Competing with Industrial BMS systems - the house that runs its self :-)

[kayasaman]

Hi,

this is my first post after running HA for a few weeks now. I wanted to share my building control project as I have found HA to have immense potential.

To start with I tested using a VM of HASS which allowed me to get accustomed to how HA works. I found the HA OS to be too minimal for my needs so I installed HA in Arch Linux using the online documentation. I can report that it works flawlessly!

As I wanted HA to become a complete integration platform to aggregate both building control and multimedia into one system without having to use separate software for each and retain full control over what and how happens, it was definitely an exciting challenge.

Luckily integration is quite easy and lots of devices already are included natively or a plugin is available. This was great for my Vera, KODI and Plex.
I also really enjoyed the cctv camera integration with motionEye. It is lightweight and doesn’t take up a large amount of resources! Unfortunately for my needs it was a little too lightweight so after testing multiple NVR platforms I decided to go for Xeoma and it runs happily alongside HA on the same Arch system.
Embedding the feeds from Xeoma to HA was a cinch also as Lovelace works very well with the mjpeg streams.
(In case anyone wonders what the cameras are, I am using 2x Hikvision 4k domes, 1x Akuvox SIP door station and 1x FHD Hikvision bullet )

The next stage was to integrate my GCE Electronics IPX800v4 system. After much digging I found the REST and Command Line switch and sensor options.
Now at least though there is no native integration or plugin for the IPX, I am able to set and retrieve information from the controller. This means turning on/off lights and viewing various sensor outputs.
It’s still quite basic as I’m using curl commands without any state feedback and also dimming does not function though I am working on it using these links:

Dimmer Light Setup

Hi All, I’m trying to setup a dimmer light with the light platform but have little experience with HA. My dimmer (KaKu) responds to and url instruction, so I’m using the command line curl within the light setup. light: - platform: command_line lights: hw_dim_proef: command_on: "curl http://IP/PW/sw/dim/34/100" command_off: "curl http://IP/PW/sw/dim/34/0" command_state: "curl http://IP/PW/get-status" value_template: '{{ value_json.response.switches[34…

Template Light

For accurate time synchronization and various system based displays I used a few Pine64-LTS boards which I installed into DIN enclosures courtesy of Italtronic. The preferred OS for these guys was FreeBSD which works very well with the Garmin GPS receiver and Newhaven display. Lot’s of soldering and GPIO work using level shifters but it was awsome :

Media

Right now I am also working on UI design for my SIBO Q8919 Android based wall installed tablets. These are great devices as they run off PoE and can virtually be installed into every room as a control and information portal!! They also work really well with HA’s Lovelace UI. I need to figure out how to control what is displayed on each tablet however, as the tabs displayed on a single dashboard are available globally. There seem to be various ways to work around this so it is just a matter of finding out which one is best for the current situation.
One solution could potentially be creating a dashboard per tablet though many tabs would become duplicated.

I also need to find a way of integrating my ScionTech HDMI matrix switch too, currently I’m using an iframe for the webUI which is fine and there are no major problems with it.
Later I will probably look at getting information out of a CarloGavazzi power logger too, as I plan to link this using Modbus to power meters attached to each electrical circuit.

So yeah in a nutshell that’s what I have and haven’t got working so far, but I must admit that it’s a lot of fun!

Hopefully down the line if I am able to get more features of the IPX system working perhaps it can also become a fully integrated system with HA… as the IPX is a really powerful set of devices that are incredibly reliable and being wired in don’t suffer the same setbacks as wireless protocols.

[tom_l]

Custom header will free up a bit of space on that 10" display.

Custom Header

No Longer an Active Project I have come to the difficult decision to stop work on Custom Header and have archived the project. Please, see the farewell post for more info. Custom Header Custom Header adds enhancements and customization options to Home Assistant’s Lovelace header. Docs (installation, config, and issues) Important Some config options can remove your ability to access UI elements. Each of these options is marked with a warning in the docs and in the UI edi…

[kayasaman]

Thanks!

I will look at it soon

[d3nk1]

How do you open your door with the Akuvox?

I want open it by my home assistant and the action URLs. Do you know how I get this work?

[kayasaman]

The Akuvox has relay outputs. For my system, I have linked the outputs of the Akuvox to my GCE Electronics IPX800 controller digital inputs.

The door is then controlled through the IPX800. This way I can get the status or control it with Hassio using the IPX API.

For example I can tell the IPX800 to trigger a relay output if the connection on the digital input where the Akuvox is connected. The relay output of the IPX800 is connected to an electronic door strike.

I don’t think the Akuvox supports API calls directly as it’s basically an IP phone with a camera and card reader running Android.

Let me know if you need more information

[d3nk1]

@kayasaman thank you!

Yes I have some more questions!

What I want to do is.

1. Don’t use the relay outputs due to security reasons
2. I want to use the ActionURL by some actions to open my door via HomeAssistant. But I don’t know how.

I need some sensor which works with the Akuvox ActionURLs format.

Do you have an idea?

Thank you very much!

[kayasaman]

I have checked the Akuvox Action URL and I don’t think that it’s possible.

From what I can see the “Action URL” simply sends ‘action’ status information somewhere.

As this is IP based, a sensor won’t work.

See here: ip_phone:features_and_configurations:how_to_setup_action_url [Akuvox Wiki]

I think what you are actually looking for is the “Action URI” in which you send commands to the Akuvox to perform an action?

See here: ip_phone:features_and_configurations:how_to_setup_action_uri [Akuvox Wiki]

You might be able to give the Akuvox status information over to HA, using the remote command line sensor function. I have done this many times with other devices and it’s quite easy.

The only problem is that there is no mention of “door control” anywhere.

Without the relays it really doesn’t make any sense to get the Akuvox to control the door unless you have some specific use case in mind??

What are you trying to do exactly and how do you plan to connect things together physically?

[d3nk1]

I want to open my door by an KNX actor. So I want to avoid that somebody could connect the two cables outside my building and easily get in.

I just need an Action URL without any “commands” that triggers e.g. an automation.

I have read that the ActionURL is doing a HTTP GET and that’s a problem.

Do you have something in mind how to solve that problem?

Thank you @kayasaman

[kayasaman]

I don’t think what you want to do is possible. It might be a good idea to ask Akuvox directly about it as their wiki is a little unclear.

Maybe I am not understanding correctly though?

In my case even if the relay is shorted there are other locks on the door preventing access. So the way I use my Akuvox is that if there is someone at the door which I would like to let in, I can either use the DTMF tone “0” to trigger the relay or simply use my phone or wall tablet etc…

You have a KNX actuator which you want to open the door with… that’s fine. So my guess is that you want the Akuvox to communicate with HomeAssistant after you press “0” while in the call to the front door?

If you have a look on the Akuvox Wiki: ip_phone:features_and_configurations:how_to_setup_action_url [Akuvox Wiki]

it does not mention that DTMF tones can trigger the ‘incidences’ to send an alert.

The only information on unlocking the door is provided via relay: door_phone:integration_with_third_party_devices:how_to_configure_door_lock_with_r2x [Akuvox Wiki]

Actually… there seems to be an HTTP URL option: door_phone:integration_with_third_party_devices:how_to_configure_exit_button_with_r2x [Akuvox Wiki]

If any URL is able to be input there, you could try to add the HASSIO API in there and test if it works?

REST API | Home Assistant Developer Docs

Using this as an example:

turn_light_on:
  url: http://localhost:8123/api/states/light.study_light
  method: POST
  headers:
    authorization: 'Bearer ABCDEFGH'
    content-type: 'application/json'
  payload: '{"state":"on"}'

You could set the URL in the Akuvox to something like this:

    		http://hassio:8123/api/states/binary_sensor.heating ;

Though a simple URL string may not be possible as you said, one needs to use POST with the Hass API.

You might be able to write a php script which will listen on a web port using a web server, then based on the URL sent by the Akuvox, create a POST message to send to HomeAssistant.
That might be your best option in this case??

I’ve just checked my own shell scripts which use Curl to send POST messages to Hassio. The Akuvox definitely won’t be able to do that I think.