Home Assistant: Configuring "Salt Sentry" using MQTT protocol - Revision history

Falz at 20:49, 29 January 2023

2023-01-29T20:49:48Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:49, 29 January 2023
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	===Background===		===Background===
	About a week ago I had never heard of Home Assistant, Salt Sentry, nor MQTT. If you're ~~hear~~, maybe this is ~~fully or partially~~ true for you too.		About a week ago I had never heard of Home Assistant, Salt Sentry, nor MQTT. If you're here, maybe this is true for you too.

Falz at 22:04, 28 January 2023

2023-01-28T22:04:30Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:04, 28 January 2023
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			[[Image:Homeview.png\|border\|300px\|right]]
	This gives you two new sensors that will be visible to pull data from in your dashboard. They'll use the names above, but ONLY after you restart the MQTT service..		This gives you two new sensors that will be visible to pull data from in your dashboard. They'll use the names above, but ONLY after you restart the MQTT service..

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	If the reload fails it will download logs which hopefully help.		If the reload fails, it generally means there was an issue with the configuration.yaml file. It will download logs which hopefully help.


			[[Image:Basemenet.png\|border\|300px\|right]]
			You may now add these to a dashboard. I went to edit mode of dashboard, chose Add Card, then By entity tab, then typed 'sentry' and added all based on its suggestion.


			Finally, you may do what you originally wanted to do, which is notify when the salt level is low. This is done via "Automations".. which I'm too burned out to figure out at the moment.

Falz at 21:52, 28 January 2023

2023-01-28T21:52:16Z

@@ Line 47: / Line 47: @@
 ===MQTT===
-[https://www.home-assistant.io/docs/mqtt/ MQTT] ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MQTT wikipedia] stands for "MQ Telemetry Transport". What does MQ stand for? Apparently it came from IBM thing called "MQSeries" where it stood for Message Queing, wikipedia says it stands for nothing. We're off to a great start.
+[https://www.home-assistant.io/docs/mqtt/ MQTT] ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MQTT wikipedia]) stands for "MQ Telemetry Transport". What does MQ stand for? Apparently it came from IBM thing called "MQSeries" where it stood for Message Queing, wikipedia says it stands for nothing. We're off to a great start.
@@ Line 96: / Line 96: @@
 ** Start Listening
-You should see a message received at the current timestamp.
+You should see a message received at the current timestamp. This is percentage full. You may also listen to the topic `saltsentry_distance` as another check, which is the distance in centimeters.

Falz at 21:24, 28 January 2023

2023-01-28T21:24:23Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:24, 28 January 2023
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	===Background===		===Background===
	About a week ago I had never heard of Home Assistant, Salt Sentry, nor MQTT.		About a week ago I had never heard of Home Assistant, Salt Sentry, nor MQTT. If you're hear, maybe this is fully or partially true for you too.


			Just before that, I replaced a water softener. This reminded me that you also have to add salt to said water softener. I never remember to do this and thought it would be keen if something could tell me when to do so by measuring the physical salt level.

	Just before that, I replaced a water softener. This reminded me that you also have to add salt to said water softener. This reminded me that I never remember, and would like to know, automatically, what the level is and if I need to add more.

	A bit of googling revealed a few home dev style solutions (buy some parts, solder some things) but the most complete of these appeared to be a product called "[https://www.tindie.com/products/ErikLemcke/salt-sentry-water-softener-monitor/ Salt Sentry]"		A bit of googling revealed a few home dev style solutions (buy some parts, solder some things) but the most complete of these appeared to be a product called "[https://www.tindie.com/products/ErikLemcke/salt-sentry-water-softener-monitor/ Salt Sentry]"


	It works by using a small software development board which contains a [https://www.st.com/en/imaging-and-photonics-solutions/vl53l0x.html VL53L0X] sensor which is some magical device that can measure distance with accuracy of 2mm when just pointing it into the ether. 🤷 cool.		It works by using a small software development board which contains a [https://www.st.com/en/imaging-and-photonics-solutions/vl53l0x.html VL53L0X] sensor which is some magical device that can measure distance with accuracy of 2mm when just pointing it into the ether. 🤷 cool.


	To use this, you need to integrate it with something else, there are a few options, but the most popular one seemed to be called "Home Assistant". While I was waiting for the Salt Sentry to arrive, i thought I'd get ahead of things and install Home Assistant.		To use this, you need to integrate it with something else, there are a few options, but the most popular one seemed to be called "Home Assistant". While I was waiting for the Salt Sentry to arrive, i thought I'd get ahead of things and install Home Assistant.
Line 16:		Line 20:
	=== Home Assistant ===		=== Home Assistant ===
	[https://www.home-assistant.io/ Home Assistant] ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Assistant wikipedia]) is something one can run on a Raspberry Pi or other similar hardware. I happened to have a few Pi's laying around unused so i thought I'd give it a shot:		[https://www.home-assistant.io/ Home Assistant] ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Assistant wikipedia]) is something one can run on a Raspberry Pi or other similar hardware. I happened to have a few Pi's laying around unused so i thought I'd give it a shot:


	{{Quote\|"Home Assistant is free and open-source software for home automation designed to be a central control system for smart home devices with a focus on local control and privacy."}}		{{Quote\|"Home Assistant is free and open-source software for home automation designed to be a central control system for smart home devices with a focus on local control and privacy."}}
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	Plug it in, boot it up, and i highly recommend creating a local DNS record for 'homeassistant.local' as most of the docs use that and may even link to it. [https://www.home-assistant.io/getting-started/ Configuring it] is outside of the scope of this page but it's pretty simple.		Plug it in, boot it up, and i highly recommend creating a local DNS record for 'homeassistant.local' as most of the docs use that and may even link to it. [https://www.home-assistant.io/getting-started/ Configuring it] is outside of the scope of this page but it's pretty simple.


	On its own with no config it auto discovered some Devices, which it calls "Integrations" on its own:		On its own with no config it auto discovered some Devices, which it calls "Integrations" on its own:


	* Ecobee thermostat + remote sensor		* Ecobee thermostat + remote sensor
	* ~~ROKU~~		* Roku
	* Onkyo A/V receiver		* Onkyo A/V receiver
			* Mobile phone (once app installed)
	* Outdoor Weather		* Outdoor Weather
	* ~~Mobile phone (once app installed)~~		* The literal Sun


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	===MQTT===		===MQTT===
	[https://www.home-assistant.io/docs/mqtt/ MQTT] ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MQTT wikipedia] stands for "MQ Telemetry Transport". What does MQ stand for? Apparently it came from IBM thing called "MQSeries" where it stood for Message Queing, wikipedia says it stands for nothing. We're off to a great start.		[https://www.home-assistant.io/docs/mqtt/ MQTT] ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MQTT wikipedia] stands for "MQ Telemetry Transport". What does MQ stand for? Apparently it came from IBM thing called "MQSeries" where it stood for Message Queing, wikipedia says it stands for nothing. We're off to a great start.


	If you go to Settings -> Devices and Services -> [http://homeassistant.local:8123/config/integrations Integrations] and choose to add MQTT, it just asks for your broker and you're just kinda stuck.		If you go to Settings -> Devices and Services -> [http://homeassistant.local:8123/config/integrations Integrations] and choose to add MQTT, it just asks for your broker and you're just kinda stuck.


	To use MQTT with Home Assitant, you must use something called "[https://github.com/home-assistant/addons/tree/master/mosquitto Mosquitto Broker]". Why? I don't know, but you need it. Install it from Settings -> [http://homeassistant.local:8123/hassio/dashboard Add-Ons] -> Add-on store. It will take several minutes to install. I would recommend rebooting after as well.		To use MQTT with Home Assitant, you must use something called "[https://github.com/home-assistant/addons/tree/master/mosquitto Mosquitto Broker]". Why? I don't know, but you need it. Install it from Settings -> [http://homeassistant.local:8123/hassio/dashboard Add-Ons] -> Add-on store. It will take several minutes to install. I would recommend rebooting after as well.


			[[Image:Mosquito-settings.png\|border\|300px\|right]]
	Once it's installed.. this is where you hit question marks. What's next? [https://github.com/home-assistant/addons/blob/master/mosquitto/DOCS.md The docs] just say that it should show up as a discovered integraiton, but it didn't for me. So I rebooted Home Assistant, and then MQTT appeared as discovered after a bit.		Once it's installed.. this is where you hit question marks. What's next? [https://github.com/home-assistant/addons/blob/master/mosquitto/DOCS.md The docs] just say that it should show up as a discovered integraiton, but it didn't for me. So I rebooted Home Assistant, and then MQTT appeared as discovered after a bit.


			Before going further, go and add a new user to Home assistant itsself, and configure Mosquitto to use it. This made it a lot easier to get the device to talk to it. I used "mosquitto" as username, use what you want. Record the password

			* Settings -> People -> [http://homeassistant.local:8123/config/users Users] -> Add user
			** Display name / Username: mosquitto
			** Password: <redacted>
			** Create


			Now go in to the MQTT settings and tell it
			* Settings -> [http://homeassistant.local:8123/config/integrations Devices and Services] -> MQTT Configure
			** Re-Configure MQTT
			** Username: mosquitto
			** Password: <redacted>
			** Next (until finished).
			** It may ask you to reboot


			[[Image:Saltsentry-connected.png\|border\|300px\|right]]
	===Salt Sentry===		===Salt Sentry===
			Configure the [https://github.com/Lemcke-solutions/SaltSentryManuals device per the manual]. On its settings page set:

			* mqtt server: <ip of your home assistant server>
			* mqtt username: mosquitto
			* mqtt password: <redacted, same as MQTT>
			* mqtt topic: saltsentry


			Once you have this in, the Salt Sentry should finally show as connected.


			[[Image:Mqtt-homeassistant.png\|border\|300px\|right]]
			Do a sanity check.
			* Settings -> [http://homeassistant.local:8123/config/integrations Devices and Services] -> MQTT Configure
			** Listen to a topic: saltsentry
			** Start Listening

			You should see a message received at the current timestamp.

Falz: Created page with "Category:Dev Category:Unix ===Background=== About a week ago I had never heard of Home Assistant, Salt Sentry, nor MQTT. Just before that, I replaced a water softene..."

2023-01-28T21:01:02Z

Created page with "Category:Dev Category:Unix ===Background=== About a week ago I had never heard of Home Assistant, Salt Sentry, nor MQTT. Just before that, I replaced a water softene..."

New page

[[Category:Dev]]
[[Category:Unix]]

===Background===
About a week ago I had never heard of Home Assistant, Salt Sentry, nor MQTT.

Just before that, I replaced a water softener. This reminded me that you also have to add salt to said water softener. This reminded me that I never remember, and would like to know, automatically, what the level is and if I need to add more.

A bit of googling revealed a few home dev style solutions (buy some parts, solder some things) but the most complete of these appeared to be a product called "[https://www.tindie.com/products/ErikLemcke/salt-sentry-water-softener-monitor/ Salt Sentry]"

It works by using a small software development board which contains a [https://www.st.com/en/imaging-and-photonics-solutions/vl53l0x.html VL53L0X] sensor which is some magical device that can measure distance with accuracy of 2mm when just pointing it into the ether. 🤷 cool.

To use this, you need to integrate it with something else, there are a few options, but the most popular one seemed to be called "Home Assistant". While I was waiting for the Salt Sentry to arrive, i thought I'd get ahead of things and install Home Assistant.

=== Home Assistant ===
[https://www.home-assistant.io/ Home Assistant] ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Assistant wikipedia]) is something one can run on a Raspberry Pi or other similar hardware. I happened to have a few Pi's laying around unused so i thought I'd give it a shot:

{{Quote|"Home Assistant is free and open-source software for home automation designed to be a central control system for smart home devices with a focus on local control and privacy."}}

I ended up installing this by [https://www.home-assistant.io/installation/ downloading] and using `dd` to image it to an SD card.

dd if=haos_rpi3-64-9.4.img of=/dev/sdb bs=4M && sync

Plug it in, boot it up, and i highly recommend creating a local DNS record for 'homeassistant.local' as most of the docs use that and may even link to it. [https://www.home-assistant.io/getting-started/ Configuring it] is outside of the scope of this page but it's pretty simple.

On its own with no config it auto discovered some Devices, which it calls "Integrations" on its own:

* Ecobee thermostat + remote sensor
* ROKU
* Onkyo A/V receiver
* Outdoor Weather
* Mobile phone (once app installed)

All of this was super easy, didn't require any CLI changes, it just was clicky clicky from a quick web UI. Cool, that'll be the same with MQTT too? no.

===MQTT===
[https://www.home-assistant.io/docs/mqtt/ MQTT] ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MQTT wikipedia] stands for "MQ Telemetry Transport". What does MQ stand for? Apparently it came from IBM thing called "MQSeries" where it stood for Message Queing, wikipedia says it stands for nothing. We're off to a great start.

If you go to Settings -> Devices and Services -> [http://homeassistant.local:8123/config/integrations Integrations] and choose to add MQTT, it just asks for your broker and you're just kinda stuck.

To use MQTT with Home Assitant, you must use something called "[https://github.com/home-assistant/addons/tree/master/mosquitto Mosquitto Broker]". Why? I don't know, but you need it. Install it from Settings -> [http://homeassistant.local:8123/hassio/dashboard Add-Ons] -> Add-on store. It will take several minutes to install. I would recommend rebooting after as well.

Once it's installed.. this is where you hit question marks. What's next? [https://github.com/home-assistant/addons/blob/master/mosquitto/DOCS.md The docs] just say that it should show up as a discovered integraiton, but it didn't for me. So I rebooted Home Assistant, and then MQTT appeared as discovered after a bit.

===Salt Sentry===