This guide outlines the steps for configuring the Home Assistant Connect ZBT-1 for dedicated Thread support. This setup facilitates the connection of Matter-over-Thread devices to your network.

Prerequisites

This guide assumes you have the following setup:

• Connected Home Assistant Connect ZBT-1.

• Home Assistant Operating System installation.

• You don't have Multiprotocol enabled. If you do, disable it by following the steps in the procedure on disabling multiprotocol support.

• Important: This guide installs firmware that supports only Thread! If you use your Connect ZBT-1 to control Zigbee devices, you will no longer be able to control them after installing the Thread firmware.

• Notice: Home Assistant Supervised installation type: The Thread border router has specific requirements for IPv6 configuration (for example, IPv6 routing needs to be enabled). The add-on is being tested on the Home Assistant Operating System. If you experience connectivity issues, try using a Home Assistant OS installation.

  

To enable dedicated Thread support

Step 1

Choosing your scenario

• Scenario 1: If you have a new Connect ZBT-1 or did not set up Zigbee Home Automation (ZHA) yet, skip to Step 2.

• Scenario 2: If you use your existing Connect ZBT-1 to run a Zigbee network, Migrate your Zigbee network to another controller.

  • Otherwise, if you delete the Zigbee network, even if you set it up again, all of your entity customizations will be gone.

• Scenario 3: If you are using the Connect ZBT-1 with Zigbee Home Automation (ZHA), and you no longer need a Zigbee network, follow these steps to remove ZHA from the integration list:

  1. Go to Settings > Devices & services.
  2. Select the Zigbee Home Automation integration card.
  3. Select the menu behind the Connect ZBT-1 v1.0 integration and choose Delete.
  4. On the pop-up menu, select Delete again to confirm deletion.

Step 2

Configuring the Home Assistant Connect ZBT-1

1. Go to Settings > System > Hardware.
2. Under Home Assistant Connect ZBT-1, select Configure.

Step 3

Selecting the Thread firmware

1. Select Use as a Thread border router.
   • Result: This will install the OpenThread Border Router add-on.
2. The dialog informs you that Home Assistant Connect ZBT-1 now acts as an OpenThread border router. Select Submit.
3. Then, select Finish.

Step 4

Locating the Thread integrations

1. Go to Settings > Devices & services.
2. You should now see the OpenThread Border Router and the Thread integrations.

Related topics

• Disabling multiprotocol support
• Migrating your Zigbee network