Home Assistant - New Zealand

No integration. You have to use multiscrape via HACS and then bring in the data. I could not find anything done already unfortunatly. Note Im only using it to get the powershop daily prices, not my usage. For usage im using a Shelly EM with a 120AMP clamp.

Has anyone found a sensor (i.e. public api or integration) that we could all be using in automations to help protect our power grid (by turning things off) when at peak load?

Allowing our smart homes to automatically respond to situations like this coming up this morning.

Posted same question here.
https://reddit.com/r/SmartHomeNZ/s/MrtdBXzD63

Another kiwi here (dunedin), really like this idea.
Just a little worried about forgetting the sensor on the bottom of the bottle… Hmm.

1 Like

Hi @technikhaus! So far so good, I haven’t lost it yet! I only have one sensor, and when the bottle runs out, I move it over to the other full bottle. Then after I move the sensor, I place an order for another bottle delivery, so they take the empty one and don’t touch the full one with the sensor attached. I also have the LPG level gauge showing on a tablet in our bathroom so I’m always aware of the level (so the shower doesn’t suddently go cold in the middle of the night!) Hopefully this workflow will mean that I don’t lose the sensor.

1 Like

I was chatting with a friend who suggested a good idea, to attach a cable to it (epoxy etc) and bolt that to the slabs where the gas bottles are, long enough to reach both bottles. So if you forget to remove it, it’ll just fall off when they take the bottle away.

Ordered the sensor from your link a couple days ago, and looks like it’s out for delivery today :slight_smile:
A few weeks until we’re allowed back in our house, and I suspect we’ll be on 9KG bottles for a few weeks/months until our driveway is complete, so it’ll be quite handy to have this setup for such small bottles!

Have also ordered everything required to automate the new garage door (Shelly + Zigbee door sensors). Looking forward to setting up all the new automations!

1 Like

Hi All, got my 45kg gas bottle weigh station setup and working in “beta” form :slight_smile: using the excellent video from The Hook Up. At the moment it’s just done using some thick ply wood and roughly put together. Next steps is to fit the NodeMCU into a nice little case and sort all the wiring properly, there is a window directly above the bottles I will be able to wire it up to, so the NodeMCU box can sit inside. Then re-create the base with steel plates and create some sort of cage around the plates… so that the bottle will sit nicely on the top plate and its easy for our friendly RockGas delivery guy to load and unload without needing to explain anything to them. Once that is done and working, I’ll make another one for bottle #2.

Got the template sensors all working via:

  - sensor:
    - name: "Rockgas Bottle 1 Weight"
      unique_id: rockgas_bottle_1_weight
      unit_of_measurement: "g"
      device_class: weight
      state: >
        {{ states('sensor.tasmota_hx711_weightraw') | float - 927 }}
    - name: "Rockgas Bottle 1 Level"
      unique_id: rockgas_bottle_1_level
      unit_of_measurement: "%"
      state: >
        {{ [(((states('sensor.rockgas_bottle_1_weight') | float - 35) / 45) * 100),0] | max  }}

And…

Going to be interesting to see how this works out and then what automations I can run using the data.

Automatically ordering another gas bottle is an obvious one… however the RockGas Tauranga site uses reCAPTCHA on its form. Might be able to use the main Rockgas NZ site form.

Any other ideas?

PS: Once its all working, I’ll add it into the Energy dashboard.

2 Likes

That’s awesome! I was thinking about building something like this as well but decided to go for the Mopeka BLE sensor. It’s working for now, but I think this approach might be better since I wouldn’t need to keep manually moving the sensor onto the other bottle.

I built a level rectangular platform that can fit two gas bottles side by side, so maybe I can add some weight sensors to the platform. Then I could measure the combined weight of both bottles and subtract the weight of the full bottle, instead of measuring each bottle separately. Maybe it could be done with 6 load sensors - 2 on each side, and 2 in the middle.

I also want to build something very similar for our kettle so I can see how much water it has left. (We turn it on automatically in the morning and want to avoid turning it on if it’s empty.) Thanks for sharing that video, this is really helpful!

Would be nice to automate the Rockgas order form. I realized that it takes me less than a minute to fill it out and submit it so I didn’t get around to doing that. I use the main Rockgas NZ site form and that doesn’t look too hard to automate. I might have a look in the next few months when I need to order another bottle.

It would be cool to see a pic of that… still planning what I’m going todo.

How do you avoid temperature-related fluctuations? Do you see the bottle weight fluctuate over the day?

Yes I see temperature-related fluctuations, however have used some rounding to take away all the little changes and currently thinking is that “it’s just a guide” rather than an exact measurement. I mean, before hand it was “feels like the gas bottle is empty”, order another one right? :slight_smile: Plus we have two bottles, so can afford for 1 to completely run out.

We only use gas for hot water and a gas hob and the gas hob uses hardly anything compared to showers and washing machine. So i’m keeping an eye on when those “high usage” things occur and then looking at the temperate fluctuations after that. So far they pretty much even themselves out.

As of today and they have been monitoring for 4 days. Note the Bottle 2 is just using some different calculations to get a % from the same data. So we were at 43%, now at 35.5% - thats about 1.8% per day or a bottle every 55 days… which is kind of about right in our buying cycle.

I have also been thinking I should do manual check by putting the gas bottle on a standard set of scales once a week todo a comparison?

2 Likes

Hey folks! Super nice to meet other enthusiasts from the country. I’m currently based in Auckland.

What a coincidence to see @Greminn’s post on Rockgas! Awesome! I’ve just received my weight sensors and will be turning them into bed occupancy sensors. But the gas project will definitely by my next =]. Also working on a Hyperion installation currently will post progress.

Also if you guys noticed, in 2023.9 a Swedish traffic cam integration was introduced. Got me thinking we should have one too :wink: Waka Kotahi has an API. I’m no dev but putting this out there to gauge interest.

Yes, interested

What a great idea - not much help in the Bay of Plenty were the only cameras are on the Kaimais, but would be great in Auckland or Wellington. They also provide a traffic conditions via API as well, this would be kind of cool to alert on road closures?

As a followup on my gas bottle weigh station - this seems to be working well. It’s been in for a week now and things have evened out. I ended up changing the Tasmota update time to every 60 seconds and then rounding the % entity as follows:

- name: "Rockgas Bottle 1 Level"
      unique_id: rockgas_bottle_1_level
      unit_of_measurement: "%"
      state: >
        {{ [((((((states('sensor.rockgas_bottle_1_weight') | float - 35) / 45) * 100) * 2) | round ) / 2),0] | max  }}

This removed a lot of the fluctuations and evened out the graph. I have also been monitoring the weight via the weight and the weightraw sensor - so far they are the same:

I also tested the weight today using a set of scales, it was off by 0.2kg which really does not bother me in the slightest. Overall graph for the week (you can see at the end when I removed it and put it back on):

2 Likes

Hi All! I thought I would share the progress on my dashboard setup. Im looking to get some sort of wall tablet soon so building up these to be ready! I posted this to the HA FB group and got lots of questions on what cards etc I use, so I thought I would document here:

Clock/Weather:

Full yaml for dashboard, some personal things/names removed. Note some of this is quite “hacky” and I am in no means an expert in this stuff… this is my first go at a yaml based dashboard FYI :smiley:

title: Home
views:
  - title: HOME
    icon: ''
    visible:
      - user: person1
      - user: person2
    layout: {}
    path: tablet
    badges: []
    cards:
      - type: vertical-stack
        cards:
          - type: custom:stack-in-card
            mode: vertical
            keep:
              background: true
              box_shadow: false
              margin: true
              outer_padding: true
              border_radius: true
            cards:
              - type: horizontal-stack
                cards:
                  - show_name: true
                    show_icon: false
                    type: button
                    tap_action:
                      action: navigate
                      navigation_path: /lovelace/tablet?kiosk
                    hold_action:
                      action: none
                    name: Home
                    card_mod: null
                    style: |
                      ha-card {
                       background-color: #dddddd;
                       color: #000000;
                      }
                  - show_name: true
                    show_icon: false
                    type: button
                    tap_action:
                      action: navigate
                      navigation_path: /lovelace/energy?kiosk
                    hold_action:
                      action: none
                    name: Energy
          - type: custom:stack-in-card
            mode: vertical
            keep:
              background: false
              box_shadow: false
              margin: true
              outer_padding: true
              border_radius: true
            cards:
              - type: custom:clock-weather-card
                time_format: 12
                temperature_sensor: sensor.outdoor_motion_sensor_temperature
                entity: weather.tomorrow_io_daily
                card_mod: null
                style: |
                  ha-card {
                    margin-top: -10px;
                    border: none;
                  }
              - type: horizontal-stack
                cards:
                  - type: custom:mushroom-person-card
                    entity: person.person1
                    layout: vertical
                    fill_container: false
                    icon_type: entity-picture
                  - type: custom:mushroom-person-card
                    entity: person.person2
                    layout: vertical
                    icon_type: entity-picture
                  - type: conditional
                    conditions:
                      - entity: >-
                          sensor.geonet_nz_quakes
                        state_not: '0'
                    card:
                      type: tile
                      entity: >-
                        sensor.geonet_nz_quakes
                      name: Earthquakes
                      vertical: true
          - type: custom:stack-in-card
            mode: vertical
            keep:
              background: true
              box_shadow: false
              margin: true
              outer_padding: true
              border_radius: true
            cards:
              - type: horizontal-stack
                cards:
                  - type: custom:mushroom-title-card
                    subtitle: Downstairs
                    card_mod: null
                    style: |
                      ha-card {
                       margin-bottom: -20px;
                       margin-top: -15px;
                      }
                  - type: custom:mushroom-chips-card
                    chips:
                      - type: entity
                        entity: binary_sensor.front_door_sensor_window_door_is_open
                      - type: entity
                        entity: sensor.downstairs_temperature
                    card_mod: null
                    style: |
                      ha-card {
                       float: right;
                      }
              - type: horizontal-stack
                cards:
                  - type: custom:mushroom-lock-card
                    name: Front Door
                    entity: lock.front_door_doorlock
                    layout: vertical
                    fill_container: true
                  - type: vertical-stack
                    cards:
                      - type: tile
                        name: Entrance
                        entity: light.front_entrance_wall_light_group
                      - type: tile
                        name: Pendant
                        entity: light.downstairs_pendant_light
                      - type: tile
                        name: Hallway
                        entity: light.downstairs_ceiling_lights
      - type: custom:stack-in-card
        mode: vertical
        keep:
          background: true
          box_shadow: false
          margin: true
          outer_padding: true
          border_radius: true
        cards:
          - type: horizontal-stack
            cards:
              - type: custom:mushroom-title-card
                subtitle: Kitchen
                card_mod: null
                style: |
                  ha-card {
                   margin-bottom: -20px;
                   margin-top: -15px;
                  }
              - type: custom:mushroom-chips-card
                chips:
                  - type: entity
                    entity: sensor.kitchen_motion_sensor_temperature
                card_mod: null
                style: |
                  ha-card {
                   float: right;
                  }
          - type: horizontal-stack
            cards:
              - type: tile
                name: Coffee Machine
                entity: switch.shelly1pm_8caab5775a46
                vertical: true
                card_mod: null
                style: |
                  ha-card {
                   padding-top: 12px;
                  }
              - type: vertical-stack
                cards:
                  - type: tile
                    name: Bench
                    entity: light.kitchen_bench_lightstrip
                  - type: tile
                    name: Rangehood
                    entity: light.kitchen_rangehood_light_strip
          - type: horizontal-stack
            cards:
              - type: custom:mushroom-title-card
                subtitle: Lounge
                card_mod: null
                style: |
                  ha-card {
                   margin-bottom: -20px;
                   margin-top: -15px;
                  }
              - type: custom:mushroom-chips-card
                chips:
                  - type: entity
                    entity: sensor.lounge_motion_sensor_temperature
                card_mod: null
                style: |
                  ha-card {
                   float: right;
                  }
          - type: horizontal-stack
            cards:
              - type: tile
                name: Floor Lamp
                entity: light.lounge_floor_lamp
                features: null
              - type: tile
                name: Table Lamp
                entity: light.lounge_table_lamp
                features: null
          - type: horizontal-stack
            cards:
              - type: custom:mushroom-media-player-card
                entity: media_player.samsung_tv
                use_media_info: true
                fill_container: true
                name: Lounge TV
              - type: custom:mushroom-media-player-card
                show_volume_level: true
                volume_controls:
                  - volume_buttons
                  - volume_mute
                entity: media_player.samsung_q950a_soundbar
                name: Soundbar
                collapsible_controls: true
          - type: horizontal-stack
            cards:
              - type: custom:mushroom-title-card
                subtitle: Bedroom
                card_mod: null
                style: |
                  ha-card {
                   margin-bottom: -20px;
                   margin-top: -15px;
                  }
              - type: custom:mushroom-chips-card
                chips:
                  - type: entity
                    entity: sensor.bedroom_motion_sensor_temperature
                card_mod: null
                style: |
                  ha-card {
                   float: right;
                  }
          - type: horizontal-stack
            cards:
              - type: tile
                name: Ceiling
                entity: light.bedroom_ceiling_light_1
              - type: tile
                name: Bedside
                entity: light.bedroom_beadhead_lightstrip
          - type: horizontal-stack
            cards:
              - type: custom:mushroom-title-card
                subtitle: Decks
                card_mod: null
                style: |
                  ha-card {
                   margin-bottom: -20px;
                   margin-top: -15px;
                  }
              - type: custom:mushroom-chips-card
                chips:
                  - type: entity
                    entity: sensor.front_deck_motion_sensor_temperature
                card_mod: null
                style: |
                  ha-card {
                   float: right;
                  }
          - type: horizontal-stack
            cards:
              - type: tile
                name: Front Deck
                entity: light.front_deck_wall_light_group
              - type: tile
                name: Festoons
                entity: switch.front_deck_festoon_lights
          - type: horizontal-stack
            cards:
              - type: tile
                name: Side Deck
                entity: light.side_deck_light_group
              - type: tile
                name: Back Deck
                entity: light.back_deck_wall_light_group
      - type: custom:stack-in-card
        mode: vertical
        card_mod: null
        keep:
          background: true
          box_shadow: false
          margin: true
          outer_padding: true
          border_radius: true
        cards:
          - type: horizontal-stack
            cards:
              - type: custom:mushroom-title-card
                subtitle: Outside
                card_mod: null
                style: |
                  ha-card {
                   margin-bottom: -20px;
                   margin-top: -15px;
                  }
              - type: custom:mushroom-chips-card
                chips:
                  - type: entity
                    entity: sensor.outdoor_motion_sensor_temperature
                card_mod: null
                style: |
                  ha-card {
                   float: right;
                  }
          - camera_view: auto
            type: picture-glance
            title: Driveway
            entities: []
            camera_image: camera.front_camera_sub_2
          - type: custom:mushroom-chips-card
            alignment: center
            chips:
              - type: entity
                entity: binary_sensor.front_camera_person
                content_info: last-changed
                icon: mdi:motion-sensor
              - type: entity
                entity: binary_sensor.front_camera_vehicle
                content_info: last-changed
                icon: mdi:car
          - type: picture-glance
            title: Front Door
            camera_view: auto
            camera_image: camera.front_doorbell_snapshot
            entities: []
          - type: custom:mushroom-chips-card
            alignment: center
            chips:
              - type: entity
                entity: binary_sensor.front_doorbell_motion
                content_info: last-changed
                icon: mdi:motion-sensor
              - type: entity
                entity: binary_sensor.front_doorbell_ding
                content_info: last-changed
          - type: horizontal-stack
            cards:
              - type: picture-glance
                title: Back Deck
                camera_view: auto
                camera_image: camera.rear_camera_sub_2
                entities: []
              - type: picture-glance
                title: Garage
                camera_view: auto
                camera_image: camera.storage_wifi_camera
                aspect_ratio: '4:3'
                entities: []
  - title: ENERGY
    visible:
      - user: person1
      - user: person2
    path: energy
    badges: []
    cards:
      - type: vertical-stack
        cards:
          - type: custom:stack-in-card
            mode: vertical
            keep:
              background: true
              box_shadow: false
              margin: true
              outer_padding: true
              border_radius: true
            cards:
              - type: horizontal-stack
                cards:
                  - show_name: true
                    show_icon: false
                    type: button
                    tap_action:
                      action: navigate
                      navigation_path: /lovelace/tablet?kiosk
                    hold_action:
                      action: none
                    name: Home
                  - show_name: true
                    show_icon: false
                    type: button
                    tap_action:
                      action: navigate
                      navigation_path: /lovelace/energy?kiosk
                    hold_action:
                      action: none
                    name: Energy
                    card_mod: null
                    style: |
                      ha-card {
                       background-color: #dddddd;
                       color: #000000;
                      }
          - type: custom:stack-in-card
            mode: vertical
            keep:
              background: false
              box_shadow: false
              margin: true
              outer_padding: true
              border_radius: true
            cards:
              - type: custom:mushroom-title-card
                subtitle: Energy Usage
                card_mod: null
                style: |
                  ha-card {
                    margin-bottom: -20px;
                    margin-top: -10px;
                    text-align: center;
                  }
              - type: energy-distribution
                link_dashboard: false
              - type: energy-date-selection
              - type: energy-usage-graph
      - type: custom:stack-in-card
        mode: vertical
        keep:
          background: true
          box_shadow: false
          margin: true
          outer_padding: true
          border_radius: true
        cards:
          - type: custom:mushroom-title-card
            subtitle: Power Usage
            card_mod: null
            style: |
              ha-card {
                margin-bottom: -20px;
                margin-top: -10px;
                text-align: center;
              }
          - type: tile
            entity: input_text.current_powershop_rate
          - type: custom:mushroom-chips-card
            alignment: center
            chips:
              - type: entity
                entity: sensor.shelly1pm_power
                icon: mdi:coffee-maker
              - type: entity
                entity: sensor.dish_washer_switch_0_power
                icon: mdi:dishwasher
              - type: entity
                entity: sensor.fridge_power_plug_active_power
                icon: mdi:fridge
              - type: entity
                entity: sensor.shelly_power_usage_channel_2_power
                icon: mdi:stove
          - type: custom:mushroom-chips-card
            alignment: center
            chips:
              - type: entity
                entity: sensor.tv_and_soundbar_switch_0_power
                icon: mdi:television-shimmer
              - type: entity
                entity: sensor.washing_machine_switch_0_power
                icon: mdi:washing-machine
              - type: entity
                entity: sensor.comms_cabinet_switch_0_power
                icon: mdi:server
          - type: custom:mini-graph-card
            line_width: 1.5
            name: Current Power Usage
            align_state: center
            entities:
              - entity: sensor.shelly_power_usage_channel_1_power
                name: Total
                action: none
              - entity: sensor.combined_main_appliance_power_usage
                name: Combined Appliance
              - entity: sensor.comms_cabinet_switch_0_power
                name: Comms Cabinet
              - entity: sensor.fridge_power_plug_active_power
                name: Fridge
              - entity: sensor.shelly_power_usage_channel_2_power
                name: Oven
              - entity: sensor.shelly1pm_power
                name: Coffee Machine
              - entity: sensor.tv_and_soundbar_switch_0_power
                name: TV and Soundbar
              - entity: sensor.washing_machine_switch_0_power
                name: Washing Machine
              - entity: sensor.dish_washer_switch_0_power
                name: Dish Washer
          - type: energy-devices-graph
      - type: custom:stack-in-card
        mode: vertical
        keep:
          background: true
          box_shadow: false
          margin: true
          outer_padding: true
          border_radius: true
        cards:
          - type: custom:mushroom-title-card
            subtitle: Rockgas Usage
            card_mod: null
            style: |
              ha-card {
                margin-bottom: -20px;
                margin-top: -10px;
                text-align: center;
              }
          - type: gauge
            name: Bottle 1 Usage
            entity: sensor.rockgas_bottle_1_level
            needle: true
            min: 0
            max: 100
            severity:
              green: 25
              yellow: 10
              red: 0
          - type: gauge
            entity: sensor.rockgas_bottle_2_level
            needle: true
            name: Bottle 2 Usage
            min: 0
            max: 100
            severity:
              green: 25
              yellow: 10
              red: 0
          - type: horizontal-stack
            cards:
              - type: entity
                name: Bottle 1 Weight
                entity: sensor.rockgas_bottle_1_weight
                state_color: false
                icon: hass:none
              - type: entity
                name: Bottle 2 Weight
                entity: sensor.rockgas_bottle_1_weight
                state_color: false
                icon: hass:none

5 Likes

Great work on the dashboard, looks fantastic! Might have to take some inspiration for mine :slight_smile:

Fun little card to show what colour bins to put out next. Just static at the moment.

2 Likes

And now it works! Change the helper:

And:

567e074f-024f-4b32-a844-e5683f429a3d

2 Likes

Oh so satisfying!

That’s an awesome idea! I will have to add a rubbish / recycling collection widget to my dashboard too. Nice choices with the theme! I also ended up using the mushroom cards and iOS dark theme. Here’s a dashboard that I’m showing on a tablet in our bathroom:

And I show this one on our bedroom TV in the morning, or when we walk into the room:

1 Like