Unifi switches - which ones can be controlled via Home Assistant?

Hardware
1

Hi
I want to be able to control the POE ports (devices) on a Unifi switch so that I (via HA) can toggle power on/off to one of my connected cameras. Does anyone know if the UniFi Switch Lite 8 PoE or UniFi Switch Lite 16 PoE can do that?

Or do I need a bigger more expensive switch for that?

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2

I can do it with both my Unifi POE switches : one 8-ports (4 POE ports) and one 24-ports (16 POE ports).

I use it to shutdown my IP cameras when my alarm is switched off and switched them on back when my alarm is activated.

3

Thanks for your reply, that is exactly how I plan to use it. But you don’t have any of the new ones I listed?

Would you mind sharing a line or code or two how you do it?

4

No, I don’t have any ‘Lite’ switch sorry, but I guess they should work perfectly fine as long as they are Unifi. :slight_smile:

I don’t use any line of code, juste Unifi integration and the devices plugged in on POE switches will automatically be created in Home Assistant as ‘Switch’ that you can turn on and off. Easy ! :slight_smile:

Have a look at this : https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/unifi/
And more specifically this chapter : https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/unifi/#control-clients-powered-by-poe

1 Like
5

That’s amazingly simple :slight_smile:

Now I just need to make sure the Lite switch will work… :slight_smile:

6

Juste note a small ‘limitation’ (not really a limitation as it is designed like this) : you can only switch on/off POE ports where are connected non-unifi devices.
For instance you won’t be able to shutdown an Unifi Wifi AP.

7

So I can’t turn off a Unifi camera connected via a PoE port?

8

That’s a good question… I guess you can but I don’t know it for sure. I’m fully equiped with Unifi for my network (USG, 2 switch, 3 Wifi AP), but I don’t have any Unifi camera, I find they are very expensive for their quality or you can find far more better for the same price.

You will maybe find an answer to this question somewhere on this forum… :slight_smile:

1 Like
9

@Shaad @Lunkobelix

In fact with a SW Unfi 8 or 48 Gen2 I can cut the POE (tested on several cam Unifi) but there is always a latency on the switch that goes back and then ends up cutting (Lovelace)

In an automation linked to the alarm it works one out of 10 times. So there is a problem that I don’t know how to solve.

An alternative would be to cut the flow and the led. I’ll test it.

I will also test with a non Unifi POE equipment, but I don’t understand this restriction on Unifi equipment.

10

I forgot I started this thread, so here comes some answers to my findings :slight_smile:

So I bought this switch together with the Dream Machine Pro, a UniFi AP 6 Lite, 3 G4 Bullet cameras and 2 G3 Flex cameras.

Controlling the cameras can be done in several ways and it all works very good for me. With this setup I can in Home Assistant:

  • Turn the power to the cameras (not the AP) on/off
  • Turn the network connection on/off. Cameras remain powered but without network access.
  • Toggle when the should record, motion/always/smart detection
  • Detect motion from the cameras and use in automations
  • Toggle HDR mode
  • Toggle High FPS
  • Toggle IR active
  • Toggle status lights

Hope this maybe helps you and others looking for the same thing.

11

Yes, this is my conclusion, you should not cut the power supply via the POE but the network flow. There is something going on in the Unifi integration that has been working less well since Nov/Dec… At the same time the last version of the UDMP and the Unifi controller are not so good.

Everything else about the camera management has been working well for a long time.

12

Truly?
Still not possible?
I’m looking for a way to shutdown that poe port on the switch (scheduled) to power down an AP

Whats the way then?

1 Like
13

Best way could be to get a POE injector and a smart wall plug to toggle it on/off.