Velbus binding for OpenHAB

[Ggaljoen]

@MDAR

So that version does have support for feedback LEDs.

Need to figure that out, a lot easier can’t it get, I guess…

@MDAR

I talk about how it’s done here

Got inspired by that post to create my huge workaround I described above.

[MDAR]

Thank you.

It’s nice to know my little bit of work sparks people’s imagination.

@Ggaljoen

Need to figure that out

Just be brave and delete the Glass Panel Thing in openHAB2

Then add it back in.

It will link the old Items and show you the feedback LED channels

Good luck

You should end up with something like this

[Ggaljoen]

@MDAR

Good luck

You should end up with something like this

No re-init required, it’s my recent, second implementation (previous was a rental house).
Now, in my recently bought house, I can go 'all ‘the way’. Meaning a lot of wires to deploy, started with the Velbus wires.

[Swimmer]

Hi, setup openhabian for raspi 4 and with it the bindings for velbus 2.5.2 come integrated. Are those the latest ones? Because i cannot see a network bridge item available in there so i can use the velserv service to talk over TCP/IP with my velbus bus.
If there is another version, can you share the latest link for it ?

[MDAR]

@MDAR

Check out Post No 165 for information on how to load a more recent version

Hi

Don’t forget to completely remove the version you have loaded now and ensure that the V1 serial binding is loaded.

All the information is in this thread… Somewhere

[Swimmer]

Unfortunately, the links mentioned in #64 and around it are no longer valid. I got the whole integration with openhab and Alexa app ok, i can control now lights from Alexa, but i want to redo it with also being able to connect with the velbus config program over the network. Any chance we can have working links for the latest velserv library and the related openhab bindings supporting the network bridge ?

[Ggaljoen]

@Swimmer

Unfortunately, the links mentioned in #64

@MDAR : I believe, this shoud read #165

Or other good source : Releases · cedricboon/openhab-addons · GitHub

[Swimmer]

Thanks for pointing to the github page of Cedric. I see his latest is 2.5.2 as it is in my deployment. I should still make the replace and check it right ?

[MDAR]

My mistake.

Yes, that should have been #165 or there abouts.
That refer to a script that will pull down the latest (tested) version of Cédric’s excellent binding and put it into the add-ons folder.

Or, you get just the binding from Cédric’s repository

[Swimmer]

I put in the addons folder the latest bindings from github. Uninstalled the older bindings. Now i can add a network bridge, it will find devices and i can add them as things, BUT when i link them and try to use them nothing happens. Like the things are not correctly initialized (UNINITIALIZED - HANDLER_INITIALIZING_ERROR). Then i check them and some of them indeed are not initialized correctly, but also the ones stating online are NOT working when i try to switch a light off.
Anything specific i need to do with the old bindings to make sure they dont interfere with the new i put in the addons folder ?

UPDATE: did a cache clean and now all is working with just the network bridge. Only downside, the temperature readings from my glass panels are not showing up anymore…they were ok with the default bindings…

[MDAR]

@Swimmer

Only downside, the temperature readings from my glass panels are not showing up anymore

They’ll come back, they just need to be polled or update their value to the Velbus Bus

[MDAR]

Hello everyone

I’ve finally taken the time to get my head around how text based Item files work in openHAB2, because we’ve got a fun installation in the pipeline and I think it will save some time.

However, there is a small issue.

I think I have added the Alexa and Google assistant metadata correctly, but I don’t have any Alexa devices so can’t test it.

If anyone is feeling adventurous and generous, would you mind trying to create an Items file from the template in this ZIP file - http://www.mdar.co.uk/dl/openhab/openhab_items_template.zip
Then letting me / us know if it plays nicely with Alexa?

I’ve included 4 updated widgets and a couple of rules in the zip for completeness.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Best wishes,

Stuart

UPDATE
After a lot of messing around, we have Alexa being able to display different thermostat modes (of sorts)

We’ve had to map the Velbus Modes to something that Alexa understands, like this

// New Google Assistant and Alexa Metadata tagging (I'm still experimenting with)

	Group 	BackBedroomGP2_Thermostat				"Back Bedroom Thermostat"													{ga="Thermostat" [roomHint="Back Bedroom"], alexa="Endpoint.Thermostat" }
	Number 	BackBedroomGP2_CurrentTemperature 		"Back Bedroom Current Temperature" 			(BackBedroomGP2_Thermostat)		{channel="velbus:vmbgp2:4832d74b:input#CH9", 								ga="thermostatTemperatureAmbient" ,		 alexa="TemperatureSensor.temperature" }
	Number 	BackBedroomGP2_CurrentTargetTemperature	"Back Bedroom Current Target Temperature"	(BackBedroomGP2_Thermostat)		{channel="velbus:vmbgp2:4832d74b:thermostat#CURRENTTEMPERATURESETPOINT", 	ga="thermostatTemperatureSetpoint",		 alexa="ThermostatController.targetSetpoint"}
	String 	BackBedroomGP2_ThermostatMode 			"Back Bedroom Thermostat mode"	  	 		(BackBedroomGP2_Thermostat)		{channel="velbus:vmbgp2:4832d74b:thermostat#MODE",							ga="thermostatMode",					 alexa="ModeController.mode" [off="SAFE", eco="NIGHT", heat="DAY"]}
	String 	BackBedroomGP2_ThermostatOperatingMode 	"Back Bedroom Thermostat operating mode"	(BackBedroomGP2_Thermostat)		{channel="velbus:vmbgp2:4832d74b:thermostat#OPERATINGMODE"}

These phrases will make Alexa do something

“Set the xxxx room thermostat to OFF”

“Set the xxxx room thermostat to ECO”

“Set the xxxx room thermostat to HEAT”

[MDAR]

@Join

The problem appeared since the vmb1ts are recognized.
Before it was working perfect with velserv, openhab and nodered on the same pi.
I tried a fresh setup this evening and everything worked till…I updated the binding…

@join @bouwkarolinemaarten

I think Cédric has found and resolved a small issue with the network bridge failing to reconnect.

Would you both be kind enough to take the latest version of the binding for a spin and give us your feedback?

http://www.mdar.co.uk/dl/openhab/update-velbus-jar-dev.sh

Or you can always pick up the binding from Cédric’s GitHub releases page
https://github.com/cedricboon/openhab2-addons/releases

[Join]

Dear,
I updated the binding, I hope i did it correct, it shows 2.5.3

It detect the modules in th einbox, but when I add them to the things, I get this error, any idea ?
I have this problem since I updated openhab (openhabian-config)

[MDAR]

Hi

Have you tried to restart the bundle or totally restarting openhab2?

I’ve seen that behaviour when changing binding versions, but a restart has always resolved it (famous last words)

Good luck

[MDAR]

@MDAR

UPDATE
After a lot of messing around, we have Alexa being able to display different thermostat modes (of sorts)

It gets even better…

With the excellent assistance of “Jeshab” on the openHAB forum, it’s now possible to ask Alexa to change the Operating Mode of the Velbus Thermostat AND request a preset for that Mode (What we refer to as Velbus Thermostat Modes.

The voice instructions do have to be PRECISE, but it works
Please do let use know how you get on with Non EN languages.

More information can be found here - New Velbus binding - #34 by MDAR - Bindings - openHAB Community

The UI in Alexa only states “Heat” or “Cool”, but the presets do get called correctly.

Example voice instructions.

@jeshab

• Alexa, set the back bedroom to heat
• Alexa, set the back bedroom to cool
• Alexa, set the back bedroom preset to safe
• Alexa, set the back bedroom preset to night
• Alexa, set the back bedroom preset to day
• Alexa, set the back bedroom preset to comfort
• Alexa, what’s the back bedroom set to?
• Alexa, set the back bedroom 20 degrees
• Alexa, set the back bedroom up 5 degrees
• Alexa, set the back bedroom down 5 degrees
• Alexa, what’s the back bedroom preset set to?

I’ve updated the Items template in the ZIP if you want to give them a try.

There is talk of Google Assistant supporting custom modes, but nothing I’ve tried so far seems to work…

Update March 26th 2020

The function I was trying to use in the openHAB2 Google Assistant Metadata isn’t operational yet, which explains why I couldn’t get it working.

I’ve updated the contents of the ZIP file with the correct syntax for the Google Metadata, so when it’s fully operational, you should be able to request “Off, Eco, On & Heat” (mapped to, Safe, Night, Day & Comfort)

[CobleS]

@MDAR

@MDAR

(My own house revolves around the Global alarm times.)

Would you mind elaborating about this?
What do you do with the alarm times? (switch some lights?) How exactly is this configured in Velbuslink?

Atm I’d like it if I can turn some lights on at a given time, if that works, I’ll add some stuff.
And of course I want to change the wake-up time with Habpanel/basic UI, but first things first.

[MDAR]

Hi

How’s life with you?

I’m running out of the house to help a friend with their house plumbing, so please excuse the short message.

In essence, you only need to configure a (virtual) button with the action you want to trigger, then add that button into the program steps of the panel.

After that, just ensure the alarm is Enabled and the correct program group is active.

This little video should get you going.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Good luck.

[CobleS]

Hi MDAR

I’m good thanks, you?

@MDAR

I’m running out of the house to help a friend with their house plumbing, so please excuse the short message.

No problem

I managed to figure it out, got everything working.
I can even set times and (de-)activate with OpenHAB
This gives you so many possibilities, it’s amazing…

Greetz!

[lgor]

Starting with OpenHab2 on PI4.
Can anybody help me finding download location for latest Velbus-binding jar (github?)

Thx