Pointers for Linking HA sensors to Homeseer

[Guest]

Hi,

I have been googling around trying to work this out but as I am not much of a programmer i am not really getting anywhere..

What i wanted to do was simply link Home Assistant sensors to devices in Homeseer, however i am struggling to work out how to create the extra .status or .payload into the message for msg.payload.value or msg.payload.status with an aim of adding the original payload.

I have edited the topic using the change node before sending on to the HS Device Node which is fine
I can successfully change the HS Device with the inject node as i can create the correct msg format as per the screens in the flow examples so everything is fine at the backend

I have got it going Homeseer to Home Assistant but its this extra bit with adding .value or .status to the msg which is causing me headaches

I am probably missing something basic or not searching for the right thing so apologies in advance

Thanks for any pointers

[Guest]

Just seen a post from ksum which has given me a starter..

{"value":255} in a change node is a starter which i can hopefully work from..

Cheers

[ksum]

You will use a Change node to change what is coming out of Home Assistant to something the HomeSeer node understands. Can you add a debug message node and add a wire from the Home Assistant device to that. Set the debug node to output the entire message and then paste the message in a reply here. Put it inside Code tags as well, please. Then we can see what needs to be changed to get HomeSeer doing what you want.

[Guest]

Think this is it..

{"topic":"sensor.lounge_tado_mode","payload":"HOME","data":{"entity_id":"sensor.lounge_tado_mode","state":"HOME","attributes":{"friendly_name":"Lounge tado mode"},"last_changed":"2020-09-19T06:26:01.463933+00:00","last_updated":"2020-09-19T06:26:01.463933+00:00","context":{"id":"fcd12be2fa4011ea8bd92105a68383f7","parent_id":null,"user_id":null},"timeSinceChanged":"11 hours ago","timeSinceChangedMs":41353505},"_msgid":"8882bf.9e3dbd4"}

[Guest]

I have managed to get it working indirectly with the example pulled from your other thread using {"status":"HOME"} - However i have used a switch node and two change nodes since this one is only "HOME" or "AWAY".

I was hoping i could pull the payload across into the input which will mean its re-usable for many different sensors with different outputs (Temperatures, Status, Lux, Weather etc) - Still trying to get that idea to work though..

Thanks again for any thoughts

[Michael McSharry]

I am not a Node Red user, but if you are not satisfied with what you are getting with this approach then mcsMQTT may be a good option for you. Homeassistant has a MQTT discovery protocol where it will publish the characteristics of its devices. mcsMQTT can recognize this discovery and create HS devices that mirror the HA devices. If you want to go this route and have questions then open a discussion on the HS3 or HS4 mcsMQTT forum.

[Guest]

Thanks Michael McSharry i have been using your excellent plugin for passing basic direct MQTT triggers between HS and HA previously. I did dabble with the devices but didn't get very far before getting side tracked..

I may have a re-look at the documents and capabilities in parallel to see whether i am trying to be smarter than i need to be and can use all three for thier separate positives as MQTT does seem solid.

Thanks

[kriz83]

The ESPHome plugin is also capable of doing this.

[ksum]

If you are only going to use node red to exchange information, then I would agree with Michael McSharry and suggest using MQTT instead. I look at node red as a way of doing an action HomeSeer cannot or may not do well. MQTT is a data exchanger/communicator sending a message to any system listening. While there are 3 items in the mix for either method, MQTT is allowing HS and HA to talk to each other and do the work. NR would be talking to each application and doing some of the work. It is a small difference when I read it but it feels huge and less prone to possible problem.

[drhtmal]

The ESPHome plugin is also capable of doing this.

+1 For ESPHome and kris82's plugin.

ESPHome is a great tool for creating IoT devices. There are tons of examples of creating devices and sensors from various MCUs like ESP8266 or ESP32.

[kriz83]

+1 For ESPHome and kris82's plugin.

It's Kriz83
LOL

The output of HomeAssistant is the same as ESPHome (Home Assistant Auto Discovery), and thus can be used with the plugin

[Guest]

If you are only going to use node red to exchange information, then I would agree with Michael McSharry and suggest using MQTT instead. I look at node red as a way of doing an action HomeSeer cannot or may not do well. MQTT is a data exchanger/communicator sending a message to any system listening. While there are 3 items in the mix for either method, MQTT is allowing HS and HA to talk to each other and do the work. NR would be talking to each application and doing some of the work. It is a small difference when I read it but it feels huge and less prone to possible problem.

Thanks for your thoughts as I am getting this feeling to be honest - It seems to be a simple sync up based on the Documentation (which i am still working out) - I am running on Unraid so keeping more dockers running isn't much of a drain really.

I will probably just use NR for bringing in some of the more odd bits that are not in HA like LG -WebOS and as you say use MQTT for the sync up of the devices since i prefer the HS event and setup since i have been on it for years..


I had been looking at the ESPHome stuff as i had been thinking of doing door frame mounted IR occupancy sensing and i am about as good with ESP as i am with Node-Red

Thanks all, much appreciated.
Matt

[alexbk66]

I have both AK HomeAssistant and AK ESPHome plugins

https://forums.homeseer.com/forum/hs...nt-plugin-hass

https://forums.homeseer.com/forum/de...plugin-no-mqtt