plan44 matter README

Since the matter SDK v1.0.0 release on October 4th, 2022, all plan44.ch devices (P44-DSB-xx Digital Strom bridges and P44-LC-xx standalone controllers) have been able to install a public beta firmware which enables the devices to work as matter bridges.

Since June 2026, firmware version 2.8.3 has made the matter bridge available as an officially matter 1.4-certified bridge.

This readme explains how to use the early beta matter implementation.

Prerequisites

A P44-DSB or P44-LC device

The following devices are supported:

  • Commercially available products from plan44: P44-LC-DE, P44-DSB-E2, P44-DSB-DEH2, P44-DSB-D, P44-DSB-E, P44-AC-xx, …
  • DIY devices based on RaspberryPi using the free P44-DSB-X or P44-LC-X images. Please note: although these DIY devices technically contain the same Matter bridge as the commercial devices, they do not receive a Matter certificate (DAC) because this must be paid for individually for each device. Consequently, DIY devices will continue to be flagged as “not certified” by Matter controllers during setup.

Firmware 2.8.3 or later for P44-xx devices

The Matter functionality has been available as a beta version since December 2022. From firmware release 2.8.3 onwards, the P44 device will be equipped with a certificate and will therefore be recognised as an officially Matter 1.4-certified bridge.

Anyone who already has the Matter bridge in operation as a beta can update to 2.8.3 without anything changing; existing Matter pairings will be retained.

A suitable smart home ecosystem and corresponding hardware

  • The major providers of smart home platforms, such as Apple, Ikea, Google, Alexa, SmartThings, etc., now all offer support for integrating Matter bridges. However, most systems require a ‘home hub’ for this, such as an Apple TV, HomePod, Echo Dot, Nest Hub, Dirigera, etc.; please refer to the documentation provided by the respective providers for exact requirements, such as minimum model and firmware versions, device compatibility, etc.

  • The versatile open-source home automation solution Home Assistant also offers good Matter integration.

How to enable the matter bridge on the P44-xx

Once the above requirements are met, onboarding is easy:

  • Open the P44 device’s web user interface (for the P44-GW-MW, follow the device instructions for Matter pairing via buttons/display).
  • On the ‘System’ tab, there is a ‘Matter bridge’ section. Click the ‘Matter bridge...’ button.
  • If you have never used the Matter bridge before, a dialog box will prompt you to enable Matter functionality now. Click the button to enable Matter and restart the P44 device. After restarting, navigate back to the same dialog (as described above).
  • Once Matter functionality has been enabled, a dialog box will appear informing you that at least one device must first be enabled for “bridging” (if one has already been enabled in a previous attempt, the message will not appear again).
  • Select at least one device from the device list that you wish to connect to Matter. Open the info dialogue using the (i) button and, under “Bridging to Matter”, select which aspects of the device you wish to make available in Matter. Buttons are only useful in specific cases, so “Output only” or “Output and Sensors/Inputs” is usually a good starting point.
  • Alternatively, for P44-DSB devices, you can also create a virtual Digitalstrom “bridging” device to mirror a Digitalstrom room status as a Matter switch or dimmer; see below.
  • Back on the "System" tab, click "Matter bridge..." again.
  • A QR code (known as the onboarding code) will now be displayed in the dialog box
  • In a matter-enabled smart home app (such as “Home.app” on Apple devices), select “Add accessory...” and scan the QR code. With other systems, you may instead need to manually enter the pairing code displayed below the QR code.

Once onboarding is complete, all devices selected for bridging (see second step above) will be visible in the Home apps and can be controlled directly or, if necessary, via the voice control assistants (hey Siri, ok Google, Alexa).

Further devices can now be added by selecting the appropriate option under “Bridging to Matter” (in the device list, in the info dialog of the respective device) as described above – but please allow the smart home system a few minutes to synchronise afterwards...

At present (2.8.3), on/off devices, dimmable lights and plug-in devices, coloured lights, temperature, humidity and brightness sensors, as well as roller shutters and blinds, are supported for “bridging”.

For questions, discussions, suggestions, etc., there is a dedicated section for Matter in the plan44 forum.

What devices can be bridged to Matter?

In principle, the P44 device can only forward data to Matter for those end devices that it manages itself; depending on the P44 model, these include DALI, EnOcean, hue, optionally Wiser by Feller, scripted devices, evaluators, etc.

In a Digitalstrom system, however, it would also be desirable to make the DS terminals controllable via Matter.

As Digitalstrom itself unfortunately provides no support whatsoever for Matter, plan44.ch has developed two ‘workaround’ methods and integrated them into the P44 devices to make this possible. As both are and remain ‘workarounds’, they each have their advantages and disadvantages and involve a certain degree of complexity.

Each bridged end device also requires resources within the P44 device, which vary depending on the model. Whilst the new 2026 models have ample RAM and flash memory reserves, older models may run short of resources if there are more than around 100 end devices. It is therefore advisable to proceed selectively and only map those devices to Matter that make sense for the application. In this context, the room status bridges (see next section) are often more efficient and easier to use than too many individual devices.

How to bridge Digital Strom room state into matter

In the P44-DSB products, you'll see a new device section called "Bridging". Bridges are a special kind of devices which can bring matter support even into Digital Strom rooms without any P44 based lights, just standard dS terminal blocks!

Bridge devices can be created by clicking on the "+Bridge" button, and then placed (in the dSS) into a Digital Strom room. Bridge devices appear in dSS as a light with a local button.

A bridge device does two things:

  • it listens for Digital Strom scene calls happening in the room, and then transmits the resulting room state to matter, where it is displayed like a dimmer slider. So if preset3 (standard setting: 50%) scene is called in a room, you'll see 50% in matter

  • when the room slider is moved on the matter side, the bridge device will translate this to the nearest matching scene and call this scene in the room. For example, when you move the slider to 70%, the nearest scene is probably preset2 (75%), so this will be called in the room.

So in rooms with standard 100%/75%/50%/25% scenes, all you need to do is create a "Five Level room state bridge" and move it to the room you want to see and control via matter. If the scenes in the room have non-standard levels, just call these scenes in the dSS, manually set the same level in the bridge device, and save the scene.

If you change the button function to an area button, the bridge will mirror the area state (on or off) instead of the entire room. The "on-off" bridge device just maps off and on scenes, but not preset2..4.

dS485 (beta) Direct integration

This workaround involves the P44 device using “dS485” via the Digitalstrom protocol to import the Digitalstrom terminals individually into the P44 environment and bridge them to Matter from there. Details on setup can be found here.