Getting started hardware

Hi,`

this year we are constructing a house
I’m interested in using openhab as the basics for our whole electronic system.

As a developer, I’m ok with setting up computers etc, yet I have little to no knowledge about electronic.

I would like to give the person that is going to install our electricity a starting point for setting up stuff.

This person will probably not be an IT person. (we have not decided yet on who to work with)

When I look around the openhab website, there is a nice how to start page around setting up the server
What I miss is, how do you set this up the hardware.

aka are there tips about connecting hardware to the openhab server?

Is there a page for that , that I haven’t found?

I also wonder is there a page that lists companies, installers etc that are using openhab?

Every protocol/technology is different. For example, the Astro, Weather, MQTT, and HTTP bindings just need networking. Zwave requires a USB dongle. GPIO obviously requires jumper wires connected to the GPIO pins on your computer (presumably a board computer like Raspberry Pi or BeagleBone or the like).

So if you have specific questions about a specific technology you are looking at I’m sure there will be a wealth of advice you can illicit from these forums. Similarly the wiki page for that technology’s binding will also contain warnings and hint for how to get it working.

In short, there is no one answer nor one set of recommendations. Furthermore, connecting the hardware to your server is often as simple as plugging in a USB dongle (e.g. zwave), or setting up a networking connection with another hub (e.g. phillips hue). There really isn’t anything special for setting up the hardware, unless you are going for something completely DIY like Arduino boards with relays and sensors, in which case you are asking for help with that on the wrong forum.

Not really one page. Like I said, each supported technology has its own wiki page and on that page will be a lot of info regarding required hardware and how to set it up.

Not that I’m aware of. For the most part OH is more of a DIY community as far as I can tell thus far. But I would be surprised if there are not companies using it, they just are not posting about it on these forums.

rlkoshak https://community.openhab.org/users/rlkoshak Rich Koshak
https://community.openhab.org/users/rlkoshak
May 29

yves:

aka are there tips about connecting hardware to the openhab server?

Every protocol/technology is different.

yes, and still for the software part these pages exist.

For example, the Astro, Weather, MQTT, and HTTP bindings just need
networking. Zwave requires a USB dongle. GPIO obviously requires jumper
wires connected to the GPIO pins on your computer (presumably a board
computer like Raspberry Pi or BeagleBone or the like).

So if you have specific questions about a specific technology you are
looking at I’m sure there will be a wealth of advice you can illicit from
these forums.

no that does not help me. that only knows what technology you want to work
wit. I try to figure out what to use.

Similarly the wiki page for that technology’s binding will also contain
warnings and hint for how to get it working.

In short, there is no one answer nor one set of recommendations.
Furthermore, connecting the hardware to your server is often as simple as
plugging in a USB dongle (e.g. zwave),

my point being, is not that simple. when I work with raspberry PI or a
pine, should I connect 150 usb ports to connect everything ?
that is the kind of things that are needed to explain.

or setting up a networking connection with another hub (e.g. phillips hue).

There really isn’t anything special for setting up the hardware, unless you
are going for something completely DIY like Arduino boards with relays and
sensors, in which case you are asking for help with that on the wrong forum.

euh, why?

yves:

Is there a page for that , that I haven’t found?

Not really one page. Like I said, each supported technology has its own
wiki page and on that page will be a lot of info regarding required
hardware and how to set it up.

yves:

I also wonder is there a page that lists companies, installers etc that
are using openhab?

Not that I’m aware of. For the most part OH is more of a DIY community as
far as I can tell thus far. But I would be surprised if there are not
companies using it, they just are not posting about it on these forums.

which is exactly why I post my question


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Yves Hanoulle
Current community projects that need YOUR help:

We can’t tell you what technology to pick. Everyone’s requirements and needs are different. You will have to do some more research with your particular requirements in mind. For me, I like Zwave because it us wireless and there are lots of devices, but it is a horrible choice fur others because they have out buildings or stone walls or something that makes some devices be out of range. KNX is popular but a bad choice in the US because of lack of assailant devices. Etc. Only you know what your house looks like and what you want to automate so only you can answer the question of which would be best for you.

If you post your requirements (I.e. shake and did of your house and what you want to automate users on the forum may have some suggestions.

Do you need 150 USB plugs? Probably not. I think most people use two to three fur their entire setup, depending on technologies and topology.

This is not the best forum for help with diy electronics because this is a forum for the openHAB software platform, not an Arduino wiring, programming, or troubleshooting forum.

rlkoshak https://community.openhab.org/users/rlkoshak Rich Koshak
https://community.openhab.org/users/rlkoshak
June 1

We can’t tell you what technology to pick.

I don’t ask that you tell me what technology to pick.
I’m telling that now, that part is totally ignored on the website.
What you answer now, is a good start of such a page, now there is nothing.

Everyone’s requirements and needs are different. You will have to do some
more research with your particular requirements in mind. For me, I like
Zwave because it us wireless and there are lots of devices, but it is a
horrible choice fur others because they have out buildings or stone walls
or something that makes some devices be out of range. KNX is popular but a
bad choice in the US because of lack of assailant devices. Etc. Only you
know what your house looks like and what you want to automate so only you
can answer the question of which would be best for you.

If you post your requirements (I.e. shake and did of your house and what
you want to automate users on the forum may have some suggestions.

that only works when I have requirements, I don’t; I want to browse and
find out options.

Do you need 150 USB plugs? Probably not. I think most people use two to
three fur their entire setup, depending on technologies and topology.

This is not the best forum for help with diy electronics because this is a
forum for the openHAB software platform, not an Arduino wiring,
programming, or troubleshooting forum.

I never asked for electronics.

you only reply why my question is wrong.
If you would at the website with the eyes of a newbie, you’ll see it has
nothing to help making choices.
only help when the choices are made.

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In Reply To
yves https://community.openhab.org/users/yves yves Hanoulle
https://community.openhab.org/users/yves
June 1
rlkoshak https://community.openhab.org/users/rlkoshak Rich Koshak
https://community.openhab.org/users/rlkoshak May 29 yves: aka are there
tips about connecting hardware to the openhab server? Every
protocol/technology is different. yes, and still for the software part
these pages exist. For ex…

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Yves Hanoulle
Current community projects that need YOUR help:

I’m not telling you your question is wrong. I’m trying to explain why such a hardware selection page doesn’t currently exist and if it did exist would be of very limited content and use.

What I just said would probably be the entire contents of such a page. There are simply far too many options and far too many variables to provide generic advice for hardware/technology selection.

There have been many people who have posted specifics about what they want to do and this forum has been very helpful in describing the options and pluses and minuses of applicable technologies. But I can see no way to provide generic advice when your only requirement is “home automation, gotta get me some of that.”

You can browse the forum for examples of the sorts of things people have automated. But without knowing what you want to automate, where you are located (device availability), and other concerns (e.g. out buildings or gates, quality of the Internet, desire to avoid cloud based solutions etc.) what you are asking is akin to going to a hardware store and saying “I like to build stuff, what should I build?” The possibilities are endless and without a little more constraints (i.e. requirements) the answer is impossible to give.

I said:

There really isn’t anything special for setting up the hardware, unless you
are going for something completely DIY like Arduino boards with relays and
sensors, in which case you are asking for help with that on the wrong forum.

You replied with:

euh, why?

So I told you why.

Again, your question isn’t wrong. There just isn’t a good answer. There are too many possibilities, too many variables, and too many special cases. Believe me, I’ve tried to come up with something as this topic has come up on this forum before. But for better or worse, if you are so new that you don’t even know what you might want to automate, perhaps openHAB isn’t the best place to start.

let me retry:

I am building a house
I would like to use openhab,
so far no supplier of domotica systems I know in Belgium, is offering or
supporting openhab.

I still want to go ahead and encourage an installer to use openhab as base
controller.

we have 4 sleeping rooms, bath room kitchen etc etc

We want to have all

electricity sockets, connected to the system so we can turn them on and off
we want al the lights connected to the system so we can turn them on and of
and combine etc etc
we want light switches that would keep working if for whatever reason
openhab is not working (a nice to have)

we want to have some kind of burger alarm
we want to have movement sensor
we want to have temperature sensors
we want to have air sensors
we want our screens to be controlled by openhab

I have been playing with Openhab, I know how to do that part.

what I don’t know is how to physically connect Openhab to the hardware of
the lights

and yes I know there are many systems
and I know that is something we have to choose ourself

what I’m trying to say, is that if you are starting like me, it’s not clear
where to start.
the whole software part has nice introductions, the hardware part, is only
helpful the you already know what you want (I think)

For example: it looks like Anel is doing what I need for the lights and the
electricity., it would be nice if the site showed me somehow what ar all
the similar systems and what are the reasons to choose for one or another
(like stating KNX is ,to good for the states, as you did in your e-mail.)

it’s these kind of helps that help installers make decisions or ask the
right questions to their customers (or me to my installer)

y

It depends on the technology chosen. For example, with zwave you have a Controller that plugs into your openHAB server via USB and communicates with the devices wirelessly. For Phillips Hue openHAB communicates with the Hue Bridge over wifi and the Bridge communicates with the devices wirelessly. If you have relays or sensors attached to the pins on a Raspberry Pi openHAB communicates with devices by reading or seeing the current on the indicated pins. I think OneWire and KNX require a hub or are directly wired to the openHAB server. And so on.

As you can see, you choose your technology first and then read the wiki page for that technology to see how the hardware connects. They all work differently. There is no one generic answer for the how the hardware connects. But there is documentation for how each connects to the openHAB server on their respective wiki pages.

So if you have chosen a technology you look at that wiki page and it will tell you how it connects to the openHAB server.

So it looks like you have a candidate technology so first look to see if openHAB supports it, then read that technology’s page for how to connect it and configure it in openHAB.

But be sure to note that you are not stuck choosing only one technology. The whole point of hubs like openHAB is that they allow you to use more than one technology at the same time.

I really have no advice for the whole installer part. If I were using an installer rather than doing it myself I would use what ever technology the installer recommend. I’m posting then fur their expertise.