Hi all. I’m just getting started with HASS. We’re starting to build a home and while we rent in the interim I’m accumulating the necessary components for the automation we want. So far I’ve got smart plugs, Plex, thermostat and garage door control working. Now I’m looking at smart blind controllers.
I’m seeing these on Amazon and wondering if I can control them from HASS on my Pi 4 server. I’ve searched online and on the forums and found nothing definitive. Does anyone have any thoughts, experience with them, or an integration for managing them?
I’ve been looking into similar smart blinds on AliExpress, which I think are the same ones, but they cost half! I believe they all come from the same factory and are called the ‘AM43 smart blinds’ . It looks like you need the app ‘Blind Engine’ for the A-OK ones. I have not found integrations with Home Assistant yet. Maybe someone else knows an integration.
I have the one from aliexpress (branded as “zemismart” in the lot, but no mention of manufacturer on the actual device when received, just the AM43 model name on the box). was priced ~40 Euro
it is using the same A-OK android app for controlling over Bluetooth so it must be technically “the same” device.
Hi!
I have just bought a couple of these - and i am gonna try to make them work with the am43-ctl. I can see that there is a integration for openhab - so it should be possible to integrate them into HA aswell.
I am however more interested in making them work with esphome - because I think many houses will likely have them installed in the outer perimeters in their house - so its doubtfull if one BT connection will suffice - with the range limited by walls and floors etc. I have also made an official request on the esphome github page - so maybe if we are lucky - one day we can control i by esphome
I’m not sure if you bought them already but I ordered a bunch on AliExpress for ~$30-35 inc delivery and tax to the UK. They’re arriving next week so I’ll test them out!
I managed to make a nodejs server that sends bluetooth commands to the blinds, same as https://github.com/delphir-com/am43-ctrl/. However, just like this project, I cannot tell the blinds to open x% or even check if they are open or closed. I cannot decipher the crap messages the blinds sends back. Anyone experienced with bluetooth about?!
I got two of these (unbranded but apparently A-ok) and they seem to work fine. I’m restricted to my laptop for testing instead of my Ubuntu server (mini pc) box but it seems very solid. I really like them but i’d like them to be wifi or zigbee.
Hi,
I install package on Ubuntu 18.04 ARM (nodejs v14.3.0), some warnings but with success. After run i got error:
/usr/local/lib/node_modules/am43-ctrl/index.js:70
let devices = {};
^^^
SyntaxError: Block-scoped declarations (let, const, function, class) not yet supported outside strict mode
at exports.runInThisContext (vm.js:53:16)
at Module._compile (module.js:387:25)
at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:422:10)
at Module.load (module.js:357:32)
at Function.Module._load (module.js:314:12)
at Function.Module.runMain (module.js:447:10)
at startup (node.js:142:18)
at node.js:939:3
Ubuntu works with BLE dongle fine, Bluetooth LE Tracker in Hassio map devices in neighborhood, so isn’t problem with hardware.
Any idea?
I managed to write a sketch for an ESP32 that can connect to these blinds over BLE and control them using MQTT and HA. I sniffed the BLE connections with blejack to work out exactly how they talk, as well as looking at the nodejs and other code.
No problems with two motors at once on this, though you need to apply a fix to the BLE library. Please try it and let me know how it goes for you:
Hi Bux the ESP32 looks great, had a spare ESP sitting around but no spare PI to run the initial forks. Been playing with the ESP a bit but am no where near a competent user. I ran into an issue with the code you listed, not sure if its the fact in comping in arduino ide with the ESP32 from esspressive (can a simple wifi temp/moisture sensor the old job of the board) or just plain user error. But I posted the issue on the GIT page hopefully you can see where I messed up or give me a hand in getting it going would be nice to sync it to sunrise and sunset rather than change the time every two weeks. Thx J5
Hey Ben. Looks like an awesome controller you wrote. Was originally planning on setting up the node util binsentsu wrote on a spare NUC I’ve got laying around, but if I could do it on an ESP32, why not!
Would you or anyone else be able to point me towards something that’d help getting this set up from scratch. I presume it’s not a complicated process, I just have 0 experience with arduinos before. The Getting Started section of the readme looks incredibly helpful for steps 1-3, but I’m working on figuring out step 0. Figured I’d start by getting a breadboard and an ESP32. Do I need a Pi to get it set up?
Hey buxtronix, trying to get this set up and seem to be continuously running into a series of issues.
The first question I have (that might be a little silly) is how you go about patching the BLE library. This is my first time working with any arduino so little inexperienced there.
Secondly, I’ve been using the HiLetgo ESP-WROOM-32 (the first result from Amazon) board which recommends using Node32s as the board selection. When this is selected I don’t have the option to change the partition scheme. I can get around this by selecting a different board (ESP32 Dev Module) but wondering if that will cause any issues.
Somehow after those 2 changes, I managed to get everything working… WIFI connection and MQTT connections take a few minutes to get connect (lot of unsuccessful messages) but after a bit it’s connected and up and running. Only issue is that the BLE scan can not find the AM43 device. Can connect to it with no issues from my phone and can get the mac address using a BLE sniffer of my laptop, but the ESP does not seem able to find or connect to it. Any thoughts? Additionally, I’m not sure what amount of debugging I can do. Have the serial monitor up but in terms of connections running the command
Lastly, not sure if this matters, but end goal of integrating this to HA. Been using the Mosquito Broker add-on with a user/password set.
Edit: It seems like the bluetooth is working, since every now and then the scan finds a Garmin smart watch one of my neighbors probably owns, just can’t find the blind driver sitting right next to it
Update 1: Found the libraries and patched them. Relatively simple. New issue… Mosquito broker on HA was not working. Would accept connections with no issues but would not allow any data to be published. No errors when attempting to. Switched to a Broker hosted on a different server. BLE scan is still not connecting to either AM43
I have 0 idea how to get them setup this integration, please can you post each step required… I guess this will be a joy for me on this Christmas and many others i’ve seen online not able to make them work.
