ᐅ Installation and Setup of IoBroker – Still Configurable in Old Age?
Created on: 30 Dec 2020 21:16
B
bauenmk2020
Hello everyone,
first of all: I grew up with computers (C64) and I believe I have good to very good skills in this area (for example, I program as a hobby).
But apparently, building a house has made me so clueless that I’m currently struggling to set up my "Smart Home."
Last week, I installed ioBroker. The installation on my Windows system initially ended with an error message. I couldn’t find any solutions online. The ioBroker forum seems to have problems with a) very long threads, b) dead threads, or c) threads whose content is no longer up to date.
In the end, I found out that I had to uninstall a version of Visual Studio that I had installed beforehand...
Well, I installed ioBroker and it was then accessible via localhost. Now I wanted to connect my Ikea lamps. But first, I had to plug in the ConbeeII USB stick. I connected it to the computer, but nothing happened! No software was included. They say you need some kind of app, but where on earth is it? After some trial and error, I realized that the gateway is accessible via a certain port on my “localhost”! Well, okay. I logged in there and set up a username and password. Then I had to install a “deconz” adapter in ioBroker. To figure out what to enter there, I had to research online again...
In the meantime, I started working on the visualization. The demo view can’t be deleted and is always set as “default.” That means I always have to load this view first and then switch to my project. Accessing the visualization over the network worked well. However, the tablet is not really suitable! After researching, I found out that my Amazon Fire tablet requires a “Fully Kiosk Browser” (or something similar). But I can’t install that because the Google services (Play Store) are missing. Great, now I have to somehow use USB to load this package onto the tablet — which also means some research first...
After some back and forth, I can now turn the lamps on and off. I can even display values from the heat pump and have already created a chart using FlotDiagram.
Finally, I wanted to integrate Alexa. After more research, I found out I’m supposed to build something in “node-red”! I first had to figure out what that even is. Ah, install an adapter. And again, it was available on my “localhost.”
But following the “instructions” online didn’t really work... That’s where I’m at for now – I’ve temporarily lost motivation 🙁
My actual goal is to create scenes (lights, shading), presence detection, securing the house, and detecting open windows, etc.
To do this, I obviously need to “link” the devices and control them centrally.
Right now, I’m just asking myself: What am I actually doing here? Everything I set up, configure, and install feels so fragile! If an address changes somewhere or an update alters something, the whole DIY setup won’t work anymore! Should I really put myself through this at almost 40 years old? Spending hours at the computer (even though most of it is fun) isn’t something I can afford much anymore (house, family, work).
Is this the price you pay for a smart home? Or are there simply easier systems than ioBroker?
first of all: I grew up with computers (C64) and I believe I have good to very good skills in this area (for example, I program as a hobby).
But apparently, building a house has made me so clueless that I’m currently struggling to set up my "Smart Home."
Last week, I installed ioBroker. The installation on my Windows system initially ended with an error message. I couldn’t find any solutions online. The ioBroker forum seems to have problems with a) very long threads, b) dead threads, or c) threads whose content is no longer up to date.
In the end, I found out that I had to uninstall a version of Visual Studio that I had installed beforehand...
Well, I installed ioBroker and it was then accessible via localhost. Now I wanted to connect my Ikea lamps. But first, I had to plug in the ConbeeII USB stick. I connected it to the computer, but nothing happened! No software was included. They say you need some kind of app, but where on earth is it? After some trial and error, I realized that the gateway is accessible via a certain port on my “localhost”! Well, okay. I logged in there and set up a username and password. Then I had to install a “deconz” adapter in ioBroker. To figure out what to enter there, I had to research online again...
In the meantime, I started working on the visualization. The demo view can’t be deleted and is always set as “default.” That means I always have to load this view first and then switch to my project. Accessing the visualization over the network worked well. However, the tablet is not really suitable! After researching, I found out that my Amazon Fire tablet requires a “Fully Kiosk Browser” (or something similar). But I can’t install that because the Google services (Play Store) are missing. Great, now I have to somehow use USB to load this package onto the tablet — which also means some research first...
After some back and forth, I can now turn the lamps on and off. I can even display values from the heat pump and have already created a chart using FlotDiagram.
Finally, I wanted to integrate Alexa. After more research, I found out I’m supposed to build something in “node-red”! I first had to figure out what that even is. Ah, install an adapter. And again, it was available on my “localhost.”
But following the “instructions” online didn’t really work... That’s where I’m at for now – I’ve temporarily lost motivation 🙁
My actual goal is to create scenes (lights, shading), presence detection, securing the house, and detecting open windows, etc.
To do this, I obviously need to “link” the devices and control them centrally.
Right now, I’m just asking myself: What am I actually doing here? Everything I set up, configure, and install feels so fragile! If an address changes somewhere or an update alters something, the whole DIY setup won’t work anymore! Should I really put myself through this at almost 40 years old? Spending hours at the computer (even though most of it is fun) isn’t something I can afford much anymore (house, family, work).
Is this the price you pay for a smart home? Or are there simply easier systems than ioBroker?
bauenmk20204 Jan 2021 20:38hippjoha schrieb:
Without having read everything yet, I can still recommend Home Assistant. Installation (with experience using VMs) took about 15 minutes.
Before that, I also experimented with ioBroker and then Edomi for my KNX visualization/logic engine. I quickly discarded ioBroker. I still find Edomi (purely KNX!) great, but also the most complex.
For me, Home Assistant is the perfect middle ground. It offers many plugins, the user interface looks good, mobile app, and so on. Is the visualization “responsive,” meaning can it adapt to the screen resolutions of different devices? I’m currently learning (or rather not learning) my enocean actuators. I’m testing a “not released yet” adapter at the moment, so there’s still some development work going on.But I might take a look at it tomorrow. Meanwhile, I still have to optimize my heating system...
S
Stefan8904 Jan 2021 23:10I use Iobroker to connect HomeKit to my smart home and for a few other features. Of course, I could do this without Iobroker, but with it I get a GUI for the HomeKit configuration, which I prefer to use instead of editing dozens of configuration files manually.
I’m not yet sure if this setup will be stable over many years due to lack of experience. But in the worst case, I would only lose a few extra features and the HomeKit connection. Everything else works of course without Iobroker or similar.
I’m not yet sure if this setup will be stable over many years due to lack of experience. But in the worst case, I would only lose a few extra features and the HomeKit connection. Everything else works of course without Iobroker or similar.