Hi all,
I just bought the Govee christmas sparkle string lights and want to connect it to homey through matter. I installed the govee app and tried to add a matter light. But there is no way to get it to connect to homey.
I can get it to connect to Google home, but that’s not what I want.
Anyone has an idea or an solution?
From what I understand you’d add it as a generic Matter device, and from that point on it should be recognised by the Govee app
That’s what I did. You have that option in the govee app for homey.
But every time I get a timeout.
Is it using Matter-over-wifi?
If so:
Do you happen to have a wifi password with special characters? Sometimes that doesn’t work
If not:
Did you read the extended knowledge base article about the various ways
https://support.homey.app/hc/en-us/articles/12010766903580-Thread-for-Homey-Pro-Early-2023-and-Homey-Pro-mini
I cant find if it uses Matter-over-wifi.
I indeed read that article. I think it has to do with the preferred thread network. My preferred thread network is a nest hub, not the homey.
When it never asks for a wifi pw, it probably is Matter-over-Thread indeed.
I couldn’t find anything more specific than “Matter” on the product specs page 
I think the key of the issue is in this part of the kb article about Matter:
There are some special instructions:
Also, if you have already paired it with Google Home using the Matter code on the device, you can’t use that same code for Homey again. You need to somehow get a new Matter code from Google Home, or do a full device reset first, then try to pair it with Homey.
So I guess there is nothing I can do then? Because I cannot set honey as the preferred network right?
I provided two possible solutions:
Tnx, as a new to the whole matter stuff, i am still trying to figure it out.
I will first try to reset the whole thing and try to add it to homey again. This is my preferred method. But i have the idea that this won’t work because my preferred thread network is not my homey, but some nest hub in my home. And if I understand correctly, this can’t be changed.
If this won’t work I will try to add it to Google home, and then add it to homey with a new matter code I get from Google.
Guess I was hoping that it all worked a bit more seamless…
I will post the results here. Tnx again.
But it can be changed! Albeit a bit drastic:
You’ll have to factory reset your Android phone in order to select an other TBR, which will be Homey:
.
Man, it’s awful. Matter is incredibly user-unfriendly, to me that is.
I finally managed to get it connected to homey with matter. I did the following:
Jeej for me! Now i have 2 choices: Keep it connected till Christmas, or unplug it and hope for the best when its time to decorate the christmas tree.
But all kidding aside, Matter with Homey is not really user friendly…
You won!
That is a possible fix, but maybe not the most optimal channel;
Thread uses the same frequency band as zigbee does. 2.4GHz wifi signal can interfere when the channel isn’t set to a fixed number.
AFAIK Homey picks the best channel when adding the first Thread/zigbee device. Wifi 2.4GHz should be set to a fixed channel up front.
Here you’d be able to view the current zigbee / Thread channel
https://tools.developer.homey.app/tools/zigbee
Channel comparison:
