Difficulties to set up in HS4

[Guest]

Read lots of threads in this MQTT section (and watched some videos on youtube), but still have difficulties to get it working properly. Also started reading the 500+ pages (I must say really impressive to draft this in such a great shape), but I'm a bit overwhelmed and don't understand all steps. I wonder whether anyone could point me to a more concise starting point for dummies...

How I set it up:
- MQTT Broker on my Synology NAS
- ESP8266 module with lightning sensor reporting every 5 seconds to 'homeseer' topic on MQTT
- Enabled this plugin and in the general tab put in the required setup details

In one of the previous plugins I was able to see statistics and could see the values and updates coming through. But whatever I tried these were not updated in a Homeseer device. Selected 'a' before the device but somehow nothing was updated.

After upgrading to a new version I can't find the statistics anymore but also don't see any log?

However, I managed to get the value of the light sensor in (see attached picture). So I tried to launch an event to see how it would be working. A problem that I encounter is that within events I can't find the ESP8266 device that was created. Furthermore the value that I need to trigger events (894 in the picture) is put in the status instead of the value.

Could someone help me understand a bit better what I should be doing?

[Michael McSharry]

- ESP8266 module with lightning sensor reporting every 5 seconds to 'homeseer' topic on MQTT
After upgrading to a new version I can't find the statistics anymore but also don't see any log?

The Statistics tab was replaced by a pseudo Topic MQTT/Statistics/ that is visible on the Association tab. This was done so selected statistics could be selected for database storage for charting and individual statistics can be Associated with HS devices. I was not expecting a user to use the topic MQTT so there may be some confusion within the plugin. I suggest using a different topic for the ESP8266 to avoid potential confusion.



I see things like "Change Me" in your screen shot. This implies to me that some form of virtual device is being created and has not been completely setup. For a sensor there should not be a control available on the HS device as you cannot send commands to a sensor normally.

After changing the ESP8266 topic, select the "a" column checkbox on the Association tab for the row that the new topic is showing. This will create the HS device and HS feature. The feature should not have any controls. If there is further difficulty then provide screenshot of the Association tab for the new topic and the HS Device.

[Guest]

First of all thanks Michael for being available to noobs like me and the quick reply. I believe the MQTT that you can see in my picture is the Floor and Room I named MQTT (to be able to find my device as I couldn't find it).
I did change the topic to 'sensor', which you can see in the picture below. Should I check the 'a' in the sub 'sensor' row (as there is the 696 value that I would like to use in Homeseer)?

[Michael McSharry]

Yes, check the "a" in the sub:Sensor row. This will create the Device and Feature that you will use within HS. Device 2822 is informational so you can see the last MQTT message received from HS Devices page.

[Guest]

Somehow my pc froze and when I restarted it again, no updated data was coming in anymore.
So had to reset my 8266 sensor, now subscribing to 'lichtsensor' mqtt topic.

Did check the 'a' in a likewise row as mentioned above and I saw in the Mqtt-statistics device that a new device was created. But when I scroll through my devices there is no new one.

In the devices I only see the new devices as in the picture...

[Guest]

Downloaded a windows app to also listen to the broker and saw that apparently my esp8266 board was still posting to the old 'sensor'. So updated now and 'lichtsensor' is now coming in again and I just pushed the 'a'... now going to further investigate...

[Michael McSharry]

You do not expect your sensor to be located in the same room and floor as the MQTT Statistics. On the Association tab after "a" has been clicked the Topic column is updated with a Dev: entry. It is formatted as Floor | Room | Name. You can use this to find it in the HS Devices page.

[Guest]

Ah ok, now I get it. For me it is now under the 'lichtsensor_Parent' floor and 'lichtsensor_Parent' room.
Even got my first event now, and working brilliantly...

Thanks for pushing me in the right direction, ordered some esp8266 boards and sensors, so I know what I'm going to do tomorrow 😉..

[Michael McSharry]

Suggest looking into Tasmota if you have not already. It has much capability and eliminates the need to put together Arduino sketches. Pretty much any sensor you can find will be supported by Tasmota.

[Guest]

Hadn't looked into Tasmote, thanks for the suggestion and seems indeed more user friendly to start.