Home Assistant : Q&A, Tips & Tricks, Your Configs

[Speedster]

Thanks so much, so the negative connection, can be left empty?

The negative power connection is connected to the common terminal. You'd need to hook one of them up to the gate motor, which one doesn't matter though.

 

[MidnightZA]

For all the Tuya fans/users. Apparently the beta of the integration is available on Github. Links in reddit post below

https://www.reddit.com/r/homeassistant/comments/octues

 

[gbyleveldt]

Sooo, since HA 2021.5 release, Tasmota RGBW lights controlled through MQTT stopped working correctly. I only realised this a few weeks after when I wanted to show off how the lights can change colour to a friend. I didn't notice at first, because switching them on and off worked fine, but it would just flash if you tried to change colour or run effects.

After lots of swearing, it turns out the solution is simple:
- Make sure you have the Tasmota integration installed
- Disable MQTT auto discovery using SetOption19 0 (I had all my Tasmota devices set to 1 as I set up my system before there was a dedicated Tasmota integration)
- Once MQTT discovery is switched off, you can see your devices in the Tasmota integration. You'll have to add all the affected lights back in your lovelace gui (or rename them with their new labels)

Funny enough, all the grouptopics I set up before this still work perfectly. So all the lights that are sync'ed together (or with switches) still work 100%. This was not a MQTT issue per se, but more breaking changes HA made to their colour card. It's a pretty severe breaking change, I'm surprised HA did this for such a commonly used function; I guess it's important to read the breaking changes before doing upgrades

I also had a similar issue where custom integrations didn't have version information, so my inverter integration stopped working after the upgrade. Easily fixed by adding version information to my custom integration, but it took a long time to figure out what the issue was.

 

[Tinuva]

Sooo, since HA 2021.5 release, Tasmota RGBW lights controlled through MQTT stopped working correctly. I only realised this a few weeks after when I wanted to show off how the lights can change colour to a friend. I didn't notice at first, because switching them on and off worked fine, but it would just flash if you tried to change colour or run effects.

After lots of swearing, it turns out the solution is simple:
- Make sure you have the Tasmota integration installed
- Disable MQTT auto discovery using SetOption19 0 (I had all my Tasmota devices set to 1 as I set up my system before there was a dedicated Tasmota integration)
- Once MQTT discovery is switched off, you can see your devices in the Tasmota integration. You'll have to add all the affected lights back in your lovelace gui (or rename them with their new labels)

Funny enough, all the grouptopics I set up before this still work perfectly. So all the lights that are sync'ed together (or with switches) still work 100%. This was not a MQTT issue per se, but more breaking changes HA made to their colour card. It's a pretty severe breaking change, I'm surprised HA did this for such a commonly used function; I guess it's important to read the breaking changes before doing upgrades

I also had a similar issue where custom integrations didn't have version information, so my inverter integration stopped working after the upgrade. Easily fixed by adding version information to my custom integration, but it took a long time to figure out what the issue was.

Ah yeah I was aware of that breaking change because people mentioned it on the tasmota discord. Going forward they will focus on having people move over to the tasmota integration instead.

As for the inverter integration issue, there was an update to fix it. I just wait a few days always before I upgrade to see if custom integrations update for new requirements before updating the core.

 

[gbyleveldt]

As for the inverter integration issue, there was an update to fix it. I just wait a few days always before I upgrade to see if custom integrations update for new requirements before updating the core.

Yeah I only saw that afterwards. But my integration is a little different to the official one so obviously didn't have the version changes in it. I should actually bite the bullet and start using the official one. Just don't feel like breaking everything and starting over with my automations (I kinda panelbeated things to work before they were incorporated into the official release).

 

[Tinuva]

Yeah I only saw that afterwards. But my integration is a little different to the official one so obviously didn't have the version changes in it. I should actually bite the bullet and start using the official one. Just don't feel like breaking everything and starting over with my automations (I kinda panelbeated things to work before they were incorporated into the official release).

Anything yours can do the official one doesn't?

 

[gbyleveldt]

Anything yours can do the official one doesn't?

Nope. The official one is the one to use. But before there were official versions there were testbeds which I panelbeated into submission. The official version is way more elegant.

 

[Tinuva]

Nope. The official one is the one to use. But before there were official versions there were testbeds which I panelbeated into submission. The official version is way more elegant.

Do you know how to fix the workmode being set but not applied with this integration?

 

[gbyleveldt]

Do you know how to fix the workmode being set but not applied with this integration?

Workmode is something that's not been finished. The methods are there but doesn't do anything. At the time we felt that there was too much risk changing the work mode without having a view on the state of the rest of the inverter. For example, you can't just change the work mode - you have to add time schedules for the other 3 modes (being backup, offgrid and eco mode), where in general mode you don't need to do that. Formatting it was a pain and was difficult to parse from the captured frames. There was also a lot of additional data in those frames that we simply couldn't figure out. The PV Master App obviously carries a lot of data that it uses to frame the commands back to the inverter to make such workmode state changes safely.

What works very well in General mode is dynamically changing the OnGrid DoD settings. I use this to change the night time inverter operation based on projected PV the next day (Enough PV, DoD=30%. Marginal PV, DoD=50%. Not enough PV, DoD 90%).

You can use this to also simulate the backup workmode for loadshedding by forcing OnGrid DoD to 100% if you want. So in practice there's no need to change the workmode on the inverter (with all the potential risks involved) by just changing the DoD settings on the fly. This has been running here for the last 8 months and has been very reliable.

 

[Tinuva]

Workmode is something that's not been finished. The methods are there but doesn't do anything. At the time we felt that there was too much risk changing the work mode without having a view on the state of the rest of the inverter. For example, you can't just change the work mode - you have to add time schedules for the other 3 modes (being backup, offgrid and eco mode), where in general mode you don't need to do that. Formatting it was a pain and was difficult to parse from the captured frames. There was also a lot of additional data in those frames that we simply couldn't figure out. The PV Master App obviously carries a lot of data that it uses to frame the commands back to the inverter to make such workmode state changes safely.

What works very well in General mode is dynamically changing the OnGrid DoD settings. I use this to change the night time inverter operation based on projected PV the next day (Enough PV, DoD=30%. Marginal PV, DoD=50%. Not enough PV, DoD 90%).

You can use this to also simulate the backup workmode for loadshedding by forcing OnGrid DoD to 100% if you want. So in practice there's no need to change the workmode on the inverter (with all the potential risks involved) by just changing the DoD settings on the fly. This has been running here for the last 8 months and has been very reliable.

Yes I do that too based on your examples and it works great. The only part I miss, is not having backup mode, basically when I want to charge the batteries from Eskom. So backup mode also needs time schedules?

At least now I know what the issue is. Thank you.

 

[gbyleveldt]

Yes I do that too based on your examples and it works great. The only part I miss, is not having backup mode, basically when I want to charge the batteries from Eskom. So backup mode also needs time schedules?

At least now I know what the issue is. Thank you.

I don't think it needs it in practical terms, but the inverter wants it as part of the command frame. Yeah, charging the batteries from Eskom isn't possible with General mode. It'll only allow PV to charge the batteries. In General mode the idea is to use as little Eskom as possible. That being said, it'll only charge at a rate of 10% in backup mode anyway.

 

[tRoN]

Just got a few Tradfri USB adapters that act as Zigbee signal repeaters.

Will scatter them around the house to help zigbee signals.

 

[Speedster]

Just got a few Tradfri USB adapters that act as Zigbee signal repeaters.

Will scatter them around the house to help zigbee signals.

For interest sake, why did you decide to go with ZigBee over WiFi?

 

[gbyleveldt]

For interest sake, why did you decide to go with ZigBee over WiFi?

Probably because zigbee devices can run for months on batteries, where WiFi devices draw too much power to be battery operated. Think of temp, humidity or occupation sensors where running them off mains isn’t practical. I’m actually thinking of going this route for exactly this reason, so the post above yours got my interest

 

[MidnightZA]

Just got a few Tradfri USB adapters that act as Zigbee signal repeaters.

Will scatter them around the house to help zigbee signals.

Does this work with your sonoff zigbee devices?
Where did you get them? I may need 1 or 2 repeater eventually.

For interest sake, why did you decide to go with ZigBee over WiFi?

I also went with zigbee due to battery life. I asked about that earlier in this thread. Someone pointed out zigbee devices last years with a single CR battery and sonoff devices use AAA batteries and have a shorter battery life

 

[tRoN]

For interest sake, why did you decide to go with ZigBee over WiFi?

As others said I plan to use a few zigbee devices like sensors, buttons and roller blind motors. I needed the repeaters as my home is on a few levels

 

[tRoN]

Does this work with your sonoff zigbee devices?
Where did you get them? I may need 1 or 2 repeater eventually.

I added them via ZHA and it appears as a router on HA. My Sonoff zigbee is connected via the ZHA integration

I imported them from IKEA Germany.

 

[ItherNiT]

As others said I plan to use a few zigbee devices like sensors, buttons and roller blind motors. I needed the repeaters as my home is on a few levels

Did you get the roller blinds locally?

Can you send some pics?

 

[MidnightZA]

The new update breaks the recorder if you using MariaDB and have an @ in your password (and config)
You can change the @ to %40 or just change the password to one without an @ (This is what I did)

 

[TedLasso]

Upgraded to 2021.7, without reading update blog and after reboot, I couldn't connect on HTTPS port. Error 400 from nginx proxy. Too much other crap going on to troubleshoot so Reverted back to 2021.6.6 and it was ok again.

It's getting ridiculous that for every upgrade something breaks. Definitely only going to do one update a month now. Thankfully have various ways to revert back but do feel for those that don't have those options.