FHEM > HA: How to integrate HomeMatic, MAX, Intertechno?

Hardware
10

One more bit regarding the Intertechno devices: Homegear is able to expose these in a way that’s compatible to HomeMatic. This does work with the old integration, which I wouldn’t recommend using though. I don’t know if this still works with the new integration. But I think there’s a good chance it can work.

And just for reference: Homegear is something like an emulated CCU, with support for other device types. It exposes the XML-RPC API also provided by a regular CCU. But I don’t think there’s much development going on with Homegear anymore. But if you primarily have old devices, you probably won’t have problems with device support.
So just for the sake of trying, I would suggest to give the Homegear Docker Container a shot. I think Homegear is also able to directly integrate with the HM-CFG-LAN devices to provide the communication.

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Thank you very much for the tip; he is good! I’ll take a look at this as soon as possible.
But ultimately I could do without the IT protocol if absolutely necessary, or I could let a PI continue to run with a minimal FHEM installation and pass it on via MQTT. Or I can build an IT2MQTT gateway with an ESP…
IT can be replaced inexpensively with, for example, Shelly’s. Things are different with the HM devices. These are usually expensive devices, such as radiator thermostats, fire smoke detectors, 4-fold top-hat rail actuators and things like that

12

In that case try getting one of the other solutions to work. Debmatic probably is the next best option without breaking much.

13

Thanks for the tip. I just read up on the Git site. If I understand correctly, there is no support for e.g. HM-CFG-LAN (HM-CFG-LAN LAN Konfigurations-Adapter – FHEMWiki). I’ll read into it further, but that would almost be a knockout criterion; without them it doesn’t work. I can’t achieve everything with two HM transceivers, let alone one…

14

Well, at least Homegear does support the HM-CFG-LAN: 5. Configuration — Homegear HomeMatic BidCoS Manual 0.8 documentation

I used these together years ago when starting with HomeMatic.

And I believe it is possible to also use it with a CCU or RaspberryMatic to extend the range, as long as a real RF-Module is the primary one.

15

Ah ok… wasn’t so far with reading…
It’s not that easy to find a system into which the hardware environment that has grown over the years can be adopted.
If the HM-LAN goes in, that’s half the battle. If you can now somehow add the SCC’s into it, ideally so that you can form what FHEM calls a VCCU with the HM-SCC and the HM-LAN, then that would actually be the way…

img-2023-11-07-19-33-35
img-2023-11-07-19-33-35461×600 41.3 KB

(here you can see the old Pi3 where the three SCC’s are stacked)

16

I think in your case it would be best to ask at the HomeMatic forum. There you might find some experts that know their way around FHEM and how to migrate to something HA-compatible, without loosing the functionality you have right now.

17

… yea… I think so too … And I have to slow myself down a bit and take it slow; Little by little… I know myself… I always want to achieve too much too quickly at once…

18

So… me again…
In the meantime the small computer is there, an HP EliteDesk with an I5, 4GB RAM and a 128GB SSD.
My attempt to set up HASS according to “GitHub - home-assistant/supervised-installer: Installer for a generic Linux system” failed mercilessly. The problem is that everything works up to “Step 3: Install the OS Agent:”, but when you install “homeassistant-supervised.deb” the whole thing goes down the drain.
As far as I can understand so far, the installation destroys all network connections and then runs against the wall.
As far as I know, a newly installed Debian 12.2 uses the usual entries in /etc/network or /etc/wpa_supplicant, but the installation probably works with the network manager. But switching to the NM beforehand and transferring all power to it didn’t help either… The creator of this HowTo probably assumed things that are simply not present in a standard installation of Debian 12…

So after hours of pointless fiddling, I ended this attempt and flashed the “haos_generic-x86-64-11.1.img.xz” onto the SSD. This has worked so far, although it should perhaps be stated here that the thing only works via LAN and not via WLAN. This saves a beginner from spending hours searching for a non-existent option ^^

Anyway…
I’ve now tried to somehow bring in the HomeMatic stuff. The only option I could find related to the outdated CCU plugin, which runs after a test installation (or so it seems), but when I try to update it or try to change anything else, the GUI grays out and does nothing. So it’s also a waste of love…

As far as I’ve read, in the current HASS version access to install an external system is no longer possible, so Homegear or something similar cannot be installed on the system; At least I haven’t found a way…

So am I correct that nothing else can be installed on the system on which the above image was installed apart from the plugins offered?

19

Look into debmatic
It might solve your issues

And yes with HAOS you can only install add-ons that are in the addon store and controlled by HAOS.
You can install a hypervisor on the machine and gave one VM running HAOS with all the add-ons it provides and another VM that run all the ones the HAOS do not support.

20

Ok, thank you a lot… It seems that I have understood it right, so far…
Since debmatic is currently not available as a plugin (will it ever be?), the only way is via a VM or an external system (Pi or what ever) with debmatic, which can then be integrated into HA… Right?

Edit say: This way as an example? https://computingforgeeks.com/how-to-install-kvm-virtualization-on-debian/

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Debmatic can be run on Debian 12 together with a supervised installation of HA, but you might have hard time maintaining the HA installation. It does require a lot of Linux skills and understanding.
I did it in the beginning.

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… that I have try as you can read here so as an result it’s nothing what I can handle.
So I will try with an VM like Proxmox or KVM…

23

I could handle the supervised installation, but new wishes made me use choose proxmox and HAOS, which is something I am happy for today.
It is just a lot easier.

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yep, you are right, I think. I will try this combination. I just have to wait for an DP2HDMI for the MiniPC due I can’t block the 2nd PC without massively lower the WAF :crazy_face:
I’m sure I come back shortly with other questions about this… I’m sure that don’t run like an oiled flash… I know me… If there is a rock on the road, I hit them :roll_eyes:

25

If you can use the normal CCU, then debmatic is exactly the same. You can even backup your current CCU and restore it on Debmatic.

26

… I have never used a native CCU. FHEM can do all that natively, so there was no need for a CCU before. This will be the 1st time I get in touch with that …
In the meantime, I had already thought about replacing most of the HM stuff, e.g. the radiator thermostats with Shelly TVR, but considering the amount required (15 pieces), that’s not financially feasible. So I’m stuck with the HM stuff for better or for worse :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

BTW: The SONOFF TRVZB are maybe useable, but I haven’t read any reports about it in connection with HA; maybe I’m too blind …
The only thing I have found is that there are probably problems or no way to read the valve position from HA on the thermostat. But this is absolutely necessary because I calculate the actual heat requirement from this and pass it on to the heating control system, which then calculates the output of the pumps and the required flow temperature…

27

In the meantime, after many hours of trial and error, I have Proxmox running and set up my first VM with Debmatic…
So far, so good… Everything seems to be working at first.
However, problems are already starting to arise, so I think I won’t reach my goal this way…

  • Both HM-LAN-CFG existing in the network can be entered, but are displayed as “not connected” even after Debmatic is restarted. However, I can ping both HM-LANs from the shell with a response time of around 1.5ms. So they are accessible from the container.
  • I haven’t found any way to connect the existing SCC’s on the Pi; This option simply doesn’t exist, neither with HA nor with DebMatic…

So as far as I can tell so far, a conversion from FHEM → HA using DebMatic is simply impossible with the existing (HM/MAX/IT) hardware. At least I don’t see any viable option without having to spend a lot of money (again). So I’m now taking a image of the current status and burying my idea for the time being…

Thank you everyone for the help provided here.

28

Hi,

I have the same situation. Running fhem with HM-cfg-LAN and want to play around or move to HA.
I will try MQTT-Bridge (and for HM and some other things like modbus will leave running my fhem VM), but this could be a hard way.
Did anyone already do this? Or would buying a used CCU be the better option? Would have to re-configure all the HM devices then, what is also a pain…
Best regards and thanks in advance,
Otto

29

Just for completeness, got it working using MQTT-bridge.
Example-config in fhem for a HM device:

attr wz_rolladen_rechts mqttBridgePublish mqttPublish *:topic={"$base/wz_rolladen_rechts/$name"} *:qos=2 *:retain=1
attr wz_rolladen_rechts mqttBridgeSubscribe pct:stopic={"$base/wz_rolladen_balkon/set/pct"} stop:stopic={"$base/wz_rolladen_balkon/set/stop"} on:stopic={"$base/wz_rolladen_rechts/set/on"} off:stopic={"$base/wz_rolladen_rechts/set/off"} state:stopic={"$base/wz_rolladen_rechts/set/state"}

and in HA (mqtt):

  - name: "wz_rolladen_rechts"
    unique_id: wz_rolladen_rechts
    command_topic: "fhem/wz_rolladen_rechts/set/state"
    position_topic: "fhem/wz_rolladen_rechts/level"
    state_topic: "fhem/wz_rolladen_rechts/state"
    set_position_topic: "fhem/wz_rolladen_rechts/set/pct"
    qos: 0
    retain: true
    payload_open: "off"
    payload_close: "on"
    payload_stop: "stop"
    position_open: 0
    position_closed: 100
    optimistic: false
    value_template: "{{ value.x }}"

Of course it has to be changed according to your configuration and probably the stopic can be done more generic, but for me it works…

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