How to set item values after startup using mapdb persistence binding

[rlkoshak (Rich Koshak)]

@tobiner

My physical lightbulb (i use this on here ) that is connected via zigbee2mqtt using the binding is “connected” to OH as a generic mqtt thing. The problem i have is, if the lighbulbs physical state is off and i plug it out of the socket and reinstall it, the lamp always gets on. This is a problem for me.

This is even trickier. Does zigbee2mqtt actually send a message when the bulb is unplugged? Is the MQTT Generic Thing configured to go OFFLINE when that message is sent? If not, how is OH supposed to even know if the lightbulb was unplugged in the first place?

@tobiner

i would expect that the corresponding OH thing changes its state to something like offline or?

Since it’s a Generic MQTT Thing you don’t get this for free. It will only go OFFLINE if you set the Thing up to do so. Otherwise, so long as the Bridge Thing is ONLINE all it’s Things will remain ONLINE.

@tobiner

I then would like OH to recognize if the things state changes from offline to online back which should trigger sending a “OFF” command to the corresponding items that control the state of the bulp so that i can be shure that the bulps physical state will be set to OFF if there were e.g. a person who turned off the phyiscal wall switch instead of using my smart home switches.

Assuming you can get the Thing to go OFFLINE/ONLINE in the first place create a Rule that triggers on the Thing’s status changes and when it changes to ONLINE and command the Item.

@tobiner

Creating a rule for every thing to be triggered of the state changes? Seems to be a lot of rules.

Most of us have long since determined that messing with smart bulbs is nothing but pain. They all behave differently when power is restored. You’ve made things even more challenging in that you are one step removed from the bulb and have to rely on zigbee2mqtt to tell you if the lightbulb went offline (assuming it can do so). But even if you used the Zigbee or Hue binding, it often takes quite some time before the binding will mark a Thing as OFFLINE.

But all is not lost. If you can get the Things to change ONLINE/OFFLINE, you could use Thing Status Reporting [3.2.0;3.4.9] and in the rule that it calls do a mapping between the Thing and the Item to send the command to.

Outside of that, if you do not get some sort of way to tell when the lightbulb goes offline and returns back online there is nothing you can do. Most people who use light bulbs disable their light switches (or put up little signs to not turn them off). That way the bulbs always keep power.