Matter and/or thread compatibility on switches

Switches General Discussion
1

I AM SO CONFUSED, I have spent hours looking for this. just looking for a straight answer. do switches support matter and/or thread. if not, do we know when or if that’s happening. The roadmaps I have found said it already happened ? appreciate the help!

1 Like
2

No

1 Like
3

thanks!! so, matter is also with the mg24 chips? or is that going to be a firmware update?

4

Both the MG21 and the MG24 will be upgradable to Matter at whatever point Inovelli implements it, according to information they have released. The only difference is that the switches with the MG21 chips will require flashing an upgrade via a cable connection to the switch. The MG24 will be upgradable OTA.

3 Likes
5

Here it is from the horses mouth for what it’s worth lol: @Bry is correct on the implementation of MG21 vs 24. Regarding timeline, we are targeting sometime in the summer. We actually have both the manufacturer and an intern working towards matter firmware (dev kit was just delivered to us last week).

Right now we’re focusing on switching over to the MG24 chipset, but still keeping it Zigbee because we’re not entirely sure what hubs support what regarding Matter. Do they support all the advanced features our switch offer? I’m honestly not sure and haven’t had the time to dig into it.

Our current customer base primarily use hubs that support Zigbee, so there’s not a huge rush to switch everything over to Matter until we’re able to have the capital to purchase additional inventory to reach new customers who don’t have these traditional hubs (ie: maybe they have HomeKit, Google, Philips, etc).

So, until we get an influx of capital or things sort themselves out with Matter where we know what can/cannot be done, we will be sticking with Zigbee/Z-Wave.

In other words, we will launch a basic version of Matter as quickly as we can, but we likely won’t be pre-loading Matter firmware on switches any time soon.

9 Likes
6

Two months later i am noticing the Blue Series is on back order. Would this signal the switch from the MG21 to 24 in the Inovelli store?

And if so could i suggest a line being added to the description or a new SKU to identify the OTA updateable switches.

Thanks for all you do Eric. Your willingness to take questions in the community and clarify any confusion is a big help.

7

Unfortunately not at this time. They have basically always been on backorder. We have a new shipment coming in within a week or so and they are still MG21. I don’t think we have a date at this time for the MG24 switch - but we will be sure to indicate it on the website!

1 Like
8

Thanks for the update Courtney

9

I feel like this is the type of question that is asked over and over again… but I’ll ask anyway. If I’m just starting on my smart journey, and want to be set up well for matter, why would I wait for the Blue switches with the MG24 chip? Doing an update on the MG21 with a cable connection doesn’t sound bad if it allows me to go ahead and buy (once stock is available). Do the MG24s do something special not on the MG21, or is it a slight speed increase or some other minimal upgrade?

10

Potential matter upgrade over the air vice wired updates to the mg21 chip.

May not be a big deal but if you have 60 switches and you have to update it a few times due to bugs or radio issues, it could be a pain.

11

would you need to pull out the wire every time for an update? I figured it was a 1-time shot to switch the chip to matter and then from there we’re back to OTA firmware updates.

12

Good question. I don’t think anyone will know until the Matter firmware development starts. I dont know if the radio will have to be touched only for radio upgrades and normal OTA upgrades for firmware fixes that we see now.

13

I appreciate the response. I feel like if I’m always waiting for the next development, I’ll never buy anything to use. Maybe I should buy a handful of needed blue switches so I can start, but not go crazy and do the whole house.

14

Whether it be the MG21 or MG24, how does Inovelli plan to implement Matter exactly?

It looks like the MG21 and MG24 support Thread, so is it safe to assume when we are talking about Matter support, we are talking about Matter over Thread?

15

TLDR: Too soon

Inovelli is adopting a wait an see approach, due to a number of factors including some major manufacturers also adopting a wait and see.

3 Likes
16

Thank you.

Edit: Looks like Matter over Thread is the answer.