Hi all, tried to search through the forum but did not find my answer so I’m going create a new thread.
Now that ST is updated to Matter compatible, what will V2 Hub have in terms of functionality and capability for Matter?
From what I know, potentially all Matter devices would not be locally running on V2 hub because it lacks both WIFI and thread?
What happens if, lets say I paired a Matter device (be it thread or WIFI) to a Google Nest Hub 2, would it automatically bring that device to ST system for me to control in ST (Given that I already have google linked ST account in Google Home)?
It’s a shame that ST doesn’t offer migration tool, otherwise it’d be much easier for me to grab a ST station and embrace the “future”
With a v2 hub your WiFi devices will connect to the hub via your lan connection just like they currently do if you are using Edge Drivers for WiFi devices.
Your Thread connection will be via a Thread Boarder Router. You may already own one as certain Alexa, Google Nest devices and Apple Home pods are or will be Thread Boarder routers.
As mentioned earlier, there will be no Thread on the v2 hub so it will only support Matter over Wi-Fi and require a Thread Border Router to reach a Thread network.
The ST Station doesn’t support Z-Wave so it’s only an option for those looking for Zigbee and Matter over Wi-Fi or Thread.
This is supposed to happen because of a special partnership agreement between Google home and smartthings, but I don’t know if that feature is live yet.
Otherwise, whichever one you pair it to first should be able to generate a QR code You can use to add it easily to the other one.
Note that only the device itself gets added, you don’t get scenes or routines or anything like that.
Once you have a thread border router of any brand the way it is supposed to work is that the thread border router will receive the thread messages and then send them on as local LAN messages to the “matter controller” you are using. Which is why the V2 hub doesn’t have to have thread itself. It can’t really tell the difference between a thread Matter message and Wi-Fi Matter message by the time it receives it.
This is pretty much the same way your V2 hub can talk to a hue lightbulb connected to a hue hub. The hue hub is acting as the bridge.
this is why matter was originally called “project ChIP” referring to IP addresses. As long as the destination has an IP address, the message can get to it, regardless of the protocols along the way.
i read the verge article and it makes no sense, see no benefits, nothing that we already have in v2.
almost sounds as if corpo crooks pushed new nonsense standards in order to obsolete older devices with unfixable bugs, justify higher prices for newer devices which are even more buggy.
did not know how to fix windows xp so made new product vista - you now the rest
JD, so I have 3 V3 hubs now. Is there really any advantage in adding a Station to the mix and removing 1 of the V3’s? Does the Station have anything more related to Matter or Thread that the V3 doesn’t? I was also reading about adding the Matter device to ST and then getting another QR code and adding it to Google or Alexa Etc. What would be the point of that if with Matter everything is supposed to work together?
You really don’t gain much new stuff from station comparing to v3, in fact you’ll lose z-wave radio. But since you already have another 2 v3s that may not be your concern.
Bear in mind that while multiple hubs in one location is supported, device communications and automations across different hubs are not running locally. e.g. if you have a light paired to your new SmartThings station and want to add another light paired to your other v3 hub for a routine automation, the routine will not execute in local even though they’re all local to their hubs.
As for your last point, the “over the IP” protocol matter uses is what’s suppose to do for everything work together. The additional code for a different platform is the “multi-admin” function I believe, meaning cross platform controls
Paul, thank you. I am aware of the routines and them not running local. When my routines were running local after I migrated all of my devices they wouldn’t run most of the time anyway. That’s why I have moved pretty much all my automations to Sharptools. I just wanted to make sure that the Station didn’t have more functionality Matter and Thread wise than the V3. I will have to read more about the multi admin part of it.
With Matter, things are compatible across multiple ecosystems because they speak the same “language”, Matter over the IP protocol. That doesn’t mean there are methods available (yet) for cross controller propagation/discovery of devices (certainly no incentive for the manufacturers). So, registering a device with a ST controller doesn’t make it available with an Alexa or Google controller. For that to happen, you have to manually register the device with an additional controller(s). Still, this makes multi-controller management far simpler than in today’s world.
Thanks, I ordered my first Matter device and its coming tomorrow so I guess I’m just going to have to play with it and see what happens as I did when I first started with a Vera controller and a light switch. I read the installation manual and it says to pair it with your first controller and then with your second controller Etc. So, I’m going to try ST first and then Alexa and see what happens. I also have a lot of other wired and wireless stuff around my house so I’m thinking I should change my subnet now to make room for more devices in the future if eventually everything is going to be IP based.
The primary benefit of matter is that they did finally (thanks to Amazon) get almost all of the manufacturers on board with a single home automation messaging standard. Google, Apple, Samsung, Philips, and a bunch of others. So we’ll no longer have the issue of a friend going to Home Depot and coming home with a Cync by GE or Feit or Globe or Govee smart bulb and then feeling frustrated because it doesn’t work with smartthings. Or not knowing if a device will work with Google home or Alexa or both.
If it has the matter logo, it will work with the other devices that have the matter logo, and it will work with Alexa, Google Home, and Siri.
I’d say about 25% of the questions I answer every week are from someone who bought a device and then can’t figure out how to make it work with what they already have.
So that’s a definite benefit, both for my friends and for me.
Of course, different things will work for different people even in the context of these benefits. If all you use are zwave devices, Matter won’t bring you any benefits at all at this time.
It’s not that it’s magically going to make everything better. It’s a business decision by a significant group of home automation companies that will make some things better for many people who are purchasing new home automation devices.
And in your situation, the only reason to get a station would be if you have a galaxy phone and some other devices in that ecosystem, and you want to use the galaxy-specific features, which are pretty cool, but not really relevant to smartthings at this time. Except the scene button. anyway, if you’re always losing your galaxy earbuds, or you want another charger for your galaxy phone, the station could be nice to have.
