MQTT Plugins now available

[dalmabrain]

Perfect..thanks for the hint...it worked for a short period :-)

After changing the the topic...It was published and my MQTT broker received the signal. But only once...After turning off the zones "Terrasse" it was not updated. So my home automation was still thinking that the sprinklers are on. Is there a way that I can check logs etc.?
I'm not sure if this is now due to my broker or the setup in SIP

[dan]

The only log available is the SIP run log which needs to be enabled from the options page.

I use mqtt-spy to monitor the mqtt traffic:
http://kamilfb.github.io/mqtt-spy/

You might find it helpful.

[wpb]

I currently use the branded OpenSprinkler hardware/software -- but have just stumbled on this Dan-in-CA/SIP -- while searching for a more modern and open topology that separates the hardware and app using MQTT.

To me, it's much more elegant, easier to support, less expensive, hardware-agnostic, and most importantly -- integrates better -- by using an app that delegates sprinkler-switching (relays) over the network using a messaging broker like MQTT.

Here's what I would like to do (one poster above touched on this as well):

* Run Dan-in-CA/SIP on the network -- It will not matter where it's located, nor what hardware it runs on, and it will not require any relays, etc.  For all intents, it could even be a virtual machine (VM).

* Sprinklers Connect to 8-Zone ESP8266 Relay Boards -- To make things simple, an 8-Relay network board -- for example, $15 "LinkNode" (any ESP8266 relay board will do, this just happens to be one of the better supported/open boards and well done).  

Typically I would flash my relay board with Tasmota (open-source firmware for ESP8266, ESP8285, ESP32 IoT devices that supports MQTT and emulates Phillips Hue, Sonoff, etc -- so that it can be controlled by anything compatible with those devices) to make it look like everything else in my IoT setup.  Once I've done this, it is basically integrated with my SmartHome (any solution supporting MQTT, in my case HomeAssistant/HASS.io, but equally well in OpenHAB, etc).

This works very clean & simply -- Where the Dan-in-CA/SIP app sending messages over the network (via MQTT) telling the relays to turn on-or-off.  I could do this using normal SmartHome automation; however, OpenSprinkler/SIP provide more robust/tailored features specific to irrigation.  Anywhere I like, whether at my house, or a second-home, etc -- I could have relay boards connected to sprinkler zones, which are turned on/off simply by SIP sending messages over a network accessible by the relay boards.

To Clarify -- This would theoretically be a plug-and-play solution (requiring no custom code and only configurations), by implementing the MQTT add-on mentioned in this thread, if I'm understanding correctly.

Although I only just now stumbled on this forum ... I already have a Pi ready to go, I have Mosquitto/MQTT setup and running and I have 8x Relay ESP8266 WiFi Boards running on the same network ready to be connected to a 24VAC power source to control the sprinkler solenoids (previously controlled by OpenSprinkler).

I have just one question ...  Am I correct in assuming that if I setup Dan-in-CA/SIP, add-in this MQTT feature and setup -- will my intended topology work as explained above?

Thank you in advance!
DevGirl/WPB


BTW - I referred to SIP as "Dan-in-CA/SIP" to make it easier for others with the same question to find this via Google, considering the acronym "SIP" is over-used considering it is the signalling protocol for VoIP

[dan]

Welcome,

As far as I know it should work.

Please post about your results and any other questions you may nave.

Dan

[astrogerard]

@WPB,  

Not exacltly what you are planning to do but I use mqtt to "interface" with SIP (yeah, name could be better) and  other stuff like home automation and sensor integration. Interfacing is done via Node-Red to route MQTT messages to and from the SIP API and Home automation API. The sensors, actuators and other stuff is done via MySensors with a MQTT gateway.

I also considered doing it the way you described and recently started to run SIP in a (docker) container. Using containers with the current SIP architecture is a bit of a challenge but we will get there.

Maybe Dan can answer this, how about Python3?  Are there any thoughts on making SIP future proof?  I ask this because I think there have to be made some changes to the code to make SIP suitable to run in a container like Docker of Podman. Of course no problem but I preferably make the changes to a long term version :-)

To be continued.....

--Gerard

[dan]

To answer Gerard's question about Python3,

There is a python 3 development branch (P3_development) on the SIP Ghthub repository. The plan is to have SIP be P3 compatible by the end of the year when P2x will no longer be supported.

At the moment the P3 version does not work due to problems handling of json files.

[Kali]

Sorry to resume this thread but I was not able to use SIP with tasmota
anyway the cli_control plugin used to publish to mqtt server works flawlessy

mosquitto_pub -r -u <user> -P <password> -t <topic>/cmnd/POWER1 -m on
mosquitto_pub -r -u <user> -P <password> -t <topic>/cmnd/POWER1 -m off

[dan]

Interesting. Thanks for posting.

It looks like you could also use the cli_control plugin to send web request commands to tasmota.

Not sure why the MQTT plugins didn't work.

Dan

[Kali]

as i'm a mqtt noob, i can be wrong but structure are different (image attached)

irrigazione_prato is where I publish on and off command to tasmota
irrigazione_prato_sip is what is published by sip

[dan]

I see.
The type of commands you need to send can not be done with SIP's MQTT plugins. The cli_control plugin is the one to use.

Dan