ESPhome on Obi smart plug WFG-3-B with Libretiny and Tuya Cloudcutter

 Hello,

today I want to share with you a device yaml file for a smart plug I converted from Tuya / Smartlife to ESPhome. You can follow this tutorial from the maker of the libretiny project to convert your device into an ESPhome compatible device. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSj8f-HCHQ0

Also Digiblur made a good video about it. I used his video to set-up the Tuya Cloudcutter. The ESPhome part can be done on your home assistant installation like it is done in the first video. You don´t need to build the firmware, use the kickstart firmware from kuba2k2 (first video).

https://digiblur.com/2023/04/10/tuya-cloudcutter-with-esphome-how-to-guide/

I used a smart plug from my local German DIY store, OBI. 

https://www.obi.de/hausfunksteuerung/wifi-stecker-schuko-weiss/p/5274899

In my case the used chip inside was a BK7231T chip with WB2S module, running MCU 1.1.2. In Tuya Cloudcutter I wass successful with the following device profile: 

1.1.2 - BK7231T / oem_bk7231s_rnd_switch

The MCU version can be checked when adding the device to your Tuya App, see video. To find the specific chip used, I had to open my device and check on the board the printed name. I don´t think it is necessary again now for the next plug I will re-flash. To open the device, you need to destroy the scres as it is impossible to open them with a tool. I drilled them out.

The part I want to contribute to this is the created device file for the Obi smart plug as it was not easy to figure out the pins for the LED and the relay. 

This is not the full config, the WiFi part and so on is left out. This is something you need to make for your specific device. 

esphome:

  name: obiwifiplug

  name_add_mac_suffix: true

  comment: WFG-3-B, Wifi-Stecker Schuko Weiß von OBI, Artikelnummer 5274899 bei OBI, https://www.obi.de/hausfunksteuerung/wifi-stecker-schuko-weiss/p/5274899, Euromate GmbH & Co. KG, Art.-Nr. 210308

libretiny:

  board: generic-bk7231t-qfn32-tuya

  framework:

    version: dev

binary_sensor:

- platform: gpio

  id: button_1

  pin:

    number: P26

    inverted: true

    mode: INPUT_PULLUP

  on_press:

    then:

    - switch.toggle: switch_1

switch:

- platform: gpio

  id: switch_1

  name: Relay 1

  pin:

    number: P24

  on_turn_on:

    - output.turn_on: led

  on_turn_off:

    - output.turn_off: led

output:

- platform: gpio

  id: led

  pin: 

    number: P6

    inverted: true

Fibaro FGCD-001 on Vera (lite)

 So after many failed attempts, I got a Fibaro FGCD-001 carbon monoxide detectot and alarm to work with Vera Lite, on UI7 version 1.7.1040.

When inittially adding it as a generic z-wave device, it will add the sensor, a child device as temperature sensor and some weird other device. Ignore this one.  

I used these device configuration settings, but I think you can also do without them.

The important part is to change some settings for the device so it is treated like a CO Alarm properly and is displayed as such. We need to add one file to the vera via the Apps - Develop apps - Luup files.

The file in question would be this one here:

Download the "original" Smoke Alarm from your Vera (browse the list), open it with a simple text editor and modify it with the code from this one here:

Safe it as "Virtual Smoke" and upload it to the Vera. 

Once this is done, go to your "generic device" and modify:

Category and subcategory, to mark it as a sensor for CO

As Device JSON, use the D_COSensor.json (which is standard on the Vera).

The device _file needs to be the new file we created and uploaded to the Vera, in my case the D_Virtual_SmokeSensor1.xml

As last bit, set device_type to "" urn:schemas-micasaverde-com:device:SmokeSensor:1 "".

If all goes well, this should result in a working CO Alarm in UI7 with the Fibaro FGCD-001

It seems like you need to be careful when entering these names in the property fields... If you enter "filename.xml " with a space after the xml part, the device will disappear. So always make sure that there is no trailing " " at the end of your filenames!!!

Z-Wave Rollladen Gurtwickler - belt winders for roller shutters

 Hi,

ever wondered if there are any z-wave enabled belt winders for roller shutters on the market? No, there aren't any. Some manufacturers will offer you their on "smart-home" protocol solution, like Velux, Rademacher or Somfy. They use protocols like RTS, io-control or whatnot... If you are looking to use a z-wave based system, it's not possible without some DIY.

I recently was able to convert a Rademacher Rollotron ("RolloTron Standard DuoFern") into a functional z-wave controllabe device without butchering it. There is another solution I have found from the Blog www.siio.de but it involves to destroy and make a lot of modifications to the (different style and model and make) belt winder. My solution here is probably more expensive but won't damage the belt winder and it will stay fully functional as before and still can be controlled locally or through the DuoFern remote and ecosystem. 

So I used a Fibaro Roller Shutter 3 to act as the Z-Wave modul. This was controlling a "DuoFern 9497 module" which is basically a DuoFern barbone remote. it is supposed to be installed as a wall switch behind a switch but I connected it to the Fibaro module. 

It requires a 12V source. I used an old power supply from a broken gadget. As the device contacts are "dry contacts" I couldn't connect the fibaro roller shutter directly to the DF9497. I used two relays which "closed" when the fibaro gave power to the exit (up or down). I used two WAGO xxx as relays. 

The Fibaro roller shutter module S1 and GND was connected to A1 and A2. The DF9497 was connected to 11 and 14. If the Fibaro gives power for "DOWN" for example, the relay would close, finalizing the circuit on the DF9497 module. This would then send a command with the standard DuoFern protocol to the roller shutter belt winder and close it. Same for UP movement.

Something like this but this is with a KLF-050 for the Velux system (RTS). This actually inspired me and I adopted this below to the DuoFern system once I discovered they have the DF 9497 module. 

It would probably would have been easier to use a Qubino module which works in 12V mode to eliminate the need to 230V in the setup. maybe it is also possible to use the Fibaro smart implant in the setup but you would need to get two "potential free" dry contact outputs which act as a remote switch for the DuoFern 9497 to close the connection for "up" and "down". At the time this was my best solution for this to integrate a single DuoFern belt winder in my Vera Lite Z-Wave eco system. I might post more pictures later as well as some z-wave parameters for the Fibaro unit to get positioning % working.

To summarize, the advantages are:

• No modification on the belt winder needed
• belt winder continues to work as normal with any other potential DuoFern equipment
• native z-wave integration in the end with positioning %
• You can add a switch as well to control the blind from somewhere else (the purpose of the DF 9497 originally intended, but we will connect)

Downsides are:

• You need a z-wave module, a DF9497 module, two relays for each belt winder [100€ minimum]
• If you control the DuoFern locally or via DuoFern system, the positioning in z-wave is not synchronized 
• The whole "control package" is quite big with all the cables and clutter, no way you can fit that in the wall, but you can put it anywhere really as it just acts as a "Z-Wave to DuoFern translator box" actually. I put all the stuff in a electrical connector box and chucked it onto a shell on the top out of the way and sight, not bothering me
• You need to know what you do as it involves 230V!

Probably if you ahve more than one or two DuoFern things to control, it is better to take the homepilot hub from Rademacher and somehow integrate the homepilot hub into Vera. I haven't investigated this option. Maybe with home-assittant or openhab or iobroker these home-pilot can be integrated. 

Duwi 05436 Jalousie Funk Einbauschalter also known as ZW ESJ from Duwi or Popp

 So I have those roller shutter blind control modules since ages and they seem to work okay. I bought them as Düwi 05459x or 05436 (last number just represents the style of the cosmetic frame and paddle switch) but they are also known as ZW ESJ by Popp or some other company as interact3 or as DUW_064367. I have even read that they were the very first z-wave devices when the system was called something else.

Anyway, point if this post is to remind us of the z-wave parameters you can program in those as the parameters are nowhere documented properly. The manual will only state how to calibrate up and down with the device in learning mode but not how to calibrate via programming with z-wave parameters. While looking for an answer I came across many forum posts asking how to do it but no answers. Finally I stumbled across jeedom  where the device parameters are finally explained. While I was reading it I remembered this as I have done it many years ago myself. So before forgetting it again and helping others to find this information, I will share it here (again):

You can only work with two parameters here:

• Parameter 0 is configuring the runtime for up and down
• Parameter 1 is configuring the behavior when pressing the opposite button while the moving

Both these things can apparently be set also without parameters as per manual, see screenshot:

As you can see after browsing through many manuals which cover (what I believe is the same device), now let's have a look at the "modern" way on how to do this:

• Parameter 0 is configuring the runtime for up and down
• Parameter 1 is configuring the behavior when pressing the opposite button while the moving

For Parameter 1 it is pretty easy. I was able to modify the behavior of the module. In the default setting, it will stop the movement if you press the opposite direction. For this you need to set the value to 1. If you want to immediately revert the movement, set it to 0. I was successful by using parameter type and size of "1 byte decimal". First time I "monitored" the value it was 255 though, which is decimal for FF (hex code). So not sure if it might be required to use "1 byte hex" instead. Anyway, as pictured below works for me either 1 or 0 in parameter 1 "1 byte dec".

While typing this, I tried it in "1 byte hex" with value FF and it resulted in value 255 as "current value". Seems to work either way. You will see for parameter 0 why hex is important....

 

Now let's check out parameter 0 for the runtime. It seems to code the runtime, in up and down direction with two different values in one string. I try my best to explain. First, if we work with times less than 2minutes we get an accuracy (or possibility) to program in 1s intervals, while anything more will only be in 10s steps, as per user manuals stated above. Usually 2 minutes is enough for shutter operations.

In the following paragraphs, numbers starting with "0x" are hex values. Use an online converter to follow along or make your own "calculations". I will explain how enter your runtimes:

Parameter 0 will include both your up and down time. My Vera shows a current value of 6167 (which is a decimal number), check screenshot earlier. Inside the roller blind actor device the value is stored as hexadecimal number, which is 0x1817. The first part is "18", representing the runtime up and the second part is "17" representing the runtime down. These values are hex! 0x18 is 24s and 0x17 is 23s. So my "up" is 24s and my "down" is 23s.

Once you know what your desired up and down values are, you can "construct" your value for parameter one. As example for me I want to change to 25s up and 23s down. This would mean 0x19 up and 0x17 down. Combine "19"&"17" to get 0x1917 as new hex value for your parameter. We can convert this to 6423 as decimal number. In below picture I sent my new runtimes to the device with data type "2 byte hex" 0x1917 (in the Vera UI you don#t enter the leading 0x) and I get the desired value and behavior (25s up, 23s down).

You can also enter your runtime as a four digit decimal number with data type "2 byte dec" which works as below screenshot shows. In this example I used decimal 6168 which is 0x1818 which is "18" up and "18" down which is 24s up and 24s down.

Just make sure to use the correct "data type/size" for whatever you will decide which route to go. Vera will display the actual setpoint the device uses always as "decimal", so maybe it is better to use the decimal 2 byte variant to make sure the parameter is accepted.

 

Technisat Szenenschalter 1 ( Technisat scene controller 1 with 4 buttons)

 Hi,

for everybody wondering how to include this device or what device handler to use and so on... I am using this device as a small remote for some lights with my Vera Lite. As the device was not readily in the list of a possbile "new device", I just added it as the HKZW-SCN04-V1.0 from Hank.

First, charge the "battery" all the way. Check the manual. Inclusion is via the center button, tripple click. 

It appears that most of the Technisat Z-wave products are just rebranded Hank devices, so using the appropriate settings and handlers like the original Hank device works just fine. As with all device inclusion on Vera Lite, I recommend doing it via the App, not the WebUI. 

In Vera, the buttons are mapped as per below image.

In the device options, there will be a menu where you can assign scenes to the different actions of buttons. Or you can use the remote as "trigger" when creating scenes in the scene editor. Whatever you do, stick with one version. Also, it is best to control devices or lights via scenes. It should be possible to link the remote directly to a device but I can't be bothered to set this up.

If you want to assign the function ON and OFF to let's say one button on the remote, say to "toggle" a light on or off depending if it is on or off already, there is a way to do this. You don'd need two buttons/scenes, one for ON, one for OFF. 

What we need, is to "toggle" the controlled device, which means "change to the other state" and not tell them what exact state to go to. To toggle a device in Vera Lite (or Ezlo ???), create a scene for this (best with manual trigger, if you assign this scene to the button) purpose. Go to the advanced editor and add an action, choose your device/light and there look for something called "toggle". Worked for me.

Fibaro Flood Sensor FGFS-101 Gen5 FW3.4 & Vera Lite

 Hi,

short post regarding the usage of Fibaro Floodsensor FGFS-101 with the Firmware 3.4 as per sticker on the PCB of the sensor. Adding them to an (old) Vera Lite z-wave hub was a pain until I figured out that it needs some manual work. My "old" Vera Lite is now I think over 7 years old, running okay most of the time with no problems or stability issues. I have a few roller shutters and lights. The Firmware of the Vera Lite is stuck at 1.7.1030 as I can't update to 1.7.1040 due to not enough storage. And I don't want to as everything works...

First, let me say that I recommend running these sensors with DC power supply. In battery mode they will die fast and are reported as "disconnected" in Vera. I don#t remember how I got them running the first time (when using battery) but today I tried to reconnect them and decided to use DC power instead of battery. One reason is the location in the cellar is far away from any other Z-Wave device which could relay their meassages and I have the feeling that with DC power they are more reliable. 

Anyway, changing them to DC power required to remove them (exclude) and then add (include) again. As there was no way to get them properly removed I had to delete them manually from Vera and exclude the devices manually as well. Once that was done, I wired them up properly as per manual and cut some small holes in the upper and lower shell to allow the cable to pass. Make them small, so the cable will be snug.

Then to the re-inclusion... Use the Vera App! Don´t use the web UI... Choose to add an "generic" Z-Wave device, connect the power to the FGFS-101, then advance in the wizard for inclusion until it asks for pressing the inclusion button on the "generic device". It is a quick triple click on the small tamper switch lever on the PCB. I did this while standing with the device in front of the Vera Lite, so I can see the inclusion LED stop blinking but nothing happened in the Vera App.... Try to start the inclusion (triple click) as soon as the 60s count down starts... The inclusion nearly takes 60s! Anyway, once triple clicked, don't worry (yet) if nothing happens. Once the countdown timer passed, the inclusion was still successful and the app (I am using iPhone app) asks for a name and a room for the "generic device". 

Back at the computer in the web UI you can see your new device along with a "_Temperature Sensor" which belongs to this FGFS-101. Give it a proper name.

You will see that the device in Vera shows up as Generic Device and not as sensor so it can't be used properly for scenes or alarms. This can be fixed by telling Vera Lite that this is actually a flood sensor. You will need to go into the settings of the "Generic Device", then "Advanced". In the "Params" (parameters) section there, you can make all the necessary changes. I did the following, I swapped the values for the generic device with flood sensor values:

• device_file: D_FloodSensor1.xml
• device_type: urn:schemas-micasaverde-com:device:FloodSensor:1
• manufacturer: Fibaro
• model: FGFS-101 Gen5
• device_json: D_FloodSensorWithTamper1.json
• category_num: 4
• subcategory_num: 2

Thanks for the advise from amdokamal and mdg from this forum thread over at the official forum for the Vera Lite. My flood sensors now show up properly and work as expected.

MásMóvil, their ZTE F680 and a Synology [now works, see update]

Hi there,

so today I got a nice neat new internet connection for my place. As I am currently living in Spain, I signed up for a fiber connection from MásMóvil, a big ISP here. They offer symetric GPON connections of up to 300MBit/s for as little as 40 EUR a month. I was super excited as I signed up for that. The technician came two days after signing the contract and pulled a fiber cable from my apartment to the distribution panel in the building. That all worked well. Internet is fast, as advertised.

As CPE they hand out a ZTE F680 unit with Gigabit LAN ports, a PON socket, some USB and phone stuff. Pretty standard. Wifi is to AC specs with advertised 1750 cpacity. Anyway, as soon as I removed my trusted LEDE router and put that white box in it's spot, I connected my ethernet devices, changed the wifi password, IP ranges, .... the usual stuff

Now comes the strange part. My XPenology seems to be able to get an IP from the DHCP but I am not able to ping it or connect to it. I tried multiple machines, different LAN ports, wifi network. I also gave it a manual IP address. No chance. As soon as I connect it back to the LEDE router I can access and use the NAS as usual. It seems like the ZTE doesn't like the XPenology N54L HP Microserver. I have found some other people complaining about this as well on a Spanish forum and it seems as there is a firmware bug in the ZTE which prevents the Synology to properly connect to the network. All packets seem to be dropped.

My temporary solution for now is that I am using my secondary LEDE router now as a common access point outting it on the same subnet as the ZTE router. The LEDE is the DHCP server handing out the IPs with the ZTE's IP as default gateway. That works and I can connect to my NAS from my other devices. If I hardwire myself (or connect to the ZTE wifi) I am not able to access the Synology device.

The firmware of the ZTE F680 is V4.0.10 P1T3 ( Hardware version 4.0 )and the XPenology is DM 5.0-4458 Update 2. I am not upgrading this as it stays in my home network only and is not connected to the outside world. Never change a running system ;-) So if you experience the same issue with the ZTE gateway, let me know. Maybe you have found a solution?

As my Spanish is not very good I will not bother with the support as they would probably have no idea anyway.

UPDATE:
My TP-Link Archer C7 died the last week and I was forced to use the ZTE CPE as Router again. Everything is working, the Synology works fine on the LAN ports. There has been some updates to the firmware of the ZTE, the current one now is:

Software Version	ZTEGF6804P1T6
Boot Loader Version	V4.0.10

So they have fixed something since I tried it last time. Good enough!

How turn your Synology NAS into an Airplay Speaker

Hi guys,

long time no post, anyway, here is a new awesome little feature I was able to add to my homemade Synology NAS.

It will add the possibility to receive airplay streams for music and plays them directly to the connected USB speakers!

I am just spreading the word of this, all credit to Lost Carrier! His blog.

1) Make sure the speakers work with Synology by installing the AudioStation and test some files with it.
2) Make sure AudioStation runs after every reboot. This is necessary.
3) Go over to here and grab the latest version of Shairport for Synology. Maybe the author will add it to the Syno Community Packets soon, too.
4) Install the packet.
5) If you don't know which architektur you are on, log onto your Synology with ssh and enter this as root account, password is the same as ethe admin passowrd for the web GUI. Google if you don't know how to log on wih ssh.

uname -a

This should show you the CPU/architektur type! Grab the right packet and enjoy!

To controll the volume, go over to the AudioStation and use the Volumebar there in case it is not loud enough! Worked for me. Put it to full retard :-) and then use the iPhone/iPad or whatever to reduce again to good level via Airplay.

I am using this combined with TuneBlade to stream my music to my high-end speakers from Bowers&Wilkins, which are USB-connected to get the best sound from. As I don't want my Ultrabook to be connected to those while roaming through my flat, this is the best option for me enjoying wireless high quality audio from my Windows 7 machine!

Additional HDDs in a N54L HP ProLiant Microserver

Just a short note for those who want to add more than the usual six HDDs into there HP ProLiant Microserver N54L.

I am using XPenology and Gnoboot. With some minor modifications you can add six HDDs. Four on the internal SAS connector, one on the eSATA port and one on the optical disk SATA connector. To add four more SATA ports I got my hands on a SAS Mini PCIe card. Very cheap. It is using a Marvell 88SE9230 chipset and comes with a half height bracket. It will not offer any RAID options on a hardware level, just offering more SATA connectors for your machine. It runs off a PCIe x2 slot.

Works out of the box with Xpenology. Now you can add up to 10 HDDs to your microserver. The controller card is just 18 EUR at a webstore, just google for "Conrad 989120". If you can´t find that particular model, you might just use any other card with the same chipset.

The required "mini-SAS male to 4xSATA male" cable is nearly as expensive as the controller. You will also need some Molex to SATA power cables and splitters.

Vision Security ZP 3102 EU

This is a nice a very reliable PIR sensor which even offers a temperature monitor. But in Vera Lite UI5 there is no device added to use this as temperature probe.

Workaround:

Procedure :
o App/Develop App/Create device
o Enter "D_TemperatureSensor1.xml" in the field "Upnp device filename"
o Enter whatever you want in the field "Description" -> it will be the virtual sensor name...
o Choose a room if applicable
o Click 'Create Device'
o Open the newly created device, go to 'advanced' tab.
o Enter "urn:upnp-org:serviceId:TemperatureSensor1" in the field 'New service'
o Enter "CurrentTemperature" in the field 'New Variable'
o Enter "0" in the field 'new value', click 'Add'

=> Then you must create a scene that runs every x minutes (like 5 minutes).
o In the scene luup code, enter :

 local my_temp = luup.variable_get("urn:upnp-org:serviceId:TemperatureSensor1","CurrentTemperature",motion_id)   
 luup.variable_set("urn:upnp-org:serviceId:TemperatureSensor1", "CurrentTemperature", my_temp, virtual_id)  
 return true  

replace 'motion_id' by the ZP3102 device ID, replace 'virtual_id' by the virtual sensor device ID

o Save the code, finish the scene (name, room etc), save

=> Now, when clicking 'Run scene', the virtual sensor temperature should update with the one of the ZP3102...


If you want to use more than one ZP3102, just make sure to create a scene which updates the temp for each device. One scene for every device. Adjust the device and virtual IDs!

edit: Today I had a look again at it and there is a easier way if you have more than one device. You can all put it in ONE scene which runs every 5 minutes. All you need to to is rename there variable for every sensor.

 local my_temp1 = luup.variable_get("urn:upnp-org:serviceId:TemperatureSensor1","CurrentTemperature",21)  
 luup.variable_set("urn:upnp-org:serviceId:TemperatureSensor1", "CurrentTemperature", my_temp1,38)  
 local my_temp2 = luup.variable_get("urn:upnp-org:serviceId:TemperatureSensor1","CurrentTemperature",31)  
 luup.variable_set("urn:upnp-org:serviceId:TemperatureSensor1", "CurrentTemperature", my_temp2,37)  
 return true  

The first variable is called my_temp1, the second my_temp2. Make sure you set the corresponding IDs of the sensor and the virtual probe correctly. The code above is illustrating my setup with two sensors (ID 21 and ID 31) and the two virtual probes ( ID 37 and ID 38).

TL-WR710N VPN Settings

By popular demand:

Once you got your second router which supports L2TP or PPTP on the WAN interface, you can start settings up this little device. I used a TL-WR710N  by TP-Link. Small and handy. Other produkts might work too, I especially recall the TP-Link and D-Link routers to support this. But before you buy check whether they do support it or not.

So what else do you need besides this second router? Well, an ethernet cable to connect it to the original Base-Router and of course an active VPN-subscription of your choice. You will need an provider which overs pptp or L2tp access. But most do. Just check their packages avaibilbe or chat with the support.

Just a small reminder here again:

What are we trying to achieve?

1. Connect a router to a VPN server
2. Provide the VPN connection to multiple devices
3. All without flashing special firmware to a router, NO guarantee voided!
4. Using a 2nd cheap router as VPN router, NO interference with existing setup 

I am using the TL-WR710N as example here. Should be similar for other devices though!

prerequisite: Working home wifi/network with base-router. Connect the VPN-router WAN-port to a regular LAN-port on your base router. Power up the VPN router. Connect to the new VPN-router Wifi and do the "Quicksetup", or use a wired connection from the VPN-router LAN-port to your Laptop/PC.

Now you got a second, secluded wifi/network running on the VPN-router. To turn this network into a VPN routed one, go to "Network", "WAN" and change the connection Type to L2TP or PPTP and input your server credentials. Change the MTU value down to 1400. This fixes some issues while surfing. Choose "Connect Automatically", Hit SAVE and you are done. Every device (iPhone, AppleTV, Laptop, PC) connected to this VPN-router (wireless or wired) will be routed thru the VPN-server and avoid any GEO-blocking.

Internet in Dubai

Hi everybody,

I am in Dubai now and want to share some information about the internet connction there. I live in a house in a community called "Arabian Ranches". The ISP is du Telecom or know as EITC ( Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company ). They are the only ISP providing Internet service in the gated community " Arabian Ranches " (despite that there are only two telcos in UAE anyway, du and Etisalat ).

Okay, so I live in a house in this neighborhood. As I couldn't get any informations prior actually being in Dubai in my house, I ll try to give some information for people who might have similar question.

DU offers FTTH here. There is a CPE in a cabinet in the house. The CPE is doesn't need power, so I assume they are using a passive optical network (PON). Speeds are up to 100 Mbit. I sticked to the smallest bandwith with 8. Upgrade is always possible.

So the CPE is connected with a double optical cable to the so-called "optical" Layer 2 switch. They installed a Vood 292 "Layer 2" switch next to the CPE. This makes the transition from optical to copper RJ45. You ll find more information on the Vood 292 on the internet.

http://www.t-2.net/media/Dokumenti/Stikala/Switch_Vood_200.pdf

http://www.oslagbart.se/i3_VRG-VTA_Config_Ver6E.pdf

http://www.netmedia.fi/products/tilgin/vood200.html

http://www.hakukaista.fi/index2.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=16&Itemid=50

Two Rj11 are available for analog phone (they do it VoIP -style). Works. 

So the technicians came, did some stuff, asked me where my computer is did some more work and left. They told me to buy a router if I want wifi. After they left, I checked their work....  They did some wiring in the cabinet, put the Vood 292 in and connected the house-cat6 cables to the Vood. The funny thing is, that they did a bad job regarding wiring. They were friendly and all, but they obvious have no idea to a proper cat-wiring.

All the Cat6 cables from the house terminate in this cabinet and they are punched down onto a "Block 66" not a patchpanel! As it hurts my eyes looking in this cabinet, I ll get a patchpanel and install it there. The cabinet isn't a 19"-rack and there are only 10 cat6 so a small patchpanel for wallmounting will be enough. I ll add a small switch and do the job properly. Once I find my camera, I ll make some decent pictures.

You can hardwire your stuff to the Vood 292 and they ll get an external IP. But As I wanna use homenetworking I ll just hardwire one of the eight Vood LAN ports to the WAN of my router. the 7 other won't be used. I am pretty sure if you gonna use IP-TV ( DU offers over 200 FTA channels ) your IP-TV decoder box gonna need hardwire contact on the Vood LAN as they probably use vLAN tagging.

Softether - Raspberry Pi

Just found a very good writen German manual.

Also für alle dies auf deutsch lesen wollen, schaut euch ihn mal an:

http://go-seven.de/softether-vpn-auf-dem-raspberry-pi/

Copyright Pascal Tippelt

Virtual Ethernet LAN cable

As an ongoing effort, I am trying to connect my different homes and flats with some kind of VPN so that we can all share the same resources. I recently tried connecting my routers (which run DDWRT or TomatoUSB) with some kind of client/server construction based on PPTP or openVPN. Neither of the protocols were to my satisfaction as openVPN requires routers with more flashmemory and ddwrt is a mess with its GUI.

Enter... Softether

http://www.softether.org/4-docs/2-howto/1.VPN_for_On-premise/3.LAN_to_LAN_Bridge_VPN

I stumbled upon this nice piece of software one day as I was looking a solution again for my problem. It is just perfect for me. It's a bit similar to Hamachi, but in my oppinion even a bit handier.

Imagine Softether being a virtual network cable expanding your existing home network with a virtual lan cable going to a virtual "cloud switch". Adding Softether to all your different home networks amd connecting them to the same cloud switch just connects all your networks on layer 2! Its really like pulling network cables from all your places to one central switch without actually pulling real cables between your homes/flats.

Those virtual network cables are route through a special VPN tunnel and terminat in the virtual hub in the cloud. The network really behaves like being linked with a regular patch cable! It works so good, that I even was assigned an IP address from router A's DHCP pool, even though I was actually on router B's physical net ("problem" was solved by enabling "Filter DHCP packets on Virtual Switch").

So, like I said, this can be used to merge multiple networks to one big one. I am using this even on the same TCP/IP subnet 192.168.67.0, here is how:

Router A has 192.168.67.1 with DHCP pool ...2-...99
Router B has ...100 with DHCP pool ...101-...149
Router C has ...150 with DHCP pool ...151-...199

Every router is by default the gateway of its physical network, but all devices are in the same subnet. Using printers, IP-cams, NAS like on your homenetwork.

My network C is in an VoIP restricted country. I can't use SIP over there. Ports blocked, deep packet inspections running on ISP side, SIP via VPN is not as easy too. Because you can't port-forward thru VPN that easy. So my SIP-phone on network C is configured manually to use IP 192.168.67.254 (out of every DHCP pool) and use 192.168.67.1 as gateway and DNS. Router A has a portforward on port 5060 to 192.168.67.254, so it is reachable from outside.

Sounds like a nice setup right?

But now even better: Softether of course requires to run on each physical network segment you want to connect with each other. You could put it on a regular desktop machine and its fine. But it needs to run 24/7 so that the virtual cable is up. But that'S not preferable solution, too much waste energy.

Enter ... Raspberry Pi

There is a Linux ARM build available from Softether. So easy to install, so low energy, such wow, so lol.

2GB SD card. fresh debian for Raspberry, connect raspberry with router (lan cable), power the raspberry (i used usb port of routers!), ssh into your Pi, apt-get update upgrade, expand filesystem, set timezone

meanwhile set up dhcp reservation for the pi, portforward 5555 to pi  (only necessary for server pi)

ServerPi: wget latest Softether Server ARM EABI build for Pi, follow these blog post more or less:

http://tomearp.blogspot.de/2013/11/setting-up-l2tpipsec-vpn-with-softether.html

Client Pis: wget latest Softether Bridge ARM EABI build for Pi, same procedure like server just replace server everywhere with bridge

I even doubt anyone will ever read this but if someone ever does and is stuck, just comment. Just a rough sketch of what to do.

To config all the settings on the Pis just use the "Server manager Tool" on any desktop machine and connect to the Pis IP. There you can setup everything. All you need to do on the Pis is installing Softether moduls and ensuring the autostart on boot. The whole config stuff is easy made from normal computer with nice GUI

More Z-Wave Stuff

I recently added some door/window contact sensors to my setup. Easy install. In addition I also added a motion sensor and a siren. All products are battery powered. If they sense a motion or an door/windows opening, they wake up from hibernation and send their new state to the z-wave controller.

The siren is also battery powered, but it useses something like Flirs. It sleeps for 900ms seconds, then wakes up, checks for new instructions for 100ms and then sleeps again. This way it can conserve battery power but is also ready for new commands like "power up the siren, we have an intrusiuon!".

But until I haven't tested the whole setup for false alarms and tripping sensors, I ll stay with email notifications until i feel comfortable enabling the siren in the alarm pattern. Because once this thing goes off, it really makes a hell of a noise.

Z-Wave Home Automation

I recently decided to renew my shutters in the living room and the dining room. The old plastic ones were getting yellowish from the sun and some elements had dents and cracks. I decided to get new Aluminium shutters with can be operated with a motor.

As motors I chose simple "dumb" Oximo WT by Somfy. They have 4 wires running down from the motor, PE, N, P1 and P2. P1 and P2 are used for either up or down and are the same as L.

They were installed with a simple switch to control them locally. But I wanted them to be more "smart". They should open in the morning and close in the evening. I chose the Z-Wave system as it seems promising for future additions.

To control the shutters I chose the Düwi 05436, which have L N Com P1 P2. Connecting those to the Oximo WT was quite easy, just keep in mind that you need to connect Com from the 05436 to L of your installation. A simple small "bridge" to connect them is all you need. If the shutters run up when pressing the down button, just change P1 and P2.

Now I have shutters in my house which can be operated locally with a switch (same as before) but can also be controlled via Z-Wave technology. The Z-Wave hub (like the "central") is a MiCasaVerde Lite, a small controller hub. It's connected to your local network via LAN cable and provides a user interface via its local IP address. Adding the shutter controllers to it wasn't a big deal, pretty standard procedure straight from the manual.

But then problems started. I couldn't access the UI of the Vera Lite any more. Long story short, using Chrome's "private tab" solved the problem. Now I can control my shutters with the UI from any computer or smartphone. I also invested in a dimmable wall plug  to control a light remotely. Works fine too. Moving the bar to a specific % works perfectly for the dimmable wall plug.

Sadly, it does not work the same way for the shutters. As I found out, the % indicated there is a time-% of the total operating time of either state "up" or "down" by default its is set to 120s. So 50% would be 60s of operating. But for example my small window (just 30cm wide) is closed completly by the Oximo WT within 20s. So If I would like to close the small window shutter only down to 50% I need to set the shutter to 8,3%.

You can modify the "total time need to operate to 100%" in the advanced Z-Wave settings somehow... But haven't read into that yet. For now I am happy to operate them to full close/ full open.

I have read in the Düwi 054368 that there is a "calibration" mode of the switch to do this process directly on the device. I ll try that on my Düwi 05436 next weekend. If this works, I think the Düwis will set their "total time needed to operate to 100%" by themselves.

What else did I got for my Z-Wave system?

I fetched myself a Düwi 05431 wall switch to control the balcony light. But i couldn't install it as the provided wall mount plate and all the exterior of the switch ( Everlux series ) is not compatible with my already installed switches. Will go to the hardware-store and look for a double housing which is compatible with the Everlux. Or maybe just get an Everlux wall socket. Whatever is cheaper.

And I got me an PHI_PAN06 from Philio. It is a relay which can control two separate loads of max 1500 Watts. Before I tried to mount it in my garage to control the garden illumination and the garden power sockets ( some Christmas decoration lights are connected to the garden sockets), i quickly connected it to a spare wire in my hobby room to test it. And I am glad I did. Because the Vera Lite didn't really discovered it, merely added four devices which were not functional. After some digging I found out that you need to update the "device library" of the Vera Lite so that the Vera know what device it is and how to handle it. Compare it to installing some new drivers on the Vera. Otherwise the Vera does not know what a PHI_PAN06 is.

So you do this by adding an MiOS app on the Vera Called Updater. Search the App Store of the Vera for the device list updater and run an update. After that the Vera discovers the relay and it works fine. Although it added 4 devices again with different functions, I don't care. Now they work.

The next part is installing the relay in the garage. Should be not a big deal, will do next weekend before Christmas. Will need some more stuff from the hardware store to do this properly. Like a small fuse box to put all the cabling in. And some external regular wall switches to operate the relay locally as well. Always handy to have a local option if the Z-wave shouldn't work for any reason.

Good solution TL-WR710N

Usually the instructions given by the VPN providers are tailored to some special firmwares called DD-WRT, Tomato, Open-WRT and so on which have to be installed onto your router. I have done that with many routers, works fine, is okay.

But the much easier way is to just use a router, fresh from the shelf, cheap, easy to set up and no fuzzing around with your existing model. Maybe it's just a rental and you void warranty if you start installing diffrent firmwares on the router. Maybe there is no DDWRT or Tomato or whatever for the model which is sitting in your home.

So my advice, don't fuzz around with your existing setup/router. Get a seperate "VPN-router". Why? Well, you can still use your normal internet without VPN by just switching the the wifi network back to your "normal" one or plugging the LAN cable back to the old router which has been there all the time. Maybe VPN servers are down, your subscription is over or you just want that little extra of speed again back (using VPN connection often introduces a bottleneck which reduces your internet speeds). And if you mess up the configuration of the VPN router, you can always fall back to the good old normal router with just perfectly fine working internet.

So what model should you get as VPN router? Well you could buy expensive enterprise equipment. They often advert with features like "VPN ready" etc... But that's a bit of an overkill. maybe with an normal soho router like the one you already have, maybe just another model which has DD-WRT OpenWRT Tomato Support? Yeah, that would be a solution. I have done that a lot. But there are tons of "how-to"s for that everywhere else but here. The even simpler solution:

TL-WR710N by TP-Link

Before anybody says anything. You can use any other router, it just needs to support L2TP or PPTP on the WAN-side. That's all. I am sure there are many other devices as well which can do this. I know many D-Link can as well.

The WR710N is very versatile and thus the ideal router for this purpose. It support many VPN-providers out-of-the box, no special firmware needed, small, light and nice. Next Post settings.

This post for settings: http://notsoeverydaytechproblems.blogspot.de/2014/02/tl-wr710n-vpn-settings.html

How to tunnel all your internet traffic at home through a VPN connection

If you are reading this, you probably found your way through google here. The past years I ahve been looking for an easy way to tunnel all the internet traffic from my home device through a VPN connection to protect my privacy.

First of all, who is my provider? I am very happy with my VPN provider privateinternetaccess.com (PIA), it is very similar to those many others like:

• StrongVPN
• Hidemyass (HMA) 
• PureVPN
• ipVanish
• VPN4all

What are my "devices"? Apart from the regular desktop PCs, Laptops, Ultrabooks, etc there are smartphones (Android/Apple) but also gaming consoles (Xbox360, PS3) and mediaplayers like appleTV.

So what's the big deal than with VPN? Most VPN providers offer a special software to gain access to the VPN server. The software is often based on openVPN and is easy to install and use. After installing just enter username and password and you can surf anonymously (more or less). But here the problem starts.

1) The software is usually only availible for Windows, maybe Mac and Linux. Sometimes for iOS and Android as well. This actually covers most OS and you should be happy. Should. If there wasn't problem #2.

2) All providers only allow a limited amount of simultaneous connections to the VPN server with your username and password. Most providers allow one connection, others up to five (that's why PIA is great). So you may install the VPN software on many devices but are limited to just one to five connections. If this is not a restriction for you, well... 

3) The biggest problem is, that some devices aren't just capable of connecting to the VPn server as there is no software for them to do so. Take the Xbox360 for example. There is no way you can setup a VPN connection. Or appleTV. Or your favorite internetradio device. Or an older smartphone. Maybe your settop box. Whatever.

But why would you want those devices to use the VPN connection anyway? For me, as I live in Germany, I want to enjoy US-youtube or Netflix on my TV. I want to be able to access the Swiss XBox Live marketplace and use BBCs iPlayer on my Settop Box. All those services are restricted to special countries only and require you to have an IP address from UK Swiss or US. With a VPN-connection this is very easy, but there is no way you can set up one on your TV Xbox etc.

So ... To sum up the problems:

1. Usually only one VPN connection is allowed per account.
2. Some of the devices aren't capable of using VPN because it was never intended.

Solution for #1 would be buying more than one account (which doubles or triples the costs) or get a provider which offers more than one connection a time. But this gets expensive. And wouldn't solve problem #2.

To solve problem #2, just let's take a look at those "dumb" devices which can't handle a VPN on there own. Well, they CAN handle internet connection via wired LAN cable / with wifi to your homerouter. But wait ....

So what's your homerouter doing? Sitting there and serving internet to all your devices. It shares the internet connection to your house and all it devices. Usually it's connected to your cable modem/ DSL Modem / fiber modem whatever. Sometimes the modem is a part of the router. 

So what is the router makes the connection to the VPN server? It would just be one device connected to the server (problem #1 solved) and it shares the internet to all other devices, even the "dumb" ones (prob #2 solved). The great thing about this is, you don't even need to change ANY settings on all your devices if you want to use VPN. There is just one device you make the changes to: the router. And then every connected device is VPN connected through the router.

Great idea! Is it possible to set it up like this? Short answer, yes. How? Next post.

 

Sie haben sich an einem anderen Standort abgemeldet. Möchten Sie sich wieder anmelden? - Ja bitte!

Eigentlich sollte der erste Beitrag zu etwas ganz anderem sein, aber bis ich überhaupt meinen ersten Beitrag schreiben kann, hat es schon ein wenig gedauert.

Denn sobald ich einen neuen Post im Blog erstellen will, kommt die Meldung:

"Sie haben sich an einem anderen Standort abgemeldet. Möchten Sie sich wieder anmelden?"

Anscheinend stellt Google gerade einiges an Blogger um. Die Lösung: Man muss darauf achten, dass die ganzen Adressen mit https:// anfangen, da Blogger sonst die Session beendet.  Wird wohl nur ein temporäres Problem sein.