Hey everyone, I’ve been diving into the world of Home Assistant and smart home automation, and I wanted to share my recent project and some lessons learned. I’ve been thinking about setting up a second Home Assistant instance on the same network, and I’d love to hear your thoughts or experiences!
The Idea
The main goal is to have my primary HA instance handle all the usual tasks, while a secondary device (a Raspberry Pi 4 with 4GB RAM) will be dedicated as a Zigbee controller and Open Thread Border Router. This setup is motivated by the frequent instability of my Zigbee and Thread networks, especially after HA restarts. The Thread network, in particular, takes ages to reconnect because several devices rely on multiple hops and need to join the network in a specific order. Plus, I’m moving my main HA server to a new room soon, and the new location isn’t ideal for placing the two radio antennas.
The Plan
For this second HA instance, I plan to install just four add-ons: Open Thread Border Router, Matter Server, Zigbee2MQTT, and Mosquitto Broker. I’ll also be transferring the SkyConnect and SONOFF Zigbee Dongle Plus-P USB radios from my current instance. Ideally, I’d prefer to run Home Assistant on this second device instead of installing Raspberry Pi OS with separate Zigbee/OTBR services. I’m much more comfortable with Home Assistant’s UI for updates and management, rather than having to deal with SSH or command lines to update the OS and services. I’ve been using macOS for ages, so I’m not really familiar with Linux.
Challenges and Questions
I’ve been researching the best way to set this up, but I’m not entirely sure if running a second HA instance is technically feasible. If it’s not possible, what’s the suggested way to keep the networks up during HA reboots and manage the antennas placed far away from the server? I’d love to hear your experiences or advice!
Why This Matters
For anyone who’s struggled with unstable Zigbee or Thread networks, especially after HA restarts, this setup could be a game-changer. It’s all about ensuring that my smart home devices remain connected and functional without manual intervention. Plus, having a dedicated instance for Zigbee and Thread could help isolate network issues and improve overall reliability.
Looking Forward
I’m excited to dive into this project and see how it goes. Whether it’s tweaking the configuration, optimizing the network topology, or simply enjoying the peace of mind that comes with a more stable setup, I’m ready to share my progress and learn from your experiences!
Let me know your thoughts or if you’ve tackled a similar project. Happy automating! 