Matter Light Bulb fail commissioning in HA or Google Home

[vorrias]

Hi,
I am preparing my project for “MAKE IT MATTER” contest and I am running out of time.
So please help me if you can

Problems:
1 - I can not see the nRF7002-DK to be part of the Thread network
2 - I can not commission on the Matter Server the nRF7002-DK  running the Matter:Light bulb Application

In OTBR web  JOIN I can not see any connected  device. I suppose I must see the nRF7002-DK running Matter:Light bulb  
How can I achieve that?

What I have done:

1 - Build  Matter:Light bulb Application  following the example:
docs.nordicsemi.com/.../README.html

Board is working, buttons and LED s are working as in example.
LED is blinking slow waiting to commission.

2 - Configure OpenThread Radio Co-processor (RCP) on nRF52840 Dongle
Plug it into Raspberry Pi (running the OTBR)

3 - OTBR installed. Web page can be seen. OTBR  is LEADER
Looks that the nRF52840 dongle recognized as seen from WEB interface

Then I started the commissioning procedure using smartphone in two different Matter servers
I have the same results commissioning with NFC or QR code
The commissioning is going well until a point that reports unable to connect

Tests running on:

A) Home Assistant Mater Server.
HA is running in my local network. OTBR + nRF82540 dongle is connected on that network as well
This server is working OK . I have already commissioned a commercial plug using the QR without any problems

B) Google Home app in my smartphone

Results:

IN HOME ASSISTANT
- (LED blinking slow)
- Connect with the device  (LED blinking fast)
- Create Matter credentials (LED blinking fast)
- Check network connectivity (LED solid)
- inability to connect to the device. Make sure your phone is connected to Wi-Fi

IN GOOGLE HOME APP
- (LED blinking slow)
- Connect with the device  (LED blinking fast)
- Create Matter credentials (LED blinking fast)
- Uncertified device. It is not possible to configure this device with Google

What am I doing wrong?

Thank you

Vasilis

Some screenshots from OTBR web

[Maria Gilje]

Hello,

vorrias said:

- The terminal output is posted in previews post and it is the file 0435.log file commissionning in google home.txt

In this log, the commissioning fails because the light bulb device disconnects from the Matter controller. The root reason for the disconnection is not clear from the log. There is a few ways to find out:

• Sniff the Bluetooth LE connection with a packet sniffer. See the documentation and user guide for the nRF Sniffer here.
• Verify that CHIP tool is from the same NCS version as the light bulb sample. Compatibility issues can cause unexpected behaviour. This step can help to rule out compatibility as a root cause.

Did you get any feedback from the contest forum?

Best regards,

Maria

[vorrias]

Hi Maria,

Took me some time to prepare the following tests.

I did a test with the chip-tool binary for Linux (chip-tool-release)

That was the procedure suggested in the contest forum.

It is important to understated what is wrong and can't commission in Google Home or Home Assistant.

I hope the chip-tool test will give me a clue what is working and what is not.

The good thing is that I managed to switch on/off the nRF7002-DK LED form another PC running the chip-tool.

All went well but I have some questions seeking for help.

Here is what I did

Begin

Power the nRF7002-DK with the Light Bulb starts advertising.
Type in console:

./chip-tool-release interactive start

pairing ble-wifi 1 LAB2 mypassword 20202021 3840

Device starts communicating and send output to serial terminal. After a minute device is commissioned and LED is solid on.

Typing the following to see results:

onoff toggle 1 1

onoff on 1 1

onoff off 1 1

nRF7002-DK LED reacts as expected

When exit chip-tool with ^C the device executes fine the commands form command line:

~$ ./chip-tool-release onoff toggle 1 1

Also when login / logout from PC running the chip-tool, commands are still executed fine
So far so good.

The problem irises when rebooting the PC.

the command :

./chip-tool-release onoff toggle 1

can’t control the light bulb

Looks like chip-tool settings are lost.

Trying the procedure from Begin:

./chip-tool-release interactive start

and then:

pairing ble-wifi 1 LAB2 mypassword 20202021 3840

got the message: “Scan complete. No matching device found”

The only way to establish connection is to recommission.

To start commissioning is impossible since the Button 2 when pressed to start commissioning reports on terminal:

“device is already commissioned”

The only way is to erase via SDK programmer, then flash the Light Bulb again and repeat from Begin

Questions

1 - is anyway to put nRF7002-DK in commissioning mode after device is commissioned without erasing and reprogramming it?

It looks that chip-tool broke the bond with the fabric?

2 - Is anyway for the Linux PC to remember the commissioning settings with Light Bulb after rebooting?

Thanks
Regards

[vorrias]

The above is solved by @jens using the Discord contest channel and here is how:

1 – Download the binary chip-tool and place it into home directory
The Lynux  binary zip file contains 2 files:
chip-tool-release and chip-tool-debug.
I am not sure what is the difference but assumed  chip-tool-debug offers more debugging capabilities.
Store these files into home directory
Important! First create a folder so chip-tool data remains even when  rebooting the PC. That was a problem and resolved by @jens in Discord, nordicmakeitmatter channel.

mkdir ~/chip-tool-data
This will create a folder in your home called chip-tool-data

2 - Power the nRF7002-DK loaded with Matter Light Bulb application.
The device must be close (within Bluetooth range) to Linux PC.
LED1 starts blinking and the device advertise over the BLE & NFC.
Near by smartphone screen pops up to scan Light Bulb QR but this is not needed now.

3- Commissioning
Start chip-tool to commission Matter over Wi-Fi using Bluetooth:
TMPDIR=~/chip-tool-data ./chip-tool-release pairing ble-wifi 1 LAB2 mypassword 20202021 3840
This creates two files inside  chip-tool-data (chip_tool_config.alpha.ini, chip_tool_config.ini)
This is very important because connection can be done even after rebooting the PC

After a minute device is commissioned and LED1 is solid on. DEVICE IS COMMISSIONED
When ready exit with ^C
Type to TOGGLE LED2:
TMPDIR=~/chip-tool-data ./chip-tool-release onoff toggle 1 1

Type to ON LED2:
TMPDIR=~/chip-tool-data ./chip-tool-release onoff on 1 1

Type to OFF LED2:
TMPDIR=~/chip-tool-data ./chip-tool-release onoff off 1 1

Now when rebooting commissioned data remained in  chip-tool-data directory (TMPDIR=~/chip-tool-data) and we ALWAYS include the path before any chip-tool command:
TMPDIR=~/chip-tool-data ./chip-tool-release onoff toggle 1 1
NOTE:
Sometimes connection is not established after boot.
To solve it this command issued once after boot: TMPDIR=~/chip-tool-data
Then everything is working fine

Since I have now a working nRF7002-DK controlled from a PC, I will start investigating why I can not commission it into Home Assistant.
Thanks

PS.
I still believe that an addition to software must be done to recommission an already commissioned device by pressing the Button to start the commission cycle again. Now this is not possible. The device must erased first and reprogrammed. When pressing the button reports "device is already commissioned"
Also It could be nice to have a GUI for chip-tool.  It will make Matter device control easier.

Now that I am sure the device communicates fine with the chip-tool what is going wrong and refuses to  commission in Home Assistant or Google home is a mystery and must be solved.

[Maria Gilje]

Hello,

Great news that you got assistance to solve one issue from the Discord community.

vorrias said:

Now that I am sure the device communicates fine with the chip-tool what is going wrong and refuses to  commission in Home Assistant or Google home is a mystery and must be solved.

Please see the Testing with commersial Matter ecosystems documenation. There could be some requirements which are missing.

Best regards,

Maria

[vorrias]

OK Maria I will do that ASAP hopping to give an end to that problem. I have to move on and finish the awarded NordicPico (Matter) immediately after that.

Best regards