Matter Hub on Ihost

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I’ve just drawn out my current setup. Most of my devices are Hue Bulbs and Sonoff Zigbee (19 TRVs) but I have various other makes. I bought a batch of MINIR4M controllers but I have various options to connect them to Alexa -

1 - Directly with Matter.
2 - Ewelink Plugin to Ihost to Matter to Alexa
3 - Ewelink Skill to Alexa.

I’m planning to disable 1 and 3 to avoid multiple instances of the same device in Alexa.

My config really needs a Matter Hub so I can consolidate all the devices in Ihost and automations in Smart Scenes and Node Red ???

1 Like
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Option one would be straightforward. And matter hub is not always necessary, it depends on what do you want.

If you prefer to automate all via Node-Red deployed on iHost, there should be some plugin for this as Hue is popular.

Sometimes grouping and virtual devices could help you better for automations across platforms. It acts like a variable to trigger, to sync status… Just some ideas.

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Hi
Slightly off topic? I am interested in ‘virtual devices’ and have managed to generate a few (linked to wx api).
What I would really like to do is generate some virtual switches and get them (values and switch states) to alexa via matter.
Unfortunately when I last looked, all my virtual devices (and R5) were “stay tuned”.
So virtual devices are on the ‘things to be done’ list?
thx

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@ward , I have various node red plugins deployed and can automate to Hue. I just don’t know of a way to automate to the Aqara and Eve Matter/Thread devices other than to use Alexa. I have tried some virtual devices in Homekit but homekit automation is very slow for me.

Two questions -

  • I’d like to remove ewelink from my setup. When the Matter Hub is released on iHost, I assume it’ll support the MINIR4M. Correct?

  • When the Matter Hub is released will it support contact sensors (Aqara) and motionblinds (Eve)

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@tl.box.212 , does the R5 switch not work on Alexa via matter ?

I have created a temp sensor virtual device in iHost but couldn’t get Alexa to discover it.

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Check in ihost if virtual devices is displayed as a supported device.

Maybe Alexa doesn’t support virtual devices. Ewelink web doesn’t either.

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R5 & all my virtual devices show as not supported when I look at the device list, seen when starting the ‘add matter’ process.

My take (from a point of not knowing anything) is that as far as alexa is concerned every device via matter is ‘virtual’ - it has no actual knowledge of the devices, only what it is told by the ‘parent’ of the device. So long as alexa knows of a device type, then it should show?
Education begins. :grin:

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[
{
“id”: “779312a0d9fe0c8e”,
“type”: “debug”,
“z”: “577d42d4d57fcad7”,
“name”: “INFO REGISTER SALON VIRTUAL IHOST”,
“active”: true,
“tosidebar”: true,
“console”: false,
“tostatus”: false,
“complete”: “payload”,
“targetType”: “msg”,
“statusVal”: “”,
“statusType”: “auto”,
“x”: 750,
“y”: 80,
“wires”:
},
{
“id”: “ef02ceee4674e853”,
“type”: “inject”,
“z”: “577d42d4d57fcad7”,
“name”: “”,
“props”: [
{
“p”: “payload”
},
{
“p”: “topic”,
“vt”: “str”
}
],
“repeat”: “”,
“crontab”: “”,
“once”: false,
“onceDelay”: 0.1,
“topic”: “”,
“payload”: “”,
“payloadType”: “date”,
“x”: 100,
“y”: 80,
“wires”: [
[
“0bac3f72384a9b79”
]
]
},
{
“id”: “0bac3f72384a9b79”,
“type”: “register-device”,
“z”: “577d42d4d57fcad7”,
“name”: “register DZIECI VIRTUAL IHOST”,
“server”: “5dc48b256204ca59”,
“device_id”: “ff0a734a-48c7-11ef-9454-0242ac120002”,
“device_name”: “TEMP DZIECI VIRTUALNY”,
“category”: “temperatureAndHumiditySensor”,
“capabilities”: “{"toggleNum":"1","values":["temperature","humidity","battery","rssi"]}”,
“manufacturer”: “MYHOME”,
“model”: “BIGMO”,
“firmware_version”: “1.0”,
“service_address”: “192.168.1.111”,
“tags”: “{}”,
“state”: “{"temperature":{"temperature":5.1},"humidity":{"humidity":0},"battery":{"battery":100},"rssi":{"rssi":-1}}”,
“x”: 380,
“y”: 80,
“wires”: [
[
“779312a0d9fe0c8e”
]
]
},
{
“id”: “jjjj”,
“type”: “api-server”,
“name”: “IHOST”,
“ip”: “192.168.1.111”,
“ipaddr”: “”,
“token”: “jjjjjjj”
}
]

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this virtual temperature sensor should work

Virtual device

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Thanks. Does Alexa detect that as a matter device ?

I can’t import the flows because the quotes and line breaks are causing problems with the import. I’ve tried some search and replace with no luck. Is there an attachment option ?

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I got that to work, thanks. I can see temperature and humidity of the virtual device on Alexa. I only created a simple temp sensor before.

Interesting, I have SNZB-02D (LED) and SNZB-02 on iHost and only the temperature shows up on Alexa via matter, no humidity.

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That’s a problem with Alexa, it only reads temperature.

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That’s what I thought as well but Humidity is showing on Alexa on the virtual device I’ve created.

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For #1 yes, but I can’t give you a solid date on this feature.

Alexa as well as other platforms do not offer the same features for all devices in the same type, it depends on how they are connected and what your account region is.