Home Assistant Blue purchase

Hardware
42

I’m not an expert by any means, though I think that RTC backup battery on a wire is for the older N2. I think the N2+ has a battery socket on the board.

1 Like
43

My Blue box has arrived (UK). … something at least to brighten up a grey Monday

1 Like
44

16085596307193644461596470033049
160855963071936444615964700330491920×1080 210 KB

Arrived! No customs, no vat. Straight from Hardkernel.

45

Now figure out how to best migrate my running Pi installation to the HA Blue device.

I’m thinking:

  1. Create full snapshot from HA on the Pi and download to computer.
  2. Shutdown HA on/and the Pi (otherwise homeassistant.local:8123 will probably conflict between Pi and HA Blue).
  3. Connect HA Blue to network and power.
  4. I’m having my router dedicate a specific IP address to the HA Pi device MAC address. So I need to reassign that IP address to the HA Blue MAC address.
  5. Probably restart HA Blue to get the correct IP address assigned.
  6. Browse on computer to ‘http://homeassistant.local:8123’.
    And there I should find HA and the option to upload the snapshot under Supervisor…

Anybody any thoughts on that…?

1 Like
46

That’e exactly what I was planning on doing when mine comes in.

48

Done. Some initial fuzz with finding the thing and figuring out its MAC address.
Since I’m integrating KNX over an IP bridge I need HA to get a dedicated IP address.
Fixed that.

Installed Samba Share, connected to backup directory (\<ip-address\backup) from Windows to the HA IP address.
Copied the snapshot file into the backup directory.
Restored the snapshot in HA - Supervisor - Snapshots.

And after that the HA Blue upgraded to OS 5.8.

Everything works, KNX, Google Home and Google Nest Audio integration and Zigbee over Conbee II all working.

Charming.

2 Likes
49

My experience , as they used FedEx for my shipment I will receive a bill later from FedEx…

Smaller than it appeared like in the picture !, I bet that’s been said many many times. I love the chrome endplates very chunky and retro. Great quality.

1 Like
50

Arrived today in Germany via DHL! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

Migration (from Intel NUC, Ubuntu, Docker) will be done tmrw! :nerd_face:

@RiJanssen: did you integrate it via ethernet? or did the usb stick network file trick to get the wifi running?

I will keep you posted!

1 Like
52

I used wired Ethernet.

53

Thats what I Believe too. Did’nt order one after Reading that article.

54

On-board RTC backup battery holder is mounted on the board. You have to provide the battery self I Believe.

55

On board battery backup in the HA Blue?
So you have to open the case and install a battery?
Is that documented somewhere?

56

https://wiki.odroid.com/odroid-n2/getting_started/equip_an_rtc_battery

1 Like
57

So HA Blue is Odroid B2?

Is the battery holder on top of the pcb board when you remove the case?

What is the actual importance or value of having a backup battery?

Richard

58

HA Blue is a stock Odroid N2+. The battery is used to keep the real time clock going when it is disconnected from power. However, modern internet connected devices can set their internal clock by automatically querying a time server over the Internet, so it doesn’t really make a difference in this use case.

2 Likes
59

The bundle says a battery is provided and already installed. I haven’t received mine yet, but I’m expecting everything to be plug and play without having to open the case.

1 Like
60

The case is secured with Torx headed screws obviously intended to be resistant to the casually interested. It’s deferred me for a day or two.

1 Like
61

Mine arrived earlier today was just under £125 shipped to the UK from Hardkernel. Plus £41.30 import
charge fee to pay FedEx. Ordered on the 13th arrived 22nd Dec. Definitely a good upgrade over a Pi 4 in terms of speed. Restored a back-up of my existing config and decided it would be cleaner to start again. Did the OTA MMC flash to go back to default with HASSOS 5.9 but stuck in a preparing HA loop now (so will maybe downgrade drop back a version). - Re-flashing solved this.
It helps anyone else keep your USB cable short for flashing with OTA, I was using a 3m (fine with esp’s) but found that it kept failing verification with etcher. Swap to a shorter (50 cm) cable solved the issue.

62

I’ve received my HA Blue. It is awesome :+1:

I got the system up and running, but I’m having troubles with connecting my Conbee II (Zigbee USB). The hardware can’t be found by the supervisor, so setting up deCONZ has no further use. Does anyone has any idea how I can fix this?

My troubleshooting steps

  • The Conbee II works on my RPI 3B+ flawlessly, before and after connecting it to the Odroid
  • USB devices, like a drive or a mouse are recognised
  • Tried some reboots, with and without the Conbee II connected
  • Supervisor, HASS and Conbee II firmware is up-to-date

This is what I see on the Odroid

serial:
  - /dev/ttyS0
  - /dev/ttyS1
  - /dev/ttyS2
  - /dev/ttyS3
  - /dev/ttyAML0

This is what I see on the RPI

serial:
  - /dev/ttyAMA0
  - /dev/ttyACM0
  - >-
    /dev/serial/by-id/usb-dresden_elektronik_ingenieurtechnik_GmbH_ConBee_II_DE2230537-if00

Anyone has any ideas, or was able reproduce this issue?

Also: (maybe unrelated). I can’t scan for HDMI-CEC devices via the CEC Scanner addon. There is some video output when I connect the Odroid to my TV setup, so that connection maybe it not a issue. I got the following error in the addons’ log file:

[17:16:31] INFO: Starting CEC client scan...
* failed to open vchiq instance
63

Have you tried plugging the Conbee into a USB extension cord? I know that’s more for Zigbee interference with USB3 frequencies, but maybe the separation from the USB controller would still be beneficial.

My Home Assistant Blue is set to arrive later today, and I’m going to be going through the same process as you; moving my Conbee II using deconz to the ODROID. If you figure it out today, please report back, and I’ll let you know what I find tonight or tomorrow, depending on when it arrives.

2 Likes