first post and also still quite inexperienced with Home Assistant.
So I am trying to integrate my Homematic thermostats (and door lock in the future) in my Home Assitant running on a RaspberryPi4.
From watching YT Videos and reading this thread I learned that I would probably have to buy this device to modify my RPi in order to be able to communicate with Homematic devices, since they are transmitting via a proprietary protocol. Before I start this endevour I just wanted to make sure that I understood all of this correctly, since I wouldnt want to jeopardize my current setup.
Can I just attach the HM-MOD-RPI-PCB and then HA will automatically detect my thermostats?
For me, both Homatic thermostats and the door locks have been running stably on the Home Assistant platform for years. It is recommended to install the Homematic addon (by Jens Maus) according to his installation instructions on the RPI4. This works together with the HM-MOD-RPI-PCB component. Then either an existing installation backup can be imported or the components must be re-taught once. Afterwards, you have full access to all component features (see HOMEMATIC implementation in docs).
If you already have a CCU (version 2 or 3) for the homematic, then you just need the integration installed.
If you do not have a CCU, then you need to emulate one and then you need a radio module, like the one you link to.
There are a few ways to emulate the CCU.
There is an HA addon that emulates this, but it is a CCU2 emaulation, I think.
There is also a Debian package called Debmatic, whcih emulates a CCU and this one is CCU3 emaulation.
I personally run the a Debmatic on a Debian bulls eye installation and then HA supervised in a docker on the same machine. Currently its an old laptop, but I ran it a RPi4 4Gb earlier without issues.
I’m not sure I understand your question correctly. The module is plugged into the GPIO port, how do you want to operate it at an USB port? The module are tested on my RPI3, RPI4 and also on the ODROID. Alternatively, there is probably an HB-RF-USB-2 module, but I have no experience with that.
Yeah the latter is what I was referring to. Either that or some kind of adapter that one could use for the module so that it can be plugged into USB. This would free up the GPIOs. Thanks anyway!
There is another possibility that I had forgotten to mention. You can also operate the Homematic system with one or more LAN gateways. You can buy these directly at eQ-3 or realize them with RPI3 and raspberrymatic, where you have to activate a specific configuration. I also have 2 of these in use to increase the range. These are connected via LAN cable. But beware, no IP devices can be controlled via the LAN gateways.
It came today, so I plugged it into my RP4 and worked through Jens Maus’ Documentation on Github
Unfortunately Im stuck at “Add a home assistant automation to connect to the raspberrymatic addon” Did you integrate Homematic the same way?
My RaspberryMatic is up and running in Home Assistant, however when I search for devices it will tell me that there is no RF module/LAN-Gateway attached. Maybe this is due to the home assistant automation that I have not yet implemented?
Yes, I did it the same way, first on RPI4 hardware and now on ODROID. Since I have no experience of my own with USB devices, I looked in the GITHUB and found this about the problem hardware recommendation from Jens Maus. Unfortunately it is in German. I’m afraid the stick you’ve chosen doesn’t fit, but Jens Maus also has recommendations in the comments.
I don’t think it’s due to the automation. The container with the Raspberrymatic behaves like a CCU2, so it is independent of the integration into the HA. You must first ensure that the Homematic devices are recognised in the Raspberrymatic. With a restart of the HA core, all devices in the HA become visible and controllable. This is also independent of the automation.
The automation is only necessary to register the Homematic integration again when the Raspberrymatic is restarted while the HA core is running, without restarting the HA core.