Hi All,
I know somebody started a similar topic already, but it seems to be unfinished. Let me give you my take on this device and how I did it on Raspberry PI 3. @Seaside has posted another approach, please scroll down to post 5 for that.
If you prefer to watch instead of reading, you can also watch my Youtube video on the same:
I took the basics from this website: https://wiki.hackerspace.pl/projects:xiaomi-flora
The important takeaway is that Xiaomi can update the firmware on Miflora over the mobile app and they changed how BT communication works in the past. So the below code currently works with firmware 2.6.6. I uninstalled the app from my phone, just to make sure the device is not getting updated again.
Step 1: Python code to read the data from the sensor and save in in a text file and push it to MQTT. You can decide to use the file or MQTT method as per your preference. Donāt forget to update the IP and user details in the MQTT code.
#Read data from Xiaomi flower monitor, tested on firmware version 2.6.6
import sys
from gattlib import GATTRequester, GATTResponse
from struct import *
import paho.mqtt.client as mqtt
address = sys.argv[1]
requester = GATTRequester(address)
#Read battery and firmware version attribute
data=requester.read_by_handle(0x0038)[0]
battery, version = unpack('<B6s',data)
print "Battery level:",battery,"%"
print "Firmware version:",version
#Enable real-time data reading
requester.write_by_handle(0x0033, str(bytearray([0xa0, 0x1f])))
#Read plant data
data=requester.read_by_handle(0x0035)[0]
temperature, sunlight, moisture, fertility = unpack('<hxIBHxxxxxx',data)
print "Light intensity:",sunlight,"lux"
print "Temperature:",temperature/10.,"C"
print "Soil moisture:",moisture,"%"
print "Soil fertility:",fertility,"uS/cm"
#Sometimes the version contains some funny charcters which throws off the JSON processing. Cleaning string
temp = version
version = " "
for x in temp:
if x == ".":
version = version + "."
if x >= "0" and x <="9":
version = version + x
version = version.strip()
# Saving information in text file in JSON format
json_file = open(sys.argv[2],"w")
json_file.write("{ \"battery\" : " + str(battery) + ", \"version\" : \"" + version + "\", \"sunlight\" : " + str(sunlight) + ", \"temperature\" : " + str(temperature/10.) + ", \"moisture\" : " + str(moisture) + ", \"fertility\" : " + str(fertility) + " }")
json_file.close()
# End Json file export
# Publishing the results to MQTT
mqttc = mqtt.Client("miflora")
mqttc.username_pw_set("<your userid>","<your password>")
mqttc.connect("<mqtt ip>", 1883)
mqttc.publish("/home/miflora", "{ \"battery\" : " + str(battery) + ", \"version\" : \"" + version + "\", \"sunlight\" : " + str(sunlight) + ", \"temperature\" : " + str(temperature/10.) + ", \"moisture\" : " + str(moisture) + ", \"fertility\" : " + str(fertility) + " }")
mqttc.loop(2)
# End of MQTT section
Step 2: Get the ID of your miflora device. Execute hcitool lescan on the pi. The default name for Miflora is āFlower Careā.
Step 3: Schedule a cron job to read the Miflora. I scheduled my every 15 minutes. First parameter of the python script is the BT ID of Miflora, second is the file to create. It is running for about 1 months now, no drop in the battery level so far. Remember to change the BT ID to yours.
*/15 * * * * python /home/pi/miflora.py C4:7C:8D:60:9E:08 miflora.json
If it all goes well, you should have something like this in the json file (and of course same published to MQTT):
{ "battery" : 100, "version" : "2.6.6", "sunlight" : 5841, "temperature" : 24.5, "moisture" : 5, "fertility" : 41 }
I noticed that in some cases Miflora does not return values properly. I donāt know the reason for that, but whenever if fails, it works just fine the next time.
Step 4: Items configuration:
// Xiaomi miflora
Number miflora_battery "Battery level [%d %%]" <cistern> (miflora) { exec="<[cat /home/pi/miflora.json:60000:JSONPATH($.battery)]" }
String mi_flora_version "Firmware version [%s]" <key> { exec="<[cat /home/pi/miflora.json:60000:JSONPATH($.version)]" }
Number miflora_sunlight "Sunlight [%d lux]" <sun> (miflora) { exec="<[cat /home/pi/miflora.json:60000:JSONPATH($.sunlight)]" }
Number miflora_temperature "Temperature [%.1f Ā°C]" <temperature> (miflora) { exec="<[cat /home/pi/miflora.json:60000:JSONPATH($.temperature)]" }
Number miflora_moisture "Soil moisture [%d %%]" <water> (miflora) { exec="<[cat /home/pi/miflora.json:60000:JSONPATH($.moisture)]" }
Number miflora_fertility "Soil fertility [%d uS/cm]" <grass> (miflora) { exec="<[cat /home/pi/miflora.json:60000:JSONPATH($.fertility)]" }
As you can see I use the transformation to read the variables from the JSON data. I added the Number items to same group in order to plot them on the chart. For some reason it is not yet working for me.
Step 5: Sitemap:
Text label="Xiaomi MiFlora" icon="energy" {
Text item=miflora_battery
Text item=mi_flora_version
Text item=miflora_sunlight
Text item=miflora_temperature
Text item=miflora_moisture
Text item=miflora_fertility
Switch item=Chart_Period mappings=[0="1h", 1="4h", 2="8h", 3="12h", 4="24h"]
Chart item=miflora period=h refresh=60000 visibility=[Chart_Period==0, Chart_Period=="Uninitialized"]
Chart item=miflora period=4h refresh=60000 visibility=[Chart_Period==1]
Chart item=miflora period=8h refresh=60000 visibility=[Chart_Period==2]
Chart item=miflora period=12h refresh=60000 visibility=[Chart_Period==3]
Chart item=miflora period=D refresh=60000 visibility=[Chart_Period==4]
}
The sitemap is straight forward. The chart is not showing for me for some reason, so you have to fix that for yourself. I added miflora* : strategy = everyMinute, restoreOnStartup to the persistence, but still no change.
This is my solution in the nutshell. It is working for me just fine. I am reading the data from my sensor over the last month without any issues. I have also done the integration into NodeRed using MQTT.
Cheers,
Csongor
As I said in the other thread I bought three of these a few weeks/months back but didnāt get around to test them. Iāll definitely do that now!
