Ugh, I was working on a DIY smart lock. “I’ll use Matter!” I naively thought.
Ok you need a border router for Thread support. No problem, I’ll buy one. Should be cheap right since an ESP32 can handle it. Nope! You pretty much can’t buy a standalone border router. All the articles are “don’t worry, you might have one already if you have a Nest Hub or a Home Hub or…”. Well I don’t have one.
Pretty lame. I guarantee if they make a vendor neutral border router dongle you can just plug into your router’s ethernet port and sell it at cost price (like £5) they’ll see triple the uptake.
There’s a few cheap dongles about, but they’re £20 rather than £5
Even that’s ok. I couldn’t find anything at all when I looked about a year ago. Only one model that the Thread people were still recommending despite it being discontinued.
I had another look and still couldn’t find anything vendor neutral and cheap. Can you post some links?
Sure thing
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EzcuC77
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EGRT1iz
https://a.aliexpress.com/_ExHMS21
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EQsBl0t (Requires a manual flashing)
Any from reputable manufacturers?
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Okay?
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Yeah… I made that mistake, and ended up with a $1200 broken battery, and paid the price in lack of support.
Man, you’re ungrateful as fuck. You asked for links, I took my time and provided them. If you don’t like AliExpress, then fine, you can find alternative retailers, but at least say thank you for the effort.
Freeing home energy gear from vendor lock-in. Matter 1.4 adds some big, expensive gear to its list of device types and control powers, and not a moment too soon. Solar inverters and arrays, battery storage systems, heat pumps, and water heaters join the list.
Yeah I seriously doubt solar inverter providers will sign up to this. Here’s what QCells said when I asked them about an API:
I’m sure it is possible and we’re in discussions with some providers over opening up to their requirements, but it’s not something we’d offer to individuals unfortunately.
They view control of their “virtual power plants” as a commercial asset and they don’t want to give it away for free.
Don’t buy a QCells solar inverter btw. I should have done more research! I believe GivEnergy are less stuck in the 80s but don’t quote me on that.
