Niko Home Control II

Hermke · April 17, 2020, 11:31am

Thanks bccrew!

But if I understand correctly, the Virtual Output from NHC2 Program can only be used through openHAB with the custom NHC2-Binding which is being developed right here?

Is a must-have than for me since I also want my NHC buttons to interact to next/previous song on my Sonos installation, rather than only Play/Pause Volume Up/Down from the 122-52073 ( Enkelvoudige audiobediening met leds voor Niko Home Control)

With kind regards,
Hermke

bccrew · April 18, 2020, 6:35am

No, the start/stop function should be visible within the NHC app on your phone as well. But creating this function is only necesarry if you don’t have any spare buttons left.

If you want, you can assign a switch like this (https://www.niko.eu/nl-be/producten/niko-home-control/producten-voor-busbekabeling/tweevoudige-drukknop-productmodel-niko-7f4efbec-9d8c-5602-ad61-ebf5adc3f184) to virtual outputs.

I haven’t tested it myself though.

Then you could program the buttons inside Openhab. Controlling audio tracks won’t work without OH, except for the already existing functions from the article you mentioned before. 122-52073

Jorggs · April 18, 2020, 7:55am

Hi, I’ve also used free start/stop actions to switch a virtual output. This then shows up in Niko dashboard and is available in openhab. As an aside, I’ve also used this approach to drive a notification in Niko so that I can use these within openhab to send messages to me using rules in openhab.

It’s worth looking into as is very useful from the messaging point of view alone.

Just thought I’d share…

Nepomuk3000 · May 5, 2020, 6:31am

Hi,
I use paperui to configure my stuff and I have a problem with à mqtt plug that I switch thanks to a virtual output and rules.
Everything seems to work fine but sometimes (when Niko home control restart communication : log “Niko Home Control: restart communication at scheduled time”) the rule is triggered and the plug status changes…
Can you help please

Jorggs · May 5, 2020, 7:58am

Hi, is it possible to share a little more information on this? What does the rule do, what are the conditional actions in NHC for the virtual output?

When does ‘Niko Home Control: restart communication at scheduled time’ occur in the logs, I’ve never encountered that, or is that part of your rule?

Mherwege · May 5, 2020, 7:59am

When the connection restarts, all items will get an update? Do your rules trigger on update, or change?
To further analyze, I would need logs, the rule, thing and item definitions.
You can also switch off the reconnection logic by setting the reconnect timeout to 0. It is there because a regular reconnect seemed to improve long term stability, but it may work well enough without.

Nepomuk3000 · May 6, 2020, 6:56am

Hi Mark,
Thank you for this clues.
Here is my configuration :
Things :
MQTTPlug (mqtt:topic)
VirtualPlug (nikohomecontrol:pushbuton)

Items :
ItemPlug linked to MQTTPlug

Rules :
PlugOFF :
When “a thing status is updated - Thing : VirtualPlug - Status : empty”
Then “send a command - Item : ItemPlug - Command : OFF”
but only if… “an iem has a given state - Item : ItemPlug - Operator : = - State : ON”
PlugON :
When “a thing status is updated - Thing : VirtualPlug - Status : empty”
Then “send a command - Item : ItemPlug - Command : ON”
but only if… “an iem has a given state - Item : ItemPlug - Operator : = - State : OFF”

Logs are in your private messagebox

Mherwege · May 6, 2020, 12:42pm

@Nepomuk3000 You are using the next gen rules engine in PaperUI. Note this rule engine is experimental, so may contain bugs and is generally not yet advised to be used.
However, I noticed you trigger the rule based on thing status. You should not do that. The rule should be triggered on item state changes, not thing status changes. The thing status will change when the thing goes offline, is disabled, is connecting …

I also don’t think you actually need a rule. If you connect the same item to 2 channels, item updates can propagate. There are a few parameters influencing this:

In your mqtt thing channel configuration (mqtt binding), there is a parameter (SHOW MORE) ‘Is Command’. This will make sure all incoming messages are also send as commands to other channels connected to the same item. It probably will not matter in your case, as your plug does not command, but is commanded.
Channel - item links have a profile attached to it (click the pencil icon next to the item when looking at the items attached to the channel). These profiles have an influence on how the updates on one channel are being passed on.
Auto update flag on the item, should be on if you want to see the item as a switch, off it is just meant to trigger something.

If you still want to work with a rule, you should have 2 separate items, one linked to the MQTTPlug thing, and one linked to the VirtualPlug thing. Each of them gets updated automatically from the thing it is linked to. Your rule then updates the other accordingly.

Nepomuk3000 · May 9, 2020, 7:37am

Hi Mark,
I changed reconnect timeout to 0 and it’s fine but a bit odd…
I already tried to avoid using rules but didn’t manage to do it work. I was à newby then.
With today investigations, I founded that virtual output update the item correctly but the mqtt command was not sent… It was due to the mqtt plug profile. With follow profile it works like a charm.
Thanks à lot for your amazing work

bccrew · May 10, 2020, 2:57pm

Sorry it took so long but I have the binding up and running again after my migration to 2.5.4. I will let you know how long I can keep it stable (the energy clamp measurement)

Mherwege · May 14, 2020, 8:15am

@bccrew ran a test overnight with a development version of my binding. I did find an error in the code that pops up when the connection to the controller is restarted. This is by default set to every 300 min (refresh parameter on the bridge). @bccrew tested with a corrected version and a connection restart every 2 min overnight. There were no issues so far.
The test version is here if you want to try: Dropbox - File Deleted - Simplify your life
The correction is already merged in the code, so the next release version (2.5.5) will have it.
This version also contains some corrections for rollershutters.

mdevoer · May 14, 2020, 1:52pm

Hi all

I’m new to openhab, don’t know if this is the correct way to ask something
Ive got a question about NHCII with a Coolermaster hvac interface
now the problem is that the Mitsubishi indoor units have 5 settings for the fan speed
automatic, low, medium, high and top. The Coolermaster has the same settings.
But the HVAC thermostat from Niko has only 3 low, medium and high.

Is there a way that when you select the low setting on the HVAC thermostat that the unit will go in de auto setting?

The second question i have
The HVAC thermostats from Niko dont feed the indoor units of the airconditioning by temperature. So when i set the temperature of the room to 20 degrees the units measure the ingoing temperature of the air and not the temperature at the HVAC thermostat. Is it possible to change that?

Ive got a Mitsubishi PEAD M50JAL indoor unit

Greatings Maykel

Mherwege · May 14, 2020, 6:46pm

All of this does not involve openHAB. I don’t know if what you ask for is possible. You could try calling the Niko helpdesk. They are very helpful.
If you put openHAB in the mix though, there might be ways to do what you want. But you would have openHAB control the CoolMaster device based on the temperature and setpoint from the Niko Home Control thermostat. You would need the CoolMaster binding in combination with the Niko Home Control binding and some rules to achieve this. Your Niko Home Control program should in that case not control the CoolMaster directly. The disadvantage is that your heating/cooling will not work anymore when openHAB is down for some reason. And I like to have essential stuff still working if openHAB is down.

Dries_V · May 19, 2020, 10:43pm

Will try this weekend!

Mherwege · May 20, 2020, 5:32am

Note that the fix is already in 2.5.5. So if you upgrade openHAB to the latest release, you are set.

Dries_V · May 20, 2020, 9:43pm

I noticed this before but as I only close them or open them and never open them partially, I really never had any problems. But those shutters are working great now!

Great job Mark!

biiiglia · May 29, 2020, 11:46pm

Too bad viewing the videostream doesn’t work with Niko - Videokit, 2-draads, met toegangscontrolemodule, videobinnen- en buitenpost. It seems to be rebranded from Hikvision. The RTSP port (554) is open, but I have no idea what the username and password are. Does someone have these devices and get this working?

bccrew · May 30, 2020, 7:04am

I did a teardown of the APK but couldn’t find any clue regarding the password. I don’t think the app itself makes any use of the RTSP stream. The only way we could find out is to sniff traffic when it’s in use in a LAN but I don’t have the kit to test unfortunately.
I don’t think the app uses SSL pinning so we could also try to inspect SSL traffic with a MITM proxy like Charles.

bccrew · May 30, 2020, 6:29pm

Can you send me a zenmap (all TCP ports - “nmap -p 1-65535 -T4 -A -v”) scan result export in PM of the device please?

biiiglia · June 5, 2020, 11:32am

I’m a new member here, so I don’t have the PM functionality yet.

I tried wireshark but I can’t see any traffic when I open the cam with the mobile app or with the intercom screen on the wall. I don’t have much knowledge about wireshark, but the whole system also works without a router, so maybe I can’t sniff the traffic between the cam and the intercom screen.

I also contacted niko.eu, but they don’t want to give the username & password to clients. So too bad, we can’t control our own camera system.