JimboBob: hello from Zwolle!

[JimboBob]

Hi everybody,

my name is Melvin and I am from Zwolle, The Netherlands, today I bought an RFXCom433e transceiver that I want to control from a Raspberry Pi 2B. The Pi is already in my network acting as a DNS-server with custom hostsfile to kick advertisements out. If you dislike ads like me, add it to your Pi . You can find it here: https://pi-hole.net/. It is freeware and I am not affiliated, I am just a very happy user.




Now on to my plans:
First I will need to get the Domoticz software running besides the Pi-Hole and configure how to use my Harrison curtains, then I will see if I can get a doorbell from Action and let the doorbell trigger a (still need to buy this one) second Raspberry at the front door that has a camera. Maybe also it will fire up a nice light with a Kaku unit.

Then maybe add a weather station and see if I can replace my Honeywell Chronotherm Vision Modulation OpenTherm thermostat with some interesting bits 'n bobs.

Well, thats it for now, I hope to have it up and running this weekend, depending how much time I can find. I have two young children and a wife and they somehow seem to need attention too



PS: a little help for the admin: if you install the Mod ReIMG Image Resizer images will be shown by default at 640*480px. More: https://github.com/DavidIQ/phpBB-ReIMG-Image-Resizer. I have this on my own PHP Board and it works like a charm.

[stlaha2007]

Welcome Melvin,

Nice projects. Pi-hole seems great, done it with bind. Needed internal "enterprise style" dns...

Using KaKu driven with rfx433e. Works perfectly when your rfx433e is placed centrally between all ends.
However Harrison curtains, are those that drive a chane (not sure about the english word for ketting) and open/close them? Like the idea...

How about weatherstation and replace your Chronotherm thermostat. Why?
Im expecting the OpenTherm Gateway in a few month, but dont replace/remove your Thermostat, as it can be a fallback to prevent overheating your house.

I have a weatherstation the older Alecto WS4500 and give all data thru the rfx into domoticz, but as a side note, battery driven and this winter with temps below 0 left me without data.
I installed a second pi on the northside with a BME280 now (Pi-Powered I2C) for temp-hum-baro, which will be used to send the outside temp to OTGW and set the Honewell non Touch to calculate the correct heating-line.

And your wife and children do need the attention. Have them too
One tip for you: work on your hobby at latenight / off hours. Makes you work harder to get it to work

Grtz,
Stephan

[JimboBob]

Using KaKu driven with rfx433e. Works perfectly when your rfx433e is placed centrally between all ends.
However Harrison curtains, are those that drive a chane (not sure about the english word for ketting) and open/close them? Like the idea...

Do you mean to place the transceiver in a central location in the house? I think I would choose to place it in my office on the first floor as the utility closet (meterkast) is on the front of the house. My Harrison curtainrails have a rope instead of a chain.

How about weatherstation and replace your Chronotherm thermostat. Why?
Im expecting the OpenTherm Gateway in a few month, but dont replace/remove your Thermostat, as it can be a fallback to prevent overheating your house.

No, this is an idea, I registered here to get feedback on my ideas and to find inspiration. If there is a better way to control the heating system I will opt for it. I like the idea of having a weather station so I know more about the local conditions related to my solar system. I have smart meters (Landis&Gyr) connected with a P1 Enelogic station to the internet but rather have it linked to the Pi. Is there a possibilty to add a PLCin the fusebox so I can read the yield of the panels? This would enable Yield, consumption, buying and selling of electricity.

I have a weatherstation the older Alecto WS4500 and give all data thru the rfx into domoticz, but as a side note, battery driven and this winter with temps below 0 left me without data.
I installed a second pi on the northside with a BME280 now (Pi-Powered I2C) for temp-hum-baro, which will be used to send the outside temp to OTGW and set the Honewell non Touch to calculate the correct heating-line.

3 years ago we built an extra floor on the attic and I added about 3 sets of 0.75mm speaker wires to the outside, on the roof. I can place a power supply in the utility closet and solder the plug on the top end to power a weather station. It will have permanent power this way. I will read into your temp-hum-baro setup to see what it exactly does.

And your wife and children do need the attention. Have them too
One tip for you: work on your hobby at latenight / off hours. Makes you work harder to get it to work

Grtz,
Stephan

True, I always work after 20:00 o'clock due to putting the kids to bed.

And, thanks for your input!

[stlaha2007]

Yep, central as in distances between antenna and far end need to be at the most 10 meters, assuming brickwall/concrete floor/double glass windows.

Mainly KaKu wallplugs have small distance (my expirience) garage at emd of backyard is 8m house 10, and metercloset 2m in frontyard. Relocated my antenna(rfx433e) on cupboard via Ser2Net on my Kodi-RPi approx.
Reception is better, had it on firstfloor now groundfloor near ceiling.

I'll have a look into the Harrison Curtain(s).

Heating Control is nice to have, investigate (look into subforum about OTGW)

WeatherStation... Also investigate, had the luck of having an supported Station before starting with Domoticz.
For Heating Control didnt want to rely on airttraffic, and smartmeters are coming so RPi in metercloset was needed, hence the Adafruit BME280 wired.

Also P1 cables with USB or RS232 can be connected with RPi or that other thingy with methodes like Ser2net. Network connected (passthru) serialport(s).

So go ahead, takes time to get the proper stuff and sometimes a bit of coding..

So you subscribed to the right forum.

Grtz,
Stephan

[gizmocuz]

Thanks for mentioning Pi-Hole, it is super !

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[remb0]

Very nice! I wil include this installation in my domoticz configuration script.
also make a bash script for a virtual switch to temp disable it (for just in case). wil post it when I have it.

thanks again.

[JimboBob]

Hi guys, I just started today by updating the Pi and installing Domoticz and adding the RFXcom middleware. I activated the Blinds protocols and now I have to find out how to get the curtains connected to Domoticz. First I will pull the Pi as it is on my officedesk and place it in the livingroom, attached to a switch behind the curtain. O, and I spent my lottery winnings on the Action doorbell and will add this too.

[JimboBob]

Very nice! I wil include this installation in my domoticz configuration script.
also make a bash script for a virtual switch to temp disable it (for just in case). wil post it when I have it.

thanks again.

Good idea, however; the switch to turn it off might not be that handy as the original three DNS-server fields in the router are emptied and only the first is populated with the ip-address of the Pi-Hole. Which uses the Open DNS addresses.

[JimboBob]

Thanks for mentioning Pi-Hole, it is super !

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Damn right! One curious question: Do you surf Pr0n that you have 74.1% ads? My ads are between 4 and 12%, varying per day.

[JimboBob]

I am wondering after looking at the devices board and not directly finding what I am looking for as I don't know what it is called if there is some kind of PLC that can be added to the fusebox of the house to read the power of solar panels. I have two Hosola invertors and also use the Enelogic P1 meter with a Landis&Gyr meter (gas and electric).

I would like to read yield, actual consumption and supply to the net. How is this done?

[JimboBob]

I read the manual and added the doorbell to Domoticz. The chime can be activated from Domoticz now and I can see when it has been pressed. I will buy another Pi with a POE injector and cam and place it at the front door. I want to link the doorbell to the cam so I receive a picture of whoever presses the doorbell.

Concerning the Harrison curtains, I tried to find out which hardware address the motor has but couldn't find it. The motor hangs 3,5 meter high from the floor and it is reasonably dark there and difficult to see.

Tonight my new Telfort glassfiber internet will be connected so I can start setting up a DynDNS service too access the Pi from outside. The old Ziggo internetconnection was terminated on the 22nd at 02:07 o'clock. I asked Ziggo to deactivate on the 24th and they agreed but did not execute correctly.

Anyway, I like the possibilities of Domoticz a lot!

[kurniawan77]

So you are Running pi-hole on the same raspi as your Domoticz is?

[JimboBob]

Yes, these applications can work besides each other.
Pi-Hole webserver is approached by navigating to 192.168.1.117/admin/index.php#
Domoticz like this http://192.168.1.117:8080/

I will add a tablet at some point next to the thermostat to control my devices onze I feel I have enough to control.