openHAB + SonOff RF 433 RF Bridge + MQTT Broker / Syntax Error

[7kyf0x (Ingo)]

Hi all.

First of all thank you for taking your time reading this.

I managed to get this far with my idea to controll my RF power strip whith 5 different outputs.
I found a website (Sonoff RF Bridge in openHAB2 einbinden – IT-Service für Kleinunternehmen – Beratung, IT-Sicherheit, Datenschutz)
which explaines how to create the code for the items in openHAB to control one of the Outputs.

But I am stuck here with this syntax error:

I am happy to share more details if needed.

[rlkoshak (Rich Koshak)]

I am disheartened to see a tutorial fro 2022 that still references OH 1.x bindings which were end of life over four years ago.

That tutorial will not work in any version of OH after 2.5.12 and even in 2.5.12 it will only work with the 1.x MQTT binding, not the newer and maintained binding.

In OH 3 and OH 4 you will need to (at a high level):

• install the MQTT binding
• create an MQTT Broker Thing
• create a Generic MQTT Thing
• create switch Channel on the Thing for each switch setting the command topic as appropriate
• link the Item to a Switch Item

Alternatively, since this appears to only send commands to the switches and do not receive anything back

• install the MQTT binding
• create an MQTT Broker Thing
• create Switch Item
• create a Rule triggered when the Item receives a command; in the rule use the publishMQTT Action to publish the message on the topic.

Installing the MQTT binding and creating the Things are covered in the Getting Started Tutorial.

[7kyf0x (Ingo)]

Thank you very much for taking your time.

I will try to dig deeper into this topic and get it into my head.
Most of the steps you explained I already have successfully done:

@rlkoshak

• install the MQTT binding
• create an MQTT Broker Thing
• create a Generic MQTT Thing

I am stuck at:

@rlkoshak

create switch Channel on the Thing for each switch setting the command topic as appropriate

What I need to learn is the syntax and the exact commands to send. This is where I need a little push into the right direction. I will try to read more about this and hope I get this sorted in my little old brain.

At the end this is just a starter Project and I would like to follow up with a 433MHz Weatherstation where I also need to receive some data. But that for later. First some babysteps.

[JimH]

This is part of a MQTT .things file that I use. It may give you an idea of the syntax to create the thing. This thing is one of the Sonoff S31 power switches that I use for Christmas tree lights. Your channels and topics will need to match the requirements for your device.

Bridge mqtt:broker:MqttBroker [ 
       host="10.0.0.100, 
       port="1883", 
       secure=false,
       username="OptionalMqttUserid", password="OptionalMqttPassword",
       clientID="OpenHab"]

{
Thing topic ChristmasTreeThingId "ChristmasTree" {
    Channels:
        Type switch : power        "Power"         [stateTopic="ChristmasTree/stat/POWER", commandTopic="ChristmasTree/cmnd/POWER"]
        Type string : sleepmode    "Sleep Mode"    [stateTopic="ChristmasTree/tele/STATE",transformationPattern="JSONPATH:$.SleepMode"]
        Type number : sleep        "sleep"         [stateTopic="ChristmasTree/tele/STATE",transformationPattern="JSONPATH:$.Sleep"]
        Type number : loadavg      "Load Average"  [stateTopic="ChristmasTree/tele/STATE",transformationPattern="JSONPATH:$.LoadAvg"]
        Type number : wifiap       "WiFi"          [stateTopic="ChristmasTree/tele/STATE",transformationPattern="JSONPATH:$.Wifi.AP"]
        Type string : wifissid     "SSID"          [stateTopic="ChristmasTree/tele/STATE",transformationPattern="JSONPATH:$.Wifi.SSId"]
        Type string : wifibssid    "BSSID"         [stateTopic="ChristmasTree/tele/STATE",transformationPattern="JSONPATH:$.Wifi.BSSId"]
        Type number : wifichannel  "Channel"       [stateTopic="ChristmasTree/tele/STATE",transformationPattern="JSONPATH:$.Wifi.Channel"]
        Type number : wifirssi     "RSSI"          [stateTopic="ChristmasTree/tele/STATE",transformationPattern="JSONPATH:$.Wifi.RSSI"]
    }
}

This associated Items file is

Switch ChristmasTree            "ChristmasTree [%s]"               {channel="mqtt:topic:MqttBroker:ChristmasTreeThingId:power"}
String ChristmasTreeSleepMode   "ChristmasTree Sleep Mode [%s]"    {channel="mqtt:topic:MqttBroker:ChristmasTreeThingId:sleepmode"}
Number ChristmasTreeSleep       "ChristmasTree Sleep [%d]"         {channel="mqtt:topic:MqttBroker:ChristmasTreeThingId:sleep"}
Number ChristmasTreeLoadAvg     "ChristmasTree Load Average [%d]"  {channel="mqtt:topic:MqttBroker:ChristmasTreeThingId:loadavg"}
Number ChristmasTreeWifiAP      "ChristmasTree AP [%d]"            {channel="mqtt:topic:MqttBroker:ChristmasTreeThingId:wifiap"}
String ChristmasTreeWifiSSID    "ChristmasTree SSID [%s]"          {channel="mqtt:topic:MqttBroker:ChristmasTreeThingId:wifissid"}
String ChristmasTreeWifiBSSID   "ChristmasTree BSSID [%s]"         {channel="mqtt:topic:MqttBroker:ChristmasTreeThingId:wifibssid"}
Number ChristmasTreeWifiChannel "ChristmasTree Channel [%d]"       {channel="mqtt:topic:MqttBroker:ChristmasTreeThingId:wifichannel"}
Number ChristmasTreeWifiRssi    "ChristmasTree RSSI [%d]"          {channel="mqtt:topic:MqttBroker:ChristmasTreeThingId:wifirssi"}

Hope this helps

Jim

[rlkoshak (Rich Koshak)]

@7kyf0x

What I need to learn is the syntax and the exact commands to send. This is where I need a little push into the right direction. I will try to read more about this and hope I get this sorted in my little old brain.

Adding Things - Advanced | openHAB shows all the steps for all of these through the UI. I don’t do .things files so if that’s your thing hopefully you can find some examples on the forum or some other help. I consider it a waste of time to fight syntax errors when I can be fighting home automation errors instead.