Hello,
having migratet to Openhab from FHEM i have issues with MAX! components. Having the CUBE added in openhab and having the things added (2 Thermostats, 1 Wall mounted Thermostat, 2 Window Shutter Contacts) i have no idea how to link them together. Aim should be to have the Wall monuted Thermostat be the “central” for the rest of the items, as it is one room here. So how do i tell openhab that a shuttercontact is associated with the thermostat?
Thanks in advance!
You misunderstood that stuff. Associations are done inside MAX! using the MAX software. You can add openHAB items to make the devices visible in OH and to override settings from within OH, but you cannot associate these items in OH with each other.
You can choose to not associate the devices in MAX! and create OH rules (let’s say to sendCommand() to a thermostat when the shutter contact trigger), but that is something completely different and should not be called an ‘association’ to avoid further confusion.
alright, i understood that. So the most comfortable way to setup the whole max system for OH would be to use the MAX Software for configuration and then use OH to set temperature as needed?
I would like to try the send command version never the less, can someone give me a hint where to have a look in my case with the Max components?
Not sure you understood: the ‘send command version’ is one way to use OH to set temperatures, i.e. the answer to you question (and not ‘nevertheless’).
You configure devices using MAX!, you define OH items per PaperUI or file (see MAX! binding docs), then you can either use the (Classic or Basic) UI to change temperatures, or you write a rule if you want to automate that. The rule is where you would need to use the sendCommand().
Not sure I got it correctly. If I associate a thermostat with a shutter in
max software, there would be no need for a send command by oh from the
shutter to the thermostat as it is already associated…
It’s the configuration possible if I switch the vibe to a cul?
Right, but you can still override it from within OH (i.e. from OH GUI or rules).
??? (even though I know it’s a typo and you meant to write ‘cube’, this question does not make any sense at all to me)
A CUL is an 868MHz USB dongle that can replace the Cube using software like homegear. You can then use the homegear plugin for OpenHAB to control Max! devices. However, I am still stuck with the problem of linking devices like @Bastian_H so I am not sure if this can solve his problem.
what “problem” after all ?
I know it’s common for people migrating from FHEM where they used a CUL to expect OH to work the same way.
But a CUL is a FHEM concept and not an OH one. Don’t try migrating concepts, it just does not work out. Use the cube and the maxcube binding and you’re fine.
Yes there’s homegear, but you shouldn’t try getting that to work as an OH beginner, this is too big a jump and will lead to frustration. Retry in a year when you’ve got the rest working and feel comfortable with running OH but still really feel you need to get rid of the maxcube.
He wants changes on the Max! Wall Thermostat to be sent to the TRVs for a room rather than having to go to each valve and set the temperature there. For example, I have one room with three radiators, so I want to control all three from one location.
That’s what MAX! does without OH already, so again, what’s the problem ?
Like mstormi told you before, please use the eQ-3 software. Download here: Download
Create there a room e.g. “Livingroom”. Add all your devices (1st: Wall mounted thermostat; 2nd: all thermostats, 3rd: all shuttercontacts) to that room (e.g Livingroom).
Then you will see them in OH2: Goto PaperUI → inbox → + → Max! Binding → they will be automatically detected then.
Read also https://docs.openhab.org/addons/bindings/max/readme.html
Create an .items file. e.g.
Group gMAX "MAX Heating" <temperature> [ "home-group" ]
Switch maxBattery "Battery Low" (gMAX) {channel="max:thermostat:KEQ0565026:KEQ0648949:battery_low"}
String maxMode "Thermostat Mode Setting" (gMAX) {channel="max:thermostat:KEQ0565026:KEQ0648949:mode"}
Number maxActual "Actual measured room temperature [%.1f °C]" (gMAX) {channel="max:thermostat:KEQ0565026:KEQ0648949:actual_temp"}
Number maxSetTemp "Thermostat temperature setpoint [%.1f °C]" (gMAX) {channel="max:thermostat:KEQ0565026:KEQ0648949:set_temp"}
The corresponding channels you can find in PaperUI → Configuration → Things → look inside all your Max! devices.
For controlling your room (Livingroom) you only need your “Wall mounted thermostat” and for information all shuttercontacts (to see OPEN/CLOSED) in your .items file.
You also can add your “heating thermostats” to your .items file , but this is not mandatory…
Then create a .sitemap file. That’s it.
Thanks for your replies. So to make sure i got it all correctly, let me summarize:
To have multiple max components (things), communicate with each other in a way that makes sense for a room (shutter contact informs wall thermostat about an open window which then informs thermostats to close) i NEED to use the eq3 software, right?
With asking about the CUL i was referring to the fact, that the max cube can be flashed to be a CUL device and was asking myself if that would make working with max components easier.
Yes, correct. You have to use it doing a basic configuration. Later you can use rules in OH2 to control it.
I guess, no. But I don’t have any experience with CUL. I only heard, if you once flash your Cube with CUL firmware, there will be NO way back!
No it won’t. It’s a way to get the stuff to work without a cube if you want that for whatever reason (be it valid or not, i.e. just to serve a dogma). It may work out, but for sure it won’t make life easier. It adds a lot of complexity, untestedness and all sorts of support issues that are to be expected whenever you leave the mainstream path. And it’s definitely nothing to recommend to any beginner.
The only reason for changing to a CUL would be the fact, that my CUBE
forgets its settings from time to time…
I did as you told me and configured the basics with the eq3 software and already added them as things by Paper UI, thanks for that. Now working with Eclipse Designer for items and groups and already gotten far into making my whole house with this concept but i ran into some problem:
Thanks for the massive help so far.
First of all you should learn the difference between things and items!
You shoud read this 1st.
Every thing has a certain predefined number of channels.
You then connect these channels with one or more items. Each link between a channel and an item is a separate code line.
Yes, it is a switch. That means: Battery power = high = OFF ; Battery power = low = ON
But you cannot switch anything with it. It is switched ON when the battery is empty or nearly empty.
My example is an exact copy from the documentation. 
No, that’s not possible. You have to use 4 codelines, one for each item.
But you can group them to a logical group. See docu about groups!
In my example above (gMAX) is a group.
You can use multiple groups for each item, e.g. (gMax, Thermostat) or (gMax, Shutters) or (gMax, Batterylevel, Livingroom)
In an .item-file first you should define your groups: e.g.
Group gMAX "MAX Heating" <temperature> [ "home-group" ]
Group Batterylevel "Max Batterylevel" <battery>
Then you can put all your corresponding items to that groups.
further examples from MY configuration:
Shutter contact:
Contact Window_GF_Corridor "Corridor [MAP(de.map):%s]" (GF_Corridor, WindowsEG) { channel = "max:shuttercontact:XXXXXXX:XXXXXX:contact_state" }
Switch GF_Corridor_lowBattery "Corridor: Battery low" <battery> (GF_Corridor, WindowsEG) { channel = "max:shuttercontact:XXXXXXX:XXXXXX:battery_low" }
Valve of thermostat:
Number C_Kitchen_maxValve "Valve [%.1f %%]" (gMAX, C_Kitchen) {channel="max:thermostat:XXXXXXX:XXXXXX:valve"}
I am quite far into items/Things/Sitemaps now and am about to configure the groups. Taking your example with the Window contact: isnt it possible to have one ITEM in a sitemap frame which displays multiple Channels? So i got an item for the Shutter contact telling me its open/closed AND if the battery is low…
I guess the week-programming still has to be done by eq3 Sofware?
No, it isn’t possible with normal .sitemap !
Maybe you can create a widget with Habpanel. But I don’t know anything about Habpanel.
The weekly scheduler from eQ-3 software is IMO better than using cron commands in .rules file.
It’s up to you. As a beginner I would use eQ-3 software.
You also could use Astro and Weather binding. Then you could configure rules e.g.
when outside temperature is > 18 °, then heating–> OFF
Or
At sunrise → heating: ON
etc, etc, etc
the rules with weather and Astro is a nice idea, thanks for that, i will implement it when im done with everything else.
Another problem i ran into:
I put all the shutter contacts with the batterylow channel into a own group “gBatteries” in the item file. In Sitemap i owuld like a frame with all my battery states for all shutter contacts (13 in a total)… is there a way to display them all in one frame using the group or do i have to define 13 “Text items” in the sitemap? I tried it with “Text item=gBatteries” which didnt work out as the group is defined by "Group gBatteries “Batteriestatus” " which then is shown in the sitemap as one item, not all 13 contacts.