Integration with an InelNet Internet central control unit

Let me share with you a piece of configuration that might be useful for those who own an InelNet Internet central control unit by Inel to control their appliances. The unit controls blinds, roller shutters, awnings, garage doors, drive-in doors, light sources, and mains sockets.

In the examples presented here, the InelNet unit is controlled by HTTP requests. You get a set of predefined REST requests that you can use to control appliances paired with the unit.

Setup

Before you start, it is assumed that you have an InelNet unit already configured and paired with the appliances you want to control by Home Assistant.

What’s important, the unit should have a static IP address assigned (see DHCP settings in your router’s configuration). Otherwise, the proposed configuration will stop working whenever the IP address of the unit changes. Alternatively, a host name is a valid solution as well.

Configuration

The approach described below uses HTTP requests to send control commands to an InelNet unit. The example defines requests to raise, lower or stop a cover associated with a particular channel. The inelnet_program request, on the other hand, lets you switch a cover controller to programming mode when there is a need to pair a remote control with it.

The listed commands will work with cover controllers (for example Inel ST-01R), but are not limited to them (for example, the inelnet_up or inelnet_down commands may trigger an Inel ORS-X1T switch as well).

Examples

Before you use the example, replace the INELNET_UNIT_IP_ADDRESS placeholders with the static IP address or host name of your InelNet unit.

# Example configuration.yaml entry
rest_command:
  # raises the cover associated with the specified channel
  inelnet_up:
    url: 'http://INELNET_UNIT_IP_ADDRESS/msg.htm'
    method: post
    content_type: 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'
    payload: 'send_ch={{channel}}&send_act=160'

  # raises the cover associated with the specified channel (short movement)
  inelnet_up_short:
    url: 'http://INELNET_UNIT_IP_ADDRESS/msg.htm'
    method: post
    content_type: 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'
    payload: 'send_ch={{channel}}&send_act=176'

  # lowers the cover associated with the specified channel
  inelnet_down:
    url: 'http://INELNET_UNIT_IP_ADDRESS/msg.htm'
    method: post
    content_type: 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'
    payload: 'send_ch={{channel}}&send_act=192'

  # lowers the cover associated with the specified channel (short movement)
  inelnet_down_short:
    url: 'http://INELNET_UNIT_IP_ADDRESS/msg.htm'
    method: post
    content_type: 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'
    payload: 'send_ch={{channel}}&send_act=208'

  # stops the cover associated with the specified channel
  inelnet_stop:
    url: 'http://INELNET_UNIT_IP_ADDRESS/msg.htm'
    method: post
    content_type: 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'
    payload: 'send_ch={{channel}}&send_act=144'

  # switches the cover controller associated with the specified channel
  # to programming mode so you can pair a remote control with it
  inelnet_program:
    url: 'http://INELNET_UNIT_IP_ADDRESS/msg.htm'
    method: post
    content_type: 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'
    payload: 'send_ch={{channel}}&send_act=224'      

Having defined the REST commands above, you can use them to create a cover template like in the example below. Make sure to replace the MY_BLIND_CHANNEL_NUMBER placeholder with a proper channel number that your cover is associated with in your InelNet unit configuration.

# Example configuration.yaml entry
cover:
  - platform: template
    covers:
      # adjust the entity ID
      living_room_blind:
        device_class: blind
        
        # adjust the unique ID and name
        unique_id: living_room_blind_id
        friendly_name: "Living room blind"

        # InelNet does not support positions and the states of covers,
        # so let's use 50 to always enable cover movement in either direction
        position_template: 50

        open_cover:
          service: rest_command.inelnet_up
          data:
            # replace with a proper channel number, e.g. 1
            channel: MY_BLIND_CHANNEL_NUMBER

        close_cover:
          service: rest_command.inelnet_down
          data:
            # replace with a proper channel number, e.g. 1
            channel: MY_BLIND_CHANNEL_NUMBER

        stop_cover:
          service: rest_command.inelnet_stop
          data:
            # replace with a proper channel number, e.g. 1
            channel: MY_BLIND_CHANNEL_NUMBER
2 Likes

Hi Mariusz,
Thanks for the info. I’m actually interested to integrate the InelNET rollers with HA … but just skipping getting the “Internet Central Control Unit”.

As far as I know INEL systems are RF 433MHz. I have around ~10 rollers and a “remote control” (the one with screen and some buttons to select the roller and so on …).

So I recently got a Sonoff RF Bridge R2 … so I initially tried to “record” the codes emitted by the remote … but no success. So I guess I need to install Tasmota firmware and probably Portisch (different chip firmware within Sonoff), so it can handle other “brands”.

Not sure if you have any experience with it. So the idea is to go directly from HA → Sonoff Bridge → Rollers.

PS: Waiting for the USB flasher cable … so once I play with it … I’ll update my findings.

Hey @nanodreams! I’m afraid I won’t be able to help. I have no experience with this but will be interested in the results of your experiments. I have the remote control you described too, and yes, they work on the 433 MHz band.

1 Like

Hey @mariusz.schimke where did you get the Internet central control unit from Inel? And at what price?
I just installed 2 motors with the ST-01RL controllers and I am dissappointed they can’t be copied with my Broadlink RM Pro…

Hey @Y4nnickB! I bought a second-hand gateway, but new ones are available directly from the manufacturer on request, or you can find them in various online shops. Here’s one example: https://allegro.pl/oferta/centralka-internetowa-inel-net-inteligentny-dom-12026549800. Make sure it is compatible with your devices, though. They have two systems, and InelNet is the older one, I think (a unidirectional one). The other one is InelControl.

Hi Mariusz, your integration works very well.
Inelnet and 12 roller shutters.

Thank you very much

Artur

1 Like

Thank you for sharing this Mariusz.

As a side note, it’s rather disturbing that all these REST endpoints can be called without any authentication…

Hello,
I have to worry You. In Our radio communication We use rolling codes based on KeeLoq.
Every transmission is unique and encrypted with private key.

Hi @InelGdansk,

Is there any way we could register any other gateway than the inelnet?
I find the gateway’s signal too weak and not reaching some of my blinds all the time.

@InelGdansk I am curious to know what implementation into HomeAssistant you would encourage. Is that solely using the InelNet or the InelControl devices?

For my specific case; I’m trying to automate the roller shutters that have wireless radio’s. In hindsight it might have been easier to have bought the wired shutters and use Sonof Shutter switch. Or is it easy to replace the wireless motor for a wired one?