Getting started with the SSM(R) instead of an HGI80

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  • bruce_miranda
    Automated Home Legend
    • Jul 2014
    • 2307

    Getting started with the SSM(R) instead of an HGI80

    Now that people have started to receive their SSM (R) based devices, I thought I would start up a thread in an attempt to help people get started to monitor or control their Evohome, using the radio interface.
    A lot more is possible via the radio interface than is allowed by the Evohome app.

    The biggest advantage of the radio interface is that everything is local and you are no longer relying on the Internet app API to pull data from the Resideo servers.

    The SSM (R) has been tested and works out of the box with Domoticz and Home Assistant.

    There are a few differences between the SSM (R) and the HGI80, that you need to be aware of.
    The SSM(R) will start off with a firmware version number string. The HGI80 does not do that. This is probably the biggest difference. But both Domoticz and Home Assistant can deal with this.

    The SSM(R) is configured to work with any application in exactly the same way as the HGI80 would have been. This is also the advantage of the SSM (R) over the NanoCUL. The NanoCUL has to be used at slower baud rates because it cannot scope with the speeds.

    Now let's see what people do with it.
  • daniel@paynefamily.co.uk
    Automated Home Jr Member
    • Jan 2020
    • 36

    #2
    Got mine and working perfectly with HA!

    Comment

    • bruce_miranda
      Automated Home Legend
      • Jul 2014
      • 2307

      #3
      Excellent, it's taken many years to get to this point.

      Comment

      • daniel@paynefamily.co.uk
        Automated Home Jr Member
        • Jan 2020
        • 36

        #4
        Huge thanks, although I eventually got my nanoCUL working it still regularly failed to transmit properly, so far today no errors at all.

        Comment

        • bruce_miranda
          Automated Home Legend
          • Jul 2014
          • 2307

          #5
          We had a few test devices that have been running for weeks and months continuously. So you'll be fine.

          Comment

          • DorrisMancer
            Automated Home Guru
            • Nov 2017
            • 129

            #6
            Thanks for the quick delivery.

            A couple of questions relating to its use in Domoticz:
            - clicking the <Relay> or <Bind Temp Sensor> "button" brings-up a message for about a second (which isn't long-enough to read it on first appearance) and then goes straight to time-out. Is there a setting I need to tweak?
            - I presume I can ignore the <Outdoor Sensor> and <All Sensors> "buttons" when used in a standard Evohome-only system (?)

            A suggestion: because the dongle is reversible you might head-off questions by telling people to plug it in with the components underneath

            Comment

            • bruce_miranda
              Automated Home Legend
              • Jul 2014
              • 2307

              #7
              The way the device plugs into your USB port depends entirely on how the female USB port is oriented on the host device. There is no standard. So putting an instruction about which way around it goes is pointless.

              Why are you trying to bind sensors using Domoticz. Some of the Domoticz functionality is now outdated in the latest versions of Evohome.
              Just step your Evohome system up and let Domoticz auto detect your set up.

              The All sensors functionality is only useful if you have multiple sensors in a zone. e.g if you have 2 TRVs or a remote wall sensor. Evohome will only display the paired sensor. But the Domoticz All Sensors can track the temperatures read by each sensor, even if they are not actually used by Evohome. It's a useful feature to visually see how much difference there is between the TRV mounted sensor and a properly located remote sensor.
              Last edited by bruce_miranda; 18 April 2021, 12:00 PM.

              Comment

              • DorrisMancer
                Automated Home Guru
                • Nov 2017
                • 129

                #8
                Originally posted by bruce_miranda View Post
                The way the device plugs into your USB port depends entirely on how the female USB port is oriented on the host device. There is no standard.
                I was trying to be helpful because I thought the USB standard included orientation - I'm wiser now.
                Originally posted by bruce_miranda View Post
                Why are you trying to bind sensors using Domoticz. Some of the Domoticz functionality is now outdated in the latest versions of Evohome. Just step your Evohome system up and let Domoticz auto detect your set up.
                The process was: plug-in the dongle (the driver loaded), start Domoticz (it decided to update), re-boot, start Domoticz, <setup> <hardware>, select "Evohome USB (for HGI/S80)" from the type list, <add>. No devices were found. The buttons I mentioned earlier appeared alongside the USB so I assumed they were there for a purpose. The dongle was assigned Com3 and I now see "Evohome serial: Error opening serial port: COM3" in the log. What did I do wrong?

                Comment

                • bruce_miranda
                  Automated Home Legend
                  • Jul 2014
                  • 2307

                  #9
                  Make sure the USB port has been correctly assigned to the SSM first. Then add the Hardware to Domoticz by choosing Evohome USB with a 115200 baud rate (which should be the default). The fact that you get an error opening the COM port means that there is another issue.

                  Comment

                  • petep
                    Automated Home Sr Member
                    • Jan 2018
                    • 57

                    #10
                    Quick comment. The SSM is a direct USB interface, unlike the Nano which uses a atmega328p internal UART to talk to a USB interface chip.

                    The baudrate you use with the SSM is IRRELEVANT.

                    Actually not quite true :-) If you try to use 1200 baud it will trigger the bootloader

                    Comment

                    • bruce_miranda
                      Automated Home Legend
                      • Jul 2014
                      • 2307

                      #11
                      The reason I've gotten into the habit of quoting Baud rates is because its relevant for the HGI80, the NanoCUL, RfBee, CUL etc. So it's a habit.
                      The NanoCUL should be set to lower Baud rate because it can't keep up with 115200.

                      Comment

                      • filbert
                        Automated Home Guru
                        • Oct 2017
                        • 162

                        #12
                        Got mine today and plugged it in to a Windows 10 system. Downloaded and installed Domoticz. It runs and I get the dashboard but nothing is showing under 'hardware' in the setup screen. Log grumbles about missing Python but this is for plugins. No one so far has mentioned Python - is it required?

                        Comment

                        • bruce_miranda
                          Automated Home Legend
                          • Jul 2014
                          • 2307

                          #13
                          Python might be a Domoticz requirement, it is certainly not an SSMR requirement. Infact the SSMR has no requirements. You plug it in, and Device Manager should show you a COM port that Windows assigned this serial device. What you choose to decode the messages then becomes a personal choice. Domoticz and Home Assistant are only two of such front ends that can be used.

                          Comment

                          • filbert
                            Automated Home Guru
                            • Oct 2017
                            • 162

                            #14
                            OK, thanks. I'm struggling with Domoticz, then. I'll dig around and see what advice there is here.

                            Comment

                            • RedEarth
                              Automated Home Sr Member
                              • Jan 2021
                              • 71

                              #15
                              You might find the Evohome page on the Domoticz wiki useful and helpful, I certainly did.

                              Comment

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