I've been using Vera Plus for nearly 10 years now but it's time to move on. On top of that we've moved from the previous house whereupon I took all the Z-wave door sensors, locks and switches with me and reverted the pool to manual control, grabbing the Autelis which I won't use now since the new pool we built has Pentair IntelliCenter.
I have the Vera Plus connected and have it controlling a couple of Honeywell Z-Wave thermostats and a couple of lights but It seems to just be slower and slower as it ages. I have an intel i3 NUC that is probably 6 years old but figure it's probably powerful enough to control HA going forward. I also dabbled with HomeSeer but it seems to cost a fortune for plugins. I have HS4 and a G3 Z-Wave Plus dongle from them.
How do I get started? I'm thinking I'll just unpair all my devices from the Vera Plus and add them to HA and then set up Reactor to do the logic but is there a way to migrate? Should I use Open LUA instead?
Lots of questions but I'm ready to get started an any help would be appreciated.
I have set up HA in a VM Box Virtual Machine and am progressing along.
I got new Kwikset Connect 620 door locks and got one connected to HA via Z-Wave JS and automated via Keymaster which is quite convoluted but I got it done.
I went to install the second lock and got it connected to HA via Z-Wave JS but am not being successful getting it to work properly in Keymaster.
Screenshot 2024-08-28 084902.png
Screenshot above is the second lock for the laundry room. It shows it is set up but the codes don't seem to be working.
I have not installed the lock yet and have not set the handing either. Maybe this is the issue but IDK.
Anyone have experience setting up locks in HA using Keymaster that can help would be great!
As our family grows and life gets busier, I've been thinking about upgrading to smart door locks. With kids often forgetting keys and elderly parents needing easier access, the idea of fingerprint and facial recognition seems like the perfect solution. I also love the idea of being able to lock and unlock the doors remotely, especially when we're away. Has anyone else implemented smart locks in a similar situation? How has it impacted your daily routine and overall home security?
Hi
Bought a new ZB device, an EV charger.
I was aware that there would one manufacturer specific cluster that wouldn't work out of the box, but several other clusters I hoped would work from start does not. Or at least there isn't any enteties for them.
So I have tried to study how to write a local quirk, but it is a bit overwhelming for mt brain.
Usually I can manage do get stuff moving with intense googling, finding guides or different solutions that I can start from, but here I find nothing that I can wrap my head around.
My latest try was to chat with Gemini AI 😰 (programmers, rest assured that your job will be safe for the foreseeable future 😁 )
I have gathered my device Diagnostic Info.
I have manufacturers ZB documentation.
A device support request is created on zigpy github (no response the last weeks)
For now there is just two entities for my device, on/off switch and energy sensors.
All non manufacture attributes and commands seems to be recognized in ZHA "Manage this Device"
It would be great if I could get some entities out of them.
For example the entity for manage charging power is expected to be presented as a dimmer slider.
But why isn't there any entity created??
The manufacture specific cluster is more of nice-to-have and could maybe be solved another day.
Any help would be much appreciated. 🙏
I just wanted to post how impressed I am with both HA and MSR. I really don't see that Ezlo have a chance in hell.
I noticed that my Virtual HA instance was killing my machine's performance, so decided that my project for the weekend would be a stand alone Raspberry Pi instance. Less than an hour to install, restore and configure both HA and MSR and it all just works. Thanks to everyone that contributes to these fabulous projects. Especially our own @toggledbits for the amazing work that is the new Reactor!
C
Very impressed by Harmony hub on HA. Seems to suck all of my network goodness in 🙂
One thing I'm not clear on is how to send individual commands. Specifically I'd like to send volume commands to my TV via MSR. I've got as far as:
<edit?> There should be a screen capture here, but I'm getting a Parse error 😞
@DesT ....
Suggestions for values to turn the volume down on my TV, or pointers as to where to look?
TIA
C
Domoticz (used for zigbee integration) have been bothering me so much that i've been looking at HomeAssistant to replace it. Now that Z-way is moving in with an integration, its even more tempting..
But i don't like the idea of having it as an OS that I can't use for other things, and running the HASS Core in a docker seems to be somewhat reduced in terms of addons?
I realize that HASSOS is using docker for integrations or addons, but can I still use docker compose to set up my own dockers (i.e z-way, influx, grafana) there as well?
I guess i'm getting old, change is difficult! 😉
I've just started to look at HASS UI, and have seen enough to see that it has an infinite number of ways to show enitites and devices in all forms and shapes.. But for starters i'd like to have something familiar, so how do i go about getting a sidebar for rooms like in openluup?
I know i can put them in the actual left sidebar, but i'd prefer to keep that for configuration pages..
on each room page i'd like to sort the lights, the heaters, the sensors together, and i saw somewhere that HASS will do that for you if you play your cards (pun) right.. can't find it again now..
Any pointers to a beginner?
Relates to Vera integration in Home Assistant
Just for you to be aware.
If you are using plugs (or whatever) in Vera to measure energy for your appliances this is deprecated in 2022.4.0 since the HA integration to Vera is not updated and maintained anymore.
2022.3.8:
Skärmavbild 2022-04-14 kl. 19.54.47.png
2022.4.3:
Skärmavbild 2022-04-14 kl. 20.48.06.png
Time to move away from Vera for z-wave ...
Link to HA thread:
Yes, it can truly be a hard time to keep up with all the changes and sadly that no one maintains Vera no more. The REST sensor can make it live a bit longer at least for now… sensor: - platform: rest name: "ender_kwh" resource: http://IP_OF_VERA:3480...
I've integrated Reactor and Z-Way Expert panel in my HA UI, but as it is iFrame, it will not work if I log in from the outside.
It would be great to access these in case my wife finds an automation flaw while I'm elsewhere, which seems to be the rule of thumb..
If I understand this right, all the dockers(reactor, z-way) host their own web server on the port, so it should be possible to get this throuh the HA "tunnel"(VPN or whatever its called)?
I noticed that my Octoprint camera is integrated differently, and can be seen on external connection as well even if i only give it a local address in setup?
(Not sure it's the right HA bridge but....)
I have a selection of HA bridge devices to enable Alexa integration. They all work perfectly except one that has just (48 hours) started saying that it's un responsive with Alexa. If I go to the HA bridge and test on / test off it works absolutely perfectly.
I've deleted and renamed from the Alexa App but no change. Simply says 'Device Un-responsive'
Any thoughts?
TIA
C
Hello,
I am currently running Home Assistant and Vera at the same time. I have installed a couple of ZEN32 5 button controllers but having issues getting the additional buttons to control my Vera devices. Am using the ZEN32 (Z-wave JS) blueprint which works well for devices on HASS. In developer tools I can use the Light:Toggle service and toggle my kitchen light through Vera. If I create the same action through the ZEN blueprint it doesn't work.
Anyone have any thoughts?
Roger
Hi!
Since a couple of days, I'm not able to use the TTS in MSR (HA). I haven't done anything else but updated HA. Don't know if that's the source of the problem. Have this happened to anyone else, or is it just me?
When I searched in the HA community, there seems to be a croud of people having this issue - but they often refers to Alexa, so they may not have my problems.
I took a snapshot of a MSR instance, where it shows that the TTS is missing. I use to have 4 different TTS engines to choose from - now I have none. Am I alone in this?
a10dde36-e301-4013-9146-02f2b18c20ed-image.png
Opening a thread to discuss updates to my home assistant fork.
GitHub - rafale77/core: :house_with_garden: Open source home automation that puts local control and privacy first GitHub - rafale77/core: :house_with_garden: Open source home automation that puts local control and privacy first:house_with_garden: Open source home automation that puts local control and privacy first - rafale77/core
I am trying to keep it on par with the official one but have made quite a few tweaks focused on video handling and processing. Home Assistant being developed on python is a great base for integration of machine learning and deep learning models into smarthomes because it is one of the most common languages used in the field.
As of today, I updated the readme file and the version to match the latest official release.
Most of my spoken commands to Alexa go something like this:
"Alexa, time for bed"at which point she executes a pre-planned Routine (triggered by that spoken phrase). The routine may turn On a virtual switch (named, say, "VS: Time for Bed" on my Vera Plus, but known to the Alexa Smart Home skill as "Time for Bed" just to keep my sanity).
The VS is a child device of Switchboard plug-in (by @toggledbits ) and acts as a binary (On/Off) light switch. Typically, I'll instruct Reactor to turn the switch back off -- or, more commonly, have it set to turn itself back off after NN seconds in the Switchboard UI. In other words, it's just a brief Trigger for a Reactor routine or Vera scene.
Now, here's my question: In order to avoid creating dozens of virtual switches -- one for each Routine / Scene -- has anyone tried using a DIMMER instead?
Seems to me that a dimming device, since it can be set to 100 different "brightness levels", could trigger 100 different responses in Reactor. But I'm hesitant to try this arrangement until I know others have had success, and that the faux "dimming" process won't inadvertently trigger intermediate values (e.g. "ramping") along the way.
Eager to hear if this alternative workflow makes sense and is practical, insofar as "Binary" and "Dimmer" seem to be the only switch types that Vera allows Alexa to "see" on Discovery.
Thanks! - Libra
Interfacing Alexa with Reactor via Routines and Dimmer VS
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Alexa will not rump up/down a dimmer, so you'll be good.
I'm personally using Virtual Devices under HA-Bridge, calling HTTP endpoints (vera Scenes, my own, etc). I have one sending 0-100 to control my ampli volume via Harmony. Your imagination is the limit.
The only downside, for me, is that sensors are not supported under HA-bridge, otherwide I'd have been a perfect match for my Alexa's need.
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Thanks, guys, I'm greatly heartened by your replies. In fact, yesterday I undertook to create a test workflow and it works better than expected. In an abundance of caution, I introduced two safeguards in the process:
(a) I added an auxiliary VS to the mix, which I have Alexa turn ON at the outset of a Routine, then OFF again. In MSR, I use the ON condition as a Constraint, without which nothing will (accidentally) run. I know it's overkill. But think of it as a kind of "write strobe" signal for RAM, where you don't want any spurious values setting something off.
(b) Within the SET Reaction, I purposely set a variable to "ACK" and then to the NN value derived from the VS dim level. This way, my target Rules can watch for "changes from 'ACK' to (any)" and know with confidence that they are being triggered by a formal routine.Just me being all "belt and suspenders" about it. But yeah, I agree this has massive potential. Why didn't I think of trying this before?
Only (minor) downside is that I don't see myself being able to entirely do away with all the previous VSes on Vera, because they have some usefulness in her UI and on the app, when I really do wanna just mash "LIGHTS OUT" and be done with it (that is, I won't always be using Alexa for things).
Again, thanks for the valuable input!
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UPDATE: Troubleshooting Alexa's odd timing on sending Routine actions, combined with an increasingly complex "response matrix" that I created in MSR, got the better of me. I'm going back to traditional Virtual Switches (in Switchboard) for my modest purposes.
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Upon further testing, I've concluded that Alexa Routines are a not reliable means of sending discrete data. For instance, in a simple test to see whether MSR could receive individual "Dim" commands from Alexa, the failure rate was almost 100%.
I created a Routine that sets the same device (a Hue bulb running on the Hue hub, connected with Vera Plus via the AltHue plug-in) to three different "Dim" levels (21%, 67%, then 3%) in rapid succession.
As this graph shows, displaying 3 separate runs of the Routine over the course of a minute, the resulting final "Dim" level was effectively random among the three possible values.
Additional testing -- using a Virtual Dimmer Switch instead, thinking that may remove several lag points in the workflow -- revealed that results vary. I changed the "Dim" levels to 99%, 21%, followed by 0%. While this setup was slightly more dependable in terms of the desired outcome (e.g. VS gets set to proper brightness levels, but not always in the correct order), the only way to guarantee results was to introduce 5-second delays between steps. (Alexa Routines only permit delays in 5-second increments, thus vastly reducing the utility of this approach.)
Avoid. Unless you are confident in sending only a single datum with no delay. Even then, I would test the routine a bunch to make sure it actually fires each time you think it should.
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Tracking same as you show, except the inescapable fact that when it's an Alexa Routine doing the dimming, the bulb was apt to wind up dimmed to 21%, or 67%, or 3% at the end of the test. In other words, Alexa sending multiple different values over a short span were not going to be honored faithfully on the receiving end, which means MSR was going to detect erroneous data. Therefore, triggering Scenes off of such data seems like a bad idea.
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@librasun said in Interfacing Alexa with Reactor via Routines and Dimmer VS:
Tracking same as you show
You are tracking dimming.level, which is the status I believe. My example was tracking the target level. The difference being, target is set to to loadLevelTarget in the controller so is clearly defined and MSR should pick it up clearly as it is set. Tracking the status means tracking a moving target, as the new level target sent from alexa will mess with the status level.
My image is a routine from alexa with 2 levels, fired by voice several time in quick successio.
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Here are my results, after running the same (revised) Alexa Routine, which is supposed to send out four events in a row: "Dim to 39%", "Dim to 21%", "Dim to 100%", and "Dim to 0%". Literally all four tests resulted in different data, as shown by this Scope snapshot.
If you examine the four graphs closely, it's almost as if Alexa is doing a "look-ahead" and skipping some of the earlier assigned values when she "knows" the VS is already set to a later value.
Either way, I feel more confident now that "Dimming Level" and "loadLevelTarget" are identical in value for testing purposes.
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@elcid Intriguing how your setup seems so much more consistent than mine. It's the story of my life. In fact, while doing this test battery, I realized that Switchboard plug-in for some reason is refusing to "Reset" the Test Dimmer despite its ImpulseTime value being non-zero (I've tried 1, 3, 5, doesn't matter). Never resets.
I find a problem, it always has a baby.
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@elcid "Test Dimmer" is a child device of Switchboard plug-in on my VeraPlus. MSR runs in a Docker container on my Synology NAS, connected to the same local network.
I'm accessing and executing the Alexa Routine using an Android phone (also connected to the same WiFi).
Clearly the type and timing of propagated data in this arrangement is not deterministic enough to be used as a Trigger in MSR. Spent two solid days proving that to myself, lol!
Surely with Node-Red and other more modern, streamlined data channels in place, it would not be a problem, I'm sure. Just wanted to test what I have in my arsenal, which is always 1-2 generations old.
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@librasun said in Interfacing Alexa with Reactor via Routines and Dimmer VS:
Test Dimmer" is a child device of Switchboard plug-in on my VeraPlus. MSR runs in a Docker container on my Synology NAS, connected to the same local network.
That did not answer my question, how is alexa communicating with the vera virtual device?
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@elcid Hmm, I gotta think about that.... All I can say is that after creating the virtual switch "Test Dimmer" I went into GetVera configuration > Alexa > checked the new device, then FINISH. Then I ran Alexa app's "Discovery" mode (it found the new device), whereupon it became available inside my Routines.
So as to "how" it communicates, I suppose it's happening through the Alexa <> Vera connection at an API level. That's my best guess.
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So it's using the laggy Ezlo Alexa plugin. Can you not use HA bridge on your NAS?
[edit] I moved most of the plugins off vera and no aleax plugin , result is alexa is faster and veraplus reloads 1 or 2 times a week, and i am still on firmware 7.31, waiting for offical release of 7.32 as don't want to fall into the no support as you loaded beta firmware trap. -
Ha, your suggestion led me to Google "HA Bridge" and I read up on it over at Github. Fascinating concept, although a bit beyond my technical level (i.e. "slightly scary") and I dare say it solves problems I'm not quite sure (yet) that I have.
As for Vera firmware, yep, on the advice of others, I took the plunge upgrading to 7.32 (beta) and have no regrets. In fact, at the same time I also uninstalled several plug-ins (Site Sensor, Reactor, and GCal3) and have experienced exactly ZERO Luup engine restarts since!
I'll keep your advice in mind for the future, as I learn more about my system's weaknesses. Right now, it does everything I need and more. The experimentation I do here is mostly connected with beta testing MSR, which has kept me occupied for over a month now.
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@librasun said in Interfacing Alexa with Reactor via Routines and Dimmer VS:
Does it also spare you having to go through those godforsaken steps I mentioned earlier (Vera > Logout > Name > Alexa Setup > enable/rename devices > Finish > Alexa app > Discovery)? Cuz that would be wonderful, lol. Have added it to my Reading List.
Probably not, because, as I read it, Vera is the problem......
Openluup is nothing like that bad.
C
