My HGI80 equivalent Domoticz setup without HGI80

[DBMandrake]

My system seems to be running on a 220 second period.

Is it always 220 seconds or does it vary a bit each period ?

Does anybody know how long the HR92s are awake for?

Could this be part of the reason why some people report problems with sending messages from Domoticz?
Does Domoticz do anything to try to schedule any commands it sends out or does it only ever try to talk to the Controller (which I assume is always awake)

I think you'll find Domoticz only ever tries to send to the controller - as you point out, all the other battery powered devices sleep for controller configured periods of time, so any attempt to send to those devices like HR92's would have to be scheduled for the brief window when they are awake and listening, which would have to be inferred by eavesdropping on comms from the controller to the individual devices to know when the next window would occur.

Also I'm not sure what you would want to send to an HR92 which wouldn't conflict with what the controller is already telling it to do, and if the receiving window is short you'd also have a high chance of a collision between your message and the one the controller is trying to send resulting in neither message getting through - doesn't seem like a good idea to me.

Domoticz passively listens to broadcasts both from the controller and (in recent versions) broadcasts from other devices like temperature sensors as well, (allowing you to get temperature measurements from all devices in a single room zone for example) but I think it only makes sense to transmit messages to the controller. Unless you were trying to replace/emulate the controller that is!

[petep]

Is it always 220 seconds or does it vary a bit each period ?

I've only been able to log for a few days but so far all the messages from the controller setting the broadcast period look like this
--- I --- 01:140959 --:------ 01:140959 1F09 003 FF0898
0x0898 = 2200

It always seems to be immediately followed with a broadcast of Zone Setpoints and temperatures
--- I --- 01:140959 --:------ 01:140959 2309 021 0005DC0106400206400305DC0403E8050708060640
--- I --- 01:140959 --:------ 01:140959 30C9 021 0008280107430206E10306780404C5050751060684

So, so far, yes - always 220 seconds.

Also I'm not sure what you would want to send to an HR92 which wouldn't conflict with what the controller is already telling it to do, and if the receiving window is short you'd also have a high chance of a collision between your message and the one the controller is trying to send resulting in neither message getting through - doesn't seem like a good idea to me.

Only had Evohome fully active for about a week but want to use Dometicz scripts to provide "Timed boosts" to rooms. I've not actually had time to think it all through and until I saw some of the trace it wasn't clear how this might have to work. Yes you're right it's almost certainly not a good idea to try to send to the HR92s.

I am thinking round the idea of using a BDR (from Dometicz) to control a 2-port valve as a "master" zone valve though.

[DBMandrake]

I've only been able to log for a few days but so far all the messages from the controller setting the broadcast period look like this
--- I --- 01:140959 --:------ 01:140959 1F09 003 FF0898
0x0898 = 2200

It always seems to be immediately followed with a broadcast of Zone Setpoints and temperatures
--- I --- 01:140959 --:------ 01:140959 2309 021 0005DC0106400206400305DC0403E8050708060640
--- I --- 01:140959 --:------ 01:140959 30C9 021 0008280107430206E10306780404C5050751060684

So, so far, yes - always 220 seconds.

Interesting. Thanks for that. I'd love to be digging into this stuff further myself but the cost of an HGI80 just really puts me off. If anything in the time I've been looking they've got more expensive! To the point where I just can't justify it for the sake of curiosity.

Only had Evohome fully active for about a week but want to use Dometicz scripts to provide "Timed boosts" to rooms. I've not actually had time to think it all through and until I saw some of the trace it wasn't clear how this might have to work. Yes you're right it's almost certainly not a good idea to try to send to the HR92s.

Not sure how Domoticz handles setting timed overrides (it can do it as I've used that feature) but I think there would be two ways you could do it at an RF level:

1) Pretend to be an HR92 or other thermostat belonging to that zone sending a manual override to the controller.
2) Pretend to be an RFG100 sending a set point change that was initiated by the phone apps/web API.

Of the two I suspect method two is used as it is probably easier, and also allows a custom override end time to be set. When you override via an HR92 no override time can be set so I suspect the protocol doesn't allow for an HR92 to specify an end time for an override.

I am thinking round the idea of using a BDR (from Dometicz) to control a 2-port valve as a "master" zone valve though.

If the BDR91 is not bound to the system at all it would be safe to send directly to it. But to be able to do so you would need to implement the binding process in your code so you could bind the BDR91.

Recent Domoticz code has a limited implementation of binding where it can use any Domoticz compatible temperature sensor and then pretend to be a Honeywell temperature sensor and is able to bind itself to the controller.

[petep]

@dty

I've got the nano plugged into my pi and I've set up ser2com

Running Domoticz 3.8153 on Synology.

How do I connect the "HGI80"?
I can't work out how to set up the "serial port" Domoticz is expecting in add hardware.

[paulockenden]

Cheaper version of the kit here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/372136895997

Not as 'premium', but hopefully it'll work just as well.

[dty]

@dty

I've got the nano plugged into my pi and I've set up ser2com

Running Domoticz 3.8153 on Synology.

How do I connect the "HGI80"?
I can't work out how to set up the "serial port" Domoticz is expecting in add hardware.

There should be a hardware type called "Evohome via LAN". It was merged to the master branch months ago. I assume there's been a release since then.

[TomJ]

Cheaper version of the kit here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/372136895997

Not as 'premium', but hopefully it'll work just as well.

That looks like a nano with this slapped on top. I've just received a few of those. I'll see if those work as well (was planning to hook 'm up to the nano as well...)

petep, have you been able to confirm whether the OpenTherm bridge traffic detection problems were caused by the lack of cycles on 8Mhz? Yours is running on 16 right?

[petep]

@TomJ

yes mine is running at 16MHz.
Can run the USB comms at 115200 (tested for a few minutes at 250000!)

I don't have an OT module so can't comment on those problems

I'm looking to see if I can move away from using the synchronous serial mechanism and get the CC1101 to provide data through it's FIFOs instead to get rid of the bit errors I'm occasionally seeing at the moment.

[petep]

That looks like a nano with this slapped on top.

That's effectively what my stick is as well. The only difference being the carrier board used to attach the CC1101 to the nano. That's the bit that's not obviously available to buy separately or only at a price that means it's cheaper/easier to buy a complete kit (optionally assembled)

[paulockenden]

I've ordered one of those cheaper boards with the soldered on antenna. Shout if you want me to run any tests when it arrives.

P.