Home Automation - Smartkit

[SauRoNZA]

I don't know what the hell is going on.

Everything based on a "events:state" node has simplly stopped responding as if Home Assistant isn't talking to it, yet it says "connected" without issue and shows disconnected if I reboot HA.

If I hit one of them manually with a time input then it works so the comms is there.

Even went so far as making the switch away from Input_Booleans for presence and using the native person.name from iOS app system instead but still no bloody dice.

 

[ebendl]

Come to think of it, I don't think they have an app, but at least a web interface that you can access over the internet.

That might better - might be possible to reverse engineer.

 

[ToxicBunny]

On a wim buying some other stuff off Banggood I saw the iFan 03 on flash sale and figured what the hell let me try it out.

Now my question is how the hell is this going to work with the pull cords in the fan system? Should they just be set to the highest speed and left as is or should I take it out of the equation somehow?

Or with this thing bridging into the "source" will the pull cord somehow be disabled?

From what I remember installing a bog standard remote many years ago they work together... But I could be very very wrong.

 

[SauRoNZA]

From what I remember installing a bog standard remote many years ago they work together... But I could be very very wrong.

Yeah there is nothing too clear cut I find anywhere online.

I suspect the light might be a problem as I’m pretty sure it’s wiring comes internally from a standard L/N/E type feed and the two aren’t split beforehand.

But I’ve never installed a ceiling fan and especially in SA I expect it to be a bit different.

Which is why I only grabbed one on the sale. If it doesn’t work no major loss.

 

[patrick123]

I don't know what the hell is going on.

Everything based on a "events:state" node has simplly stopped responding as if Home Assistant isn't talking to it, yet it says "connected" without issue and shows disconnected if I reboot HA.

If I hit one of them manually with a time input then it works so the comms is there.

Even went so far as making the switch away from Input_Booleans for presence and using the native person.name from iOS app system instead but still no bloody dice.

Can I ask for a few basics:
Hassio on Pi or Windows/Linux with Docker - I am assuming docker.

Windows/Linux - any Firewall issues?
Anything updated e.g. watchtower did an auto update on Docker?
Did you import any flows with an HA node in there? It imports that HA server config as well and you end up with the second one as well which could be messing up your config.
Is the HA config in Node Red pointing directly to the IP or are you going via DuckDNS?
Have you defined the trusted networks in configuration.yaml?

  auth_providers:
    - type: trusted_networks
      trusted_networks:
        - 127.0.0.0/24
        - 172.17.0.0/16
        - 192.168.1.0/24

 

[SauRoNZA]

Can I ask for a few basics:
Hassio on Pi or Windows/Linux with Docker - I am assuming docker.

Windows/Linux - any Firewall issues?
Anything updated e.g. watchtower did an auto update on Docker?
Did you import any flows with an HA node in there? It imports that HA server config as well and you end up with the second one as well which could be messing up your config.
Is the HA config in Node Red pointing directly to the IP or are you going via DuckDNS?
Have you defined the trusted networks in configuration.yaml?

 auth_providers:
- type: trusted_networks
trusted_networks:
- 127.0.0.0/24
- 172.17.0.0/16
- 192.168.1.0/24

Docker on Unraid.

No firewall locally and it did work before, just stopped in and amongst the fiddling.

HA updated this morning (possibly Node Red) as it does every Saturday.

Using DuckDNS as the IP just didn’t want to work.

Trusted Networks I do believe are setup.

What’s interesting is that Node Red was complaining that I should set my own encryption credentials last night instead of using the dynamic one and so I did that but it didn’t work immediately.

Then we returned home today and it automatically opened stuff (still with the broken double flow but I’ll try fix that now).

Worryingly I had a random false trigger a moment ago even though we’ve been home for an hour.

Another thing I did spot is that the Node Red docker uses a different app data folder to the default and this was sitting on my array which had its parity check going on first of the month.

I usually run all that from the cache drive so that only one drive is on 24/7 and also just to improve speed. So I moved it there last night.

Of course I switched from HomeKit based Input Booleans for presence to using HA’s own people component instead so I’ve just added a mass of variables into it all like a dumbass.

But it works right now, so going to try your join node today and have a chance to live test it tomorrow.

Irritatingly HA doesn’t seem to save the people’s location state upon restart.

 

[SauRoNZA]

Nee fok state nodes monitoring the person.name entities is a ****up, it just randomly triggers when it feels like it and not just on a change.

Maybe I should try a poll state instead but then that relies on a timed interval I don't like really.

Otherwise it's back to input booleans, they also save across restarts at least.

****

Input booleans solve the problem easily.

But I’ll still forego HomeKit for the presence detection for the moment and opt to have HA trigger the input Boolean on and off with the zone changes at it seems I might have more granular control.

 

[R4m80]

On a wim buying some other stuff off Banggood I saw the iFan 03 on flash sale and figured what the hell let me try it out.

Now my question is how the hell is this going to work with the pull cords in the fan system? Should they just be set to the highest speed and left as is or should I take it out of the equation somehow?

Or with this thing bridging into the "source" will the pull cord somehow be disabled?

When you remove the fan from the ceiling, there would most probably be only a Live and Common coming from the ceiling and and 2 Lives and 1 Common coming from the fan. The 1 Live will be marked "Fan" and the other Live marked "Light". You connect those just like that to the 2 Lives marked "Fan" and "Light" on the Sonoff. Keep the pull chain for the fan on high speed and on on for the light.

 

[SauRoNZA]

When you remove the fan from the ceiling, there would most probably be only a Live and Common coming from the ceiling and and 2 Lives and 1 Common coming from the fan. The 1 Live will be marked "Fan" and the other Live marked "Light". You connect those just like that to the 2 Lives marked "Fan" and "Light" on the Sonoff. Keep the pull chain for the fan on high speed and on on for the light.

Yeah that’s what I suspected.

But I can’t think why would there be two lives if it uses a pull chain?

If it was one of those unit with the wall switches that had all the speeds and buttons it would make sense to me sure.

Will find out soon enough.

 

[R4m80]

Yeah that’s what I suspected.

But I can’t think why would there be two lives if it uses a pull chain?

If it was one of those unit with the wall switches that had all the speeds and buttons it would make sense to me sure.

Will find out soon enough.

I did 2 of the exact same fans (fan and light with seperate pull switches) and this is how the wiring was on both fans. There's just no place inside the fan's casing to place the iFan, so I had to mount it on the ceiling next to the fan.

 

[SauRoNZA]

I did 2 of the exact same fans (fan and light with seperate pull switches) and this is how the wiring was on both fans. There's just no place inside the fan's casing to place the iFan, so I had to mount it on the ceiling next to the fan.

I was wondering about that.

Wouldn’t it be simpler to just remove the iFan from its own casing? It seems like an unnecessarily large box, but I have no idea what inside.

 

[Slip]

I was wondering about that.

Wouldn’t it be simpler to just remove the iFan from its own casing? It seems like an unnecessarily large box, but I have no idea what inside.

I ended up placing both of mine in the ceiling. Just fed the wires down to the fan. Would not recommend you remove it from the case.

 

[SukkaFoo]

I'd hop on that train too for a six zone system. If it works I'll expand to do the whole system.

So, first I want to say big thanks to phaktza for organizing the konnected modules. They look rad, and I was super excited to try them out. The problem I am facing is that this is not the interface module, which essentially sits in parallel with you existing panel. The konnected alarm panel is a complete replacement for the existing panel. Consequently, its proving a challenge to keep my armed response, since this panel completely replaces the one I have, and the konnected one has no hardware way of communicating with the armed response provider.

That being said... patrick123 suggested maybe doing something like the following to communicate with the alarm co. Basically just replicate the sms's being sent by the GPRS communicator to the alarm co. This is a hardware solution and perhaps the best option, but the other alternative may be to use Twilio from HA to do the communication via the web, and not even have a hardware alternative. My worry with this option is what if my internet connection goes down. That being said, I have solar with li-on batteries, so I survive for a while without power, and I could probably get a 3G card as backup on my router for the times the internet connection goes down.

For interest I have the following GSM communicator. It is unclear to me what the SMS's look like that it is sending to and potentially receiving from the alarm co. Anyone know anything about these devices?

 

[alqassam]

What would be the best way to monitor if my sliding gate is open or closed? My gate is approximately 50 to 70m away from the house so a bit of a mission to view.

I am thinking if using a tp link powerline adaptor and get an access point close to the gate to run camera and maybe sonoff/shelly.

What would be the most elegant way? Currently echo is the heart of my HA network

 

[SauRoNZA]

What would be the best way to monitor if my sliding gate is open or closed? My gate is approximately 50 to 70m away from the house so a bit of a mission to view.

I am thinking if using a tp link powerline adaptor and get an access point close to the gate to run camera and maybe sonoff/shelly.

What would be the most elegant way? Currently echo is the heart of my HA network

Is there power there?

Screw powerline adaptors and **** like that. Rather put a pointing access point outside aimed at the Gate with a Sonoff and magnetic switch to monitor.

 

[alqassam]

Is there power there?

Screw powerline adaptors and **** like that. Rather put a pointing access point outside aimed at the Gate with a Sonoff and magnetic switch to monitor.

There is a plug there. Will have a look alternatively maybe a ubiquiti outdoor AP as I have gone full unifi now.

I will probably need to run cat 6 cable there to get a camera in as well.

Which magnetic sensor will you recommend?

 

[SauRoNZA]

There is a plug there. Will have a look alternatively maybe a ubiquiti outdoor AP as I have gone full unifi now.

I will probably need to run cat 6 cable there to get a camera in as well.

Which magnetic sensor will you recommend?

I just bought the cheap as chips R20 alarm ones.

But if you have a gate motor on there worth a look if it doesn’t have some built on open/close sense.

 

[ebendl]

I just bought the cheap as chips R20 alarm ones.

But if you have a gate motor on there worth a look if it doesn’t have some built on open/close sense.

There is a plug there. Will have a look alternatively maybe a ubiquiti outdoor AP as I have gone full unifi now.

I will probably need to run cat 6 cable there to get a camera in as well.

Which magnetic sensor will you recommend?

I used a wide-gap outdoor reed switch, 60mm gap, since my gate doesn't always stop at the same place. Something like this (bought mine at communica) - https://www.alarmtec.co.za/door-contacts/roller-shutter-contact-eco-p-1884.html

 

[VicB]

According to the video it can integrate with a connection to the police, so I think it just might.

I have seen that when it was on kickstarter. Very cool idea, as long as it is not too expensive.
My only question is, can I integrate it with the radio unit that connects to my armed response. Other than that, looks awesome and come with homeassistant integration out of the box.

Has anyone been able to confirm this? My only query before I consider using this panel from Konnected.io is whether I can still send the radio signal to the armed response company?

 

[CamiKaze]

So based on this article, at https://www.pcmag.com/article/367145/how-to-set-up-your-smart-home-a-beginners-guide:

Lights: Smart bulbs such as the Philips Hue let you control individual lights or groups of lights from your phone and set up different "scenes" with specific brightness levels and color temperatures, so you aren't flooding your eyes with blue light at the end of the day. They can even automatically turn on and off based on a number of different triggers. As an alternative to bulbs, you can use smart switches to control the lights already built into your house.

I have two chandeliers with 9 bulbs each in my living room. I think that it would be insane to control all 18 bulbs individually.
The smart switches that they mention in the quoted text above, where can I find those? Does anyone have a link? And installation guide please? Is it a Philips Hue switch or is there a better alternative?