Rfxtrx Device Setup

ryanth · June 20, 2021, 10:46pm

I’m having trouble getting the RFXCOM RFXtrx intergation to add my somfy rts blinds.

My first step was plugging my RFXtrx433XL into my PC and using RFXmngr. I set the ID and Unit Code like so:
Screenshot 2021-06-20 153910

I paired the device and can control my blinds going up and down from RFXmngr.

I then connect my RFXtrx433XL to my HA machine via USB and setup the integration. I checked automatically add devices.

My config looks like this:

rfxtrx:
  device: /dev/ttyUSB0
  automatic_add: True
  devices:
    # kitchen shade
    "071a000001010101":

I then restart HA and the device is never added. Any suggestions on how to debug?

Things I’ve tried:

Double quotes for devices and no quotes
Setting the device path to /dev/serial/by-id/usb-RFXCOM_RFXtrx433XL_DO5O5H4X-if00-port0 rather than /dev/ttyUSB0

seanomat · June 21, 2021, 3:41am

You say you checked auto-add, and then you show yaml-config. You should either use GUI or yaml, not both. No idea if this has any negative impact.
You can find the correct device in supervisor > host > … > Hardware.

There should not be any quotes around the device-id. But the GUI integration should take care of that.

ryanth · June 21, 2021, 7:12pm

I just tried commenting out the yaml, restarted, and the devices are still not added. I also tried disabling automatic add and my device is still not added.

However in the RFXCom docs under RFY it says " The RFXtrx433e is required for RFY support, however, it does not support receive for the RFY protocol - as such devices cannot be automatically added." I think I need the YAML and I don’t think having automatic add does anything for my case whether it’s on or not.

Under hardware this is what I see. It’s not clear which path I’m supposed to use. If I had the wrong path I don’t think the integration would start up which makes me think this isn’t the issue.

seanomat · June 22, 2021, 3:27am

Everything you write makes sense. You seem to be using the correct USB-device.
I have configured my RFXtrx433e a long time ago in yaml, so I don’t remember the details.

I had to program it by uploading the custom firmware with the RFXmngr to the RFXtrx433e.
This will make the Somfy deviceids available in HA.

They indeed do only communicate one way
Sometime last year the configuration was automatically imported, and I deleted the yaml.

ryanth · June 22, 2021, 5:23pm

How can I tell if I have the correct firmware on the RFXtrx?

I can control my blinds using RFXmngr which I assumed meant that I was on the correct firmware. Or maybe there’s something else I need to do in RFXmngr to save the configuration to the RFXrtx?

browetd · June 22, 2021, 5:45pm

Which version of HA are you using ? because since a couple of releases, you have to configure RFXTRX devices via the integration menu (not in yaml anymore)… If your RFXTRX is recognized by HA, you should have a RFXTRX integration like this:

Sans titre

Via the integration menu, you can configure it and add the devices you have identified previously…

ryanth · June 22, 2021, 6:37pm

I’m using the latest version.

I have the RFXTRX integration but no devices are being added. That’s the issue I’m trying to figure out. Why aren’t devices being added?

browetd · June 22, 2021, 8:32pm

Did you try to add one device manually via the integration menu ? (like the one you mention on your first post:
071a000001010101)

ryanth · June 22, 2021, 8:45pm

Oh wow. That was the issue. My device is appearing correctly now. Thank you!

I interpreted “Enter event code to add” as an actual code to send to specific devices that have already been added. Not adding my device code. Looking at the documentation again that is mentioned right above the RFY section too RFXCOM RFXtrx - Home Assistant

seanomat · June 22, 2021, 8:45pm

I had to reread the manual again. You are right: if you can control the devices with the RFXmngr, everything is right on that end. The RFXtrx433e has been registered as a remote on the devices.

Notice that I have a different rfx-device (433e not 433xl). Could that be a Problem?

browetd · June 22, 2021, 9:01pm

As mentioned in the documentation, The RFXtrx433e is required for RFY support, however, it does not support receive for the RFY protocol - as such devices cannot be automatically added.

seanomat · June 23, 2021, 3:53am

The documentation seems to be inaccurate since he is using the -tx variant, and it seems to be working now.

mhoogenbosch · October 4, 2022, 9:08pm

I know this an old topic, but i’m looking for a way to migrate from RFXCOM ser2net implementation to just USB.

I moved away from a docker install to just hassio and connected the RFXCOM directly to the usb port on the device. But RFXCOM is already configured with Ser2net. Is it configurable by config file somewhere?

I edited core.config_enteties to have a device entry instead of the server / port information.

sharkzor · February 8, 2023, 12:43pm

how can i edit the usb port? cannot find it in the integration.

used to be in the yml, but since it has been moved cannot find it in hassio.

I’m moving it from /ttyUSBx to /dev/serial/by-id/ since the ports move around from time to time (disconnects)

mhoogenbosch · February 8, 2023, 11:06pm

It’s deep in the entries config file.

FrankAm · February 24, 2023, 10:19pm

Hi, I’m looking to update the ser2net IP address.
Could you point me to where I can do this?

mhoogenbosch · February 25, 2023, 11:19am

Wouldn’t surprise me this is configured inside the file too.

I couldn’t find a way to edit it through GUI, this is the file:

/root/config/.storage/core.config_entries

fitz247 · August 7, 2023, 8:53am

I have a different issue controlling blinds with RFXTRX. I’m endeavouring to migrate control of 3 Motolux blind motors from an Indigo system to Home Assistant (using the same RFXtrx device). The blinds are controlled by one remote control (by selecting different unit codes), and this functionality is working fine in the Indigo implementation.

Home assistant has correctly auto-recognised the protocol (BlindsT3 / A-OK AC114) and created a device. But evidently unit codes are being ignored: it is controlling only the device that has unit code 1 (and is updating the state of that HA device regardless of what unit code is being sent).

There is no-where in the UI to define the unit code…any other way to create duplicate devices sending different unit codes??

Edit: The UI does report the unit code as ‘1’… in spite of which unit code is sent. I always see

‘blindst3_a_ok_ac114_24f505_1’

where i assume the final 1 is meant to be unit code.

fitz247 · August 7, 2023, 10:32pm

Doing more investigation, the RFXtrx guide states that Motoblux blinds are fully supported only for transmit. Evidently that is because the unit code is not decoded correctly on reception (extensive discussion of this on the Indigo forum).

So auto-creation isn’t going to work except for code 1, and the UI doesn’t allow this to be manually configured, which is annoying.

But I’ve managed to create devices correctly by tweaking the configuration string.

09 19 03 03 24 F5 05 04 02 71

in the string above, the ‘04’ is the unit code.