GL-S20 and Home Assistant

IoT
1

Hello there,

how do I add my GL-S20 as preferred network in Home Assistant?
If I try to add it as an OTBR I’m asked for a URL but none works.

Thank you.

1 Like
2

Hi @EPinci
The GL-S20 does not support HA yet.

3

Hi!
Why not and when will it?
...will it !?

4

I'm interested in this as well. The BBR is just a toggle at this point. I assume there will be a firmware update to enable this feature and compatibility.

5

It would be good to get some follow up here. I believe all that is needed for Home Assistant support is for the OTBR Rest API to be exposed? Can this not be done? Is it going to be done?

6

For the time being, I managed to get the GL-S20 working with HomeAssistant without the BBR.

7

Yeah. However, enabling the OTBR REST Server feature will increase system resource consumption. We will provide beta firmware soon.

1 Like
8

Hmm, yes I can see that. I assume the GL-S20 is running on an ESP32? I haven't actually opened it up. I believe others have had success running the OTBR API on ESP32 though so hopefully it has enough grunt!

9

I'd also add that I'm surprised that the GL-S20 ever launched without support for the OTBR API. It makes is exceedingly hard to get it to join an existing Thread network (for example one that started with just a Google Nest device). It is very hard to export the Network Key from the existing network. I believe that the OTBR API would make it possible to add the GL-S20 to Home Assistant and then let Home Assistant deal with joining the existing network.

1 Like
10

Hi @judahrand
We have uploaded the latest beta firmware. You can download it from GL.iNet download center and try it out. Any questions, please let me know.

1 Like
11

I'll give it a go! Thank you for the speedy changes!

12

One question, what port is the API available on?

Edit: the answer to this is 8081 :smile:

Update: This is working for me at the moment. I will continue to monitor. The only remaining deal breaking feature missing on this device as far as I understand it is now TREL - if this can be added then this device becomes a fantastic little thing!

13

Recently, Espressif developers informed us that they have implemented TREL and I believe we will add it soon.

1 Like
14

Yeah, I looked into it a bit yesterday and put up a post: GL-S20 TREL support - #2 by judahrand

Probably best to put any details there? :smile: Very exciting! I was going to say that it would make it pretty much the best value Thread Border Router (especially given that it is PoE) around but the price seems to have increased by almost 50% (£43 -> £66) since I bought it :astonished:! Still a great product but a bit closer to the Aqara Smart Hub M3 which has Thread and PoE but also has Zigbee for an extra <£30. I guess if you guys keep the speedy support and updates coming there is a value add in that though! Will hold my breathe for TREL!

15

It Looks like Home Assistant is Supported now, however it fails to connect when attempting to Join the URL of the GL-S20 to the Open Border Thread Router. See attached link on the GL-iNet website. Any ideas?
Work with Home Assistant - GL.iNet IoT Docs

16

From what I have read the issue of not being able to make the network preferred is quite common. There seems to many issues with this device and home assistant. I kind of wished i hadnt bought it now. I thought it was basically plug and play with some minor configuration.

17

Well, @yeadon yes and no. The new beta firmware should make it easier to integrate HA and the S20 but you can make it work also with the current GA version.

I'll skip the details (unless you want them) but the easy way is:

  • Setup your GL-S20 thread network as per your preference (if you need to change stuff) and make sure the thread network is started
  • Validate your HA can see the thread network not "preferred" at this point
  • Have a phone with the HA app AND the GL-S20 Tool app
    • Open the GL-S20 Tool app on the phone and connect to your device
      • See the Thread section and flip the "store thread network credential" toggle
    • Open the HA app on the phone and access the thread configuration
      • You should now see a blue button "Send credentials to Home Assistant"
      • After that the GL-S20 should get a "key" like icon
      • Now you can make your thread network preferred

This will enable you to commission thread devices (always from the phone) but note that you'll likely also need to setup a Matter server in HA, depending on the devices you want to connect.

For what is worth, I think the S20 is a very valuable device compact and I like the fact that has a wired connection that allows me cleanly separate radio stacks... I bought a couple more after I realized how to connect the network to HA in order to cover my house better.

HTH.

18

Thanks for the detailed instructions. I had some issues with getting the GL-S20 to show up in the Thread networks, but it is there now. When trying to send the credentials to Home Assistant, it fails and says "You dont have any credentials to import". When I try this on my Iphone I get the following error " No Preferred Network Found" Any ideas?
I do think it will be a great little device if I can get it setup as I want avoid having to use Apple Homekit and Google Home Matter Hubs.
Thanks Danny

19

I have heard that these seem to have some issues working in a Vlanned network. I'm not sure if this is what is causing mine to not be picked up by home assistant. Initially thread could see it, hit has disappeared. Or perhaps it's faulty and I need to send it back???

20

I'm not sure about thread per-se but certainly Matter does.
Announcements are made with multicast and VLAN segmenting breaks them.
I also found reports that some broken IGMP snooping implementation can get in the way but never experienced it.
Matter also has a dependency on IPv6.

At the very least you should start with HA and your S20 in the same VLAN.