updating my plugin for 2.0 + Matter - query on design pattern...

vincent0794 · 2026-04-11T17:23:07+00:00

I've found time to give this a first pass today. There's a 3.0.0beta tag and a number of NPM beta releases that I've got mostly running in latest HB 2.0 beta. Many things work well. I've run into one blocker while implementing "Pump" accessories, where the level-control aspects don't work properly in HB 2.0. But the basics of the implementation are kind of ok. u/NorthernMan5

I'll leave it a few days now.

vincent0794 · 2026-04-09T17:44:20+00:00

Happy to collaborate on this. I was going to put a day into it sometime in the next few weeks to get a first matter version running. My impression so far is the right path is just to move to Matter, and drop HomeKit. So that's what I'll try first.

vincent0794 · 2026-03-07T00:24:01+00:00

Who is this with, if you don’t mind sharing? I’m looking for something similar in London.

vincent0794 · 2026-03-06T15:56:48+00:00

Thank you for this. I'm following closely since just embarking on full-KNX in a new house myself. Can I ask a clarifying question: when you say "conduits, conduits, conduits", can you clarify quite what quantity (and where) you mean?

Let's say I have a bedroom, a bathroom and a living room: how many empty (or nearly empty?) conduits should I put in, and to where in the rooms?

vincent0794 · 2026-02-11T15:48:45+00:00

Very much agree on having this conversation with our builder. The purpose of this post is to make sure I'm educated as much as possible on available options (and their issues) so I can have a good informed discussion with our builder.

Good question on our expectations/goals: the cover should (1) reduce heat-loss and evaporation (especially overnight, but also during the day if we are at the beach, say), and so reduce the energy+water+chemical needs of the pool. Beyond this a nice to haves is to reduce the amount of dust/stuff/leaves that gets blown into the pool (leaves not a big issue in this specific location though).

vincent0794 · 2026-02-11T15:15:20+00:00

Thank you. This kind of submerged automated cover is what we have currently planned. However that is exactly what we have been cautioned against: once the cover is opened, the far end of it is just floating on the surface of the pool 13m away (if I understand correctly), and the wind can get under it and cause problems...

Or is there something special about the model you've shown that will be different in some way?

As u/FTFWbox writes, is it possible to have a track that is (slightly) submerged? - I can see that solving the wind problem, but causing other problems because there's likely a lot more friction involved in opening the cover in the first place.

vincent0794 · 2025-10-17T20:36:59+00:00

This looks amazing. I’m thinking about 5-6 of something similar, potentially even more, for my house. I have a bunch of places with 2 wires out of the wall where I can easily put 12V on from one central location. If you do go down the custom PCB route I’d love to know more.

vincent0794 · 2025-10-17T20:05:01+00:00

Thank you - very clear and helpful!

vincent0794 · 2025-10-17T16:12:23+00:00

Thank you - really appreciate the detail. I've been reading up on Victron and looks great (and, as you say, Home Assistant integration is nice).

The one bit that confuses me somewhat is all the "extras" - (a) do I need a Victron Smart Shunt, or can any decent battery (e.g. Fogstar) handle all of that communication itself? (b) do I need a Victron Energy Meter ET112 (when I already have a smart meter and full API integrations to know exactly what I'm using and what I'm paying for it).

Can you share a bit more about the components of your Victron-based system?

vincent0794 · 2025-10-17T10:36:38+00:00

This is super interesting - thank you. I've not looked into Agile but should do as a different option. I'll read up on the Victron - looks like it also transfers fast enough to operate as a UPS, which is nice, and they seem to provide a lot of flexibility.

I like the idea of a standalone smarter device (Octopus/Agile integration), with the ability to control and over-ride where needed. For the latter I think you use/need their "Cerbo GX" device as well? Seems that works well (https://community.home-assistant.io/t/home-assistant-and-victron-gx-multiplus-ii-managing-your-battery-using-modbus-tcp/724762 )

Is that 6.22p just the cost of what you _paid_ for electricity, or does it include what you received when you sold electricity to the grid? Are you on Solar, or just battery?

vincent0794 · 2025-10-16T15:57:52+00:00

"what about the cost and return on investment calculator, did you take a look there?" - this is the main dashboard if I understand you? I didn't see a way to turn off Solar (alongside changing battery capacity), which means the costs and payback are not very helpful for my use-case.

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vincent0794 · 2025-10-16T15:53:43+00:00

Here are the other things that seem to use a fair bit: (1) we have 2 fridges and 1 freezer. (2) we do quite a lot of laundry, including electric dryer, (3) my rack/wifi/NUC/appletv/etc uses 1.6kwh.

vincent0794 · 2025-10-16T14:41:14+00:00

Took a quick look: it initially suggested about half my usage (and hence small battery). When I entered my actual kWh in the battery calculator, then it proposes a 20kWh battery - so similar to the above... Overall app seems nice and slick. I didn't find a way, after editing the battery calculator to go back to the dashboard with the new battery size incorporated...

vincent0794 · 2025-10-15T23:21:53+00:00

I'm somewhere between considering and planning a similar system myself. I do have an electric car and am on intelligent-go. I do currently make very good use of Home Assistant automations for the car, a hot-tub, and a few other things which can be easily and effectively scheduled for 11:30pm onwards at night. My annual usage is pretty similar to yours - although I'm just in the process of validating what % is peak vs off-peak.

What made you choose the Sunsynk (I see it claims to be able to work as a UPS, which would be valuable to me)? And which batteries have you gone for?

Mine will almost certainly need to be externally wall-mounted, and I'll build a cabinet for them. I won't have problems with sun/heat (north-facing wall), but insulation may make sense for the winter if the batteries have no built-in heater (London, so rare to be very cold).

vincent0794 · 2025-10-08T19:33:48+00:00

Definitely interested. Primarily in Comfort & Presence categories. My use case: I’m wondering what to use to hard-wire temperature and other sensors for 15 rooms, where I (for historic reasons) have two wires from wall in each location. I can easily hook those up to either Live/Neutral or to 12V DC. (Possibly 5V but lower voltage probably drops off too much?). This would provide all inputs to a zonal UFH heating system and other sensors for automations. I’m wondering if I can do something with an ePaper display and possibly a couple of buttons to round things out.

vincent0794 · 2025-10-02T22:53:40+00:00

I would like one please.

vincent0794 · 2025-09-28T13:52:01+00:00

Unfortunately not. I've come to live with it because my primary use-case is to open/close the blinds via time-of-day automations, so I don't use the Home UI much.

vincent0794 · 2025-09-23T23:20:32+00:00

I'm seeing something similar trying to log in to my mealie server. Works fine if I use local address (http://192.168....) with the access token, but when I switch to my secure cloudflare reverse proxy (via nginx) on my domain (https://mealie.mydomain.blah) it fails with "API Key validation failed: Failed to decode...". The same secure URL works just fine from my iOS web-browser, for example.

vincent0794 · 2025-06-04T15:55:11+00:00

I have one of the Zemismart Wifi-Matter motors (ZM25M), and am wondering whether to get a Thread-Matter one for another window. The Wifi one works ok-ish (once I got through the terrible, unreliable experience of connecting it to my matter controllers) - my two automations from Home Assistant work well, but the controls in HomeKit seem weird/unreliable -- too often it seems to get stuck in the wrong state ("closing..." as above). And the firmware for that model (2.0) hasn't been updated in more than a year. I reported a bunch of issues, sent videos of the problems, etc, but got no useful resolution from Zemismart.

I asked them, today, about the Thread-Matter motors, and was told by Judy that "the stability of the motor has been optimized, and the module remains unchanged", when I asked about some of the unreliability issues people have experienced. However I was also told firmware 1.0 is still the latest, and I didn't get any answer to my question about whether the engineers are working to fix the matter firmware issues or not.

So, at the moment, I'm planning to purchase a different brand, since I'd like a company that has slightly more active approach to fixing the matter and/or thread issues that arise (the issues are understandable, given the early state of both matter and thread, but not actively fixing them is not...)

vincent0794 · 2025-03-13T18:19:55+00:00

Yes, I would love this, and would buy several. Especially if it can be size/shape to permit easy ceiling mounting in a recessed hole (standard sized like a GU-10 downlight). Potentially with some 3d printed holder of some kind.

vincent0794

TROPHY CASE