No connection with coordinator

Xiaomi, Ikea TRÅDFRI, Philips Hue and more.

Moderator: leecollings

Post Reply
peterbos
Posts: 93
Joined: Saturday 07 November 2020 21:41
Target OS: Raspberry Pi / ODroid
Domoticz version: beta
Contact:

No connection with coordinator

Post by peterbos »

Hi,

I want my car to sent a message to Domoticz when it arrives on the driveway and when it leaves. The cheapest and easiest solution I can think of is using an Aqara T1 door sensor in the car with a relay contact instead of the reed contact. The relay will be switched when the ignition switch is turned on. The Aqara sees the status change of the relay contact and sends a message to Domoticz. With a DzVents script I set a virtual switch to "Car is at home" or "Car is away".

That's the idea but I have one uncertainty. What will the Aqara do if I stop or start the car and there's no connection with my Zigbee network aka I drove somewhere else? Will it just send the message once without waiting for a notification back from the Zigbee network coordinator? Or will it desperately try to connect to the network, keep sending messages and thus drain its battery?

Peter
willemd
Posts: 630
Joined: Saturday 21 September 2019 17:55
Target OS: Raspberry Pi / ODroid
Domoticz version: 2024.1
Location: The Netherlands
Contact:

Re: No connection with coordinator

Post by willemd »

Or put a mobile phone (or anything else that connects to wifi) in your car and use the "presence detection" to check whether it is connected?
Or, if you have a modern car with app and api, read the gps position of the car via the api?
User avatar
waltervl
Posts: 5397
Joined: Monday 28 January 2019 18:48
Target OS: Linux
Domoticz version: 2024.7
Location: NL
Contact:

Re: No connection with coordinator

Post by waltervl »

A battery operated zigbee device will not empty the battery when not connected to the coordinator. But I doubt it will connect quickly enough and stable enough when coming back home with your car.
So perhaps better find other ways to connect (like Domoticz monitoring your phone or your car Wifi presence)
Domoticz running on Udoo X86 (on Ubuntu)
Devices/plugins: ZigbeeforDomoticz (with Xiaomi, Ikea, Tuya devices), Nefit Easy, Midea Airco, Omnik Solar, Goodwe Solar
FlyingDomotic
Posts: 328
Joined: Saturday 27 February 2016 0:30
Target OS: Raspberry Pi / ODroid
Domoticz version: 2020.2
Contact:

Re: No connection with coordinator

Post by FlyingDomotic »

In fact, there's no long retries when trying to send a change to coordinator, if it fails.

But, T1 repeats its current state every hour, whatever has been last transmission status. This can be seen as a retry.

In addition, T1 will send immediately any change of its state, so when coming back, turning engine off will immediately send an "off" state, while turning it on at home will immediately send a "on" state.

If you worry about T1 battery, replace it by a small 3.3V regulator, connected on car's 12V battery (you may do it latter, if you change battery more than every 2 or 3 years).
peterbos
Posts: 93
Joined: Saturday 07 November 2020 21:41
Target OS: Raspberry Pi / ODroid
Domoticz version: beta
Contact:

Re: No connection with coordinator

Post by peterbos »

I will buy a relay and give it a try. If the T1 really sends its status every hour (and I have no reasons to doubt it) it uses very low power. I use couple of T1's at home where I replaced the reed relay by a wall switch and use them for the lamps. After almost three and a half year I changed batteries on most of them once, the rest I didn't replace at all!

Peter
lost
Posts: 643
Joined: Thursday 10 November 2016 9:30
Target OS: Raspberry Pi / ODroid
Domoticz version:
Contact:

Re: No connection with coordinator

Post by lost »

I have a zwave PIR+Temp sensor in the car I usually park in the street close to my home. No issue for sensor battery drain. I presume this would be same for zigbee.
The purpose was to make my home alarm do a short ring at night if someone breaks in my car so a bit different use case...
Indeed, detections shows accurately when i leave then come back. Maybe I could even derive an home/away status if, between a few close PIR pulses, I have temperature reports or not for lets say half an hour.
Maybe less accurate but no car wiring modification needed.
Such combined sensors sometime allows to setup a max time between temp reports that could also help here.
FlyingDomotic
Posts: 328
Joined: Saturday 27 February 2016 0:30
Target OS: Raspberry Pi / ODroid
Domoticz version: 2020.2
Contact:

Re: No connection with coordinator

Post by FlyingDomotic »

peterbos wrote: Monday 08 April 2024 16:55 I will buy a relay and give it a try. If the T1 really sends its status every hour (and I have no reasons to doubt it) it uses very low power.
If you're using Z2M, you can check "Last seen" column to see when last contact occurred. All my Aqara devices (around 80) have less than one hour.
peterbos
Posts: 93
Joined: Saturday 07 November 2020 21:41
Target OS: Raspberry Pi / ODroid
Domoticz version: beta
Contact:

Re: No connection with coordinator

Post by peterbos »

I've made a test setup this evening. I bought a 12V general purpose car relay with a normally open contact. I didn't change any wiring in the car but connected the relay to a cigar lighter plug. In my Volvo 940 the cigar lighter is switched by the ignition switch. The relay contact is connected to the T1 door sensor. It worked with the car on the driveway, but the T1 has not been out of sight of the Zigbee network yet. Tomorrow the car is about 8 hours away from house and from the network. So the story continues tomorrow.

The real purpose of this setup is not to see if the Volvo is on the driveway, but if our campervan is. In Holland we have a high road tax, even though you pay only a quarter of the normal tariff. At the moment I pay for my 1991 Hymer B544 (which is relatively lightweight) 98 euros per month. From january 2026 the tax will be raised to half of the normal tariff. We can suspend the tax if the van is not on the public road. That costs 29 euros each time. If I don't use the van for two weeks or more it's cheaper to suspend, from 2026 even when it's just one week. Only problem: if we come home we always forget to suspend the taxes. That's where Domoticz comes in. If it sees the camper arrive on the driveway, it will send a message with Whatsapp and a mail message to remind me :-)

To remind me I have to end the suspension I will just make a flashing led in the van. Plus a switch to turn the led off after paying road tax again. I'm not gonna check if the van is on the driveway, even though I have to switch the led off every time I start the van. More difficult solutions make it less failsafe.

Peter
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests