Hive Active SLR2-SLT2 heating,Zigbee2MQTT and node-RED

[roadsnail]

I have been a using the Hive Active Heating/Hot Water controller with Domoticz for around 18 months now.

Initially, I integrated Hive into my domoticz setup using scripts inspired by MikeF lua scripts. I then progressed on to the Hive plugin maintained by imcfarla, forked and modified for my own use. This has served me reasonably well, however I have never been completely happy controlling my heating by connecting out to Hive's cloud infrastructure and being reliant on British Gas not changing API's!

Meanwhile, more recently, I have added zigbee2mqtt (from Koenkk) to my setup as my Zigbee network slowly expanded. While Zigbee to Domoticz is handled by the zigbee2mqtt plugin from stas-demidyuk hosted at https://github.com/stas-demydiuk/domoti ... qtt-plugin

My existing Hive bulbs and power plug have been reset and paired with my Zigbee network, thus leaving just the Hive heating hub/thermostat connected to the Hive 'cloud'.

Earlier this month British Gas changed the authentication method used to connect to the Hive cloud and at this point, so I made the decision to either ditch the Hive controller for an alternative, make my own (probably wi-fi connected) controller or attempt to pair my existing Hive controller with my Zigbee network and control it locally via zigbee2MQTT/domoticz.

After a bit of research, I discovered Koenkk's excellent zigbee2MQTT project (https://github.com/Koenkk/zigbee2mqtt) now supports the Hive Active central heating/hot water controller (SLR2) and its associated thermostat (in my case the SLT2).

This introduction of zigbee2MQTT Hive SLR2 support led me to consider pairing my existing Hive controller/thermostat to my Zigbee network thus re-purposing the Hive equipment already installed.

There appears to be little information on the actual nuts and bolts of this, so rather cautiously I decided to purchase a used Hive heating setup from an internet auction site, and set up a test Hive system connected to my home Zigbee network. I considered this preferable to experimenting on my working controller which is still connected to Hive (for the moment) probably resulting in lots of heating down-time! Not good at this time of the year!

I am glad I went for a test setup, as pairing the Hive SLR2 with zigbee2MQTT is the easy bit. Actually controlling it has taken some trial and error.

I have written up my testing notes and have also created a node-RED flow to assist with testing and Domoticz integration. I have made it available at https://github.com/roadsnail/Hive-SLR2- ... h-node-RED for anyone interested in doing the same and already have zigbee2MQTT and node-RED installed.

Having run my test Hive hardware in parallel with the BG Hive controlled setup for about 1 week, I am about to take the plunge into making the changeover complete. I may update this thread with my experiences assuming it doesn't go badly wrong and I freeze to death!

[waltervl]

Nice work!
If you make a New Device request for the plugin (or better a Pull Request ) it can be implemented sooner without the detour with node-RED....

Edit: Did you check it with the Zigbee2MQTT Universal Adapter? https://github.com/stas-demydiuk/domoti ... issues/458
I am no Zigbee2MQTT user so not sure if it supports thermostats and Radiator Valves.

[roadsnail]

@waltervl. Thanks.

I presume you are referring to a Pull Request to Stanislav's plugin? If so, then I haven't got as far as working out what needs changing in the plugin to integrate the MQTT messages for control yet.

I discovered that stas's plugin created 3 devices after I paired the SLR2/SLT2. 1 thermometer and two switches. The thermometer device reads 0 degrees and the switches do not appear to do anything sensible.

My priority has been to discover how to switch the hot water and central heating relays on/off, set the thermostat setpoint (thus also controlling CH relay) and read relay status plus thermostat temperature from the devices. My reasoning was: discover what works then do some testing.

This is all a work in progress with my priority being to understand the Hive equipment and then get my ch/hw system controllable from Domoticz with the help of node-RED.

I think stas's plugin is the way to go, but for now, I have a need to make this work so I am temporarily going with node-RED as I use it for other stuff (like weather station integration).


EDIT: Thanks waltervl for the heads up on the plugin 'universal adapter'. I will take a look...

EDIT2: Have just installed latest plugin update , zigbee2MQTT is at v.1.16.2-dev (zStack12 20190608) with new_api switched on.

Apart from plugin re-discovering some of my Zigbee bulbs ( I will sort these out later!), the heating controller/thermostat is discovered by the plugin, but no new working devices have been created.

I do not know much about how the zigbee2mqtt plugin creates the necessary mqtt messages, but from what I have discovered in my testing, it will need to send a sequence of mqtt messages to the SLR2 in order to make relays switch. I have not yet found a simple mqtt message that does something like set CH relay on or off. Of course I may be wrong. My partner is forever telling me that .

So I will stick with my node-RED flow for now.

EDIT3: I have opened a device support issue at https://github.com/stas-demydiuk/domoti ... issues/538
Hopefully there is enough information there for Stanislav to add the necessary support in the plugin

[MikeF]

Thank you for this - this looks really interesting! Having started the ‘Read Hive...’ thread 5 1/2 years ago, and then abandoned Hive (in favour of Drayton Wiser), I might just resurrect it - I still have the kit, and it would make a challenging project for these dark nights / Tier 4 restricted days

[roadsnail]

Thank you for this - this looks really interesting! Having started the ‘Read Hive...’ thread 5 1/2 years ago, and then abandoned Hive (in favour of Drayton Wiser), I might just resurrect it - I still have the kit, and it would make a challenging project for these dark nights / Tier 4 restricted days

Hi Mike. Yes, you got me started with all this Hive nonsense! It's all your fault, ha ha. I thought you'd moved on to different hardware.

I even took a look at Drayton Wiser when Hive changed their authentication method, but then noticed fledgeling zigbee2MQTT support for the SLR2 so thought I'd waste some hours on it. Having already gone down the route of Zigbee (with the cheap CC2531 USB dongle), MQTT obviously and node-RED to allow my weather station integration. It seemed obvious to give the Hive stuff a try. Suggest you break out the old stuff and have a play!

[MikeF]

Yes, I suppose I should apologise for starting all this nonsense, as you say!

When I first had the Hive system installed, I quite enjoyed its capabilities - especially being able to operate it remotely (my wife was quite impressed that I was able to turn the heating on the day before we returned from a winter holiday), and the thermostat itself had a high WAF. I took up the challenge of trying to access the (unpublished) API, to access - and then control - the heating and hot water systems. I never installed any of the Hive smart switches / bulbs, radiator valves, etc., so my requirements were quite simple - indeed, they became simpler when I changed over to a combo boiler system, so that I only needed to control the heating. The scripts that I wrote enabled me to integrate these simple functions into Domoticz.

However, I became increasingly concerned about the fact that the Hive system required constant access via the Internet to a remote server, and - as people have been discovering in the main Hive thread - that the authentication protocol / API would suddenly change, leaving these scripts - and the good plugins subsequently developed - inoperable, requiring coding changes. It seems that British Gas were doing their best to discourage people from taking control of their own system! I wanted to retain control of my system, and not rely on an external server. This was why I moved to Drayton Wiser, and I can now control my heating entirely locally through Domoticz, with new scripts I have written. This is because all the server code resides in the system controller, and can be accessed by wifi. I am able to block the Drayton controller from accessing the Internet, and still have full control.

Your thread has intrigued me, as I was aware of the work being done to integrate Zigbee devices into Domoticz (zigbee2mqtt), but that until recently there wasn't support for Hive. Now that it appears that the building blocks are available to achieve local control of Hive heating (and hot water) through Domoticz, I may well rise to the challenge of dusting off my Hive hardware and getting this working - after all, as I said, the Hive thermostat had a high WAF, whereas the Drayton one is quite minimal. I'm not setting myself any timescales for this - and may not proceed at all - but I will watch your progress with interest!

[MikeF]

Checking model names and pictures, it seems I’ve got an SLT3 thermostat (with an SLR2 receiver), so it will be interesting to see if I encounter any difficulties.

[roadsnail]

Checking model names and pictures, it seems I’ve got an SLT3 thermostat (with an SLR2 receiver), so it will be interesting to see if I encounter any difficulties.

Yes, your experimentation with the unofficial APIs got me started with Domoticzising my Hive. I seem to recall my first attempt was a Bash script, then later moving on to the Python plugin. I bought a little more into the Hive ecosystem with the addition of bulbs and a power socket. All of these have been re-purposed on my Zigbee network by just resetting them, and pairing with my co-ordinator.

My 'live' (ie still connected to Hive but switched by IFTTT) system is also an SLR2 with SLT3 thermostat (the shiny one). My test system was purchased used from eBay and is the SLR2/SLT2.

The test system has shadowed the live system for over a week now without issues, so I may take the plunge and swap them over later. My plan is to power off the boiler/controller. Swap out the 'live' SLR2 for the test one which should just take a couple of minutes (2 screws fix it to its base-plate). I will continue to use the older SLT2 thermostat as they are both paired to my Zigbee network.

That will leave me with the SLR2 (swapped out model) and its thermostat (SLT3). I will reset those and pair them with my Zigbee network. I will then be able to look at differences between the SLT3 and SLT2.

I am not sure if BG were able to update firmware remotely on the SLT3 and SLR2 as that may be a factor in this project. I am hoping that the MQTT topic/messages have not altered over time, but I'm not holding my breath. I'll update the Github page with my findings.

By the way, I have added some sample dzVents LUA code to the Github showing the calls required to switch relays/set thermostat setpoint. These are the only functions I need, even though it should be possible to programme CH/HW on-off schedules into the SLTx with the correct endpoints/MQTT messages. I am not interested in controller scheduling as this is carried out by Domoticz.

As you are no doubt aware, your old dusty Hive controller only needs a mains supply to get it up and running. Resetting it (and your SLT3) takes a few seconds, and it should pair to zigbee2mqtt. ( I am currently running zigbee2mqtt v.1.16.2-dev (zStack12 20190608))

Pairing Instructions:

1. Switch off Hive bridge
2. Remove a battery from the thermostat SLT2 (I think SLT3 reset routine is similar)
3. Enable zigbee2mqtt to enable zigbee2MQTT to accept new devices. (Logs will show pairing activity as it happens, hopefully)
4. On SLR2, press Central Heating button until it flashes pink. Release then press and hold it again. It will flash amber and it should join the network.
5. Replace batteries in SLT2 while pressing back and menu buttons to perform a reset. Hopefully, it will reboot and join the network (check logs).

[roadsnail]

UPDATE: Now testing with SLR2/SLT3 combination.

As mentioned in my previous post, I have swapped my SLR2/SLT3 combination (controlled from Hive cloud) out for my SLR2/SLT2 test combination that has been shadowing my live system for about a week.

A simple job, as the controllers are identical. So - power off to boiler/controller, undo two fixing screws, swap controllers, tighten screws and power up.

Result: My home CH/HW system is working with SLR2/SLT2 test combination. Now to be named live combo 1



Next. The old live combo (SLR2/SLT3) now becomes my new test system. Now named test combo 2.

Confusing eh

Next, test combo 2 were reset and paired to my Zigbee zigbee2MQTT network. These paired successfully and have now been given different 'friendly names' in zigbee2MQTT to differentiate them from my now live combo.

As suspected, the SLT3 (shiny thermostat with rotary dial) operates slightly differently to the older SLT2 (white rectangular thermostat with 4 buttons on right).

I observed that once the shiny thermostat joined my Zigbee network, it then went into setup mode - requesting a HW/CH schedule to be setup.
I skipped this (as I'm not interested in shiny thermostat scheduling) and the thermostat showed (on its screen) the current temperature and status of CH/HW to be 'Sch'

Next I set up my node-RED flow on a different instance of node-RED as I want to keep this separate from my live systems. I changed the MQTT input/output nodes to point to the new 'Friendly names' keeping the same topics/payloads.

I also changed the output topic for the Domoticz outputs in node-RED as I do not want this test setup competing with my live system!

By connecting a 'debug' node to the output of the MQTT input node, I noticed that fewer messages were being sent from the Hive test system. I did not see any output on the node-RED dashboard! Not good, but not surprising. A quick check and comparison with my live node-RED flow revealed that the MQTT input node's output format was set to 'autodetect' when it should be 'a parsed JSON object'

Changing this and deploying caused the dashboard to spring into life, but with fewer less information than my previous slr2/slt2 combo.

To cut a long story short, the missing information may be enabled on the shiny thermostat by:-
Press MENU button
Select 'Heat' and set to 'Manual' - Then confirm

Similarly (for HW):-

Press MENU button
Select 'Hot Water' and set to 'Always On' - Then confirm


This appears to enable the CH and HW On/Off buttons in the node-RED flow. The CH thermostat works, and the controller status appears to work in the same manner as the older SLR2/SLT2 combination.

However further testing need to be done...

[MikeF]

Hi @roadsnail,

As I hinted previously, I have taken the plunge and decided to try linking my Hive SLR2 / SLT3 combination to zigbee!

I'm using a zzh USB stick from Electrolama (it uses a supposedly more powerful CC2652 chip, and comes with an external antenna and nice plastic case!), flashed with version 1.17.0 (release 20201026) of zigbee2mqtt, and version 3.0 of the Domoticz plugin.

I have been able to pair my SLR2 and SLT3 successfully (I discovered that I had to force a factory reset on the latter), and followed your advice on setting 'Heat' to 'Manual', and 'Hot Water' to 'Always On'. I'm getting a local_temperature device in Domoticz (which appears to work correctly), and selector switches for system_mode and running_state, but had hoped to see an occupied_heating_setpoint device. However, on inspecting the zigbee2mqtt and plugin logs, I've found the following:

ERROR: No converter available for 'occupieding_setpoint_heat' (undefined)

Error: (Zigbee) Hive_controller: can not process numeric item "occupied_heating_setpoint"

I suspect the second is a consequence of the first.

I've also discovered that topics / messages seem to have changed (zigbee2mqtt version 1.17.0), e.g.:

Code: Select all

mosquitto_pub -t zigbee2mqtt/FRIENDLY_NAME/set -m '{"occupied_heating_setpoint_heat": VALUE}'

- as shown in the zigbee2mqtt.io documentation for SLR2 - doesn't work, whereas

Code: Select all

mosquitto_pub -t zigbee2mqtt/FRIENDLY_NAME/heat/set -m '{"occupied_heating_setpoint": VALUE}' 

does. (I haven't checked other topics yet.)

Methinks I should raise these as issues on Koenkk's github.

I haven't installed node-red (yet), but I'm going to play around with dzVents first. Like you, I use Domoticz for scheduling, so I'm only interested in changing the setpoint to turn heating on / off, and reading the local temperature and setpoint values periodically (I have a combi boiler, so I'm not using the hot water channel).

I'm only doing bench testing (actually, desk) but thus far, looking very promising!

[roadsnail]

Hello @MikeF

I will be ordering a zzh USB stick when they become available again, but in the meantime, my cc2531 seems to be behaving itself since I soldered a largish electrolytic capacitor across the sticks +5v/GND pins. Previous to the mod, I had regular issues with USB stick 'lockups' requiring unplugging/plugging it.

With regard to stability. I occasionally see the SLR/SLT combo going 'offline' for a second or so. I monitor availability by subscribing to zigbee2mqtt/FRIENDLY_NAME/availability where the Hive controller publishes 'online' or 'offline'. That is fed into a text device on Domoticz, where a change to 'offline' causes a 'Pushover' message to my phone alerting me that Hive has gone AWOL. I suspect the occasional offline status is caused by a flakey Zigbee connection to the Hive Relay controller even though I have other mains powered Zigbee devices close to the controller. Oh, the joys of low powered wireless!

I checked the topic I'm using for switching the CH thermostat, and I noticed I made a typo on my github in the description of that topic. I have changed it to reflect my working configuration. The docs for dzVents snippets was/is correct.

I am currently publishing to topic zigbee2mqtt/FRIENDLY_NAME/heat/set/occupied_heating_setpoint with the desired CH thermostat setpoint temp value as the message. I think you are using a different topic/message combination?

As for the zigbee2mqtt Domoticz plugin. I need to check I am running with the latest beta. I didn't find that it handled the Hive devices correctly, but didn't dedicate much time to investigating further. I am using dzVents along with mosquitto_pub to control Hive, therefore I am not too concerned about the plugin's support for now

I am running Koenkk's zigbee2mqtt v.1.17.0-dev (zStack12 20190608). It is not the very latest 1.17.0 build as I have not updated since late December. I may take the plunge and update having backed up my latest build of course. It would be interesting to see if this breaks any of my MQTT topic/message calls.

I have gone further than bench testing as my Hive heating/hot water has been running with my scripts for just over a month now. My house remains warm, so something must be right . It's good that you have also made some progress. Thanks for your update!

[MikeF]

Hi @roadsnail

Thanks for your feedback. I've resolved the topic issue, and am also publishing to zigbee2mqtt/FRIENDLY_NAME/heat/set/occupied_heating_setpoint successfully. (I'd been running mosquitto_pub / sub from the command line, and got into some formatting problems.)

I did a bit of digging into the plugin code, and discovered that the generic thermostat adapter uses current_heating_setpoint, rather than occupied_heating_setpoint. I've raised a GitHub issue with Stas, but I suspect this may involve creating a specific Hive adapter.

I've just cloned my Drayton Wiser dzVents scheduling script, and used the CHSetTherm() function from your dzVents snippets. I'm now watching my Hive controller switch heating on and off in parallel with my live Wiser system.

I've also installed your node-red flow, and got that and the dashboard working. You refer to it as 'quick and dirty' - to me, it's very comprehensive and tidy! One thing though: zigbee2mqtt/FRIENDLY_NAME/availability is not coming up with anything. From the zigbee2mqtt documentation and frontend, availability is not exposed. (This may have been a change in 1.17.0 release 20201026?)(RTFM!)

Many thanks for all your great work and support!

[roadsnail]

Hi @MikeF

Great news on the topic issue and it's good to hear you are achieving similar results.

I did a similar thing and hacked my Heating/Hotwater dzVents control/scheduling script and watched relays working 'in parallel' while my setup was in test mode. That was what gave me the confidence to swap over my old live SLR device with the test controller. at the end of December Just power off (SLR), loosen two screws, swap over and re-tighten/power-up.

I agree with your comment regarding Stas' plugin. At one point I considered creating a dedicated Hive Plugin for the SLR/SLT, but having incorporated the mosquitto_sub commands into my dzVents script, I'll just go with that. It gets the job done. BTW. Getting the correct formatting for the mosquitto_pub commands in LUA took many attempts

With regard to node-RED, I am liking it more and more and thanks for the positive feedback.

Finally, do you have any views on QOS settings for MQTT with regard to the heating controller? I have changed from 0 (send messages and hope they get there) to QOS equal to 1. It has made no difference so far, but my gut instinct says that may be a more robust setup for what we are doing here?

Chris

[roadsnail]

A project update:-

After several months now, my Hive Thermostat/Boiler controller continues to operate via zigbee2MQTT as documented at https://github.com/roadsnail/Hive-SLR2- ... h-node-RED

The only change I made about 3 weeks ago, was to replace my CC2531 Zigbee USB stick with a zzh stick from Electrolama. What a difference that has made to my whole Zigbee network! Gone are the random lock-ups and laggy switching. For anyone serious about Zigbee, this class of device is surely the way to go.


Other News. Project Pi-ve:-

Also, I have continued playing with my test Hive devices and have developed and expanded my original Node-RED flow. Subsequently, I decided to use a dedicated Raspberry Pi Zero W as a controller for the Hive SLR/SLT and named this my Pi-ve system

So now Pi-ve is an autonomous system (with its own private Zigbee lan, CC2531 based Zigbee device, Mosquitto, Node-RED and Zigbee2MQTT ) that can run timed on/off slots (up to 8 per day) for heating and hot water. Also, timed 'Boost' and Override timer functions are built-in and can be controlled from a Node-RED dashboard or a simpler browser-based screen for small screen devices.

Alternatively, HTTP Requests or MQTT messages may be issued by an external system in order to control heating/hot water on Pi-ve. Therefore my Domoticz system can send commands to the Pi-ve in the form of HTTP requests OR MQTT commands and Domoticz sees my heating/hot water as just a sub-system rather than something more tightly integrated into my Domoticz environment.

Anyhow, enough waffle. The project can be found on gitHub at https://github.com/roadsnail/Pi-ve if anyone is interested.