Domoticz

Hello
I would like to ask about the development and general existence of Domoticz among home automation systems.

I will ask directly whether Domoticz is alive or, as they say in Poland, is it already winding down? I have noticed a huge tendency on the forums to abandon Domoticz and move to other systems because more and more topics work for me on Domoticz.

I have also noticed that more and more errors are appearing in Domoticz logs - from integration with Satel, from Tasmoticz, integration with Broadlink RM3 mini also does not work, the support for PZEM 004T from Tasmota is poor - the indications cannot be added to the energy panel.

I ask questions on various forums where there is no answer, is it possible that the Domoticz community is getting smaller? I have also not received answers to several topics on this forum.

I still use Domoticz and I probably won't give it up because there are too many devices built on it, but if everything stops working....

What is it like?

@Daro1003,

That is a valid question.

Let me give you some small history lesson here.

When I build Domoticz in (let's say) 2012, there were not many systems available like Domoticz.
There was a German project called FHem, KlikAanKlikUit had a system, Homeseer, and some other small project.
None that could fulfill my requirements, and certainly did not support all hardware Domoticz support.

The integration of the Blockly Event system, and later dzVents, is what Domoticz also makes very unique and customizable.
I say, there is currently no other home automation system with an equal flexible script system like Domoticz.

Domoticz was also build with the 'keep it simple' mindset. Have a look at (for example) HomeAssistant (great application bdw!),
you have to work with configuration files (yaml), and your initial dashboard is a real mess.

I like both systems but still find the complexity of HASS ... well complex for the average user.

Now with regards to your hardware, this is not the basic hardware these days.

I believe that you should not use cheap (crap?) sensors in your home.

Tasmota, Tasmoticz, PZEM, ....

Also, the standard these days is Zigbee.

A note about Tasmoticz, that is an external developed script. It is not developed by 'Domoticz', and if you want support for this, you need to ask it on their GitHub platform (and contribute yourself)

Domoticz supports Zigbee via Zigbee2MQTT (a project that works with both HASS and Domoticz and other HA systems)
Domoticz supports ZWave via ZWave-UI (2MQTT) (a project that works with both HASS and Domoticz and other HA systems)
For RF, your best and trustful option is to use a RFXCom transciever

Domoticz started with a simple P1 Smart meter and many RF hardware via the RFXCom transceiver.

Around Christmas, I thought, maybe more people could use this, why not make it opensource...
It became very popular

It is still used by a lot of users.

But it relies also on users to keep it up to date.

You can also imagine that I do not own all various hardware in the world.
I don't have a Satel alarm system, Tasmota hardware etc.
Like I mentioned, the standard these days is Zigbee/(ZWave)

Looking at your forum usage, you ask questions, you want answers, but maybe you could contribute as well.
If something is not working in the Satel implementation, you could try to fix this.
A lot of people want to install something, press next/next/next and be done with it.
This is possible for quite a lot of hardware in Domoticz (a lot!), but some are more complex.

Domoticz is also used by advanced users, users that want to automate via scripts, need more control than other HA software can deliver.

As for the current Development activity, have you had a look at our GitHub repository?
Did you checkout the latest commit history?
I think it is very active, and you can also see here what is most worked on and requested.

You can imagine that I put a lot of effort into Domoticz, I still find it a lot of fun to do, and each day I learn more by solving requests/puzzles and it keeps me challenging!

So, for most end-users, that are using a P1 meter, using Zigbee, having some RF sensors, that just want to automate their house and are interested in sensor readouts, Domoticz is perfect.
For more experienced users that want to work with dzVents, MQTT, Node-Red, Python, it is also an excellent platform.

I intend to keep on going with this, and I hope all contributors will as well.

When a new stable is released, there are more then 300 commits, and 169 files changed.
Hundreds of hours have spent in this by various contributors, I think it's quite active.

And if you use the above hardware, it will probably just work for you.
You can add a Zigbee/Zwave device to your Satel to check if your alarm system it is armed or not, and use that information in Domoticz

And if you are not happy with it, help make it better or look for a better system.
These days there are a lot of HA systems.
I do suggest picking an opensource system where the community can contribute and can have a look at security issues.
Or you can put your trust in a black box or round ball.
A combination of systems is also an option. For example, you could use HASS and Domoticz as they both support MQTT-AD

And no system is perfect unless you write it yourself or use the help of Domoticz (scripts/plugins) to archive that.

Now start with the 'development'

Thank you for the extensive answer.

Regarding Satel, I asked the creator of the Domoticz plugin to do something, unfortunately the matter lies and he certainly will not do anything, despite the fact that many people use it: https://www.elektroda.pl/rtvforum/topic ... l#21382234

Unfortunately, I am an electronics engineer - an installer of ready-made CCTV systems, intercom alarm systems and gate automation. I do not know programming languages ​​so that I could help with writing the code.

Although I would like to have some input into the development of Domoticz, unfortunately, not being a programmer I will not help. I can only test, i.e. load a ready image or installation and perform tests, write reviews of what works, what does not work, etc., but I guess that is not very necessary.

If Tasmota or PZEM are bad for Domoticz, I will gladly go in a different direction and equip myself with different equipment.
The question is what?

Maybe it's worth creating a list of devices that are designed for Domoticz and work stably with Domoticz.

This is about:
- control of lighting with relays / roller blinds
- temperature readings, light, etc. what to use to read values ​​in domoticz -
- Voltage, current, KWH power what to use

I think it would help many people like me a lot because then I can set myself to specific equipment and I don't have to bother with equipment that works a little bit, a little bit doesn't.

You're right about the simplicity of using Domoticz.

I also appreciate your work and the fact that you provide the system for free.

I really like dashticz, which supports a 14-inch touch screen in my living room with 8 screens to operate.

My topic may be a bit stupid or unusual, but I wanted to know the current direction of Domoticz because I don't want to give up on it, but only improve it.

Did you have a look in our Wiki about supported hardware?

And with regards to what to use, how about Zigbee?

Unfortunately I didn't find a tab on the supported hardware in Wiki. Is it Wiki and hardware?

I don't know much about the Zigbee system, I have to start from scratch. I know that I need a gateway for Domoticz to start with, but the question is again what to buy to start with so that it's OK for Domoticz on Raspberry.

The wiki really has all the information.

I suggest you start here:

https://wiki.domoticz.com/Zigbee2MQTT


https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io

https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/supported-devices/

I believe there is a leak in Domoticz for basic instructions and videos that show how to start with Domoticz from scratch: maybe many people will start using Domoticz instead of HA or other systems. I know that @gizmocuz should have written some instructions for a magazine, recently: it will be good to publish it somewhere, maybe someone can translate and share it.

I think that Domoticz wiki is a powerful system full of information, but many many people developing plugins do not publish those plugins in the wiki, so it's not possible to find it. Wiki must be used by everyone to add useful information!

I agree with @gizmocuz about the simplicity of Domoticz and the powerful of lua/dzvents scripting, but I also add that it's very very simple to write python plugins for Domoticz. I wrote a complex plugin for Domoticz in few weeks, 6 years ago, then I tried to write the same for HA but after 3 months of document searching and testing, the HA integration worked for 2-3 months then stopped working because in HA many classes have been redefined, so I stopped it.
In few hours I wrote the support for PZEM-16 (Modbus: you can connect several PZEM-16 to the same bus and to the domotic controller by a cheap RS485/USB adapter): you can find it in the domoticz plugins list https://wiki.domoticz.com/Plugins where you can also find a plugin for PZEM-004T. Maybe this can be helpful for you, if you prefer to not use tasmota.

I think that Domoticz should integrate the PP-manager plugin so it will be easier for people to install hardware plugins without the need to use the shell. Hoping that @gizmocuz will consider this possibility.

I also think that Domoticz UI looks very old. The Energy dashboard is a great news, and I hope that some developers will work on the Domoticz UI in the future.
I'm also an electronic engineer, I usually program in C for microcontrollers.... but to improve Domoticz UI good programmers are needed!
Maybe sharing info on social networks about Domoticz may help to find some new user that may contribute to Domoticz software in the future!

I'm using Domoticz for my house, with complex automations realizing a complete alarm system (sensors on every window/door/blind, PIRs and external motion detectors that, when activated, starts recording a short video from the external cameras then recode it 2x speed and send to Telegram), climate control (checking temperature in every rooms, computing dT/dt to realize a PID to control the heat pump trying to use most energy from photovoltaic), load management to prevent disconnections, fire alarm detection by using the temperature sensors in each room, ...
I believe that these automations will be very difficult to implement in other systems, so Domoticz is really perfect for these applications.
Maybe Home Assistant is perfect to turn on the TV and have nice dashboards to monitor temperatures and power, ...

I'm using domoticz since 9 years and still like it very much. I startet with my somfy-rfx blinds and now I use shellys, z-Wave, rfxcom, dummy-devices in combination with homebridge, homebridge-edomatic to handly via siri from my ios-Devices.
Event handling in combination with lua is my most used case to do automations. I also tested home automation for a special use case, but I prefer domoticz, because it is a very open system. Thanks a lot to gizmocuz and other developers.

PS: The only thing I'm missing actually is a matter interface as it is available in home assistant to handle todo x thermostats.

It's great to hear that Domoticz is here to stay! I recently gave Home Assistant (HA) a brief try, but I found it quite limiting when it came to scripting. In contrast, dzVents is fantastic. I agree that the Domoticz interface looks a bit dated, but since I'm the primary user, it doesn't bother me. For the family, I use a Dashticz panel, which looks great, and most of the automation "just happens" (or occasionally doesn’t—such is life, haha).

Over the years, some glitches have crept into the UI. For instance, pages now require a manual refresh after logging out from my laptop, and Blockly scripts sometimes become garbled.

If—and it’s a big if—you’re looking to grow the user base, I think creating an installer for Linux could be a great step forward. Something like SBFspot’s installer could work, where users are asked what they want to set up (e.g., Zigbee, Z-Wave JS, RF, DomBus, etc.). The installer could then attempt to detect the appropriate USB devices and generate Docker Compose files to bring up a fully operational system. I’d love to contribute to something like this in the future, but it’s beyond my current capabilities.

Blockly is an excellent addition for new users, and I think the backup and restore functionality could be simplified—it’s likely to be used most often by people (like me) who occasionally make mistakes!

HA has its own share of issues. For example, Zigbee recently went completely down for a while, so Domoticz isn’t alone in facing challenges with breaking changes introduced by new OS versions, Python updates, etc. That said, I’ve found running HA in Proxmox to be very stable. Currently, I run Domoticz in an Ubuntu Server VM on Proxmox on a NUC. It's much faster than it was on my old Pi 3B, and rollbacks are incredibly quick.

A big thank you to all the developers, especially Gizmocuz, for your hard work—it's greatly appreciated!

Plugin for PZEM 004T for Domoticz without Tasmota and ESP is a cool solution, I remember I tried to start it but something didn't work. I have to refresh the topic.
Is this the plugin https://github.com/mce35/Domoticz-PZEM-004T ??

I also think that PP-manager would be a great solution for installing and searching for plugins for people who are not very good at Linux. I always have a problem with installing the plugin.

You write about the power of dzvents or Lua and I even have a problem with blockly, unfortunately the instructions are a bit weak on the Wiki regarding blockly, it doesn't cover everything. And as for writing scripts in dzvents, I have absolutely no idea how to start.

@psubiaco do you have some secret for operating the heater to use the overproduction from photovoltaics? I'm struggling with blockly but unfortunately I can't arrange the right blocks, maybe someone can help with blockly or writing a script to control the heater.

"Over the years, some bugs have crept into the user interface. For example, pages now require manual refreshing after logging out of the laptop, and Blockly scripts sometimes become distorted."
I confirm that the blocks are also distorted for me, you have to close them and reopen them.

@solarboy is it possible to install Domoticz on Proxmox?? I'm thinking about exiting the Raspberry 3B+ and running it on the Dell Wyse 5070 terminal, but I don't know if it makes sense, but I'll definitely have more DPI image outputs or USB ports.

Daro1003 wrote: ↑Sunday 19 January 2025 15:26
@psubiaco do you have some secret for operating the heater to use the overproduction from photovoltaics? I'm struggling with blockly but unfortunately I can't arrange the right blocks, maybe someone can help with blockly or writing a script to control the heater.

You can find my LUA scripts on https://github.com/CreasolTech/domoticz_lua_scripts : the script_time_heatpump_emmeti.lua manages the heatpump checking current solar production, room temperature, ..., but it's really complicated and customized for my house, so it's not a good way to start from.
Conversely, you can find scripts that are easy to use like alarm.lua (to make a complete burglar alarm system) and script_time_fireAlarm.lua (to have notifications in case that room temperature rises quickly => burn). If you need more help, open a new forum thread and tag me!

Forget blocky: it's just for very very simple automations. Making scrips in LUA is very easy, and Domoticz already create a template for you with several information inside to help writing the automation.

Try to get used to use dzVents.
If there is anything great about domoticz then it's dzVents.
You can achieve everything with it.

@psubiaco Question: Will I be able to add readings to the energy panel in domoticz thanks to the https://github.com/mce35/Domoticz-PZEM-004T plugin you are writing about for PZEM 004T? Currently, I have all readings in domoticz from Tasmota but I cannot add them to the Energy PAnel in Domoticz.

I will write a separate thread regarding heater control.

Thank you all for your involvement and tips.

Daro1003 wrote: ↑Sunday 19 January 2025 15:47 @psubiaco Question: Will I be able to add readings to the energy panel in domoticz thanks to the https://github.com/mce35/Domoticz-PZEM-004T plugin you are writing about for PZEM 004T? Currently, I have all readings in domoticz from Tasmota but I cannot add them to the Energy PAnel in Domoticz.

Please separate thread for this too, if you need more info.
I'm not the author of that plugin, I wrote the plugin for PZEM016 (modbus energy meter).
For the energy panel, you can use the script script_device_power2p1.lua that you can find in https://github.com/CreasolTech/domoticz_lua_scripts to get power/energy value from the meter managed by PZEM plugin and write those info in a virtual P1 device (that can show exported and imported energy separately).
Make a new thread for more help, it's not good to mix different items in a single thread.

@psubiaco There is already a topic about my problem with the energy panel: viewtopic.php?t=42564

psubiaco wrote: ↑Sunday 19 January 2025 12:26 Wiki must be used by everyone to add useful information!

This used to be possible, but last time I tried this was no more (not even possible to update some how2 I wrote). Probably there was some abuse that lead to some policy change?

Anyway must agree that scripting features in Domoticz are really useful. I'm more in making most of my system automagic, so not even using all UI features (like plans)! Another good feature of Domoticz is stability: I usually have months of uptime between 2 restarts, mostly after some system components that requires to do so (kernel, highly used libraries like libc...).

In the past, this was much easier than now IMO: Most of HW types support was embedded. But as more and more exists on the market this became most difficult (+zwave library abandon).

Daro1003 wrote: ↑Sunday 19 January 2025 15:26 @solarboy is it possible to install Domoticz on Proxmox?? I'm thinking about exiting the Raspberry 3B+ and running it on the Dell Wyse 5070 terminal, but I don't know if it makes sense, but I'll definitely have more DPI image outputs or USB ports.

I installed Ubuntu server and then Domoticz on that within Proxmox. My zigbee and zwave etc docker containers run inside that VM. Proxmox makes as many backups of the entire system as you want, to anywhere you want. I also have another VM with Ubuntu and a torrents server on the same machine that was on another pi3b before. The 2 VM's on the Intel NUC 6 use less power than the 2x rpi3b and are much much more responsive, everything reacts faster now.

It's really worth an effort to learn dzVents; it's not that hard and is pretty limitless in what it can do, blockly has limits with arithmetic and knowing when devices last updated etc that force you to create lots of virtual devices to achieve any advanced logic. You can also export blockly code and paste into chatgpt and get code back but everything must be verified and cleaned up.

I agree as others have mentioned with dzVents you can write some really powerful automation scripts.

On the other hand blockly is great for those that need basic automation but might not have the capability or skills for scripting.

The best of both worlds here!

user4563 wrote: ↑Monday 20 January 2025 1:54 with dzVents you can write some really powerful automation scripts.

In dzVent or pure Lua, I sticked to 2nd option for 2 reasons:
-My brain looks to be reluctant to the way dzVent handles triggers.
-Ability to test code snippets out of Domoticz embedded Lua: Just install Lua interpreter for the system & play, you can even simulate hardware changes by filling your own CommandArray etc tables the way Domoticz would provide them to your scripts. Usually easier than from embedded interpreter (+ having to wait/trigger real HW to change state or change for a dummy one for test device scripts, next minute each time after a change for a time script...) while dzVent only allow such tricks for pure Lua snippets.

I Just read through the whole bunch of replies, and I also am still on Domoticz since 2014, and propably will for some time.

Only done some minor contributions to some python plugins, not much time for more.

lost wrote: ↑Monday 20 January 2025 12:16 -My brain looks to be reluctant to the way dzVent handles triggers.

LOL, I guess my brain works the same.

Hope the thread/matter iintegration will be there when I need it;-)