EvoControl - custom Alexa skill for Evohome

[philchillbill]

Thanks, I was using an open port, and DOmoticz is controlled using its own http(s) server http on 8080 and https on 443 by default. I just forwarded 443.

HOWEVER
I have removed the hi80 Domoticz link in the dashboard, and unlinked and relinked Smart Heat in the alexa app and it is still saying.

'I'm having trouble accessing your EvoControl smart heat skill right now'

Note yesterday I managed to access Smart Heat even though it was linked to Domoticz, it only complained when I tried to do something saying it would fall back to TCC (although that didnt seem to work).

I just added checking the SSL cert to the script that verifies Domoticz connectivity so that should hopefully help you troubleshoot your cert problem. I've also added some extra logging to see if I can spot anything.
Do you have any Kids Time or other family restrictions set up with Alexa because that can cause errors given that this skill has 'dynamic content'? Did you like the skill as the primary Amazon account owner or as a family member?

I'll go ahead and delete all your TCC and Amazon data so you can login to your dashboard and redo the TCC auth and the autolinking while I have extra debugging enabled.

[Stevedh]

Hi, just tried again with the same results.
Also no special account restrictions or anything.
thanks

[philchillbill]

Hi, just tried again with the same results.
Also no special account restrictions or anything.
thanks

Aha, the debugging lines in the code unearthed a ghost device in your TCC account with the characteristics { name: "", zoneType: "Unknown" and "modelType": "Unknown" }. I can DM you the zoneId if you need, but you should log in to your TCC account in a browser and check what that device is doing in there.

The empty name was causing an error because I never expected that (how can anybody control a device with no name?). I've added a line to my code that replaces any empty names by 'Unknown Zone'. I could alternatively just skip over them but marking them instead will alert people to the issue. You can retry and it should be okay now.

[Stevedh]

Thanks, working now, now need to sort out certificates.
And I'm good at breaking things, thanks for sorting, but yes I really need to sort out that zone. I had a hr92 die on me so moved a working one from a little used room and it sort of went horribly wrong. everything works ok, just that the room I moved it from went wrong, and I could delete it, probably will, but was assuming I'd get a new trv for it.

[philchillbill]

I've updated the code to actually skip over zones with empty names rather than giving them a dummy name. Otherwise these ghost zones just clutter the dashboard/schedules/activities/groups view.

DHW might also not have been discoverable for some people but that should be working again. Just say "update my configuration".

[philchillbill]

For those attempting to link a HGI-80 and Domoticz to the skill, you'll need to have a roomplan called either Thermostats or EvoControl containing all your zones plus the Evotouch (the 'Controller Mode' device in Domoticz speak). There should be a 1:1 relationship between zone names in Domoticz and in TCC for it to work (it will be fuzzy matched but there are limits).

If you have very different names in Domoticz compared to TCC, there's a possibility to use the description field for the device to define an alias. This can be useful if your Domoticz names are e.g. in Dutch and you're using EvoControl in English or German:



Of course the Evohome idxes could be discoverable without being in a roomplan because all idxes can be queried and the relevant ones filtered out. That's not an issue for a one-off thing like discovery. However, it would be very wasteful of bandwidth to query Domoticz for all devices during normal use to populate the skill's dashboard. Having them in a roomplan means that only that roomplan can be queried as an 'item' and it keeps data transfer to a minimum.



This shows an example where 8 zones have been added to a roomplan called Thermostats and the Controller Mode is included too.

[bruce_miranda]

My only concern with this skill linked to Domoticz is that, no one is actively maintaining the Evohome integration in Domoticz any more. The last time Domoticz was updated was almost 2 years ago - by me! I would strongly encourage you to consider moving the integration or providing an HA option.

[philchillbill]

My only concern with this skill linked to Domoticz is that, no one is actively maintaining the Evohome integration in Domoticz any more. The last time Domoticz was updated was almost 2 years ago - by me! I would strongly encourage you to consider moving the integration or providing an HA option.

Well the Domoticz integration is completely optional and the skill works 99% without it (only the charting option depends on it). So if it ever breaks then the tickmark can be unticked and the skill will just use TCC as its basis.

Just curious, what would this call look like for HA?

`/json.htm?type=setused&used=true&idx=${idx}&setpoin t=${sp}&mode=TemporaryOverride&until=${until}`

If the HA API is as good as the Domoticz one then I can do it pretty easily.

[bruce_miranda]

@zxdavb one for you?

[bruce_miranda]

Well the Domoticz integration is completely optional and the skill works 99% without it (only the charting option depends on it). So if it ever breaks then the tickmark can be unticked and the skill will just use TCC as its basis.

Just curious, what would this call look like for HA?

`/json.htm?type=setused&used=true&idx=${idx}&setpoin t=${sp}&mode=TemporaryOverride&until=${until}`

If the HA API is as good as the Domoticz one then I can do it pretty easily.

If you are simply using Domoticz for the graphs then that is fine. But an HGI80 connected to Domoticz is capable of so much more. e.g. Fault notifications (probably the biggest advantage), Heat/Cool Demand, HW settings, Unpublished Quick Action - Day Off with Eco etc. All the stuff that isn't available via the App API.

[philchillbill]

If you are simply using Domoticz for the graphs then that is fine. But an HGI80 connected to Domoticz is capable of so much more. e.g. Fault notifications (probably the biggest advantage), Heat/Cool Demand, HW settings, Unpublished Quick Action - Day Off with Eco etc. All the stuff that isn't available via the App API.

Well I do use it for grabbing open window notifications but how does Domoticz provide heat/cool demand info? Or did you mean to type HA instead of Domoticz above?

[bruce_miranda]

Well I do use it for grabbing open window notifications but how does Domoticz provide heat/cool demand info? Or did you mean to type HA instead of Domoticz above?

Domoticz can provide Demand % values too. Every zone has a Relay device that basically tracks the Demand. This feature is only available when using an RF device connected to Domoticz e.g. HGI80 or SSM etc.
You should definitely look at grabbing the Fault Log notifications too, because not everyone is constantly looking at their Evohome controller screens to see them pop up :-)

[philchillbill]

Domoticz can provide Demand % values too. Every zone has a Relay device that basically tracks the Demand. This feature is only available when using an RF device connected to Domoticz e.g. HGI80 or SSM etc.
You should definitely look at grabbing the Fault Log notifications too, because not everyone is constantly looking at their Evohome controller screens to see them pop up :-)

I had forgotten about those Relay devices because I never show them in the Domoticz UI. Would indeed be trivial to grab the info and show it on the skill's dashboard. Would numerical or graphical (bar-length) be better, do you think?

I have 2 relay devices showing for one of my zones. It's UFH where I use a BRD91 to control the pump. One of them shows 13% : 26 even when the heating is off and the other shows On: 200 when the BRD91 is on and Off: 0 when it's off. So I guess the 200/0 one is correct but then what's the other one stuck forever at 13%? And why are values seemingly shown as 0-200? A peculiarity of Ramses or Domoticz?

[bruce_miranda]

I had forgotten about those Relay devices because I never show them in the Domoticz UI. Would indeed be trivial to grab the info and show it on the skill's dashboard. Would numerical or graphical (bar-length) be better, do you think?

I have 2 relay devices showing for one of my zones. It's UFH where I use a BRD91 to control the pump. One of them shows 13% : 26 even when the heating is off and the other shows On: 200 when the BRD91 is on and Off: 0 when it's off. So I guess the 200/0 one is correct but then what's the other one stuck forever at 13%? And why are values seemingly shown as 0-200? A peculiarity of Ramses or Domoticz?

0-200 is what Ramses uses and Domoticz halves that to show a % value. Any zone which uses a Relay will have 2 relay devices. One Relay device tracks the Heat Demand value e.g. 13% in your case. And the other Relay device actually tracks the On and Off modes. So a 25% Heat Demand will mean the Relay is On for 15mins in an hour. You will be able to see that difference between the two graphs.
On a simple UI even having a flame icon would work, to show which zone is actually calling for Heat. If you add another number it might get confusing. Ofcourse you could get more creative and add a bar length etc.

[philchillbill]

0-200 is what Ramses uses and Domoticz halves that to show a % value. Any zone which uses a Relay will have 2 relay devices. One Relay device tracks the Heat Demand value e.g. 13% in your case. And the other Relay device actually tracks the On and Off modes. So a 25% Heat Demand will mean the Relay is On for 15mins in an hour. You will be able to see that difference between the two graphs.
On a simple UI even having a flame icon would work, to show which zone is actually calling for Heat. If you add another number it might get confusing. Ofcourse you could get more creative and add a bar length etc.

Aha, thanks. But what's the meaning of 13% showing for hours on end, even when the system mode is HeatingOff? I could understand it if the mode was Auto because then the % would indicate a PWM factor and the 0 or 200 would indicate the current on/off state of that PWM value. But when the heating is off this makes little sense. Or am I missing something?

I already have a flame symbol showing if the setpoint is 0.5 above the actual (not really a demand-value but a reasonable fudge for it). So I can hijack that symbol and make it more accurate when RF is in use. I'll have a play with a bar too but I'm indeed wary of the dashboard becoming too much like a Christmas Tree.