EvoHome HGI80 + OpenTherm boiler module

[DanD]

@MLS

It's great to hear your success story with the HGI80. I've not tried using the 'Bind Relay' function so I'm not 100% certain about how it's meant to work, but it does sound like some of the newer functionality I've added to Domoticz (displaying all relay heating demand) might have introduced a bug which is preventing full control of the relay. I'll take a look at the original code for the 'Bind Relay' function to see how it was meant to work and whether I can identify any bugs in the newer code that might be causing the relay to be set as uncontrollable. It'll likely take me a few days to complete this search.

Are you aiming to control the same boiler BDR91 with your opentherm thermostat as the one that the rest of your Evohome system is using ? If so, then you may encounter problems with this approach as described by the original author of this code in their posts linked below as Domoticz may struggle to work out the different uses of the same physical device. I've definitely never tried to test out this type of functionality with Domoticz.

viewtopic.php?t=4072&start=40#p33833

Dan

[MLS]

@DanD
Thanks! That seems like a plausible explanation indeed.
I'm controlling the same boiler, but one thermostat is using an Opentherm protocol (the living room), and the relay switch will operate in parallel in case of extra heat demand for other rooms. This is possible (tested) on my Remeha Quinta 28c.

[DanD]

@SevenW,

Thanks again for providing all the information to help with my troubleshooting of why your RFBee temperature sensor device doesn't appear in your Domoticz Evohome device list when the 'All Sensors' function is enabled. I think you've uncovered a limitation in the 'All Sensors' functionality as it currently assumes that the same DeviceID will also appear as a relay device and it uses this to obtain its zone number. I'll have to have a think about alternate approaches for this functionality if it is going to cope with your set-up. From a review of your evorraw.log file, it looks like the only message which your RFBee device sends is its single ZONE_TEMP message with a zone number of 0 and this prevents this from being linked to a real zone within the Domoticz device list. As a workaround, I could give these devices something like a 999 zone number, but this may cause other problems with the code.

How would you like to see the RFBee device shown in the list of Evohome devices in Domoticz when the 'All Sensors' function has been enabled?

Dan

[DanD]

@MLS

I've had a look at the Domoticz code and my update to add the heat demand devices definitely introduced a bug which prevents custom relay devices from being controlled . I'll submit a fix and let you know when it's available in the main beta.

FYI: the fixes will be in the DashboardController.js and LightsController.js javascript and it'll allow TPI Relay devices where unit=64-95 to be modifiable and all other values read-only. Could you confirm the Unit number in your devices list for the BDR91 which you added as a custom relay as I'd just like to double-check the functionality?

If you're interested, I could also easily send you the fixed versions of the JavaScript code to test out as these require no compilation and can just be dropped into the appropriate installation directory. Let me know if you'd be happy to test out the fixes when they are ready.

Dan

[DanD]

Quick update:

I've fixed the bug for Evohome HGI80 users which made custom relay switches read-only, reported by MLS. The update has been merged into the main Domoticz code and should be in the next beta.

Dan

[DanD]

Another Evohome update with some more Evohome bug fixes and updates which have just been merged in to the main Domoticz code:

Added support for battery info for HR80 device.
Standardised battery levels to 0-100 across Evohome devices.
Fixed bug which caused heat demand switch devices demand to display Off - 0 following a battery_level message.

Thanks to Martin (@MLS) for all his help with these updates.

Dan

[philchillbill]

Dan, many thanks for your excellent work on Evohome integration. I have a WiFi Evotouch, 6xHR92, a BDR-91 to turn my underfloor-circuit pump on/off, an OT module to control my boiler and of course a HGI80 to control it all from D. It all works great thanks to your efforts

I've just bought a pretty extensive Evohome Security kit and would love to help get it integrated into the overall Evohome solution if I can in any way. The Honeywell iPhone app allows control of both solutions and I know that e.g. if you arm the alarm system then the heating gets turned down automatically because that must mean nobody's home (I have yet to unbox it all but this is on the website). There are no real reviews of Security out there yet so looks like I'm an early adopter. I run Domoticz on an Intel NUC under Ubuntu and I program fairly extensively in Perl as a hobby so I might be a useful guinea-pig as I'm tech-savvy.

How are you sniffing the HGI80 packets to experiment with - on the 868MHz RF side or on the USB-packet side? If USB then I can likely provide inputs but if it's on the RF I guess specialist hardware is needed?

p.s. Mods, if this needs to move to a different board/topic then sorry for posting it here

[DanD]

@philchillbill

The HGI80 is capturing the RF messages and processing them via Domoticz (and sending its own messages too) so it's functioning as a genuine device within the Evohome heating wireless network. It looks like the new Evohome security products also use 868Mhz to communicate, but I'm guessing that the communication protocol is totally separate from the heating protocols and that the linkage occurs at the Honeywell server end rather than within the home via the gateways. Definitely a project that will keep someone very busy for a while to link these within Domoticz . It'll be interesting to see whether Honeywell have released an API for their security system. I'm guessing that something will be available at some point to allow integration into Smartthings etc, but you'd hope that the RF level is pretty well secured as it is a security system.

Dan

[philchillbill]

@DanD

Actually, that makes a lot of sense that the protocols would be different, even if sharing an 868MHz allocation - silly me When I have the security stuff unboxed and up and running, is there any way I could check if the HGI80 sees any of the traffic relating to the Security products, just in case?

[DanD]

@philchillbill

If you are able to compile Domoticz from source, then you can enable debugging in the Evohome.cpp program (see the debugging item in the notes section at the end of the Domoticz Evohome wiki). This will create an evoraw.log file in the installation directory and also write the messages to the log window. It's it does pick something up, you'll see something like this in the log (the first row is the raw hex message followed by the payload repeated as ASCII characters in brackets and the second row is the Domoticz decoded message which in this case just flags that it doesn't know the 1F09 command) :

Code: Select all

2016-12-06 12:58:50 045  I --- 01:073076 --:------ 01:073076 1F09 003 FF0843 (� C)
2016-12-06 12:58:50 evohome: unknown command 1f09

If this doesn't show anything, have a read through the early posts in this topic on domoticaforum.eu. This is where the early work on decoding the Evohome communication protocol was documented:

https://www.domoticaforum.eu/viewtopic. ... &start=180

Good Luck!

Dan

[philchillbill]

@DanD

Excellent - thanks! Looks like I'll have something productive to do while at the in-laws for Xmas

By the way, is it correct that I shouldn't see my OpenTherm module in the list of Evohome devices in Domoticz, or is one of the two Boiler/Relays listed actually the OT module (I have a BDR91 as a Pump-Switch but I'm guessing Domoticz always calls a BDR91 a boiler-relay)?

[DanD]

@philchillbill

Thanks for raising the issue of the OT module. I really need to update the wiki to list Evohome devices which are only partially implemented. The code still doesn't really handle the OT module correctly and gets confused by all the different boiler demand messages and you end up with multiple boiler relays. This was the original purpose of this forum topic, but I've been distracted a few times by other Evohome related topics and haven't yet completed the implementation of the OT module. I only have a Evotouch, BDR91, CS92 and HR92s set-up which obviously makes it a lot harder to test any updates The list of other common devices which still need some work are: underfloor controller (HCC/HCE80), the older radiator controllers (HR80) and the Opentherm bridge (R8810).

Dan

[philchillbill]

@DanD

I'll gladly beta-test anything related to the R8810 for you so let me know how I can help.

[philchillbill]

@DanD

By the way, do you have any idea why my log has countless entries as follows:

2016-12-19 12:23:16.351 Error: evohome: ACTUATOR_STATE: Error decoding command, unknown packet size: 6
2016-12-19 12:23:16.351 Error: evohome: unable to decode payload for command 3ef0

All devices seem to be working ok so not sure what it's related to...

[DanD]

@philchillbill

My best guess is that it's likely that the OT module is only partly implemented in Domoticz and hence the 'unknown packet size'. The code currently expects the payload (data) for the 0x3EF0 (ACTUATOR_STATE) command to be 3 ie. 0xXXXXXX and only the last XX is used (00=Off, FF=On). However, it sounds like the OT module is sending 0xXXXXXXXXXXXX. Can you also post the raw message from the line before in the evoraw.log file to give me some idea of what the contents of the payload looks like as this might help me work out what extra info it's including in this message.

Dan

[philchillbill]

@DanD

Here's a snippet from the evoraw debug log after I transferred it from my Ubuntu box to a Windows box with Cyberduck:

[JosV]

Dan thanks for your hard work on Evohome integration in Domoticz.
I have two Evotouch devices each controls a R8810A OT module with boiler.
In Domoticz it is not possible to get good zone information because of the duplicate zones. Is there a solution?
I have a HB85 outside temperature sensor. How to integrate it in Domoticz?
If you need info I can send a log.

[DanD]

@JosV,

Thanks for your nice feedback!

The Evohome code in Domoticz only supports set-ups with one Evohome controller and unfortunately set-ups where more than one controller is within range cause problems. The different controllers cause conflicting device information which messes up the configuration in Domoticz. I have done some work on developing a solution which would allow one controller to work correctly and filter out the other system(s) and this has been tested successfully on another user's set-up. This might be useful for situations where the other controller is from a neighbour etc. but doesn't sound like it will really help you and I've not attempted to develop any solution allowing multiple controllers within Domoticz (I this would require extensive development work, sorry ). If you are interested at all in testing out a beta version of the multi-controller code, let me know and I can add it to my GitHub area (you would have to compile it from the source on your device). Once you have one of the controllers working OK, the outdoor sensor should appear as one of your devices in Domoticz if it is part of your Evohome set-up.

Hope this helps.

Dan

[rogerrabbit]

Dear Dan,
stumbled across this post from almost two months ago. Interestingly enough it seems my HGI80 is picking up signals from a neighbouring Evohome and binds those to the first IDs

Also, the heating setup in my house concerns -two- central heating systems. no1 for the rgound floor with its own controller (non evohome), and no2 for the first and second floor (evohome controlled). I would definately be interested in the ability to mount a secondary evohome system on my ground floor and have both systems report to domoticz. As I understand from you this is not (yet) possible.

Anyway, the whole thing with the neighboring setup becomes a mess. I have oscillating measurments reported in sensors etc...
I would be interested in trying your solution?
Looking forward to your response

regards

[DanD]

Hi,

Good timing, you're in luck! I've just recently created a new branch in my Github development area https://github.com/Evsdd/domoticz called 'Multi-controller' which you're welcome to try out if you're able to compile Domoticz from source. I suggest that you create a new install area on your machine so that it doesn't mess up your current Domoticz installation, device list etc. I've successfully completed my testing of the code, but would like a few others to test it out and it will also take me a while to re-integrate this branch back into the main Domoticz repository as I made updates to some of the JavaScript to add the user interface pieces.

Here's a brief user guide for this functionality:

1. Add the Evohome HGI80 hardware device to Domoticz as usual.
   There's a new configuration field where you should add the hex device ID for your controller. You can find this ID by holding the settings button the 15secs on the controller and a screen will appear showing the device ID.
   The initial set-up and device creation will start and after 5min, if multiple Evohome controllers are detected and you haven't set your controller ID, it will write the following error to the log 'evohome:Error multiple controllers detected. Please set controller ID in hardware settings' and the HGI80 device will terminate in Domoticz.
   If you've set the Device ID, everything should now work OK in Domoticz and the other Evohome system(s) shouldn't interfere with yours.

For installations where there's only 1 controller, the new functionality shouldn't cause any problems. I've also tested out the functionality for installations where a Evohome HGI80 device list has already been successfully created and this works OK.

Please let me know how you get on.

Dan