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Quite a number of years ago I set up a few Arduino sensors that reported temperature to my VeraLite running UI5. I did this with MySensors, a quite nice community based platform.
I discontinued this mostly because that the combination of a rather flaky Vera and that the Vera when rebooting lost the USB connected gateway.Some time ago I started to look at this again, but this time using ESP8266’s and Tasmota. I think the credit for this partially is the plugin for Shelly and Tasmota that @therealdb has written, even though I have still to use the plugin. The other reason for reentering into this area is that my electrical supplier is replacing the electrical meters for a new smart meter. Today I use a blink meter from Effergy, but the new meter will have a port for reading out data. This also led me to Tasmota, there seems to be a functioning solution for this.
I must say that Tasmota is brilliant! Support for all kind of devices and sensors and super easy to use, also for multi-sensors, OTA update, good documentation etc. You can get parts on ebay etc quite cheap. It has also so far been very stable. You can also very easily adjust the sensors readout, e.g. TempOffset -1.5 gives an offset of -1.5 degrees.
I have put together sensors for temperature and humidity for use in the garage, the outhouse, on the attic etc. I have tested DHT22, DS1820B, BME280 and BH1750 so far and they all work without issues. The latter two I installed in an outdoor enclosure to use as a simple weather station reporting temperature, humidity, air pressure and light level.
I also got a MH-Z19B CO2 meter for testing to monitor the indoor CO2 levels. The initial feeling is that it does what it should.
In general I have pretty good wifi coverage with a few Unifi access points. One of the sensors is in a building some 25 meters from the house where the wifi is not that strong, but the NodeMCU has no problem with this. Quite impressive and a good addition to Z-wave for that kind of location.
Not owning a 3D printer I have had to resort to purchased enclosures and the old Dremel. 😊
For the CO2 sensor I put it in an old smoke detector enclosure for now.
I am sure that there are a lot of talent here that can do much better with a 3D printer!
CO2meter1.jpgYou can get the data from the Tasmota devices into OpenLuup in a number of ways. The obvious way is via MQTT. I have still to set this up at some point in time. The second way is to use the excellent SiteSensor plugin. I tested this but had some problems with reporting stopping after a few days for some reason. I probably got something wrong in the setup. The third option, that I currently use is via adding rules to each sensor. You can quite easily add rules for reporting data to a virtual sensor in OpenLuup, e.g:
Rule1 ON tele-AM2301#Temperature DO Var1 %value% ENDON ON tele-AM2301#Temperature DO WebSend [IP_adress:3480]/data_request?id=lu_action&DeviceNum=65&id=variableset&serviceId=urn:upnp-org:serviceId:TemperatureSensor1&Variable=CurrentTemperature&Value=%Var1% ENDON
With TelePeriod you can change the polling interval as required.
This method I think could be super useful for reporting back e.g. switch status from a Tasmota node much like I understand Shelly can do.
Some resources and notes I made on the way:
Using Tazmotizer to flash the ESP’s is very easy
List of supported sensors including how to connect, commands etc
A good pinout reference for ESP8266 variants
Tasmota rules documentation
Most sensors are either “Generic (0)” or “Generic (18)”, check for each sensor type what to use
For I2C sensors e.g. BME280 one must use tasmota-sensors.bin
For the MH-Z19B I had to flash the ESP before attaching the sensor, this could be a good practice always
Use the following url for the query in SiteSensor:
http://IP_address/cm?cmnd=Status%2010This became a rather long post but hopefully it can be of some use.
//ArcherS -
Shelly i3 is an unbelievably cheap (9,99 EUR/USD) WiFi device that’s part of the fantastic Shelly family. It supports REST API, MQTT and much more.
mundzhos Shelly i3 | Shelly Cloud Shelly i3 | Shelly Cloud 10It’s just L,N and 3 inputs. No relays, so it’s a scene controller with bonus point to the fact that you can use your own buttons and keep the aesthetics of your house. Bonus points for WAF. It’s very small, so it will fit in your standard wall box easily.
While I built my own Scene Controller Virtual Device and I’m using MQTT for other devices of the family, Shelly can call your HTTP endpoints on button presses and in this case is more than enough.
The buttons support different actions (press, long press, double/triple press) and you can just call a service endpoint, or update a variable:
f3e509c0-f2a7-4f40-a099-af765e87c9fe-image.pngGo get it if you need a very cheap, very reliable scene controller for your home.
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I'm searching a second-hand Vera Edge/Plus in Europe because I want a fallback solution and a spare unit to better develop plug-ins, but I'm struggling to find it. Any suggestion?
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I finally ordered 5 inovelli dimmers last week! Installed the first one already and it's not "easy" for the S2 authentication but after a couple of times it works!
I'm now trying to upgrade the firmware as Inovelli are providing .otz and .bin file
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Hey guys...
Is it just me or the GE/Jasco switch or very sensible to power outage ?
Almost each time we have a power outage, I need to replace at least 1 switch to replace.
Each time, same behaviour, the blue led is flashing rapidely and nothing works.
Last power outage, I got 3 switches. 95% of our switch and dimmer are GE/Jasco.
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So, I bought a new Christmas Tree led set from Twinkly (https://www.twinkly.com/).
The security of this thing is questionable, so first thing first I placed it in the blocked IoT Vlan.
The lights will just work (the 3d mapping of your tree is very cool, so effects are really mapped to the way you've set the lights), but, you know, I wanted to control them locally 😄 and I built a plug-in for it. Not sure I'll release it unless someone else is interested.
Twinkly pre lit Christmas Tree 600 count light purchased at Home DepotThey're not cheap and I know I could have accomplished the same with WS2812 leds, but it's worth mentioning if you want a quick and easy way to have effects on your Christmas tree.
Next year I'll definitely start my permanent led installation outside.
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Since I know there are fans of Shelly's products (hi @akbooer), I'll post it here too:
Shelly Shop Europe Shelly Shop Europe
Up to 45% discount, and 2/4 packs discounted as well.
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Anyone used this device to control LED strip ?
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Hey guys...
I need to replace my NEST smoke detector, first reason, they expire in the next month (10 years) and would like to move to something z-wave connected.
They are not the primary smoke detector as I have 1 per floor that is connected/provided by the alarm company.
Any suggestion...
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I have a need to just push a button, since I can't hack the thing at the moment. I know there's MicroBot, but they're bluetooth, requires and hub and are not local.
I'm OK with BT or an additional hub, but I really really want local control.
Anyone? Thanks!
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So, I'm at the 4th Z-wave devices and I still have trouble in getting my Vera operate my door gate, and getting the input from the doorbell. It's already all 220v, because I have an external modulo meant for integration.
So, last night I had an idea: why not use a Shelly 1 as both sensor and opener?
If you need instructions on wiring, here's an image:
Shelly 1 can operate the output independently from the input. So, I prototyped this:
I attached to the doorbell sensor O attached to the gate openerIt seems to work on my bench, because I can call the endpoints when the button is pressed or the input is triggered, so I can update virtual devices and execute all the logic I want. I usually integrate these devices with MQTT, but it's not necessary in this case, since I can live with a doorbell buzz being missed.
Bonus point: you can run it at 12v if you want.83c3d861-0169-454d-bd2b-1105042bdfa8-image.png
Next in my TODO list, the Shelly Universal, a 9 EUR universal binary inputs, with separated inputs and outputs (so, you can get 2 inputs and operate 2 outputs independently), that I'll probably use in my weather sensors project, where I'm using two Shelly 1 at the moment, just the get the inputs.
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I'm going to throw this in here, but I don't actually expect a solution, but it might help someone else.
I have three of these magnetic sensors and the work. Kind of.
The issue is that if you open and close the door within about 2 seconds, they trip correctly and then will not untrip unless the door is opened and closed (for more than about 2 seconds) .
This makes them virtually useless for any security application unless you are very slow through the doors.
Even forcing setting 'Tripped' to zero using lua fails. Well it doesn't fail but it's simply reversed:
2020-07-03 15:01:24.783 luup_log:0: ALTUI: runLua(luup.variable_set("urn:micasaverde-com:serviceId:SecuritySensor1", "Tripped", "0", 20780) 2020-07-03 15:01:24.783 luup.variable_set:: 20780.urn:micasaverde-com:serviceId:SecuritySensor1.Tripped was: 1 now: 0 #hooks:0 2020-07-03 15:01:25.044 luup.variable_set:: 20780.urn:micasaverde-com:serviceId:SecuritySensor1.Tripped was: 0 now: 1 #hooks:0So there it is. Unless anyone has any smart ideas (apart from not opening and closing the doors quickly, I'd avoid buying these.
(PS the only apparent setting that might affect this is the the delay before sending 'untripped' but even setting that to 10 seconds makes no difference. In short, it seems that thee devices have a hardware limitation in how soon they can be tripped.
C
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I've just completed my setup (after exactly 3 years from moving in, priorities!) and even if I wrote all the code in C#, I could port it easily to LUA (I guess 😄 )
I've used Fully Kiosk Browser + 3D Printed Mount (check https://makesbymike.com/) and a custom HTML dashboard, all running on an Amazon Fire Tablet:
WhatsApp Image 2020-06-29 at 11.05.29.jpeg
60002839-8b8d-4801-bd21-120264b559f8-image.png
WAF is very high 😉
Sorry for the Italian interface. First row is temperature/humidity sensors (esterno = outside, piscina = pool, salotto = open space, zona giorno = 1st floor, zona notte = 2nd floor, lavanderia = laundry room).
Then I have a bunch of commands/scenes sent to Vera to change blinds/roller shutters (they are automatically managed, but wife pretends to be smarter than code, from time to time 🙂 ). Last row has notifications for washer/dryer, with the cycle end date. When doing its cycle, the background becomes orange, then green when completed. It's probably the best feature, since the laundry room is in the basement. There's also a link to cams (videosorveglianza) and I automatically open TinyCamPro in case of movement outside/doors/gates are opened.Is there any interest in a generic wall mount tablet plug-in, offering simple dashboard (maybe json-driven) and integration with Fully Kiosk API?
I'm currently dimming screen on/off, get the battery status and schedule a 20-80 cycle for the battery, via a smart plug and a bunch of lua code. I planned for this when I did the electrical setup, so the tablet has a standard european 503 (recessed) box with ethernet, that I attached to the 5V into the network closet to feed the tablet. I'm updating the screen via AJAX every 30 secs.
Here's a behind the scenes photo as well 🙂
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Starting a thread about "How do you use your MIMO2" ...
Maybe that will give other users some ideas...
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I'm in the middle of adding a water tank, because the latest summers were very hot and we had our water restricted, sometimes for weeks and for extended hours during the day (from 7 am to 5 pm).
It should be automatic, thanks to pressure sensors, so it will integrate water when needed (and the main line is open), switch the pump, etc. But I want to add a water level sensor nonetheless, to monitor it if necessary. I will probably just double this project and automate the pool refill as well, since I'm doing it manually at the moment.
I took a look and a lot of people are using Zunos, but I'm not sure I want to spend so much on a so simple system.
Pre-built solutions are OK. Thanks! -
I'm in the process of trying to get some info from my pool controller using Modbus. If I'll ever succeed, I want to write a generic plug-in for Vera/openluup, to be added to my collection of virtual device plug-in. I'll write a custom app in a Raspberry offering access to the controller via HTTP.
Long story short, I think I'm almost covered. Typical device:
heater pumps (on/off) jets (on/off) lights (dimmers, on/off) filtration (on/off) temperature sensor generic sensor (for ph/redox probes)I think I'm almost covered by standard devices, but I'm wondering if there's something I'm missing.
I'll probably use a multistring to display status, since it's already supported in mobile apps, but I'm wondering if there's some kind of more granular way to show something and avoid custom devices and similar. -
Anyone having a water pressure sensor either zigbee or Z-wave?
I need to record and graph the water pressure coming in the house from the city...
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I had this setup and working perfectly in my vera for years. I recently accidentally deleted the device. I tried to re-add it as generic zwave. No problem, all devices come up fine and work. But the vera keeps trying to get secure classes. This is an old device I don’t think it’s zwave plus and it worked on my vera vefore. Vera can’t configure the parameters on the device and vera thinks its a failed device. But it works. Any experts know this one?
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does anyone know of an outdoor PIR without zwave plus?
TIA
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With a ChemE and Electrochemist background and wanted to share some understanding on batteries. I looked around and was surprised to find as little as I did on battery comparisons. I only found this site:
Disposable Batteries compared -- Alkaline, Lithium, Carbon Zinc, OxyrideThe summary is this:
Alkaline are cheap.
Lithium are expensive but last much longer for high drain applications like powering a motor. They also are much more tolerant to low temperatures so they are more suitable for outdoor use. They have much higher capacity but this difference becomes pretty insignificant when used under low drain condition. (example are z-wave and zigbee sensors) and are therefore both a cost and environmental waste for these applications.The rechargeable battery technology has progressed a lot in the past 10-15 years. Their biggest drawbacks were low capacity, high self discharge rate and limited number of recharge cycles. All have significantly improved with the LSD (Low Self Discharge) NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) batteries. The famous Sanyo/Panasonic eneloop are an example of these.
The use of different batteries will have a significant impact on the battery readback reports from our devices because most of devices estimate the battery capacity percentage based on their voltage assuming they are alkaline:
While the alkaline behaves almost linearly draining from 1.55V to 1.1V, lithium present a near step function characteristic starting at ~1.75V (AA -LR6 and AAA-LR3) and stay at that voltage until suddenly dropping to 1.5V at which point they are almost incapable of delivering high currents. They will then deliver gradually lower currents until ~1.4V where they can be considered empty. NiMH on the other hand start at ~1.35V and drop near linearly to 1.1VThe result is that lithium batteries will always show as full until suddenly stopping to work, showing 0% or nothing at all.
NiMH will start at 0-25% when full. These all can render the battery read-back very misleading... But either alternative choices according their applications will be much more cost effective and environmentally savvy.Adding info on other common rechargeable batteries for those interested but less relevant for Smarthomes:
NiCd: Still found in many devices, they have much smaller energy density (lower capacity) and support fewer recharge cycles than NiMH. They offer the advantage of having a very short load transient, meaning they are able to deliver full current immediately after the load is put on them, making them very good for powering motors. They are mostly used in power tools
Li-Ion: Very high energy density. It is what is used in laptops, phones and... some planes. More expensive and not available in low voltage/small format.
Fibaro 3 in 1
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I had this setup and working perfectly in my vera for years. I recently accidentally deleted the device. I tried to re-add it as generic zwave. No problem, all devices come up fine and work. But the vera keeps trying to get secure classes. This is an old device I don’t think it’s zwave plus and it worked on my vera vefore. Vera can’t configure the parameters on the device and vera thinks its a failed device. But it works. Any experts know this one?
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Have your tried disabling the auto configure feature?
It is due to one of the “features” of the vera which wants to use a “Supported device” database to replace the device command class response and think it is smarter than the users. It is also the reason a lot of people who had perfectly working devices complained that they suddenly stopped working upon a firmware upgrade as the new firmware “officially” supports this very device which the user already made it support but now is broken by the official support.
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Huh looking over the old device it did have a plus info field. Yet it worked with my pre zwave plus firmware. I couldn’t get any other plus device to work.
Yes it’s autoconfigure 0
I also have one other device configured and working without autocofig but vera keeps saying trying to configure.
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HA, I did it! It required that use the configure now button. Happy happy joy joy. Both devices.
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Same problem returned after reload. Device was not actually configured, it just made the warnings stop.
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So do you know what was missing from the configuration? Since the device is working, I would assume that it is mostly complete. With the autoconfigure disabled, this should not have happened. Once the device deemed itself configured (using the configure the device now) it should not try again. Also I am confused as to whether you problem is with the security class or the "plus info" class.
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Same issue on other device which is absolutely not plus.
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Yeah I don’t think it has anything to do with the plus but more to do with the vera now officially supporting these devices in the new firmware and therefore forcing you to reconfigure them their way.
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My time is more valuable then fighting these devices. They are getting removed.
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See the vera forum... terrible devices
Fibaro 3 in 1 Sensor Ghost devices keep appearing
I dont use it as alarm… having said that. A motion detector should detect motion, even if it was to turn on a light. I have seen no one having no issues with this simple logic. I have a neo coolcam, never misses a trip. Fibaro integration in Vera is bad!
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Yeah it's very odd. I have 5 of them, and they all work fine
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