Home Assistant

Lethal` · 18 Jan 2021 at 14:44

I've got some of those Xiaomi sensors. I've not hooked them up to HA or the likes yet but I used a Python script found on github to check temps. They're encrypted so they had to do a bit of reverse engineering if I remember correctly. They can be flashed with another firmware which should improve battery life as the client won't have to connect to the device each time to get values (I think the third party firmware changes them to broadcast values).

Got my Conbee II today. Quick delivery from Amazon Germany.

They will all be within about 10 meters of the bluetooth receiver, hopefully that's close enough for reliable communication!

Hmm. One of mine is about 4-5m above the receiver through a thin ceiling and sometimes it struggles. You could use ESP32s to read them though I think.

Lethal` · 18 Jan 2021 at 22:30

Productive evening. Got HA installed in Proxmox, Conbee II added with ZHA and 3 Lidl bulbs setup. I'll try have a go at integrating those Xiaomi sensors next.

Semple · 18 Jan 2021 at 23:38

Lethal` said:
Productive evening. Got HA installed in Proxmox, Conbee II added with ZHA and 3 Lidl bulbs setup. I'll try have a go at integrating those Xiaomi sensors next.

Good going! Once you start to get the hang of stuff, it's not too bad. Then you get the itch to add more and more, and start looking at what else you can automate/make smart. It sure gets addictive.

Lethal` · 18 Jan 2021 at 23:56

Semple said:
Good going! Once you start to get the hang of stuff, it's not too bad. Then you get the itch to add more and more, and start looking at what else you can automate/make smart. It sure gets addictive.

Yeah. A colleague has been at it for years before Lovelace etc I can see how he got addicted to it now.

PiKe · 19 Jan 2021 at 01:54

Lethal` said:
I've got some of those Xiaomi sensors. I've not hooked them up to HA or the likes yet but I used a Python script found on github to check temps. They're encrypted so they had to do a bit of reverse engineering if I remember correctly.

There is a website you can use which requests a pairing, it then captures the decryption key which you use in HA to read the advertised data.

Install HACS then get the BLE passive integration.

I think I've figured out how to implement a relay for my central heating, remove the existing relay and stick a shelly1 in there, I have a permanent live so I just need to connect the input and output to the combi boiler.

Lethal` · 19 Jan 2021 at 08:34

PiKe said:
There is a website you can use which requests a pairing, it then captures the decryption key which you use in HA to read the advertised data.

Install HACS then get the BLE passive integration.

Yep. That's exactly what I was going to try first though I think the custom firmware could be worth a try too for increased battery life and allow multiple receivers to check temps.

I installed HACS last night but then I recalled I'll need to passthrough bluetooth access to the HA VM so I deferred the work til this evening

PiKe · 19 Jan 2021 at 12:23

I think I've got my BT USB passed through to my docker, it shows with hcitool anyway, but I don't have the sensors yet.

Semple · 20 Jan 2021 at 21:35

Has anyone had a dabble at ESP Home?

I've just bought some wemos D1 minis from Aliexpress, i was planning on a project to attach one to a servo for tilt control for venetian blinds.

As we don't lift the blinds much (which would require a motor - maybe a future project) the servo shouldn't require too much power and i'm hoping i can run the wemos and servo from a rechargeable battery pack, rather than having to run a plug to the mains. Which is fine as long as i'm not having to stick the battery packs on charge every week

. If a decent capacity one could last 3-6 months, or even longer if topped up with a solar charger then that'll be perfect.

Lethal` · 20 Jan 2021 at 21:46

Lethal` said:
I installed HACS last night but then I recalled I'll need to passthrough bluetooth access to the HA VM so I deferred the work til this evening

This didn't go so well. I think I give up on trying to run HassOS. Seems the buildroot OS doesn't allow after-fact firmware install and it's missing the required drivers to run the Intel bluetooth chip. There's an open issue but I'm not gonna wait around. I think I'll just run it all in Docker on another VM like I had originally planned.

andy_mk3 · 20 Jan 2021 at 22:00

IMHO installing it in a VM is soo much easier. Plus allows for much easier recovery of things going **** up

Lethal` · 20 Jan 2021 at 22:02

Oh I should have clarified. I had HassOS in a VM but the VM image they provide doesn't seem to have the drivers required to interface with the Bluetooth chip in my NUC.

PiKe · 21 Jan 2021 at 22:45

How are you getting on with the Xiaomi sensors? Mine are in Royal Mail's hands now so hopefully be delivered within the next week.

andy_mk3 · 21 Jan 2021 at 23:36

PiKe said:
How are you getting on with the Xiaomi sensors? Mine are in Royal Mail's hands now so hopefully be delivered within the next week.

Aqara ones have been bang on for me.

Lethal` · 22 Jan 2021 at 07:51

PiKe said:
How are you getting on with the Xiaomi sensors? Mine are in Royal Mail's hands now so hopefully be delivered within the next week.

They should be fine as I've interfaced with them from my Mac a few times already and from a Raspberry Pi. I've not reinstalled HA in Docker yet on the NUC (to get bluetooth support) so I don't yet have them in HA. Probably do it this weekend.

I think if I was buying more yes - the Aqara ones would be tempting as I now have a Zigbee gateway too (Conbee II).

PiKe · 24 Jan 2021 at 01:28

The mija ones came today and they're working well

Lethal` · 24 Jan 2021 at 17:51

What are you using to integrate them in HA?

I reinstalled my HA in Docker on a new VM today. Had a few issues getting bluetooth functional again but eventually connected the LYWSD03MMC sensors using BLE Monitor.

PiKe · 24 Jan 2021 at 18:11

Passive BLE thing from HACS, I use tiny-graph to display them but also send the data to an influxdb which grafana is using.

Lethal` · 24 Jan 2021 at 21:42

Ah yeah. Same addon then. Part of the issue I had was it turns out the advertisements on stock firmware are only every 10 mins. Once I had them properly connected I kept flipping settings trying to understand why I was getting no values. Went out and came back and the values were there.

tiny-graph or mini-graph?

PiKe · 24 Jan 2021 at 21:49

Tiny graph.

10 minute advertising intervals is decent enough resolution for my usage.

Took me about an hour to get mine up and running because I didn't correctly understand how to get the encryption key through the modded version of the mihome app.

Absolute bargain though, £9.95 for 4!

Lethal` · 24 Jan 2021 at 22:54

My google-fu is failing me. Enlighten me on tiny-graph?

10 mins is absolutely fine for me too at the moment, it just caused me confusion!

That's pretty cheap. I was impatient back a few months ago and bought 2 for £12ish from Amazon on Prime.