Hub recommendation for Velux io + somfy sunea io?

Hardware Home Automation
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1

Hi,

I would like to hear your recommendations for my existing and growing setup.

Status Quo Overall
I am running openhab (currently 3.2.0 on ubuntu) for several years now, do integrate stuff on my own with ESP8266 + soldering, have a bunch of homematic sensors and actors, mqtt, http-binding for water softener by myself etc. One of my main priorities is: as few communication to and from outside of my home as possible. Thus I have a netatmo rain gauge, but it only provides data, no rules depend on them.

Status Quo Shutters
I have some shutters for my velux roof windows, e.g. GPU PK08, they are solar powered with Velux Integra KLI310 or the older KUX100 (both with this homecontrol io label). As veluxā€™ connected solution were a bit expensive for this sole purpose, I opened the controller cases, soldered some wires to it and connected them to a Pi, quite similar to this blog post, but with mqtt and connection to openhab. Since the windows have sensors for closing position, it works but is not perfect.

What to achieve
Today I got an awning with an integrated somfy suneo motor and a linked eolis wirefree wind sensor. Now, as I understood, both the velux stuff I have and the new somfy components are ā€œhomecontrol ioā€-compatible and thus I can control them with one unit - and this unit can provide a reliable connection to openhab.

What I already know
There a several solution for my question, e.g. mentioned in this topic, but at least 6 years old. There might be another solution, but does it work for openhab 3.x?

What I still want to know
What are your recommendations and/or experience? Currently, Velux KLF200 seems to be the cheapest solution (below 150ā‚¬), but does it really work well with somfy and is is capable of at least 5 actors (4x velux, 1x somfy) with a minimum of 2 somfy to come? How reliable is the connection to openhab? Should I remain with my soldering+pi-workaround for the velux stuff and find something for somfy only (but TaHoma seems to be expensive for just 1-3 motors and the wind sensorā€¦)?

Thank you for your recommendations! If there are any questions about the setup, please ask.
drohhyn

2

I could have missed something in your post or in your prerequisites, but why didnā€™t you mention the Velux binding as a solution ?
It uses the KLF200 as a bridge, is stable, can communicate with some other IO Homecontrol non velux devices, and works quite well.

You can also find support in the forum discussion.

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I did not mention it because my main question is about the hardware, binding is coming afterwards. I am aware of the Velux binding and also Somfy TaHoma, but I am not really sure if there are compatible hubs which use the binding and the best hardware for my needs.

4

What I still want to know
What are your recommendations and/or experience? Currently, Velux KLF200 seems to be the cheapest solution (below 150ā‚¬), but does it really work well with somfy and is is capable of at least 5 actors (4x velux, 1x somfy) with a minimum of 2 somfy to come? How reliable is the connection to openhab? Should I remain with my soldering+pi-workaround for the velux stuff and find something for somfy only (but TaHoma seems to be expensive for just 1-3 motors and the wind sensorā€¦)?

I use the KLF200. The ā€œ5 actorsā€ you are referencing is the ability to connect 5 hardwired switches, with which you can control actuators like windows, sunscreens, curtains, etc. However, using the API (or the OH binding), a lot more actuators can be controlled via the io protocol individually.

I have 6 Velux actuators: a skylight, a roof window, curtains for both windows and sunscreens for both.
I also have two Somfy acuators: A patio awning and a zipscreen.

All 8 actuators are functioning excellent via KLF200. Following the forum topic mentioned by Gwendal, the binding for openhab is well maintained and missing functionality (slat position of certain Somfy actuators) has recently been added and is under testing.

Adding to your comment

One of my main priorities is: as few communication to and from outside of my home as possible

The KLF200 is purely local, whereas the Somfy hardware is via the Somfy cloud, which creates its issues when Somfy servers are down or they change security causing authentication issues, etc.

Regarding your eolis wind sensor, I have been looking into that one a few years ago. From what I understand is that you pair the actuators to it and the wind sensor will steer the actuators up (or down) and block the actuators for a certain amount of time that you can set on the eolis itself via a potentiometer. So I donā€™t expect the eolis to communicate with the KLF200 or TaHoma.

5

Thanks for your input, Iā€™ve ordered the KLF200 and will update about my experience when in use.

6

The KLF200 supports 200 actuators. Including Somfy devices. There is an upgrade in the pipeline to support vane/slats on venetian style shutters too.

Pretty good.

7

I got the KLF200 a week ago and was frustrated. It did run like it should forā€¦ some hours? I finally solved the problem (but still dont know why it occurred and how long it will take until the next time), see the TL;DR part at the end.

But First: the documentation from Velux is awful to not existent (it ends at the point where you START the configuration!). For all those coming to this thread later (but no guarantees if it really helps):

  1. Wifi is for setup only, after your setup you have to put the LAN cable in. Thus: check the connection settings, I am using ā€œWifi off after 10minā€ + ā€œLAN always onā€
  2. If you want to add something later (setup over wifi, see 1.), you have to switch off the klf 200 (pull power), remove the LAN cable, boot and enter thru wifi again
  3. no possibility to change the default password (the password which is needed for the configuration and listed and used as wifi password below the SSID on the label on the back of the device). This is the default wifi-connection AND communication password. Who does this anymore? We are in 2022! You can change the password for the configuration portal, though.
  4. Donā€™t stop your device during anything that looks like setup. I did (on whatever point, I cant remember) and now one of my shutters canā€™t be connected to the KLF 200 anymore, because the setup started over again, the shutter thinks it is still connected, but it not. Thats quite a normal behavior with velux, you have to access the reset button on the outside unit (on my roof). At least both remote controls are still connected and working independently from the velux hub. But: I donā€™t know why this happened and why the setup wasnt finished at that point of time.
  5. What do all the LED blinking codes mean? I did not find any documentation on that, which led to my frustrating status.

Now, as I mentioned above - the system worked for some hours. Next morning openhab did not have a connection anymore (I did not check the logs and log rotation already killed it), the KLF 200 had a red LED. Whatever this means, see 5.

For all those coming later, having the same problems, my troubleshooting which did not help (solution in TL;DR) but you might have the same errors and maybe a search engine is leading you here.
I tried restarting the KLF200 (power cord): the device came up again and had a blinking white LED but did not connect to openhab. Pulling and inserting LAN cable, restarting binding, restarting openhab. It did not work.

sending command GW_PASSWORD_ENTER_REQ
2022-07-13 13:01:02.903 [INFO ] [x.internal.bridge.slip.io.Connection] - io() on 192.168.1.2: Exception occurred during I/O: raised a non-recoverable error during connection setup: Connection refused (Connection refused).
...
2022-07-13 13:02:57.487 [INFO ] [x.internal.bridge.slip.io.Connection] - io() on 192.168.1.2: socket I/O failed 5 times.
2022-07-13 13:02:57.488 [WARN ] [.internal.handler.VeluxBridgeHandler] - velux bridge login sequence failed; expecting bridge is OFFLINE.

The password is correct, absolutely sure. Why? Because I copy/pasted it AND I can use it to log into wifi (see 2.). I could also ping the device: 2029 packets transmitted, 2029 received, 0% packet loss, time 2056466ms

TL;DR: the connection+documentation for KLF200 is awful (not the bindingā€™s problem in my view), just disable the bridge in the config, restart the KLF 200, wait the 10 minutes (until wifi is off again, see 1.) and enable the bridge again. This is mentioned in the bindingā€™s thread.

1 Like
8

Agreed. I am working on an update to the binding which also includes some additional material in the ReadMe requested by another user. So if you want to add further information to it based on your own experiences, please let me know.

QUOTE
Note: When the KLF200 hub is started it provides a temporary private Wi-Fi Access Point for initial configuration. And if any device connects to this AP, it disables the normal LAN connection, thus preventing the binding from connecting. So make sure this AP is not permanently on (the default setting is that the AP will turn off after some time).

EDIT:

If you get into such a bad situation, the ā€˜full montyā€™ approach which should recover from all kinds of mess-up, is as followsā€¦

  1. In OH UI disable the Velux Bridge thing
  2. Stop the OH service on your computer
  3. Power off the KLF and power on again
  4. (Do not connect any client to the KLF private wi-fi)
  5. Restart the OH service on your computer
  6. In OH UI re-enable the Velux Bridge thing
9

As I said, not a problem of the binding from my perspective but from Velux itself.
It would be nice to have some more info in the readme, though. Is the linked branch your recent one for the readme? I would take a look at it in the upcoming days + add a pull request if necessary (did that already for other openhab addon docus).
Thanks for your work btw!

And also thanks for the note about the ā€œmess-upā€ recovery approach.

10

Yes.

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Iā€™ve just created a pull request.
Maybe something else: I would change this line (readme bridge configuration) and the according code in the binding:
password velux123 Yes Password for authentication against the Velux Bridge.(**)
velux123 is the default password for Wifi and the configuration portal itself, not the password needed for the api auth, correct? So maybe change it to something completely different, so nobody mixes that up. I know, it is in the note below, but using the wrong (not changeable) password might be confusing.

Edit: itā€™s working for 24 hours now :slight_smile:

12

I think you are right. But for whatever reason, the binding defaults to using velux123 internally in the case that you forget to enter an actual password when you configure the thing. As you say, it is pretty certain that such value would never work. So perhaps it should default to an empty string now instead? @gs4711 do you have any suggestion?

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Unfortunately, the connection is not very reliable yet. Every now and then, I get the log flooded with 2022-08-12 10:00:24.901 [INFO ] [x.internal.bridge.slip.io.Connection] - io() on 192.168.27.88: Exception occurred during I/O: raised a non-recoverable error during connection setup: Connection refused (Connection refused). and nothing is working anymore. No idea of the root cause. Some days ago it was during our vacation, when nobody was at home. Tonight it started with 2022-08-12 05:35:48.446 [INFO ] [x.internal.bridge.slip.io.Connection] - io() on 192.168.27.88: Exception occurred during I/O: read time out after send.
Which mode do you use, slip or http(s)?

Currently, I do not get it back to work. Power cycling leads to a flashing white LED. I can connect via WiFi (which is still turned off after 10m), but nothing elseā€¦ Restarting the bridge etc. leads to the same error.

14

Slip.

If you are really stuck, then the following is the complete restart guide

  1. Disable the bridge thing in OH
  2. Turn off the hub
  3. Wait 10 seconds
  4. Turn on the hub
  5. Do NOT connect any device to the hub wifi connection
  6. Re-start OH
  7. Finally re-enable the bridge thing