Categorieën
Home Assistant

AXA Remote 2

Controlling an AXA Remote Window controller from your Home Assistant system

ESPAXA

AXA2 This module will connect the AXA Remote 2.0 with your Home Assistant Server using ESPHOME. The module will integrate in Home Assistant, showing the position of your Window (open or closed), and give you the possibility to open and close the window from there. The remote control will still work, the status of the window will synchronize with home assistant.

Power

The module is using a 5V power supply, and I use a DC-DC step-up converter (MT3608) to create the 8V (7.5 with some cable loss) for the AXA Remote from the 5V power supply. So, NO batteries needed in your AXA Remote (Remove these before plugging in the connector)! The Power Supply should have enough capacity to handle the motors inside the AXA. Preferable is a Raspberry Pi supply (model 3, 2.5A or more). The power can be connected via the WEMOS USB plug, or directly to the 5V and GND pin of the WEMOS. The DC-DC Converter should be adjusted to 8V, using a multimeter. You can plug in the power adapter to this module as well for delivering power.

Schema

This is more like 'connecting the modules'. The DC-DC converter is connected to 5V and the power input of the AXA Remote (pins 1 and 2). The MCP2003 is the LINBUS driver. It has some special 'low power' capabilities we will not use. Therefor the /WAKE function is disabled, and Vren is not used. RxD is the OUTPUT signal! It should be connected to Rx of the Wemos. This is an 'open drain' output, so we have to pull-up to 3.3V to create a Wemos compatible signal. The input is Tx, this is a TTL compatible input, but will accept the 3.3V as a '1'. The decoupling capacitors used are 47uF, but any value > 10uF is OK. As an extra a BMP/BME280 module is integrated to measure Temperature, Pressure and Humidity (BME). A nice feature of ESPHOME, just to show, but not necessary for the AXA control. Schema

Components

Sometimes difficult to find, my sources (NO affiliate links 🙂 ):

Reference

Construction

No PCB (yet), so you must use a protoboard to connect the components. Before connecting the AXA and the MCP (if you use a socket), measure the correct voltage on the MCP2003 pins (8V) and the AXA connector. Be aware that mounting the temperature sensor as shown, will give a +5 degrees temperature due to the 'hot' Wemos module. Attach the sensor with wires, if possible. ESPAXA

Programming

We use ESPHOME to create the firmware. This is more like a configuration than a program. espaxa.yaml has all the definitions and is also referring to some program code in AXA/espaxa.h. You must create this directory and put the expaxa.h file in it. Also fill in the WiFi credentials (or better: use the secrets file). More info on esphome here or here. To start, connect the ESPAXA (without connecting the AXA Remote) directly to your USB port to upload the sketch the first time. Now OTA is installed, you can upload any new sketch 'Over the Air'. ESPHOME will try to find the module itself. If not, you must manage your DHCP server and 'hardcode' an IP address. The 'Closing' sequence starts with a short 'Open' command. It seems the AXA Remote will 'block' at the end position. By sending an 'Open' command before closing, the unit will 'deblock'.

Connecting

Use a RJ12 connecter to connect the module to the AXA remote. Use the connection in the schema. Remove the batteries in the AXA Remote! Connector

Logs

By looking at the logs (you can use the webserver at the modules address, the serial port output or the esphome logs command), you can see if the module is working. It will output the WiFi connection, Home Assistant connection and at a 30 sec interval the state of your Window. If any command is given, this will show up as well. [20:44:04][D][sensor:092]: 'Axa Window': Sending state 0.00000 with 0 decimals of accuracy
[20:44:34][D][espaxa:054]: 211, 211 Strong Locked
[20:44:34][D][sensor:092]: 'Axa Window': Sending state 0.00000 with 0 decimals of accuracy
[20:44:59][D][cover:072]: 'Zolderraam' - Setting
[20:44:59][D][cover:082]: Command: OPEN
[20:44:59][D][cover:152]: 'Zolderraam' - Publishing:
[20:44:59][D][cover:160]: State: CLOSED
[20:44:59][D][cover:168]: Current Operation: IDLE
[20:45:04][D][espaxa:054]: 210, 210 UnLocked

Home Assistant

The ESP module will show up as a new integration. After enabling this integration, you can add the entities given in your espaxa yaml file in your interface. The objects will already use their default MDI picture. Home Assitant

Thank you

For inspiration and examples:

disclaimer

Use this project as-is, I am not responsible for any unexpected open window at your home, or any damage to any hardware. This is a creative commons project, for non-commercial use only.

todo

  • PCB?
  • multiple AXA Remotes chained? Two should work on one power supply, more will need some adjustment in the power management.
Categorieën
Home Assistant

ESPHome – Introductie

Install ESPHome

We will use ESPHome to create the binaries for the ESP8266 module. ESPHome will create a binary from a ‘YAML’ script file. ESPHome is written in Python and is using ‘PlatformIO’ to build the software. If you installed already some components, you may skip these steps.

Install Python

If you already installed Python, you should check your python version:

 python --version

It should be >2.6. If not, install python. Refer to www.python.org, current release 3.8: https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-380/

Depending on your local OS choose Mac or Windows Web installer:

To install the Windows web-based installer, download the file and start it from the ‘Download’ directory:

Check the ‘Add Python 3.8 to PATH’ check box and choose ‘Install Now’

Choose ‘Install Now’.

After installation choose ‘Disable path length limit’ (just in case) and ‘Close’.

Check your setup by opening a CMD window entering the ‘python –version’ command:

python --version

Start the installation of esphome:

pip install esphome

This will install all the components needed.

Now you can create your first ‘YAML’ file.

Create a working directory in your home or documents directory and select this directory:

CD <documentsdir>
md esphome
cd esphome
esphome myfirst.yaml wizard

The Wizard is helpful in creating your first YAML file. First enter a chosen name for your node. This name will be broadcasted in the WiFi network, so choose a unique one!

Step 2 is asking for the platform (ESP32 or ESP8266). Choose, depending on your hardware.

In case of the workshop you should enter ESP8266, and Nodemcuv2 or d1_mini (WEMOS).

Step 3, enter your Wifi credentials (SSID and password)

In Step 4 you can enter a password for the OTA setup. In case of an untrusted network this will give you some more security

Now your YAML file will be created, it is an ASCII file which can be edited by your favourite editor (or notepad):

This file can be edited here, so any configuration changes can be done from here.

Now the magic will start. Connect an USB cable to your ESP8266 board and enter:

esphome myfirst.yaml run

This will compile your yaml file, create and upload the binary firmware to your module. Compilation will take some time, because platform and libraries should be loaded first. After compilation you get the option to upload the file:

Choose the COM port (you should first upload the code by USB). After uploading the ESP will reboot and try connect to the given SSID. The USB port will now act as a logging port and esphome will display the messages:

The Blinking Led

The Hello World example of IoT / The Embedded world. So here we go:

To configure the options from your ESP module, you have to add some lines to the YAML file. Open the YAML file with notepad or any other editor. Add the following lines:

web_server:
  port: 80
switch:
  - platform: gpio
    name: "LED"
    pin:
      number: 16
      inverted: yes

Be aware of the spacing, you should use two spaces for every intended line! 16 is the GPIO pin from the build-in LED in the NodeMCU v2 board. You should change if needed for WEMOS (GPIO pin 2).

Now you can again upload the code:

esphome myfirst.yaml run

Upload should be possible now with OTA (over the air programming). Important to check the uniqueness of your nodename. USB cable is a safe option, but give it a try.

Now try to connect to your node: http://myfirstnode , you should enter here your given name in step 1 of your project, be aware this will only work if everyone in the same network uses a different name.

Now you can toggle the LED by clicking the ‘Toggle’ button. The debug screen will give more information.

Reading a BMP280 sensor

Check out https://esphome.io/ , you see a lot of integrations possible. Choose any sensor you like, add it to some spare pins of your ESP module, add the configuration to the YAML file and here you go!

BMP280 sensor

This sensor is connected by i2c bus. Connect GND to GND, VCC to 3v3 (BEWARE: the sensor can’t handle 5V!!), SDA to D2 (Wemos) or GPIO4, SCL to D1 (Wemos) or GPIO5.

First install i2c in yaml, and then add the sensor:

i2c:
  sda: 4 #D2 Wemos
  scl: 5 #D1 Wemos
  scan: True
sensor:
  - platform: bmp280
    temperature:
      name: "BMP280 temperature"
    pressure:
      name: "BMP280 pressure"
    address: 0x76
    update_interval: 60s 

After uploading the code, the startup logging will show the i2c bus scan (due to ‘scan: true’), check if the sensor is found here:

Check if your sensor shows up here, may be you should change the address (0x76 to 0x77) depending on your hardware.

Automagically the sensor values show up in the webserver:

Publish to MQTT

To publish your data outside the ‘Home Assistant’ environment, you can use the common MQTT interface. You may use your own, local, MQTT server like Mosquito on your PI, or use a public one like ‘HiveMQ’. If you use an external service, be aware that anyone can read the results. Add the following lines to the YAML file:

mqtt:
broker: broker.hivemq.com

You should remove the ‘API’ line, or add a # (‘comment’):

# Enable Home Assistant API
#api:

After uploading, all the results from sensors, state of switches and even debugging messages are published to the MQTT server. The syntax is straight forward:

<name of your esp, as used in ‘step 1’>/sensor/bmp280_temperature/state is the topic used for the BMP temperature. You could change your ESP name to be unique.

Now you can go to http://www.hivemq.com/demos/websocket-client/ and ‘Add new Topic subscription’. If you enter here the <name of your ESP>/# , all the messages from your ESP will be shown:

NodeRed

Now we can pick up this data in other platforms, like NodeRed

Add a MQTT input node:

The topic should start with your node name. The server should be broker.hivemq.com.

If you connect a debug or gauge component, the value will be shown in your dashboard:

nl_NLDutch