread 1.5. Looking at the TBR announcements, they seem to indicate they are still running 1.4:
= ens33 IPv6 Samsung SmartThings-Station #A2DF _meshcop._udp local
hostname = [smartthings-station-3KWW.local]
address = [2600:1700:dce0:4790:2eba:baff:fe98:fb17]
port = [49154]
txt = ["omr=@\253\015w\238D\224\000\001" "dn=DefaultDomain" "bb=\240\191" "sq=V" "pt=\137\161ny" "at=\000\000h\230\186e\000\000" "sb=\000\000\013\177" "xa=R\019\031GN\229\162\223" "tv=1.4.0" "xp=s8\164ic>\251\191" "nn=ST-3KWW" "mn=SmartThings-Station" "vn=Samsung" "id=su\2406tm\210\221u[\194\01774'\255" "rv=1"]
+ ens33 IPv4 amazon #48E4 _meshcop._udp local
= ens33 IPv4 Samsung SmartThings-Station #A2DF _meshcop._udp local
hostname = [smartthings-station-3KWW.local]
address = [192.168.1.124]
port = [49154]
txt = ["omr=@\253\015w\238D\224\000\001" "dn=DefaultDomain" "bb=\240\191" "sq=V" "pt=\137\161ny" "at=\000\000h\230\186e\000\000" "sb=\000\000\013\177" "xa=R\019\031GN\229\162\223" "tv=1.4.0" "xp=s8\164ic>\251\191" "nn=ST-3KWW" "mn=SmartThings-Station" "vn=Samsung" "id=su\2406tm\210\221u[\194\01774'\255" "rv=1"]
And my fridge running 58.13 is advertising its TBR as Thread version 1.3:
= ens33 IPv4 OpenThread BorderRouter #0B28 _meshcop._udp local
hostname = [Samsung-FamilyHub.local]
address = [192.168.1.148]
port = [49154]
txt = ["omr=@\253\024\227\216\018\166\000\001" "dn=DefaultDomain" "bb=\240\191" "sq=H" "pt=\031\181?5" "at=\000\000h\219\187F\000\000" "sb=\000\000\001\177" "xa=\230;\223\002\031\164\011(" "tv=1.3.0" "xp=\163\247Ng\236\205B\001" "nn=ST-TIZEN" "mn=BorderRouter" "vn=OpenThread" "id=\178A\249\253\138\1887c\161ZQ\131\222\195\134\208" "rv=1"]
= ens33 IPv6 OpenThread BorderRouter #0B28 _meshcop._udp local
hostname = [Samsung-FamilyHub.local]
address = [192.168.1.148]
port = [49154]
txt = ["omr=@\253\024\227\216\018\166\000\001" "dn=DefaultDomain" "bb=\240\191" "sq=H" "pt=\031\181?5" "at=\000\000h\219\187F\000\000" "sb=\000\000\001\177" "xa=\230;\223\002\031\164\011(" "tv=1.3.0" "xp=\163\247Ng\236\205B\001" "nn=ST-TIZEN" "mn=BorderRouter" "vn=OpenThread" "id=\178A\249\253\138\1887c\161ZQ\131\222\195\134\208" "rv=1"]
Perhaps you’re confusing Thread 1.5 with the Matter 1.5 SDK that was introduced in 59.9.
I believe you are correct that the Stations don’t support Thread version 1.5, but I never said it supported Thread 1.5, I was talking about Matter. Also, the FamilyHub does support Matter 1.4, but probably not Thread 1.4 as you can see mine supports it (I’m not sure how to tell the Thread Versions like you do). But the way I said it I can see now how it could be confusing to others that don’t understand this, making them think I meant that the Stations supported Thread 1.5 when they only support 1.4 and the Appliances/Devices with Built-in-Hubs supported Thread 1.4 when they only support 1.3. This explains why our fridges won’t allow us to Manage the Thread Networks. Thank You for clearing up my wording for others to understand what is really happening.
1 Like