Persons interested in using NodeJS, have a look at my NodeJS Home Assistant example framework. Please reserve this topic for ideas related to using NodeJS with Home Assistant or particulars related to integrating this example into your project only.
I realize some people are not going to appreciate what im doing, aren’t going to see the point, will not agree with anything I do, or how I do it or anything i say. If thats you, I’m obviously not doing this for you. I personally think using NodeJS for the heavy lifting and HA only for its GUI is a great idea, if that sounds like a good idea to you, great! If you don’t think so, then just move along to some other thread.
What is this framework for:
This framework is built to give you a head start on using NodeJS for making reliable and complex automations while only leveraging Home Assistant for it’s nice and robust web and smartphone GUI.
I’d also mention that this solution is very compact and resource efficient especially when running Home Assistant Core. 500Mb of ram is enough for stable operation and that didn’t seem to be the case with Supervised installs while it was performing all the automation; @1GB of ram it crashed regularly. ESP Home web interface easily installs alongside HA Core. This is a very tiny and efficient platform that works very well on mediocre IoT devices with only 1GB of RAM.
The Key takeaway here is that the HA Core API responds on average in about 2-5ms and never times out whereas Supervised can have latency exceeding 100ms and can become completely unreachable for seconds or even minutes or completely crash and not come back without a reboot. Probably due to costly background updates of plugins etc and memory overflows. Do not use Supervised if you need reliable time-critical operation.
What does this framework do:
- It completely removes all need for automation logic and control in Home Assistant. It is entirely event driven.
- Power loss state recovery is reliable and predictable.
- This framework is immune to network interruptions with HA.
- This framework is very simple and easy to use.
- Rebooting of ether NodeJS or of HA has no detrimental effect for the most part. System recovery is controlled and predictable.
- At present, Home Assistant is still the gateway for ESPHome devices; meaning that HA is the subscriber and forwards incoming data to NodeJS via websocket. This will become optional when the NodeJS ESPHome API is fully incorporated, then NodeJS will be the sole subscriber and HA will only be used as a GUI.
- It has a nice and simple to use logging function.
- Telegram API is leveraged here and can be used for both event notification as well as remote control. Useful because you can remotely control your system without VPN. You can easily create your own monitoring and control scheme.
- There is a complete diagnostic web engine to aid in the setup and debugging of your code.
- Has systemD service creator. run node ha.ja -i to create your service when you got everything working.
About the included Demand/Delivery pump automation function:
This is a fully automated industrial multi-system multi-pump control platform and the main purpose of this creation. It is currently in service and works reliably in large industrial applications delivering 100,000+ liters per day. Soon to be deployed to a huge solar pump facility with 160hp pumps. Ok, so this is a working industrial system and has proven itself.
If you’re not interested in the Demand Delivery system, it should be very easy to remove it and the configuration. Try it, if you can do it ill have a look, maybe fork a version without that.
Demand/Delivery Operation
- Its primarily designed to work with flow meters (of any size) for monitoring and safe operation. Though the flow meter is optional, the pressure transducer for tank level detection or for pressure tank level is required at the moment, Other configurations may be included later or if there was the need.
- Start and stop levels, flow rate and meter lambda, and all pertinent settings are user configurable.
- Flow meters are use for pump dry run prevention.
- Pumps can auto retry after a low flow fault.
- Multiple independent pump systems can be configured.
- System seeks for abnormal operating conditions and warns or faults.
Home Assistant Integration
- Tank levels are sent back to HA in percentage readout as dependent upon user configurations.
- Flow meter data is sent back to HA for last hour and 24 hours average.
- Input booleans in HA are used to toggle the pump automation system(s).
- System looks for inconsistencies between HA and the NodeJS system brings the system back to consistency as based on specified parameters and live sensor data.
- System keep track of HA latency and availability and notifies you if something is wrong.
- ESP Home modules are also monitored.