Arduino Nano + CC1101 434MHz Transmitter for Intertechno switches

Hi community,

I have read a lot about different home automation systems and started playing around with a RPI running FHEM http://fhem.de/fhem.html, which has a large German speaking community but would really like to continue with HASS. I plan to invest in Z-Wave in the future but for the time being, I would like to use my numerous Intertechno switches (i.e.http://www.tinkerforge.com/de/doc/_images/Bricklets/bricklet_remote_it_cmr_500_1000.jpg).

In order to control those switches, I successfully built myself a CUL (Arduino plus a 433MHz RF-device - like this) running culfw/FHEM. Is it possible to use this device with HASS at all? I guess, a connection to HASS through pilight might be possible but I would rather prefer a “native” implementation.

Any comments are welcome!

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Hi,

I also would be interested to get the CUL-USB Stick running.
I am considering to switch from FHEM to HASS, and I already have the CUL-USB Stick
and some components for that environment.

Did someone find a way ?

Hi,

do you got any solution for your problem? I’m actually using a culfw (Arduino Nano + CC1101 433mhz module) with pimatic but I also like to switch to HASS.

If you’re running FHEM you could properly use a www request to call your devices via FHEM? Have you tested this? This might be just a work arround but maybe it works?

I will test this with pimatic api tonight.

It didn’t work as I thought…for now I will use another 433 mhz receiver and sender connected directly to my raspberrypi via gipo…I’m still looking forward for a solution of using my Arduino Nano + cc1101 via a serial port.

I found a solution for my problem. With the pyserial libary you can send commands to the cul. Look at the cul commandref for the commands. I wrote a little script which sends the intertechno command to the cul. After that I defined some Home Assistant command line switches. Next thing to do is to receive the commands and change the state of the HA switch.

Example for the python script:
import serial
ser = serial.Serial(port=’/dev/ttyUSB0’, baudrate=38400, bytesize=8, parity=‘N’, stopbits=1)
ser.write((‘is00FFFF0FFF0F’+’\n’).encode())
ser.close()

Hi sti0,
Thank you for digging in and posting your solution. I would very much appreciate if this could be picked up and developed further. As you mentioned, for a proper implementation of those switches receiving commands is almost as necessary as sending …

Hi Thomas,

I solved the receiving problem as well. I wrote a python script which uses pyserial to read the information of the cul in an endless loop. If a specific code (e.g. i512345 = on) is written, the scripts updates the switch status by using the HA api. The script runs on startup of my raspberry.

Pro:
the serial port is already open, so you can simply send messages via echo to the cul (unix e.g. echo “is00FFFF0FFF0F” > /dev/ttyUSB0). This works in no time! You don’t have to open a serial port or use a pyhton script to send a command to the stick.

Con:
very basic implementation at the moment. If I want to include new switches in HA I have to implement them on the python script as well. But it’s working well so far :wink:

If you need any further information. Let me know…

Nice to see some progress here. Im also on FHEM atm but considering alternatives. A working miniCUL / nanoCUL intertechno protocol integration for wall switches is the last thing thats not supported but essential for me.

will this work well to control MAX! thermostats?

This is very interesting. I have currently a FHEM on Pi configuration with 2 CUL sticks (homemade), 1 on 433 Mhz and 1 on 868 Mhz. The 433 Mhz CUL is used for (dutch KIKU) InterTechno switches, the 868 Mhz CUL is used for communication with 5 EQ3 Max! Radiator Thermostats.
I’am trying to migrate to HASS with my home automation. Is anyone working on CUL integration for HASS?

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So, it’s time to warm this topic up again.
I hope I’m not getting too much off topic here.
I’m also thinking about moving from FHEM to HA. Currently I’m playing around with a hassbian installation on a spare Raspi3.
I did get the CUL to work like sti0 discribed. After I installed pyserial it worked with:

import serial
ser = serial.Serial(port='/dev/ttyUSB0', baudrate=38400, bytesize=8)
ser.write(('isFFFF00000FFF'+'/n').encode())
ser.close()
  • so without the parity and stopbits parameters in the serial definition.

Altough I could switch my plugs through python3 my_pythonscript.py I found out that “import serial” doesn’t work with hassbian. So creating python scripts in /python_scripts and calling them as services in HA does not work.
I read around and found out that AppDaemon is the way to go. I installed it and started reading some tutorials.
When I was not getting anywhere (fast enough) I thought of a way of calling python3 scrips through shell command.

Now my trouble starts: The python scrips don’t work anymore. Using picocom i can still turn the plugs on and off (e.g. with “isFFFF00000FFF” for on and “isFFFF00000FF0” for off)
so there seems to be some trouble with the pyserial lib?

I uninstalled Appdaemon (pip3 uninstall appdaemon) and uninstalled and reinstalled pyserial. Still no effect. I’m out of ideas…
Any tipps and hints anyone?

I think with the RFXCOM RFXtrx433 USB transceiver you can control intertechno/smartwares/trust devices. The HA component is https://www.home-assistant.io/components/rfxtrx/

For the same price you get a homewizard which can easily be integrated via REST api.

Hey sti0,
I followed your pyhton script.
I use some kind of nano cul which should be a derivate from the original.
With FHEM it’s working fine anyway.

Do I miss something?
Script:

#!/usr/bin/python
import serial
ser = serial.Serial(port=’/dev/serial/by-id/usb-SHK_NANO_CUL_433-if00-port0’, baudrate=38400, bytesize=8, parity=‘N’, stopbits=1)
ser.write((‘is0000F0FF0FFF’+’\n’).encode())
ser.close()

Hi @ReneR1986,

I’m not using this solution anymore. It’s long ago, I can’t remember how it’s working…maybe you should consider ESPHome as alternativ which is easy to setup and is well integrated into HA.

Sorry and BR