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    (Last Updated: 5 April 2021)
    • ChatGPT - finally I can now retyre in piece and quite, knowing everting is in goof hands.

      A

      ChatGPT samples:

      Me:

      Tell me about an iot program called openLuup.

      It:

      OpenLuup is an open source home automation system that is built on the VeraLuup platform. It is designed to be easy to install and configure, and provides users with a powerful and versatile way to control their home automation devices. OpenLuup offers a wide range of features, including support for many popular home automation devices, scheduling, scripting, and integration with other services. OpenLuup is designed to be customizable, allowing users to create their own home automation systems. It is an excellent choice for those looking to create their own home automation system without spending a lot of money.

      Me:

      Write an iot program using openLuup.

      It:

      --openLuup IoT Program-- -- Initialize Variables -- local device_id = "MyHomeDevice" local temperature_sensor_id = "MyTemperatureSensor" local temperature_threshold = 75 -- Create Devices -- luup.create_device("OpenLuup Temperature Sensor", 0, device_id, "D_GenericSensor1.xml", "I_GenericSensor1.xml", "S_TemperatureSensor1.xml", "") luup.variable_set("urn:upnp-org:serviceId:TemperatureSensor1", "CurrentTemperature", 0, device_id) -- Start Timer -- luup.call_delay("check_temperature", 10, "", false) --Function to Check Temperature-- function check_temperature() local current_temperature = luup.variable_get(temperature_sensor_id, "CurrentTemperature", 0) --Check Temperature Threshold-- if current_temperature >= temperature_threshold then --Send Alert-- luup.call_action("urn:micasaverde-com:serviceId:HomeAutomationGateway1", "SendTextMessage", {PhoneNumber="1234567890", Message="ALERT! Temperature exceeded threshold!"}, 0) end --Reset Timer-- luup.call_delay("check_temperature", 10, "", false) end

      Me:

      Write an iot program using openLuup.

      It:

      Write an iot program using openLuup. -- openLuup IOT Program -- -- Variables local lampState = false local lampTime = 0 -- Functions function lampTimer() if lampTime > 0 then lampTime = lampTime - 1 if lampTime == 0 then luup.variable_set('urn:upnp-org:serviceId:SwitchPower1', 'Status', 0, lampDeviceID) lampState = false end end end -- Setup luup.call_delay('lampTimer', 60, 0) -- Main Loop while true do -- Check for motion if luup.variable_get('urn:micasaverde-com:serviceId:MotionSensor1', 'Tripped', motionSensorDeviceID) == '1' then if not lampState then luup.variable_set('urn:upnp-org:serviceId:SwitchPower1', 'Status', 1, lampDeviceID) lampState = true -- Set lamp timer to 5 minutes lampTime = 300 end end luup.sleep(1) end

      What??

      luup.sleep(1)

      Not good - looks like I still have some semblance of a job to fulfill.

      Me:

      An iot program called openLuup was written by akbooer. Who is akbooer?

      It: (note: answer redacted and as I understand it, also incorrect re: AltUI):

      akbooer is the pseudonym of the software developer and home automation enthusiast. He is the creator of the openLuup home automation software, which is an open-source version of the Vera home automation system. He is also the creator of the AltUI graphical user interface for openLuup.

      Me:

      Who created of the AltUI graphical user interface for openLuup.

      and

      Me:

      Who created of the AltUI graphical user interface for the home automation system Vera.

      Names two different people - mmmm.

      Regardless very impressive - give it a few more years.

      General Discussion
    • Short survey

      P

      Hi,
      I am a student and recently i am working on smart home project and writing a seminar paper about the way users handle and manage IoT devices. I you have 3 min, please fill below survey. Its really short.
      Thank you in advance, I really appreciate everyone's help.

      General Discussion
    • LibraSun's Dashboard Apps Roundup 2023

      LibraSun

      For what it's worth, I've been putting the finishing touches on a much-updated version of my DP Apps spreadsheet -- specifically intended for HE users, at least for now -- and invite you all to take a gander http://bit.ly/hedb23 at the PDF one-page version.

      Corrections and edits welcome (esp. for the HOMEKIT column, just added yesterday)! Thanks in advance, especially because I'm not a big dashboard user myself, but somehow accepted this role as "keeper of the list" as it were.

      General Discussion
    • Separate switching bulb in one ceiling light

      P

      Hello guys,

      I would like to achieve two different things with lights, but I am not sure it could be done. I am starting with smart things, and I am far from any electrician knowledge, wo any help is really appreciated.

      I have dumb switches in my hall, controlled from 3 places. I understood that installing one smart module before first switch will make them "hybrid", both smart controlled and dumb controlled.

      I would like to buy ceiling light with two bulb sockets. What I would like to achieve is I would like to have one bulb for normal daily usage (lets say cold white full brightness), and second for night time (aprox from 10pm till morning) with some red/orange - minimum brightness.

      So question are:

      Is there a way to keep both bulbs turning-on separated? So only one will be on during day, and then only second during night?

      And could that be done with pressing dumb switch? What would I need to achieve it? (maybe another module into the ceiling lights)

      Thank you in advance

      General Discussion
    • How to reset kwh

      B

      Aften some testing I watt to clear KWH how ?

      Regards Bjarne

      General Discussion
    • Need help in finding the right smart switch for my kitchen lights

      M

      Hello,
      I have a kitchen light that can be controlled by two switches, using either to turn it off or on. I have been slowly changing things over to be a smart home but this is the first switch I am attempting to install.
      I am in a double wide modular home (mobile) that was built in 1994.
      At first I thought I would need a 3 way switch but when taking the normal switches apart I realized that was incorrect because the wiring on my switches are different than anything I could find online.
      For one a 3 way smart switch requires 5 wires and there are only 2 wires going into the primary switch with 3 wires going into the secondary switch from the primary switch (at least I think the 3 wires connect the two switches together). Images will be attached of the wiring.
      There are two wires (one black and one white) going into the first switch and 3 wires (black, white, and red) going out of that and into the second switch (I assume). The odd thing is the red wire going to the second switch is connected to the white wire going into the first switch and the white wire going into the second switch seems to be a bridge wire or a traveler wire. Not exactly sure. You will see what I mean in the images.
      I need to know what kind of smart switch I can use in this set up with one remaining a normal switch.
      Note that for some reason the images got switched around when uploading them. The image with 2 wires on one side and 3 on the other is what I think is the primary and the image with just 3 wires is the secondary.
      Primary.jpg Secondary.jpg

      General Discussion
    • OT: Universal Remote

      CatmanV2

      You lot are more likely to have a view than most I know. Our much used Logitech Harmony is (not so) slowly dying.

      And Logitech have discontinued the entire line.

      And no one else appears to be making something similar.

      Was going for a Sofabaton X1, but no numeric keypad. Sofabaton U1, but no favourites.

      Anyone got suggestions?
      Needs to have those features, oh and not be only a phone app.....

      C

      General Discussion
    • The Home Automation Controller Pyramid

      rafale77

      Since one member asked at one point about the "front end" and "back end", I drew this showing the controller from the base to the tip along with what I have found to be the best options from my testing. Almost every controller will try to integrate all elements, especially commercial ones but... they all have strengths and weaknesses so if one can have a medley of the best ones...

      Screen Shot 2020-05-14 at 07.11.06.png

      General Discussion
    • Thread removed - why?

      Black Cat

      I was just going to add my support for a Update Button for the bare bones version of MSR and find the thread has been removed.
      I'm wondering what was so provocative that required it's removal?
      Have we become as paranoid as an owner of another forum?

      Anyway +1 for an Update Button.

      General Discussion
    • 3-way smart switches in separate buildings.

      D

      So, I think I'm in a bit of an unusual situation. I work at a camp & retreat center that has wifi throughout. I want to put a few switches in the office that can control outdoor lighting throughout the camp. We currently have switches in each of the buildings, but it is a particularly frustrating job to get all the lights on in the evening when it is brutally cold out or we are short staffed.

      Most of our staff is not very tech savvy (my boss literally has his wife print out his emails for him each day!!!) so, I'd love to avoid having to set up any sort of raspberry pi or new phone app.

      Is there type of 3-way switch that can connect to the wifi, turn on a light in another building AND turn on an indicator light in the office, without having any sort of wire running between the buildings? Hopefully looking for a simple solution without breaking the bank too.

      I greatly appreciate any input that you can give. Thank you!

      General Discussion
    For those who registered but didn't received the confirmation email, please send an email to support@smarthome.community with the email you used

    Recover an ‘assumed bricked’ Vera Secure

    General Discussion
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    • parkerc
      parkerc last edited by

      Hi

      Go with me here... I recently pick up a unresponsive Vera Secure from eBay for next to nothing, thinking I’d could have a go at trying to restore it, if only as a play thing..

      Situation - The power led comes on, but the internet and service leds just flash - no connection made (and even using a direct cable and Wireshark, I can’t see an arp request being made to see if it has a default in address) - I’ve also tried various reset button combinations - no luck.

      Perhaps this post is a long shot, but seeing so many familiar ex Micasaverde/Vera forum names - i thought I’d at least ask - just in case anyone had any guidance/advice etc. I could use ..

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • rafale77
        rafale77 last edited by

        All too familiar with this situation unfortunately. This sounds like one of two things: A storage flash corruption due to flash cells failure or a error made in one of the boot script which is so bad that it is also preventing the recovery script from working.
        The only way to recover is to push a full firmware refresh through TFTP and mios has a tool to do this. You will need to set the device in bootloader mode by powering it up while maintaining the the reset button pressed and connect to it using the mios tool under windows XP. The problem is to procure the vera secure firmware image which I don't have. I only have it for the vera plus and edge and the plus is significantly different as it uses a different zwave chip and storage partitioning structure.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • parkerc
          parkerc last edited by

          Many Thanks @rafale77 ,

          I can recall years back doing a firmware recovery on my Vera lite, or it might have been a Vera 3 (long term Vera user here !!) - i wasn’t sure if the process would be similar or not.

          I can set up a TFTP server (I think my QNAP NAS has that option), and it sounds like getting it into bootloader mode is reasonably straight forward to do, the challenge is getting the image, now when you say ‘procure’ do you mean it has to be purchased from MIOS? When you created your for the Edge and Plus, did you do them yourself (extract the image), or was it something you had to get from MIOS too ?

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • rafale77
            rafale77 last edited by

            Back then I actually opened a ticket to request the image from vera support since it is oddly not published anywhere and they are strangely reluctant to make it easily available,

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • parkerc
              parkerc last edited by

              Hi @rafale77 -

              Hope all is well and that you had a good Xmas etc..

              I’m resurrecting an old post to see if I can give things another go, but so as I’ve not been able to get the VeraSecure to show very much (if any life) to connect to the network.

              With that in mind, have you tried any of the following ‘debricking’ techniques?

              OpenWrt Debricking Guide
              Recover from a bad flash - DD-WRT Wiki
              rafale77 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • rafale77
                rafale77 @parkerc last edited by

                @parkerc

                Honestly I have kind of given up tinkering with all forms of "embedded" devices which rely on a bootloader. They are just much too fragile and yes these are the various features/methods to access the bootloader. I have jettisoned all my veras to the trash where they belong and even deleted all my backups and the windows XP VM I used to unbrick my veras. It's just not worth the time and effort. I moved all my work to BIOS based devices which much less brick-able and as I found out more flexible, cheaper and more power efficient. Saves me a lot of time too.

                Happy New Year to you too!

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • parkerc
                  parkerc last edited by

                  Thanks @rafale77 i totally understand 🙂

                  can I ask what you’re using now that’s “ much less brick-able and as I found out more flexible, cheaper and more power efficient ‘ -

                  that sounds like the holy grail !!

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • rafale77
                    rafale77 last edited by

                    I am using a small gemini lake mini PC with a Celeron N4100 CPU. Cost me about $100 with 4GB of RAM and a 64GB SSD. It dual boots windows 10 and ubuntu server which is what I am using for home automation. I used it as my "vera" for a couple of years, running the vera UI (i.e firmware) on it through QEMU. It now runs z-way server. Running exactly the same programs and plugging it through a POE splitter next to a rPi3B, I realized it consumes half the power of the rPi while running 2-3x faster and is naturally cooler. When I did the math of having the storage and the case etc... I also came to realize that it is cheaper than any rPi. And the flexibility of course comes from the ability to run any OS you want.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • parkerc
                      parkerc last edited by parkerc

                      Interesting set up - I’ve lost count of the different setups I’ve tried over the years, from mini pcs, rPis, VM, Dockers etc. all of which had their merits, but I often found myself back under the hood of my Vera trying to make something work.

                      It was evident early on that Vera was never going to do everything - hence looking back (7 years ago) I was trying to work out what ‘combo’ would be best - https://community.getvera.com/t/the-ultimate-partner-for-vera/175184 - and that journey continues.

                      Today it’s

                      2 x VeraPlus,
                      2 x Raspberry Pi 3 B+ (Lua, z-way, Node-Red, USB/Serial Bridges for RFXTRX433, DSC Alarm, CurrentCost Energy)
                      2 x QNAP NAS (Running 1 x Homebridge (Docker) , 1 x Openluup ** (Docker) and is the SMB/CIFS target for any/all storage needs

                      ** - more for interest/fun as the UI is terrible on my iPad (which is my primary device)

                      But.. no matter what I do, my Vera and it’s UI continues to remain my focal point (primary controller) ..

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • rafale77
                        rafale77 last edited by

                        Wow, pretty elaborate... I have tinkered quite a bit too and have finally settled on this:

                        1x Mini PC which has now become a radio bridge with 1 uzb and 1 conbee stick(it was a hacked vera but I got tired of the fragility of the platform)
                        1x QNAP NAS as my NVR with 16 IPCams, main storage server with 3 VMs:
                        a. home-assistant (my own version for zigbee and video recognition)/pihole/grafana
                        b. pfSense with dual WAN (1.5Gbit internet)
                        c. openLuup/Z-way/habridge/HomeKitbridge
                        1x macOS desktop which is my main pc and on which I run sonos-http-api and provides a local TTS server using the Siri voice.

                        I tried docker containers too but found their benefits were not worth the management complexity they were adding. I tried the vera obviously and a number of rPi2 and 3B+ and at the end regrouped them all into the setup above. I could actually merge the programs of the two VMs into one these days since there is no longer any reason to keep them separate. Back a while ago I had some nodejs version conflicts which I could have addressed differently than creating a new VM. openLuup is at the center of everything... and my only cloud dependency for home control is the amazon echo voice resolution. I even run them with no cloud hosted "skills" to eliminate cloud to cloud schemes.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • parkerc
                          parkerc last edited by

                          Looks a nice set up..

                          Oh, you’ve just reminded me, I use my QNAP as a NVR too (6 cameras), plus I also have ‘ sonos-http-api’ running (using Joanna), and PiHole’ too.

                          Connectivity wise, I use my UniFi home set up for VPN, and it has 3 networks, (I) Private LAN, (ii) Guest (Internet Only) for visitors & IoT devices (Alexa/Ring etc) and (iii) Video (IP TV) - I’d really like to embed my UniFi controller into my HA much more, as it has a lot of useful info, energy usage (via PoE), presence awareness via access points. Currently I just do some json calls here and there.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • parkerc
                            parkerc last edited by

                            Hi @rafale77

                            There was some interesting developments on the Vera forum about recovering a veraplus, through connecting a USB to TTY device to some connectors on the board . Opening up the unit and looking at the VeraSecure board, I can see 4 connectors too. (Photo posted on that forum) https://community.ezlo.com/t/can-the-veraplus-be-unbricked/204485/34

                            Is that a route you’ve used before ?

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                            • rafale77
                              rafale77 last edited by

                              Not really. The route used before was using a custom windows tool from vera designed for the vera3 which I believe to start a TFTP server which then injects a firmware image to the device over ethernet. This would be something new (well sort of since I think someone on the forum also used TTY to recover one unit as well but not through USB.)

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • parkerc
                                parkerc last edited by parkerc

                                Thanks,

                                While I’ve got the vera3 program somewhere, although as yet I’ve not been able to get it to install/run, having built an XP machine just for that purpose..

                                it’s interesting you talk about a TFTP server, as I had to do a recovery with a different product, and they sent me instructions on setting up a DHCP server and a TFTP service all using tftd32/64 - http://tftpd32.jounin.net/tftpd32_download.html

                                I’ve also seen these..

                                Rich Brown  /  Jan 14, 2017  /  2022-07-26T08:34:53-04:00

                                Setting up a TFTP server for TFTP Recovery/Install

                                Setting up a TFTP server for TFTP Recovery/Install

                                Setting up a TFTP server for TFTP Recovery/Install Important Information! TFTP server & client tools (based on the TFTP protocol) employ no access controls while allowing light-weight file transfer between networked devices. Do not leave TFTP services running longer than needed and use a...

                                Installing OpenWrt via TFTP

                                And then for the cable/connection..

                                Nov 6, 2014  /  2022-07-31T09:07:18-04:00

                                Serial Console

                                Serial Console

                                Serial Console Overview Most people get along without a serial console for their device because they're able to flash a working firmware the first time - or are able to apply various recovery methods - and do all their communicating with the device over a network. However, some bootloaders don't...

                                David  /  May 5, 2012  /  2020-05-28T18:16:36-04:00

                                Serial Cables

                                Serial Cables

                                Serial Cables The most likely adapter you need is USB-TTL serial adapter, consumer routers with rs-232 ports are pretty rare This page assumes you have identified a serial connector on the router that you want to connect to from the PC. Modern PCs will usually have only a USB port to use for...

                                Assuming I can get to the command line via putty and the usb-tty cable on Vera; any idea what the sequence and command line(s) might be download and run the firmware update ?

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • rafale77
                                  rafale77 last edited by

                                  Yup! These are the two known methods to write the flash memory of an embedded device (TFTP and TTY). I don’t have a vera secure and have only recovered vera plus and vera edge through TFTP. Sorry can’t help with the TTY USB as have taken down my veras.

                                  D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • D
                                    destination @rafale77 last edited by

                                    @rafale77 said in Recover an ‘assumed bricked’ Vera Secure:

                                    Yup! These are the two known methods to write the flash memory of an embedded device (TFTP and TTY). I don’t have a vera secure and have only recovered vera plus and vera edge through TFTP. Sorry can’t help with the TTY USB as have taken down my veras.

                                    Hello @rafale77 , I have G550-35-1.7.4061.bin, mt7621s_Luup_ui7-1.7.5187-en-mios.squashfs and newmios-hooks.sh files. Can you tell me how can I use these files for recovery? There is no a clear tutorial about it. Is it possible to tell us how can you recover your vera plus with TFTP ? I want to apply the same stages to my vera secure. Thanks.

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • rafale77
                                      rafale77 last edited by

                                      This post from Richie Digital in the old place is how I did it:

                                      Aug 4, 2019

                                      Video: Recover Bricked Vera plus

                                      Video: Recover Bricked Vera plus

                                      Yes it was bricked no ssh no telnet nada P.s Forgive my feet you can try with Vera edge as well I am not in the mood to type instructions b/c I have been working on this for 2 weeks almost and excuse my feet you can try with vera edge or vera plus if u do extroot … do it after the firmware...

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • D
                                        destination last edited by destination

                                        Is it means you use vera3_recovery_tool for recovery not TFTP? If it is yes, vera3_recovery_tool does not works at vera secure for me.

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • rafale77
                                          rafale77 last edited by rafale77

                                          Under the hood, the recovery tool is using TFTP... I just used it and didn't really bother to inquire deeper as to how one would reproduce what it does.

                                          And as far as I know it should work for the vera secure as well (I tested on both the plus and the edge) since all three are based on the same platform. I just don't have a firmware image for the secure.

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • D
                                            destination last edited by destination

                                            Thanks @rafale77. After using that tool, i still have the warning at the firmware upgrade page.

                                            cat: can't open "etc/cmh/PK_AccessPoint' No such file or directory cat: can't open "etc/cmh/PK_AccessPoint' No such file or directory. Manually upgrade the firmware to the latest release. 
                                            

                                            Do you have any idea about that warning?

                                            alt text

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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