Getting frustrated How to get HA to discovery a Raspberry Pi

People should really understand… I get it, but then can you explain why Amazon says they can be used on lights/fans/etc ??? Here is the link, read carefully. It does not say anything about resistive loads only. It says electronic, but why the fans? The fans, speakers, transformers ALL have some inductive (ie not just resistive) load.

True, but THIS is the size of contactor I would expect (and trust) to carry a 30A inductive load.

https://www.amazon.com/Packard-C230B-Pole-Contactor-Voltage/dp/B001KGSJ74

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It seems there’ll be some more readings these coming days. I asked this same question in a different forum, where such plugs are used left/right on everything that draws power.

What we really need is a more detailed description of all the hardware the OP is trying to control. Only then we can make ‘sensible’ recommendations.

Also, here is some additional feedback from another forum I read. Make sure you read the linked discussion about the HS plugs.

so what i noticed is the binary sensor will display correctly
but

there is a prong that the company said you use Sng GND you bridge them if ur using 5v for the octocoupler… but if ur using 3v then you pull the jumper off… now what i noticed earlier if i pull the jumper off the HA reads the relay correctly and says the Relay is off and if you run my pump.py 16 on doesnt work it says its high but it wont go unless i add the jumper

and i find i have to restart HA server twice for the binary sensors to detect. first time it wont like things restart it again it works
but is there no way if Relay Is on when HA reboots that it leaves the state it is so “ON” instead of sending the “OFF” command

and could you guys help with a Toggle… that turns on and off a relay

i did look at the MQTT stuff again
i just dont know how to send to the HA dashboard
on the pi i said

pi@pump:~/bin $ mosquitto_pub -h 192.168.0.153 -u mike -P mike -t pump -m “16 on”

so i log in name mike pass mike for the mqtt server
the topic is pump
and the command is pin 16 ON

maybe this stuff over my head or i need to watch some videos that are detailed instructions or details

wish there as a school night class or a Zoom Teacher that teachs you the basics the fundamentals Lab work… i teaching myself from google searchs and guessing how thse examples in the documentations/integrations work… just copy past example yami and guess how it works

I would strongly agree.

I am not going to get into a pissing match with you over this. I certainly wasn’t saying you can’t use them for any inductive load, I am pointing out that you cannot run a 12amp inductive load on on a relay rated for 12amp resistive. Its dangerous. As for your expert on your other board, who thinks I am making this up, read this: https://www.hvacrschool.com/res-mean-contactor-relay/. Without getting too technical, the rotating magnetic field is what cause the issues, and as the relay contacts break and the motor slows it is now generating power, but it is out of phase with the line power, this makes the arc hard to stop. Where as a resitive load the arc will go out when the line voltage drops the zero on the first A/C cycle. As for the comments and ideas presented that we should find out more before we recommend equipment for this, no we shouldn’t. A fully qualified and licensed electrician should look at it an recommend a safe, code compliant solution considering the location, equipment, duty cycle and local conditions. You don’t have to believe me, but with 45 years working on electrical equipment, and having taught electrical theory to apprentices at one point in my career, and been an accident investigator for a Power Generation company, its your choice, I have tried.

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so since you guys talking about relays. and you dont seem to like this overrated 30 amp relay or the IOT relay i guess.

so what 5v raspberry pi/arduinio relay do you recommend for 30 amps so a 6amp draw doesnt friy it… so with alll this contactor relay then whats a light switch rated at when you wire a well pump to a light switch to turn on and off … so i guessing these cracks at me for buying 30amp 1hp rated relay. and the manufacture said its perfectly fine…
so then if this company bad or the IOT one.

what canadian/usa 5v 30amp rated Relay do you recommend… including solid state
or are you saying you need 1 relay to power a 2nd relay that only drays 1 amp
so id have 3 Relays to turn on 1 pump then… the 30amp i have a contactor at low amperage plus the other contactor.
so whats the bad rating for the IOT raitings for a pump

either way still having problems getting a toggle switch on the dashboard to control things… as i dont find enough videos for HA or live chat with someone so when they go over stuff i can ask questions

Trying to figure it out what you are trying to do. Just wondering is your GPIO working if the HomeAssistant running on your RPI? If yes. Then its much easier to run 2 home-assistant and then combine the RPI one into your main Home-Assistant. This way you will get a 100% working devices without any problems. Hooking 2 home-assistant is also very easy and you can control what is the main home-assistant need to see or discover.

Anyway just some ideas…

@KingRichard
ya i asked about if it be easier to run 2 home assisstant…
see orginaly for a year… i been running Raspberry Pi and crontab to turn on and off a 3/4 hp pump to pump water out of my basement… using crontab that i had different programs i can rem out… instead of using 5 or so digital outdoor timers programming 30 programs for each one etc.

so i then found way to get webserver to run on it so i could turn it on and off from a push website so when im 2 hours away and needs to pump water i can… as i dont have a sump hole i have to pump water out of a 2" hole that pumps into a barrel and then the sump pump in the barrel pumps outside of the house… as im surrrouned by water. basiclly and its a 50k renno to dig up around the house and redue it… so that was my solution

so i learned about Home Assistant… and i tried to incorporate it. crontab a physical push button on the Pi (future add) or website and then Home Assistant would match … so if i pressed "ON " button on the raspberry pi. HA would say Pump is on and the switch is Toggled On… and vise versa… i tried googling about it for a lamp as its the same concept… learned about Node-red had issues and learned MQTT didnt figure understand it completely. most builds i found used ESP but i using RPI then i read about Garage QPI but i had issues installing it i got so far then got 404 errors doing the instructions…

but ya if i could run home assistant and timers on the RPI solo be good better then my toggles and having to rem out my crontabs… maybe a check box to choose which sceduler to run… and then communicate the main HA this way when Host HA reboots the raspiberry pi HA keeps working
but so far still HA resets the pi… and i cant figure how to get Toggle switch to work to just control 1 GPIO read switch templates but i dont see pictures

just text in the docs… i need like videos how you set up a switch template step by step instructions

was hoping there was a book like a text book on Home Assistant so you do intro to switchs it shows you how to do you then follow it… just like a microsoft text books you read and then do the sceneraios to duplciate it but never found anything like that

but ya if i could get 2 HA to work together be good so if the the RPI can run independtlyy like a Wifi Light switch. ligh switch has to work even if it cant access HA… so same thing here RPI still needs to work without the Main HA… i do like this and trying to learn this stuff on my own … as i dont see enough break downs… of what each line means as the there are examples where some of the lines are not explain below the code as its not in there…

@KingRichard

so to sum up what i said above…
if i could get 2 HA and work together
if i could convert my RPI crontab and push button to a HA to simplifier Scheduler of crontab and add the Push button… as the RPI also doubles as a Streaming Radio

and then i have another HA that would control lights… etc so that way the Non Rpi HA reboots it doesnt affect the RPI HA

If you can have it working on RPI + Home-Assistant for your water switch then you should run 2 HASS. To connect two Home-Assistant simply install HACS and add Remote Home-Assistant integrations. Once you connect the RPI home-assistant to your main home-assistant then you will be able to add the RPI HASS switch into your main HASS easily. I did on mine.

Main HASS running on Synology and have 2nd RPI running home-assistant for other purposes.

As you can see the RPI information is being gathered from my RPI HASS to my Synology HASS

@KingRichard
ok ill try that as like my way is working fine over a year Before HA i thought adding this HA wouldnt been a plug and play simply but i didnt realize how much difficulty i was having …

ill try that today and see about getting HA on the on RPi
thanks i aprpeciate everyones help so far…

I try to make a simple script to help people who would like to have HASS running on RaspiOS with a freedom to install other thing on their RPI. So if you want to try it please do so and help me improve the script. Once you run the script it should dockerize HASS and it will make your life much simpler.

I’m also been trying to make some room to begin writing some more guide for helping nubies but due to my current work the time is just not available. So should you encounter error please feel free to communicate with me via this forum will try to help you.

@KingRichard
sounds good ya my RPI runs Raspbian Desktop plus webserver at 8000 port but also has a Radio program i installed so i have in my basement so then i had added the Relay to run my pump so it did more then 1…

ill try your script as my HA i currently running is a VM on my unraid server but ill try anything once to see how things work… ya guides always good… i did a guide for people with RetroPi and the NesiPi 4 nintendo case but i always busy and killing myself trying to do this stuff HA and trying to do vehicle repairs so i spend all day trying other peoples codes try and then u notice u started 8am but its not 6pm where the time go and u didnt work on repairs… ifi had a clone of me lol

but ya ill try that shortly

@Kdem … a pissing match? Someone started 2021 with the wrong mood. Relax and got get a loose pair of pants. I’m trying to get to the bottom of this as there is conflicting information out there. If you do not want to contribute, so be it. you can go back and hibernate now.

Reminds me of a situation when I replaced speed selectors for my ceiling fans. The guy at Home-Depot mentioned something similar … that some people use light dimmers ($20) and connect them to their fans, instead of the more suitable fan controllers ($60). Those dimmers are apparently noisy, but I do not see wide-spread switch-induced fires in the news. Plus, the Home-Depot Tech mentioned that still, people ignore his advice and buy the cheaper dimmer. I do get you, I really do, but come on, with an attitude like yours, good luck in life.

@comet424 I think you’re asking the right questions, but I have no answer yet. I reckon I do not have much experience running relays with an RPI. I’ve only used the RPI as media server and for some ‘sensing’ projects, GPS, acceleration and other mobile applications … never to control high voltage devices. Yes, it is done all the time, but in this country where everything is ruled by insurance companies and lawyers, we want to do the right thing, reliably, and cause neither a fire nor a flood

Question 1 - Is the hardware (switches/relays) you have adequate/appropriate for the application?
Question 2 - What software configuration/packages would enable you to accomplish what you’re after?

Granted, You nay already have an answer to #1, but I do not know enough to confirm/challenge you have the right hardware. we need more people to pitch in … unless @Kdem has cooled off and can continue this discussion.

@djrb so before Home Assitant
all i ran is Crontab that used a python code i showed above to turn on and off a relay and the relay is the 30 amp relay for 1hp motors for Arduino/Raspberry Pi projects i emailed RobotDyn the manufacture and asked what the FRA RFA whatever it was the resistive stuff so i dont burn down my house from the link the guy provided…
then i added a Flask webserver i guess so i could turn on off the pump manually as i didnt have physical switchs to the pi…

for the HA on the main server… i followed some tutorial… i installed
home assistant checker
file editor
home panel
nodred (having issues using it )
mqqt mositoe broker
plex server
samba share
tatuill
terminal ssh
visual studio code

now i wanted to add a button one the dashboard that toggles or a lighted button so when pump goes on from the crontab the HA would change the button to say Green for On and Red for OFf and say Relay like Pump is ON… but since i cant use switch and binary sensor the same i cant i was told… but i read one tutorial they do that… but then i think was template i dont remember i gone through so many… trying copying and pasting and trying to understand how it all works like a crash course… i tried the Garage Pi as it usualy a switch so HA i guess is running on the PI? but not remotely but had issues installing it on my pi kept getting 404 errors or so at one of the steps so i abondoned it… then i asked if you could have 2 HA so then maybe runs better on the Pi (Pump) and then a main one… so say HA Main one is off 2 weeks… the PI (Pump ) needs to keep runng on scheduled times reason i wrote it in Crontab so i could just change out a time… # ## adding in and out which timer so i didnt need to buy 5 digital timers or have to reprogram a timer from dailiy or couple times a day o to not needing to for a couple months… i may try to add a lever if there is more then 1" of water in my drain run the pump or so but for now what i have works for me what i got

tthen the @KingRichard guy mentioned hes got it working 2 HA but i had to email him as i locked myself out setting up his routine as i dont use public key etc for SSH and it wont let me in i tried fixing it deleting but it wont let me so i trying his thing

so ud have home assistant on PI that would run indepentlyt and other would read and could control the Indepent as like a co pilot…
and i was hoping to find a better way to setup timer schedule then crontab … it works great but i the only one that knows how to ssh into then run sudo crontab -e then rem out which one… so i wanted to setup so like my mother or a sister etc could just choose from a list or what not but i not there yet and not sure if u can truly add schules by like Click Add button from the dash board and save it in a database… something like that

as my timers are like run ever 1 hour for 45 min or run ever 2 hours for 15 another is ever 2 hours for 30 min another is run ever 4 hours 15 min
just varies so i wanted to be able to change it easily if i not around etc

Try this new guide which will help you. I also tested on my RPI running the latest Debian+HA+Supervised so I’m confident this one works. You can read my info on community thread

Sorry… my bad… I install the firewall on my scripts and failed to open port 8123 for HA. Its now fixed and I did make a new scripts for supervised method

ok sounds good ill test it… and what does supervised method mean… i did hear that before somwhere else?
and ill re try again today…
we not all perfect… i wish then we all be in good health and no covid issues…