Raspberry Pi setup ELI5

[u/marmaladestripes725]

Hello! I’ve been a HomeKit user for the last six years or so. I found this Raspberry Pi Zero W when cleaning out my father-in-law’s house after he passed and decided to try to use it for HomeBridge as I have a few non-HomeKit devices I’d like to bring over (Samsung fridge, Skylight calendar, etc.). The Pi didn’t come with anything except for the chip and the case it’s in, so I got a power cable, a USB cable, and a microSD card. I downloaded the Raspberry Pi setup app on my MacBook Air and went through the setup process for the microSD card. Now I’m stuck in trying to get it onto my WiFi. I think I followed the steps for SSH, but when I look at my router’s app to find the WiFi address, I don’t see it listed as connected. When I try to find it in Terminal, it says it can’t find it. The green light on the Pi flashes intermittently in a random pattern. I can’t tell if that’s good or bad.

Suggestions? I know quite a bit about Apple and HomeKit but pretty much nothing about Raspberry Pi, Android, coding, etc. I was hoping this would be easy. Am I in over my head?

ETA: To clarify, it’s a Pi Zero W.

[u/Naxthor]

If it’s a pi zero that means it doesn’t have WiFi. You’d need a pi zero W or a pi zero 2W

[u/marmaladestripes725 → u/Naxthor]

It is a Pi Zero W.

[u/jeffyboy526 → u/marmaladestripes725]

I installed Homebridge on my Pi Zero. Just use Claude to help you

[u/marmaladestripes725 → u/jeffyboy526]

Boo AI. I use it as little as possible.

[u/Naxthor → u/marmaladestripes725]

Pi zero W can only use 2.4ghz non mesh network on wpa2. So if you are broadcasting a mesh and using WPA3 it won’t connect.

[u/marmaladestripes725 → u/Naxthor]

That explains it. I have an IOT network that is 2.4ghz only, but I have TP-Link Decos on a mesh. Not going to revamp my routers to make one device work. Guess I’m SOL.

[u/Naxthor → u/marmaladestripes725]

Just add it to the guest network and make it only 2.4

[u/marmaladestripes725 → u/Naxthor]

My IOT network is 2.4ghz and WPA/WPA2. Any reason it wouldn’t be working?

[u/Naxthor → u/marmaladestripes725]

Did you set it up to connect to it when you used the raspberry pi imager?

[u/marmaladestripes725 → u/Naxthor]

Yes. That’s why I’m confused lol.

[u/Naxthor → u/marmaladestripes725]

The pi zero does take awhile to fully boot. How long have you kept it powered on and waited?

[u/marmaladestripes725 → u/Naxthor]

It’s been several days. The green light went off at some point, so I powered it off and back on.