Make entity text input be larger than 255 (otherwise you cant use tuya IR blasters)

[vespuccio]

The only way tuya infrared blasters work via zigbee2mqtt is by a text publish:

id: "1739965733791"
name: ar escritório 25 sleep
entities:
  text.ir_branco_3v_escritorio_ir_code_to_send:
    mode: text
    min: 0
    max: 255
    pattern: null
    assumed_state: true
    friendly_name: ir 1 Ir code to send
    state: CCsMzyUCAvoFAuAEAOAPD+AHF0AAQBNAA0AAwAdAAOAQCwIFAgI=
metadata: {}
icon: mdi:gamepad-square-outline

which means it has to respect the 255 limit of characters. However, many codes from my Samsung air conditioner remote have 350 characters or more, so its not possible to send through text entity. Text entities in HA need to support at least 1000 characters, I’d do 2000 just to be sure

[123 (Taras)]

This FR is dead on arrival. All entity states are limited to 255 characters on purpose.

If you want to store more than 255 characters, put it in the entity’s attributes (can store 16K). Or in the secrets.yaml file or as a variable in the automation that requires it or etc etc.

[Didgeridrew]

I think it was DOA because the problem is really due to a misunderstanding of a third-party add-on. Zigbee2MQTT has provided a text entity as an input, but OP doesn’t seem to understand that what is needed is to use the mqtt.publish action.

[123 (Taras)]

I have a ZS06 IR blaster by Tuya and it has the same text entity, intended for transmitting an IR code.

text.kitchen_ir_transmitter_ir_code_to_send

I use it to control a range hood fan. Even though the IR codes are less than 255 characters, I use mqtt.publish instead of the text entity.

How to automate a range hood fan that supports IR control

The following guide explains how I automated a range hood fan that is controllable via IR commands. The principles described here are applicable to any fan that is controllable via IR. Physical Devices IR-controllable range hood Roxon RXN-U12BS-30 is IR controllable and supports four fan speeds. [Roxon RXN-U12BS-30] Energy-monitoring smart plug CE Smart Home Plug LA-WF7 is flashed with Tasmota and reports the load’s power consumption. The range hood is plugged into the smart plug; its …

NOTE

While learning the range hood’s IR codes, the same command produced different IR codes of varying lengths. I chose to use the shortest ones.

[vespuccio]

it looks like you made a script as a program that does the publishing for you.

From what I ve searched theres no way to do mqtt publish from scenes. I made a script where the input is the string to send, however I cannot call it with the correct command from a scene.

Is the only option to make buttons that call actions? I would like to have scenes like “fan off” so I can use it from many places, but it seems not possible.

So I will have to copy the IR codes to my each automation, each button, and etc?

[Didgeridrew]

@vespuccio

I would like to have scenes like “fan off” so I can use it from many places, but it seems not possible.

Scripts can be called as actions from dashboard cards, other scripts, or automations… that is one of the major purposes of scripts, to package sequences of actions that will be called from various sources/locations.

[123 (Taras)]

@vespuccio

I would like to have scenes like “fan off” so I can use it from many places, but it seems not possible.

Why does it have to be a scene?

A script is far more capable than a scene.

@vespuccio

From what I ve searched theres no way to do mqtt publish from scenes.

Correct. A scene is limited to setting an entity to a specific state. It supports no functionality beyond that.

@vespuccio

I made a script where the input is the string to send, however I cannot call it with the correct command from a scene.

Because a scene has very limited functionality.

FWIW, I have been using Home Assistant for over six years and haven’t created any scenes. I use scripts and automations.

[vespuccio]

ok, I was able to use scripts to do mqtt publishing, but for newcomers it would require listening to MQTT publish messages to discover the structure of the message and the arguments, then do a script and if the entity on the zigbee2mqtt changes this script will break. This is hard and I did so many things wrong like putting the wrong entity name as there is no helper to select from, and others.

I still couldn’t save the IR codes as helpers because the text there is maximum 255 characters. So I need to put the message on each action invoke. Shouldn’t HA have support for bigger helpers?

The text entity that zigbee IR blasters expose on zigbee2mqtt seem sufficient if it were possible to support more than 255 characters and there were a way to send it twice in a row and actually get updated.

I don’t know much about the mqtt protocol agreed between home assistant and zigbee2mqtt but I proposed this change here: IR zigbee tuya blasters are exposing the wrong entity to home assistant: cant send repeated IR commands and cant send big IR commands with more than 255 characters · Issue #26477 · Koenkk/zigbee2mqtt · GitHub

Is there a proper action that takes text as input, in the MQTT protocol from home assistant, and that this text can be larger than 255? I can try to make this PR in the future. I’d like the experience to be as easy as possible to newcomers.

Thank you both, the support from the community is awesome, messages get responded quickly.

[123 (Taras)]

So we need to change those to not be a text entity but instead an action that sends arbitraty text
I dont know how to do that though.

The “action” is mqtt.publish.

Since MQTT can publish anything, I think this is a problem related to the protocol agreed between home assistant and zigbee2mqtt which I dont know how it works.

The “protocol” is MQTT.

@vespuccio

This is hard and I did so many things wrong like putting the wrong entity name as there is no helper to select from, and others.

I guess you didn’t follow the example in the link I posted above.

Here’s an example of publishing an IR code.

- variables:
    increase:
      ir_code_to_send: BVojqhE9AuAXAQGaBuAVA0ABQCNAAcAH4AMBwBPgAwdAC8ADBwWbWiP4CD0C
    decrease:
      ir_code_to_send: BVcjrBFAAuAXAQGUBuAVA0ABQCPgDwHAG0AH4AsDBxObVyPHCEAC
- service: mqtt.publish
  data:
    topic: 
    payload: '{{ increase | to_json }}' 

According to the documentation for the Tuya ZS06, the payload must be in this JSON format:

{ "ir_code_to_send": "your ir code goes here" }

The variables in the example I posted are the YAML equivalent of the required JSON format.

[vespuccio]

yes, but these variables are bound to the script, right? I wanted them to be gloal and used on other scripts. Also I didn’t need to make it as a json message, when I listened for the topic there was no json structure, just a string publish.

I know that the protocol is MQTT, but the communication of HA ↔ Zigbee2mqtt happens over MQTT with some structure, in this example, json with some expected keys. I wonder if there were a way to expect something rather than a simple text on the zigbee2mqtt side

[123 (Taras)]

@vespuccio

these variables are bound to the script, right? I wanted them to be gloal and used on other scripts

Your needs are different than mine when I automated the range hood fan.

If I needed to store the IR code strings somewhere accessible to any script, I could create a Template Sensor and store the IR codes in is attributes (allows up to 16K of storage). Then I could reference them by name in any script using the state_attr() function.

Reference

Template Sensor

An alternative is to reconsider your current approach to handling IR codes. Instead of storing the IR codes somewhere accessible to multiple scripts, store them in a dedicated “transmitter” script that is called by multiple other scripts.

@vespuccio

Also I didn’t need to make it as a json message

According to Zigbee2MQTT’s documentation (refer to the link I posted above), you do need to ensure the payload you publish is in JSON format.

To write (/set ) a value publish a message to topic zigbee2mqtt/FRIENDLY_NAME/set with payload {"ir_code_to_send": NEW_VALUE} .

That’s the advice I followed for my project and demonstrated in the short example I posted above.

@vespuccio

when I listened for the topic there was no json structure, just a string publish.

Because a received IR code isn’t in JSON format. I strongly recommend you review Zigbee2MQTT’s documentation for your specific model of Tuya IR device. I read the docs for the Tuya ZS06 and it very clearly explains how IR codes are received and transmitted.