ELV Max! Heating control system

jesperlykke · Post by **jesperlykke** » Friday 15 January 2016 21:36

Hi here

I have been following this thread intense, but never got to give it a real try.
I am a bit of a Linux guy, as i have been using it for years, on mine laptop's at home. - So i understand most of the stuff written here...
I got 4 termostat+ 1 ecoswitch and 1 windowswitch, and ofcause the MAX!Cube running in our house.

But as there are a lot of threads, and solutions i am looking for a howto (wiki), for installing it from scratch (including downloading the maxbuddy files)

Does anyone here, have a working uptodate wiki?

I am having a full blown RPI setup for some home automation, allready running Domoticz.

Best rgds; Jesper

1970sITman · Post by **1970sITman** » Tuesday 19 January 2016 12:30

Folks,

Anyone seen the problem that's developed with Max!buddy since the start of 2016 where you cannot set the "Holiday mode" function?

What happens is that the date shows as, for example, 19-Jan-0001 as opposed to 19-Jan-2016. It stays like that for a minute or two, then reverts back.

I did have a similar issue setting the Holiday Mode using the MAX! web front end and reported that to [email protected].
Amazingly............it looks like they fixed the issue quite quickly on the web front end by releasing a new version of the software - it's now 1.4.5

Now that the web front end is fixed, If I set the holiday mode using the MAX! front end, and then restart Max!buddy, that seems to work ok

However, there is either still an issue with the Cube firmware ( how is that updated?? ) or with Max!buddy preventing me from setting the holiday mode directly from Max!buddy

Anyone else?

Steve

blackdog65 · Post by **blackdog65** » Thursday 04 February 2016 11:38

Yesterday I decided to blow the dust off my ELV MAX! equipment and try again.
I dicovered :-

1) no way will it install how I want on a cubietruck... bummer!

2) Installed ok on a slave RasPi2... but virtual slave devices will not show on master device... double bummer!

3) I am way too stupid to be able to write a script to transfer the info from raspi/slave to cubie/master... TRIPLE BUMMER!

3) If I change the IP and HID in Domoticz.js from the slave info to the cubietruck info... IT WORKS!

I AM AN I.T. GOD!!!

Ah... now for a lay down and wait for the pills to kick in...

blackdog65 · Post by **blackdog65** » Thursday 04 February 2016 11:49

Just a quick survey...
which trv are you all using?

A)http://www.conrad-electronic.co.uk/ce/e ... view1&rb=1

B)http://www.conrad-electronic.co.uk/ce/e ... view1&rb=1

C)http://www.conrad-electronic.co.uk/ce/e ... view1&rb=1

I have B but is there any reason why A would not work? and what does C do for an extra fiver?

Westcott · Post by **Westcott** » Thursday 04 February 2016 12:25

I've got a B that I'd like to control from Domoticz.

blackdog65 · Post by **blackdog65** » Thursday 04 February 2016 12:44

do you have the cube too? without the cube, domoticz can't see it

blackdog65 · Post by **blackdog65** » Saturday 06 February 2016 20:09

@10gic
Hi Kevin,

I have your script installed ( viewtopic.php?f=34&t=841&start=60#p38160) and so far it's working fine. Many thanks!

My previous set up had a master on/off switch for heating which had timers. What would you advise as the quickest easiest way to add in a virtual switch. I've been looking at adding in several "and X switch = on" (or off) conditions to the "-- Perform logic" section but there is probably a much simpler and/or elegant method... any thoughts?

Sean

blackdog65 · Post by **blackdog65** » Monday 08 February 2016 9:13

Has anyone seen this?
https://github.com/Bouni/max-cube-protocol
I wish I was a programmer as there appears to be enough information here to do everything we'd like.
Imagine that... a cheap, reliable heating control for domoticz

mvzut · Post by **mvzut** » Monday 08 February 2016 23:47

OK, received my ELV Max! set two days ago (two radiator thermostats "type A", two wall thermostats, one Cube), and followed the "Wiki" on page 2 of this thread. Bummer, it didn't work! I could see in the log that it found my Cube and the data was received correctly, but it didn't result in the creation of devices in Domoticz.

After a lot of debugging with my limited programming skills, I found out that the problem was in the Domoticz.js script. The line

Code: Select all

if(device.getDeviceType() == 'WallMountedThermostat') {

(and the two similar if statements later in the script) were never true, so the code below it was never executed. This is because, apparently, device.getDeviceType() is not a string. So what I simply did was change these lines into

Code: Select all

if(toString(device.getDeviceType()) == 'WallMountedThermostat') {

And it worked!

I followed the exact guideline, with one difference: I installed Java (openjdk) version 8 instead of version 7. Could this have caused the different behaviour?

Maybe others who have problems getting things to work are helped by this fix as well!

P.S. At first I also didn't get the last part working: starting the script in the background at startup. It didn't understand the "&& screen" part. I slightly changed the headless.sh script in ~/maxbuddy into:

Code: Select all

#!/bin/bash
cd /home/pi/maxbuddy
java -cp "launcher.jar:./lib/*" org.fenwulf.maxbuddy.launcher.Launcher -headless

and then I changed the line in crontab into

Code: Select all

@reboot sh /home/pi/maxbuddy/headless.sh > /dev/null 2>&1

Now it works like a charm

l0gic · Post by **l0gic** » Tuesday 09 February 2016 8:59

blackdog65 wrote:@10gic
Hi Kevin,

I have your script installed ( viewtopic.php?f=34&t=841&start=60#p38160) and so far it's working fine. Many thanks!

My previous set up had a master on/off switch for heating which had timers. What would you advise as the quickest easiest way to add in a virtual switch. I've been looking at adding in several "and X switch = on" (or off) conditions to the "-- Perform logic" section but there is probably a much simpler and/or elegant method... any thoughts?

Sean

Hi Sean,
Sorry I've only just seen this, I'm Bali at the moment so not focused on forums

I just made a dummy switch of type x10 as I don't have any x10 equipment in my systems.
If you are using x10 just use spare address to prevent clashes with what you have.

I'd love to be able to ditch the max buddy as I'm finding that it loses contact with the cube every now and again, so it is becoming unreliable.
I can't run max buddy alongside the duck DNS client as max buddy dies with the client running which s a bummer.

All the best

Kevin

blackdog65 · Post by **blackdog65** » Tuesday 09 February 2016 9:17

Hiya Kevin,

Sorry to disturb you in sunny Bali

I think I mislead you; I meant how to add it into the script. I've actually done it now but it overrides the minvalves part... an emergency fix at 1am

Other than that, I now have a multi-position switch with "Off-Hot Water-Heating-Away" working sweetly, more valves on order and a happy Mrs.!

Enjoy your hols

Sean

l0gic · Post by **l0gic** » Tuesday 09 February 2016 9:39

Hi Sean,
my mistake - sorry.

Just had a quick look and if I understand your requirements correctly then adding another "if" line should do it.

Code: Select all


 if (otherdevices['On Holiday'] == 'Off')then -- Not on holiday 
      
       if (otherdevices['Heating Required'] == 'On')then -- It's time to heat the house <<--- New line DON'T FORGET TO CLOSE WITH AN 'END'
       
         if (otherdevices['Boiler On (B1)'] == 'Off') then --If a minimum of 'MinValves' valves are on by more that pre-set value BoilerOnPercent

I have assumed you set the timing control via the dummy switch called Heating Required in this case.

HTH

Kevin

blackdog65 · Post by **blackdog65** » Wednesday 10 February 2016 8:53

mvzut wrote: P.S. At first I also didn't get the last part working: starting the script in the background at startup. It didn't understand the "&& screen" part. I slightly changed the headless.sh script in ~/maxbuddy into:
Code: Select all
#!/bin/bash
cd /home/pi/maxbuddy
java -cp "launcher.jar:./lib/*" org.fenwulf.maxbuddy.launcher.Launcher -headless
and then I changed the line in crontab into
Code: Select all
@reboot sh /home/pi/maxbuddy/headless.sh > /dev/null 2>&1 
Now it works like a charm

Yeah, I had that too. It turns out that screen is an app that needs to be installed 1st. Worked fine after.

@l0gic
Worked like a charm...ish

I got about 2000 emails for missing device yesterday

but that seems to have stopped... phew! Many thanks!

Sean

mvzut · Post by **mvzut** » Wednesday 10 February 2016 10:49

blackdog65 wrote:Yeah, I had that too. It turns out that screen is an app that needs to be installed 1st. Worked fine after.

Hmmm, interesting. This "screen" application makes the script run in a separate terminal session that you can always open when desired. Nevertheless, I don't think I really need that, it's fine if it just runs in the background and sends its output to /dev/null. In case of doubt, you can always check the log in ~/.maxbuddy/logs/

blackdog65 · Post by **blackdog65** » Wednesday 10 February 2016 16:00

I took a risk this week and bought 2 of the slightly cheaper "MAX! Radiator Thermostat Basic"
Well done me! They work exactly the same as the others, look better and sound quieter... WOOHOO!

DomotRikz · Post by **DomotRikz** » Sunday 14 February 2016 14:39

Is there also a way to let Domoticz control the set temperatures of the Max! system? As I understand it correctly, Domoticz now only can read the data in order to display it or to control the central heating system.

blackdog65 · Post by **blackdog65** » Sunday 14 February 2016 15:19

Hiya,

DomotRikz wrote:Is there also a way to let Domoticz control the set temperatures of the Max! system? As I understand it correctly, Domoticz now only can read the data in order to display it or to control the central heating system.

Quite true as things stand, but in this link https://github.com/Bouni/max-cube-protocol I believe there may be enough information for a programmer (I'm not!) to control a stat via lua/python or similar. If so, ELV Max! becomes something of a dream solution for Domoticz users

blackdog65 · Post by **blackdog65** » Sunday 14 February 2016 16:18

More interesting links here
http://www.domoticaforum.eu/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=6654
http://www.dmitry-kazakov.de/ada/max_ho ... mation.htm
http://www.dmitry-kazakov.de/ada/compon ... ube_Client
Masses of info here... damn I wish I could code!

Meza · Post by **Meza** » Wednesday 24 February 2016 19:18

Ordered a Cube, thermostats, Eco switch, window contacts and a whole load of basic TRVs from elv.de recently. Looking forward to receiving them and setting it up, but will first have to replace 8 standard rad valves with TRV bodies. Got a strange mix of 10mm and 8mm pipe in my system so may have a little difficulty to find bodies which fit the MAX! heads.

Any recommendations for manufacturers of bodies which fit the heads without needing adapter rings?

Sent from my PLK-L01 using Tapatalk

l0gic · Post by **l0gic** » Friday 26 February 2016 16:53

Guys,
been looking through the links that BlackDog put up regarding the Max protocols.

caviat - I am not a coder by any stretch of the imagination but, I fancy having a go at replacing my MaxBuddy with something newer.

I can faff around in Visual Studio and knock up the odd simple VB application but that will only be of use for Windows users.
I've had a quick look at C++ and it looks a fearsome mountain for me to climb.
But I assume using C++ will allow for cross compiling of the app to non windows environment.

Quick question, MaxBuddy runs with a GUI in Windows, how does it present when you run it on the Pi for example?

I could be selfish and knock up something for Windows or I could dive in deep and do something that could potentially hit all requirements.

So, what are you currently running MaxBuddy on?

Feedback and other thoughts please.

cheers

Kevin