openHAB zmote binding

fonz · September 30, 2016, 7:19am

I also ordered two, so keep on coding

urmilparikh · September 30, 2016, 8:18am

Great!

MikeD · September 30, 2016, 8:35am

I have also ordered 2 units and am eagerly waiting to test your binding.

urmilparikh · September 30, 2016, 10:36am

Super! All the more reason to get a binding quickly

Ari_Hagman · October 15, 2016, 2:14pm

Hello @urmilparikh,

I received my zmote and I was able register on of my remotes to that. I was able use web ui to send the commands to my tv. So exellent start!

I checked the API from here GitHub - zmoteio/zmote-server: Server behind zmote.io using Expressjs.

There is a command:

PUT /<sta_mac>/api/ir/write

but the function is bit too low level for me.

Is there an api that understands the remote that I have registerd? So basically if I have a remote like bellow:

I could send something like:

{“remote”: “SAMSUNG_BN59-00940A”, “command”:“Power”}

–Ari

urmilparikh · October 15, 2016, 3:02pm

Hi @Ari_Hagman,

That’s a good start, indeed!

Unfortunately, zmote only understands IR signal format. All association of remotes, buttons, etc is handled in the front-end. We designed it that way mainly since it will be difficult to store many remotes inside its little internal memory. Also, having done it that way makes zmote flexible to support variety of IR protocols.

Anyways, I’d recommend this page for simpler explanation of APIs:

Also, since you have got your TV remote setup on the web app, I can show you a quick way to get the JSON required for each button:

Navigate to your TV remote page in web app.
Append ?download=true to the URL and refresh the page. Refreshing is necessary. Refer below image.
You should see a download button on the left of menu button.
Click on that button to download whole JSON file associated with your TV remote.

With a little parsing of that JSON file, you will be able to find out codes that need to be sent to zmote for each button on your remote.

Here is a sample key:

...
 "keys": [
  {
   "key": "KEY_POWER",
   "name": "POWER",
   "code": {
    "period": 864591,
    "n": 36,
    "seq": [
     320,
     159,
     20,
...
     20,
     859
    ],
    "repeat": [
     0,
     2,
     36
    ]
   },
   "spec": {
...

The code part is what you will need.

You can use this method to download codes for any remote you like.

Ping me if you face any difficulties.

Ari_Hagman · October 15, 2016, 4:02pm

Thanks @urmilparikh,

this helpped!

If I understand correctly I need use exec binding (curl) so send these commands now, because openhab2 does not have support to post command with body content?

–Ari

urmilparikh · October 15, 2016, 4:32pm

Yes, exec binding may be used.

However, using sendHttpPostRequest in rules may be a better option. It supports POST message body with specified content-type.

Ari_Hagman · October 15, 2016, 4:56pm

Thanks,

now I have integrated ZMote to my openhab. So now I can power on / off my tv from my sitemap and rules.

Of course own binding would be even better.

–Ari

urmilparikh · October 15, 2016, 5:10pm

I hope it was smooth.

A binding will come soon… stay tuned

ThomDietrich · October 16, 2016, 9:35am

Wow this looks like a nice process. I’ll need to order one Ari, can you post your working configuration?

Ari_Hagman · October 16, 2016, 6:15pm

Hello,

my solution is bit ugly. But here it is anyway.

I have 2 items:

/* Switch for network binding to check that TV's IP response to a ping. Ping is done every second */
Switch NetworkTV "TV"(Devices,Persistance,MyOpenHAB) { channel="network:device:192_168_1_212:online"} 
/* Virtual switch that is used from sitemap */
Switch ZMoteTV "TV"

In rules file I have these. I want keep NetworkTV and ZMoteTV in same states. Probably there is more elegant solution available…

rule "Turn TV On"
	when 
		Item ZMoteTV changed to ON
	then
		if(NetworkTV.state == OFF)
			executeCommandLine("/opt/zmote/power.sh")
end

rule "Turn TV Off"
	when 
		Item ZMoteTV changed to OFF
	then
		if(NetworkTV.state == ON)
			executeCommandLine("/opt/zmote/power.sh")
end

rule "TV On"
	when 
		Item NetworkTV changed to ON
	then
		if(ZMoteTV.state == OFF)
			sendCommand(ZMoteTV,ON)
end

rule "TV Off"
	when 
		Item NetworkTV changed to OFF
	then
		if(ZMoteTV.state == ON)
			sendCommand(ZMoteTV,OFF)
end

I allready had this power.sh so I used that instead of php sendHttpPostRequest

curl -X POST -H ‘Content-Type: application/json’ -d ‘{“period”: 862316,“n”: 68,“seq”: [ 171, 172, 21, 65, 21, 65, 21, 65, 21, 22, 21, 22, 21, 22, 21, 22, 21, 22, 21, 65, 21, 65, 21, 65, 21, 22, 21, 22, 21, 22, 21, 22, 21, 22, 21, 22, 21, 65, 21, 22, 21, 22, 21, 22, 21, 22, 21, 22, 21, 22, 21, 65, 21, 22, 21, 65, 21, 65, 21, 65, 21, 65, 21, 65, 21, 65, 21, 1672],“repeat”: [ 0, 0, 68] }’ http://192.168.1.223/xx-xx-xx-84-8f-f4/api/ir/write

And finally the sitemap:

Switch item=ZMoteTV label="TV"
Text item=NetworkTV label="TV" icon="network"

urmilparikh · November 10, 2016, 5:15am

Hello guys,

OH2 binding for zmote is under progress. We are also making some changes to zmote firmware to make it simpler to use.

In the mean time, here is a simple example that you can use as reference, if you want to start exploring today:

zmote-demo.items:

String TV_POWER { autoupdate="false" }

zmote-demo.sitemap Snippet:

Switch item=TV_POWER label="TV" mappings=[POWER="POWER"]

zmote-demo.rules:

rule "TV Power"
  when
    Item TV_POWER received command
  then
    sendHttpPostRequest("http://192.168.1.4/5c-cf-7f-84-8d-ed/api/ir/write", "application/json", '{"frequency":37900,"n":36,"repeat":[1,2,36],"seq":[320,159,20,60,20,60,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,60,20,60,20,60,20,20,20,60,20,20,20,20,20,20,20,899]}')
end

Note that I used single-quote ' around JSON string to avoid escaping double-quotes " inside the JSON string.

We will have support for non-JSON commands in the new firmware, which we are planning to roll out next month.

Stay tuned.

Wqty · November 17, 2016, 11:32pm

Hello,

I’ve bought one and configured with no problems. Great product and easy to understand manual. Great job!

One note to your example:

Don’t we need to use something like this???

Anyways - when I was trying to add rules to OH 1.x, I’ve encountered small problem which I’d like to share…

Part of my JSON file with problematic button / command:

{
   "key": "KEY_POWER",
   "name": "POWER",
   "icon": "settings_power",
   "_id": "5602db2f8b871efc4c088181",
   "tcode": {
    "seq": [],
    "repeat": []
   },
   "code": {
    "period": 885622,
    "n": 100,
    "seq": [
     128,
     64,
   ...
     16,
     2765
    ],
    "repeat": [
     1,
     0,
     100
    ]
   },
   "spec": {
    "protocol": "Panasonic",
    "device": 160,
    "subdevice": 0,
    "obc": 61,
    "misc": "no repeat"
   },
   "confidence": 32
  },

My rule:

sendHttpPostRequest("http://192.168.0.204/MAC-goes-here/api/ir/write", "application/json", '{"period":885622,"n":100,"repeat":[1,0,100],"seq":[128, (...),2765]}')

It was giving me 404 error in the log when switching.

Solution was to change repeat part from [1,0,100] to [0,0,100].

What is more interesting - when using zmote.io app, browser console shows:

repeat: Array[3]
0: 1
1: 0
2: 100

Keep up good work and thank you again!

urmilparikh · November 18, 2016, 4:32am

Hello @Wqty,

Either frequency or period will work, as far as the value is correct. For period = 885622, frequency should be 37000. We started with using period, but soon moved to using frequency, mostly for readability. zmote supports both of them .

The 404 issue you have seen is not expected. I checked the the same code on my zmote with curl command and I got valid response for repeat = 0 as well as 1. If possible, please try with curl command once:

curl http://IP/MAC/api/ir/write -X POST -H "content-type: application/json" -d '{"period":88
5622,"n":100,"repeat":[1,0,100],"seq":[128,64,16,16,16,48,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,1
6,16,16,48,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,48,16,16,16,48,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,
16,48,16,16,16,48,16,48,16,48,16,48,16,16,16,16,16,48,16,16,16,48,16,48,16,48,16,16,16,16,16,48,16,2765]}'

I have seen sendHttpPostRequest has a small timeout. But I wonder if it will give 404 error.

Generally, it is a good idea to repeat IR signal a few times. When we press button on a physical remote control, we usually end up repeating 2-4 times. I have also seen some devices (my own TV) which recognise IR command only if it is repeated at least once. That’s the reason our web app adds a repeat of at least once even if the code from DB doesn’t say so.

Lastly, thank you for encouraging words!

Deviance · January 5, 2017, 8:15pm

Hello,

I have just started in home automation, and am currently shopping around for an IR blaster. I was looking at the Zmote greatly encouraged to see you are starting a binding for it! I Just wanted to see how it was coming along? Support for openHAB has become one of the major considerations when buying new smart home devices, so thank you for contributing so eagerly!

Keep up the good work!

davidg · February 11, 2017, 12:24am

Hi there! Any updates on a zmote binding? I bought 4 of them for my home automation tinkering; have managed to get some manual commands working using curl and HTTP but it isn’t super reliable. Love the zmotes though - great product, great price, works with my IR devices for which I have long since lost the original remotes! Thanks for all your hard work.
cheers!
David G

Temar · February 11, 2017, 11:21pm

I just ordered one of these and was thinking about writing an OpenHAB2 binding. I’m an experienced Java developer but I know not much about OpenHAB, I just started using it.

How should that binding look like configuration wise, so it fits into the new OpenHAB2 concepts?

To configure your remotes, I was thinking about one or multiple configuration files in JSON format where you can just copy and paste the buttons you have downloaded. Maybe there is even a way to download all buttons from the ZMOTE web page in one go so we could just use that file as input.

But how should the configuration look like within OpenHAB? Maybe like this?

Thing:
// read buttons from file ‘remote-tv.json’ and send them to the given ZMOTE server URL
Thing zmote:remote:tv “TV Remote” [ url="http://server:port/mac/’, remote=“remote-tv” ]

Item:
// sends the IR code for a button named “Power” from the “remote-tv.json” file
Switch zmote-remote-tv-power “TV Power” { channel=“zmote:remote:tv:button” button=“Power” }

Would that be a reasonable way to configure the remote in OpenHAB2 or should it be done differently?

ThomDietrich · February 17, 2017, 6:18pm

Hey Alex,
first of all, that would be amazing! I am also one of probably many users waiting for a binding before ordering. So I’d really appreciate your effort.

Regarding your approach: The thing should take the IP rather than the URL. Relying on an external file is a bit uncommon and I’d see that as a bit unflexible. Why not add the key code to the Item directly? Another aspect you would need to take care of is receiving IR codes (needed before we even can define sending items…).

However this is the end of my knowledge regarding the zmote capabilities and interfaces. @urmilparikh will hopefully be able to answer all your questions.

Thanks again for considering the binding!

Temar · February 17, 2017, 6:46pm

Thanks for your input!

I decided to go for the URL in case someone wants to hide the transmitter behind a reverse proxy. Also the URL is provided by the device itself, so in case they change the base URL with a firmware update, the plugin would continue to work.

Well, the file can be downloaded somewhere from the ZMote web app. The idea was to make it as easy as possible for the user. The user can configure his buttons with the web app and then just use the downloaded file as input for the binding. But I guess I could add a configuration parameter for direct IR codes as well.

That will not be included in the initial version of the plugin, as it is handled by the ZMote web app (see above). However if it turns out that there really is a need for it, I can implement it.

For now I just try to get an initial version ready so I can actually test it when my device arrives.

Thank you!