Remote Device connection - pass Wifi/Bluetooth distance

Hardware
1

OK so I’m coming from HomeSeer installs and moving into a new property.

I have a need to place a sensor (temp/humidity/light/movement) etc in a distant building well away from the main property - wifi is just not going to cut it (and I’m not exposing the home automation wifi vlan to distance anyway) .

The remote build will have a Cat6 cable installed so I can run a h/w TCP/IP connection to it…

With HomeSeer I could have had a remote/slave device and used that over the Cat6 cable - but with Home Assistant I’m not seeing that option (or its not obvious and I’ve had a man look)

Any ideas how I can get Home Assistant to see the remote sensor over the Cat6 IP connection?

Much thanks…

2

It’s possible, one way or another, and depends. You have not mentioned what kind of sensors those would be… zigbee? z-wave? both? something else?

3

All my experience is with z-wave (Aeotec) - so most likely would be one of those…

4

There are a couple of ways I can think of, and each has pros and cons:

  1. In case you still have the HomeSeer server, you likely can repurpose that box at your remote build, connect your sensors to your HomeSeer server, and then install this on the Home Assistant side to include HomeSeer sensors to HA.
    marthoc/homeseer: HomeSeer Custom Integration for Home Assistant (github.com)
    …and it is discussed on HomeSeer forum
    HomeSeer with Home Assistant (front end) - HomeSeer Message Board
  2. Similar to above, but instead of using marthoc’s custom integration, you go MQTT route to HA
    HomeAssistant Discovery - HomeSeer Message Board
  3. Probably most of the users would recommend the zwavejs2mqtt project.
    Quick Start (zwave-js.github.io)
    You can prepare a RPi and a z-wave USB dongle, and then install zwavejs2mqtt to control your z-wave. HA could talk to zwavejs2mqtt either directly or via MQTT.
  4. Using this integration to link multiple HA instances together.
    custom-components/remote_homeassistant: Links multiple home-assistant instances together (github.com)
    This is probably conceptually the closest to the HomeSeer Remove feature.
  5. (Maybe something else? I’m sure other users would chime in.)

None of those is straightforward, and YMMV, but I guess you are ready to dive in.

EDIT:
Fast forward to May 2024, I looked around and looks like Homeseer has a better integration into HA these days.
If you still are using the Z-NET or Homeseer’s SmartStick+, then this document from Homeseer doc should help:
Z-NET Integration with Home Assistant (homeseer.com)
Also, this new (?? maybe it has been a while…) method likely could replace #1 & #2 above.
Doc from HA website: Z-Wave Controllers - Home Assistant (home-assistant.io)

= = = =
If you don’t do Z-NET, and instead want to bring Homeseer Z-wave devices into existing z-wave network with HA, #3 would still be applicable. I would start here as of today:
HomeSeer - Home Assistant (home-assistant.io)

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