Wifi to Zigbee

My wifi is not slow at all, but I started getting more and more connection problems from random devices. The solution for me was to replace some wifi devices with zigbee versions.

I started with adding a SMLIGHT SLZB-06 to my network. This is a Zigbee 3.0 to Ethernet USB WiFi Gateway Coordinator with PoE and it works with Home Assistant using ZHA or Zigbee2MQTT.
So I gave it a fixed IP address, and on my NAS, where Home Assistant is running in a Docker container, I installed eclipse-mosquitto and koenkk/zigbee2mqtt. Next I added the SMLIGHT SLZB-06 and MQTT integration in Home Assistant and everything started coming together and working like a charm.

First added devices were temperature and humidity sensors, Sonoff SNZB-02P and SNZB-02D. Next I started adding smart plugs Sonoff S60ZBTPF and IHOMECAM Smart power plugs, replacing my HomeWizard wifi energy sockets.

And guess what? With more devices on zigbee, my wifi is stable again and I get a lot more data out of my smart home!

That’s all folks!
Have a nice day…

Thunderbird 140 Manual Folder Sorting

Yes! The option is back!
Natively now, without the old plugin that was no longer supported for way too long. However, when I tried to drag and drop a folder, I could move one folder into another, but not change the order.

What’s wrong? I am using unified folders, and sorting does not work there.
You would have to use the ‘All Folders’ view, and drag/drop/re-order your folders there. This luckily also changes the order in the ‘Unified Folders’ view, so problem solved! Now let’s hope the developers will fix that in the next version.

That’s all Folks!
Have a nice day…

Meet je stad! #1084

We are live!

the project: https://meetjestad.net/
info: https://meetjestad.net/node/1084
data: https://meetjestad.net/data/sensors_recent.php?sensor=1084&limit=12
json: https://meetjestad.net/data/?type=sensors&ids=1084&format=json&limit=1
Utrecht: https://meetjestad.net/index3.php?loc=Ut
RIVM: https://samenmeten.rivm.nl/dataportaal/sensor_dashboard.php?kit_id=MJS_1084#tabs-2

Of course I wanted to add the data to my own Home Assistant installation. For this I had to add some custom sensors to:
\\NAS\docker\homeassistant\config\configuration.yaml

rest:
  - resource: "https://meetjestad.net/data/?type=sensors&ids=1084&format=json&limit=1"
    scan_interval: 00:15:00
    sensor:
      - name: "mjs_1084_humidity"
        unique_id: mjs_1084_humidity
        value_template: '{{ (value_json[0].humidity | float) | round(1) }}'
        device_class: humidity
        state_class: measurement
        unit_of_measurement: "%"
        availability: '{{ ((value_json[0].humidity | float) >= 0) and ((value_json[0].humidity | float) <= 100) }}'
      - name: "mjs_1084_temperature"
        unique_id: mjs_1084_temperature
        value_template: '{{ (value_json[0].temperature | float) | round(1) }}'
        device_class: temperature
        state_class: measurement
        unit_of_measurement: "°C"
        availability: '{{ ((value_json[0].temperature | float) > -25) and ((value_json[0].temperature | float) < 100) }}'
      - name: "mjs_1084_pm25"
        unique_id: mjs_1084_pm25
        value_template: '{{ (value_json[0]["pm2.5"] | float) | round(0) }}'
        device_class: pm25
        state_class: measurement
        unit_of_measurement: "µg/m³"
        availability: '{{ ((value_json[0]["pm2.5"] | float) >= 0) and ((value_json[0]["pm2.5"] | float) < 50000) }}'
      - name: "mjs_1084_pm10"
        unique_id: mjs_1084_pm10
        value_template: '{{ (value_json[0].pm10 | float) | round(0) }}'
        device_class: pm10
        state_class: measurement
        unit_of_measurement: "µg/m³"
        availability: '{{ ((value_json[0].pm10 | float) >= 0) and ((value_json[0].pm10 | float) < 50000) }}'
      - name: "mjs_1084_battery_voltage"
        unique_id: mjs_1084_battery_voltage
        value_template: '{{ (value_json[0].supply | float) | round(2) }}'
        device_class: voltage
        state_class: measurement
        unit_of_measurement: V
      - name: "mjs_1084_timestamp"
        unique_id: mjs_1084_timestamp
        device_class: timestamp
        value_template: "{{ strptime( value_json[0].timestamp ~ '+00:00' , '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S%z') }}"

* Please note some changes I made, compared to the instructions I found here. The following does not work:

value_template: '{{ (value_json[0].pm2.5 | float) }}'

I had to use:

value_template: '{{ (value_json[0]["pm2.5"] | float) | round(0) }}'

* I added the timestamp as a sensor as well, so I could see when the last data packet was transmitted. For the timestamp, the following did not quite work. It just gave me the UTC time:

value_template: "{{ value_json[0].timestamp | as_datetime | as_local }}"

So, I had to add some string manipulation to get the data in the correct timezone:

value_template: "{{ strptime( value_json[0].timestamp ~ '+00:00' , '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S%z') }}"

* And to filter out invalid data, like temperature at -26 or pm at over 50k, I had to add some availability filters, like so:

availability: '{{ ((value_json[0].pm10 | float) >= 0) and ((value_json[0].pm10 | float) < 50000) }}'

That’s all folks…
Have a nice day!

Update HA docker container

So I installed Home Assistant on a Synology NAS, using the official instructions. Now, one of my HACS Integrations started complaining about an update, but it required a newer version of Home Assistant, which I was not receiving. After a long search I figured out that using the ‘stable’ tag would not give me any updates for Home Assistant. I would have to use ‘latest’…
Unfortunately, you cannot change this in the downloaded docker Image.

So, what to do? My system was running for a month and I did not want to lose my config and history/data. Simple solution; I downloaded a new Image with the correct settings and pointed a new Container to the same /config folder on my NAS.

Since the instructions on the Home Assistant website were not quite correct for my version of Synology DSM 7.2.2-72806 Update 3, below the updated steps:

Install Home Assistant Container

Continue reading Update HA docker container

Home Assistant Formuler Z11 Remote

As mentioned before, I started using Home Assistant to create my own smart home and as it goes, you start playing with other smart devices in the home. You connect lights, heating, tv, sound system, router, and, in my case, the Formuler Z11 box. You start with little scripts to turn everything on (or off) with a single button press, instead of having to grab three separate remotes. And then you find the Universal Remote Card… a remote control card, within Home Assistant!

Standard buttons for zapping and volume were added quickly, but the ‘Groups’ and ‘Guide’ buttons turned out to be a little bit more of a challenge. But… I got it working, and below is the how-to, if you want to add custom buttons for your android tv box in Home Assistant as well.

Continue reading Home Assistant Formuler Z11 Remote

HomeWizard silly graphs

Since HomeWizard still does not show the graphs I would like to see, I started setting up Home Assistant to create my own smart home, with logging of all the stats displayed correctly. A combination of P1 import/export, Solar panels production PLUS the effect of the plug-in Batteries charging and discharging!

Look at what I see in the HomeWizard App, in three graphs(!): my ‘Home Usage’, ‘Solar Consumption’ and ‘Plug-In Battery’ profiles:

Please note these graphs are showing me using incredible amounts all during the day, PLUS the consumption at night is shown as zero watts, while of course the batteries are keeping everything running in the home, at around 250w ‘standby usage’…


So, now look at how much better it is, when all the data is combined in one simple graph:

Anything in the plus is actual usage by the home; split over battery, solar and grid as power source. And the minus shows batteries charging and power returned to the grid. This tells me exactly what I would like to know, my actual home usage!
Thank you Home Assistant!

I have tried to explain to Homewizard what is wrong with their graphs… Unfortunately it has not improved yet and I am not expecting anything anymore. Anyway, by now I cancelled my HomeWizard+ subscription.

That’s all folks!
Have a nice day…