MQTT - Custom software trying to register with broker

Configuration
1

Hi all,

I’m trying to implement MQTT support in my API for monitoring my solar array. I’ve been following this article / section and from what I understand, I’m doing exactly as it says.

First of all, my app submits a message onto the topic:
homeassistant/sensor/iconica_solar_pv_input_current_for_batteries/config
with the following payload:

{
  "device_class": "number",
  "name": "PV Input Current For Battery",
  "state_topic": "homeassistant/sensor/iconica_solar/state",
  "unit_of_measurement": "current",
  "value_template": "{{ value_json.pvInputCurrentForBattery }}",
  "unique_id": "pvinputcurrentforbatteries",
  "device": {
    "identifiers": [
      "pvInputCurrent"
    ],
    "name": "IconicaSolar"
  }
}

Then it submits a full payload to the homeassistant/sensor/iconica_solar/state topic:

{
  "pvInputVoltage": 53.1,
  "pvInputCurrentForBattery": 2,
  "pvTotalChargingPower": 69,
  "batteryVoltage": 24.7,
  "batteryChargingCurrent": 0,
  "batteryDischargeCurrent": 5,
  "batteryCapacity": 72,
  "acOutputVoltage": 240.1,
  "acOutputFrequency": 49.98,
  "acOutputPower": 181,
  "acOutputApparentPower": 240
}

I can see when listening for messages within Home Assistant that they are coming through, however when I try and view the “Devices” or “Entities” tab, I still can’t find anything related to my sensor.

Can anyone point me in the right direction please?

I’m using a self hosted version of an MQTT broker called Mosquitto (as suggested in the docs).

Thanks,
Owen

2

Ok, so typically when you post asking for help you end up finding the solution. I checked the logs and saw the “device_class” needed to be swapped with “UnitOfMeasurement”. After the code change I saw them instantly appear in Home Assistant.

The problem now, is that I now have 3 seperate devices for 3 different sensors when I’d like them grouped together. How should I structure the messages to do this?

3

Ok, solved the other issue. Turns out the “Device” object needs to be exactly the same across the sensors. After that I deleted the other sensors that were created and they all got grouped under the one.