I’ve become interested in smarthome/Domotica recently and decided to try it out using some Ikea stuff. So bought a Tradfri hub + some bulbs, a raspberry pi version 3. Installed raspbian on it and then used a tutorial to install Openhab2. Did try some other options (like homeassistent) but they seemed to have a VERY steep learning curve. Also I liked the overall look&feel of Openhab better .
After a lot of trying and a lot of time spent I’m starting to get a bit disillusioned with this entire endeavour . Sure I got some successes, and at first it seemed to go alright, but now I’m stuck and cannot for the life of me find good information, video’s and/or clear unambiguous documentation. /rantoff.
To keep things positive and geared toward solutions I will give a short description of where I’m at and what my specific hurdle/problem is:
- Platform information: Raspberry pi 3 running Raspbian GNU/Linux 9
- openHAB version: 2.2 *(updated at 27th april)
Where am I at right now:
- Installed Openhab2 on the pi, got it working
- Set up integration with Ikea tradfri hub
- Succeeded in adding lights and switching them manually (all within Paper UI)
- Installed bindings for Astro, Plex, Chromecast etc
- Created a rule to switch on an outside light at dusk (civil event) and switching it off at 22:30 (this works fine btw, quite happy with this result)
- Use programmes putty and winscp to get access to filesystem and commandline/terminal
- Installed Visual code studio + the openhab addon, pointed it to a samba share on the pi with alle the files. Seems to do spell/syntax checks, but am not sure
What do I want to achieve
- define lights using items file (rather not actually, but I read that at some point it gets to be necessary)
- group items to I can switch them together (say multiple lamps on a landing)
- configure rule to dim lights when plex/chromecast/netflix starts playing (webbased rule engine won’t let me do that, or haven’t found it)
- set rule where I can access dim lights settings (ie dim lights to 20%, does not seem to be possible through webbased rule engine)
- configure scenes where I can trigger multiple settings at once, so ‘watch movie’ (where lights dim, TV is switched on, etc)
- Use rules with detected presence, so someone arrives at house: --> outside light is switched on; but only after dark
As I found the webinterface lacking in features and after doing extensive reading up on this forum I tried my hand at configuration using files. And that is where it gets interesting and frustrating. I must be dumb, because I cannot get this to work nor do I understand how to create files. Sure there is documentation on how to create files and proper syntax, but I simply dont get it. When I make an item in a file I don’t see it pop up in any of the interfaces. Searched for example items files,
things, rules etc, but still I’m stuck. Completely in the dark on what I’m doing too. Only thing that I did get working is to generate a sitemap file, but no items are visible in there.
So who can point me to a good source for clear and non-tech documentation?
Thanks so much
Kind regards,