Comfort UPNP <-> SmartThings <-> Amazon Echo

[mattbrain]

Hi Eamon.

Yes, I can\'t see any reason why this shouldn\'t work  although I haven\'t tested the Google Home device and its integration with SmartThings. As long as it can control SmartThing Switch type devices you should be all set.

Thanks,

Matt

[DavidJ]

Here\'s my thinking:
A & B - Whilst I was initially daunted by the install I slowly worked through it and got there. If you supplied the Pi or SD card the user still has to create a password, unique Ip and edit the configuration. They may well gain that experience by going through the install.
C - This would be nice.
D- I understood WeMo was Belkins proprietary software, Personally I dont use any Wemo products and believe for those integrating to ST the benefits that this brings with it are pretty limitless, so I\'m unclear of what D really achieves. I do plan to get Google Home as soon as I can as I expect it to link in well with ST (as its one of the few things supported)and thereby acting as my voice gateway to Comfort. Had considered importing one but read it may not be totally compliant.
E. Yes definitely. I personally would like a doorbell connector.

Thanks

David

[wexfordman]

[user=912]mattbrain[/user] wrote:

Hi Guys
Sorry, not been on the forum for a couple of days and see a bunch of questions have arisen.

1. Which RPi [Raspberry Pi]?
Any RPi with Ethernet will work (avoid model A), I believe David is running on the first version of a Model B which has been superseded several times - the new Model B v3 has twice the memory and >4x the processing power.
If you are new to Raspberry Pi\'s i suggest this is a good starter kit: https://thepihut.com/products/raspberry-pi-3-starter-kit but there are many out there equally good.

2. Do i need SmartThings?
Current, the UPNP interface requires SmartThings as this is the only automation hub I have written handlers for. If I can get hold of a Vera hub, and there is sufficient demand, I can do the same for that. However, ST is where I have personally invested and although it isn\'t perfect, it does a lot for me.
To add native support for Google Home, Amazon Alexa and others I am working on WeMo emulation. This will undoubtably make it easier to get going but the limitations of using emulation will mean that it will be less functionally complete.
By using SmartThings, it can be linked to a huge variety of third party devices and services including Alexa - I get a kick out of being able to use Alexa to control comfort, it\'s a really neat interface.

3. Can I make it easier to install?
This is a priority item for me. At the moment it takes 30 mins and a bit of experience with the command line to install. I would like to get to a position where you simply plug it in and it works out of the box. An intermediate position might be I offer disk images or SD cards which can be used to prime a RPi.
I guess to judge the demand [and therefore whether I should pursue this over WeMo emulation or additional features] it would be useful to get some feedback. 
What do people want as a priority?


A. Raspberry Pi Bundle with SD Card so it is plug and play
B. SD Card to buy which is pre-configured
C. SD Card image to download and install myself (will cut out much of the initial command line install)
D. WeMo Emulation for native Alexa / Google Home support
E. Additional comfort functions to be exposed [please indicate]

A & B will have to be priced to account for my time dedicated to your individual build. There is no charge (from me at least) for C -> E.


If Cytech or a third party distributor are in a position to make this more accessible, I would be more than happy to have a conversation with them


Thanks again,

Matt

Hi Matt,
I think option c would suit a lot of people on this forum, who are either installers, or DIY ers whow would be able to take the else with a bit of support and documentation? 
Wit regards additional comfort functionality?  The ability to enable alarm, run or execute macros, and report status, counter and flags would be cool :-) 
I think of your interface can handlenthose, because of these way comfort works, the result is complete access to every device comfort can control

[DavidJ]

Hi Matt,
An observation . In the things on the ST app Comfort Alarm appears when set with a Green Icon which says \"No Alarm\", I assume this relates to there being no triggered alarm state?
Clicking into the device The first Icon on top row again shows the same \"No Alarm\" while the one next to it shows (in my case) another similar Green Icon stating \"Day Mode Active\" which is correct.
I would have thought though that this could be maybe Amber or Red to show the state as set (day mode active). And possibly this swapping with the other icon to the left so you can easily see the current status.
I appreciate that this is no meant to replace the Comfort App however see no reason why it couldn\'t.

Thanks

David

[mattbrain]

Hi David

Thanks for the feedback, the alarm control is the newest bit i have added and I do think the UI could be improved. In the summary view, ideally I would like to show the alarm set condition and whether it has been triggered but not sure how best to represent this.

In the detail view, we can easily change how these are represented. Any suggestions on the colour scheme for the set conditions (off, day, night, away, vacation). For alarm state I was going to use Green, Amber, Red along with the associated status message.

Thanks,

Matt

[DavidJ]

Hi Matt,
I would have thought the colour scheme you suggest is correct with Green representing Unset - Amber as Set - Red as triggered. Not sure the color should be any different for each set type, probably uniform throughout.
Just be great to see a easy to view status from the main page.
Thanks
David

[wexfordman]

Whoo hoo, my google home arrived today :-)
Cant open it till christmas day though, mught have to sneak in a pi and a smart home hub as well between now and then though!

[mattbrain]

Looking forward to the review.

I got an apple watch the other day (it was heavily subsidised by my critical illness policy) - and as SmartThings supports the apple watch, I can arm and unset the alarm from my wrist

[waszaa]

Hi - This is all working well now for me on a PI 2

Just wondered what the best way is to sync the comfort alarm status to the smart things hub (away-home-night) Mode ?

Thanks

Mike

[mattbrain]

Hi Mike

Glad you have got it installed and working. I know my installation notes are out of date on the github site - hopefully you managed to get responses and alarm set / status working.

In terms of mirroring ST and Comfort modes - this is something I am working on, I think I may need to create a couple of virtual devices so that the specific functions for Day / Night / Away / Vacation are exposed in a way which can be accessed by the ST modes.

Please let me know how you get on with what we have so far, any questions - please don\'t hesitate to contact me via this thread or PM.

Thanks again,

Matt