Pairing NodeRed and Home Assistant... need help

Hello everyone,

I’ve just registered here because I can’t get any further with trying and reading.
First a few words about my system.
I’ve had a PLC S7-300 running in my house for 10 years, which was the start of my home automation. Over the years, more and more systems have been added… as I’m sure should be the case for many people here.
Last year I installed a PV system and built a storage system myself and implemented the energy management system myself on a Pi.
This is where I got to know the advantages of Docker and have now ported all systems to Docker.
In the process, I also scrapped FHEM, which was a bit outdated for me… it worked great for many years, but there are now many better solutions.

I particularly didn’t like the way the various systems here in the house were combined. And so I have now familiarized myself with NodeRed and have been able to incorporate all the things here quite quickly… it works really well.
The only thing I’m not really happy with is the type of dashboard. It’s all very rigid and not 100% visually appealing.
There is also no option to switch from manual to PC… They are working on a version 2.0, but if and when and how… And now I’ve also had a look at Home Assistant.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

I really like the possibilities of the dashboard here. It is also very easy to integrate some of the “commercially available” sensors and authors.
I also get my energy management system well connected via RAST.

However, I find it very difficult with the PLC…
In general, it is quite simply explained.
I have connected buttons to the PLC and created a bistable relay in the PLC via an XOR which then switches the output, i.e. the light.
There are 2 bits as an interface to the outside… “switch on” and “is on”…
As a PLC programmer, I was able to implement the whole thing quite easily in NodeRed:

Quais simply creates a virtual switch and this is switched by the state of the PLC. Then a toggle is switched and a trigger that sends 0 again after 500ms… this then goes to the switch-on command.
So I can continue to use my switch in the house, but also the switch in NodeRed.

I really like the many possibilities and also the way NodeRed works. I would like to continue using it.
However, I would like to use the Home Assistant for the display and so I should also be able to see and change the status of the light here.

How would you implement this… A connection from NodeRed to Home Assistant already exists.

Have a nice evening
Greetings Martin

This might be a solution

hi Martin!

Additional to the link Mark posted above, the node-red integration allows the creation of buttons, switches etc. that you can use on the dashboard in home assistant. I think that will allow you to do what you want.

Incidentally it’s also the way I went for my home automation setup, coming from node-red and wanting something ‘nice’ on top that works on mobile as well as desktop.