I wanna answer your question so badly, but fear my input at this juncture would be invalid since I no longer have a use-case for MSR. Oh, it's still running 24/7 in a Docker container over on my Synology NAS... but once I finalized the transition from Vera over to Hubitat (THANK YOU 1000x @toggledbits !), and ported all my my old logic into my new C7 hub, my "fiddling" days abruptly ended.

Do I still have Rulesets in place (but disabled) on MSR Reactor (Multi-hub) latest-21307-1746e27? Yep. Are the Rules they contain worth mentioning, since 49% involved Vera and 49% were extremely/overly experimental in nature, with 2% marked for "Testing"? Nope.

And did I ever try to Register another username on the old long-forgotten ezlo Forum after being excommunicated 4x? AW HELL NAW!

But I will mention that MSR comes to mind periodically, such as earlier today, when I realized Hubitat lacks a native way to generate and send email messages to its users. And at other times when I delve into heavyweight plug-ins (the HE community calls them User Apps) like WebCore, I think to myself, "Hot damn, this would be waaaay easier to accomplish over in MSR."

Mostly, I'm posting this reply just to SAY HI TO THE GANG, whom I miss, and to let you guys know that all of the time (Vera tweaking) and headaches (ezlo PTSD) I've spared myself over the past year was invested in buying and riding a new electric bike (the Priority Current with Enviolo CVT), so now I know what the outdoors looks like.

PEACE and lemme know if my answer here raised more questions.

• Libra

Any time Patrick sets out to do something, count me in! I still have my bucket of unused Vera/Ezlozerz controllers (some retired, some never used) sitting in a distant corner, while I thrive on Hubitat. Is every HA company run by a Melih-type? I'm starting to think so. All about "control" if you catch my drift.

Always grateful to have the company of titans like you guys, and glad we all escaped our old dungeon intact. Surprised as anyone that V/E is still in business; their products must have reached whatever sufficiently "okay" status needed to serve the CEO's mansion.

I won't be a party pooper by mentioning my current favorite (by far) Dashboard app, nor is this the place for me to publish/share my spreadsheet of HA Dashboards currently competing in that space. For mulit-hub use, none surpasses MSR!!!

Let me know if you'd be interested in me posting that database up somewhere on the SmartHome forum, and I'll happily do so.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS, EVERYONE!

@LibraSun

Having spent years as a professional portrait photographer, I came by many tricks of the trade involving readily available materials. One such trick is known as an "Oil Spot Photometer", which can help you equalize the brightness of two or more light sources.

For simple setup instructions, visit:

Oct 2, 2020

Oil Spot Photometer

When an oil spot on a card is illuminated equally from both sides, it mysteriously disappears. This allows you to compare the brightness of the light sources on either side of the card.

The implications for Home Automation, of course, is knowing the preset dim levels needed to balance a room's lighting, without guessing. Just bear in mind that dimmer levels and bulb output are rarely linear, so you may have to take photometer readings at various brightness levels to create a lookup table (for use in MSR, etc.).

I'm enjoying this thread as it develops, but will stand by until someone wraps MSR into a Docker package that I can install/run on my Docker-enabled Synology NAS.

Like everyone else, "I'm at full candy corn" (so the Stewie Griffith saying goes) on this project and can't wait to give it a whirl!

• LS

Before I unleash the dragon, is this the correct command format? (Answer: YES)

luup.call_action('urn:micasaverde-com:serviceId:ZWaveNetwork1','SendData',{Node='24',Data='x70 4 8 1 3'},1)

I ran that exact command in Vera's APPS > DEVELOP APPS > Test Luup Code (Lua) window -- immediately after waking up the battery-powered remote by tapping one of its buttons -- and it worked perfectly!

LED does what it's supposed to do now. THANK YOU ALL!

Such is my life. I proofread 1000-page reports for the Army Corps of Engineers and book authors all the time. Nothing gets past me.

Sorry this happened. None of us deserved being kicked out. Especially after twelve dedicated years in my case! The forum was fun and helpful until the moment a certain someone began posting, sadly.

For MSR users with SiteSensor still installed back on Vera, you might want to consider letting MSR take over those duties. Here's a quick run-down of how I imported one of my SiteSensor recipes into a Rule on MSR, using OpenWeather API* as an example.

STEP 1: Copy the Basics from Vera
(a) Go to your Vera > Devices, locate SiteSensor (the main instance, not one of its children devices) and click ► for details then click SETTINGS.
(b) Copy and paste (into Notepad or other text editor) the Request URL along with each of the defined expressions.

STEP 2: Create a Rule on MSR
(c) Jump into Rule Sets and click "Create Rule". Click its title to rename the rule 'OpenWeather (API)" and click 'Rename'.
(d) Decide on appropriate Triggers (in my case, it's an OR group that includes an [INTERVAL] set to "Every 3 hours" plus a few [ENTITY ATTRIBUTE] entries reacting to things like entering/leaving home, waking up, etc.).
(e) In Set Reacion, create an [HTTP REQUEST] > [GET] action.
(f) Paste your old "Request URL" into the "Request URL" box.

FYI GET calls to OpenWeather API* take the form:

http://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather?zip=<your_ZIP_code>&id=<your_Wx_ID>&appid=<app-id>&units=imperial

(g) Create four new blank Expressions (name them openWx, Tx, Hx and Rx).
(h) Click SAVE & EXIT

STEP 3: Process the Response
(i) Re-open rule "OpenWeather (API)" by clicking the 'Edit' icon.
(j) Within the [HTTP REQUEST] action, assign "Capture response to:" ► openWx
(k) Down in Expressions, click "[+]Add Expresssion" then enter the following:
Tx := round(openWx.main.temp,1)
// yields current outdoor temperature
Hx := round(openWx.main.humidity)
// yields current humidity conditions
Rx := openWx.rain ? ( openWx.rain['3h'] ? openWx.rain['3h'] : 0) : 0
// yields predicted rainfall, if present; otherwise 0
(l) Click SAVE & EXIT. Enjoy!

Naturally, your specific needs and workflow will differ from the one I've outlined here. For instance, you may wish to explore the contents of the JSON object in openWx for additional data of interest to you, and define variables to match.

My goal here has been to illustrate some key concepts needed for moving from SiteSensor over to MSR:

• Some syntax is the same, such as dot notation for object.item.access;
• Other syntax has changed, such as the use of ternary A ? B : C in place of IF (A, B, C);
• Manually setting an [INTERVAL] in lieu of SiteSensor's timed schedule;

Pro tip: If your workflow demands that other Rules react to the output of the "OpenWeather (API)" rule, then be sure to create all of the aforementioned Expressions under "Global Expressions" instead, so they become accessible across all Rule Sets.

Once the transition is complete, you can either DISARM SiteSensor on Vera or remove it entirely with "Remove Device" (which will automatically remove all of its child devices).

*Additional reading:
OpenWeather API : https://openweathermap.org/api
FREE SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED TO USE THIS SERVICE

PRO TIP: See below for optimal way to incorporate OpenWeatherMap into your MSR workflow(s), by enabling the service directly in the reactor.yaml config file.

This is like hearing the very last Blockbuster location is closing... I never imagined any X10 devices would have made it into the 2020s, much less a houseful of them! A hearty hello from a fellow X10 traveler who refuses to empty his two Tupperware tubs of old controllers, switches, receptacles, bridges, lamp/appliance modules, dimmers, contacts, remotes, extenders, sirens, alarms and myriad other 1980/1990's-era componentry.

It's moments like this that I'm grateful for online Forums where the open exchange of ideas and experience works to everyone's advantage, without fear of reprisal from those "in charge".

@CatmanV2 The newer models of course would be called the DS222+ and DS223 (they are numbered from year of release and the plus indicates something to do with the CPU - that you want! - so do your research comparing one versus the other).

@CatmanV2 I bought my Synology DS218+ a couple of years ago after intense research into all available NAS models on the market. Chose it specifically because of ideal size to cost ratio, plus ability to function as a platform for (a) Plex Server (transcoding .mkv files) for several households, (b) Docker containers (which I only installed to test/run/enjoy Reactor MSR), (c) automatic cloud backup of entire Google Drive.

Everything else, including HA now in Docker, has been gravy. I did add the max RAM it could take (I do this with ALL hardware though, not because it needed it), and upgraded my old HDs with a matched pair of Seagate (I think?) SSD drives.

Quiet, fast, expandable, excellent I/O, amazing apps right out of the box, spot-on network awareness ... far from "just a NAS".

@ArcherS said in Considering changing to HA - but what installation method?:

I have not tested any USB devices (e.g. Zwave stick) since I do not use it. As far as I have understood it both should work with USB devices.

From all I can find on the Web, it seems that getting ZW/ZB dongles to work with the Docker version of HA remains problematic in 2023, particularly if Docker is running on something like a Synology NAS (on DSM7+), where topics like "USB Drivers" and/or "TTY Passthrough" rear their ugly head.

It sounds doable, but not nearly as straightforward as the OS or VM installs. So be mindful of this potential roadblock if you aim to attach USB sticks. Breadcrumbs I've discovered along the way: Add 'packages.synocommunity.com' as a source in Package Center so that your Syn NAS can install various DSM-specific 3rd party apps. Specifically, the SynoKernel USB Drivers.

A year later, I find this thread, and wanted to report that I too have installed HA under Docker on my Synology NAS, and the process was like butter!! Seems with every revision "they" make HA easier to install and maintain. It's like having your own candy store! Can't wait to give it a serious trial.

@CatmanV2 I just installed HA stable under Docker on my Synology NAS. Will kick the tires a while.

Lately every automation conversation I've had ends with "Dude. You should really get Home Assistant."

Something tells me you are in the majority with that sentiment. But no question that better documentation is sorely needed. I'm probably the worst person to nominate for the job, but heck, I wrote much of Vera's docs so I've at least got that pedigree, lol.

I just installed VS Code and a few Groovy-related extensions. Definitely not past the n00b mark myself.

I know this Forum has never focused much on SmartThings or Hubitat, thus not surprisingly I find virtually nothing here concerning the Groovy programming language or creating drivers/apps for those platforms.

I'm curious: Is there any interest at all for co-authoring a "Definitive Guide to Coding Drivers & Apps for Hubitat" among our motley crew?

@CatmanV2 in my particular case, yes, the answers were swift and disturbingly authoritative. Where both Googling and my fellow local history buffs (on FB) had failed, Bard was somehow able to conjure up definitive and verifiable answers regarding street name origins. Until then, my theory had been that certain names were borrowed from the developers' families, which is common. Bard was able to name the developers, the time frame in which the subdivision had been developed, and for whom each street was named (their wives, duh).

I suspect Bard is pulling from "deeper" sources (like scanned books in the Google Library) which aren't always available in their entirety – or prove challenging for laypeople – to plumb. Either way, the results tickled my fancy, and immediately reminded me of your earlier post, so I had to run back and report.