DIY hardware, Indigo, and MQTT

Big thanks to FlyingDiver, I am very happy to now be able to make custom sensors and actuators that can talk with Indigo over MQTT.

My wife wanted poison dart frogs. That’s a thing. I wanted to ensure they didn’t die. So I used an esp32, bme280 sensor, oled display, and a relay. I programmed it with the Arduino IDE.

It reports temperature and humidity over mqtt, and I can change the humidity control over mqtt. The later sets a humidity set point for a relay that turns on and off the fogger.

[jay (support)]

Awesome. Pict of the frog please?

Thanks Jay!

No joke- my wife understood i would not consent to adding live frogs until i “had the temp and humidity right,” which really means until i “have working hardware that controls the fogger and has two way communication with Indigo.”

That was yesterday. Frogs are coming shortly, will post pics.

Years ago, I had poison dart frogs in a vivarium, also with an automated mister (though this was before indigo). They actually are often not actually poisonous when not in the wild (as their poisonous-ness comes from a diet in the wild). Just be careful not to add anything to the vivarium that might find the frogs delicious.....that was my mistake. I assume you'll be feeding them small crickets or fruit flies.

Years ago, I had poison dart frogs in a vivarium, also with an automated mister (though this was before indigo). They actually are often not actually poisonous when not in the wild (as their poisonous-ness comes from a diet in the wild). Just be careful not to add anything to the vivarium that might find the frogs delicious.....that was my mistake. I assume you'll be feeding them small crickets or fruit flies.

Apparently I will be conducting a droscophilla eugenics program. I had no idea i was signing up for this!

Frogs still pending, but i added relays for the fogger, light, and heat lamp:

Sweet. And portable, too!

BTW, how do you like those lever wire nuts? I've been meaning to order some to give them a try. Based on some VERY cursory research, it looks like they're acceptable (code compliant) for mains power now.

I am waiting to see the frogs!

BTW, how do you like those lever wire nuts? I've been meaning to order some to give them a try. Based on some VERY cursory research, it looks like they're acceptable (code compliant) for mains power now.

These have been code compliant in the UK for mains, at our higher 230V for at least a few years and I use them a lot, including the skinnier versions and like them a lot. A couple of professional electricians I have had to work have also used them on mains as well as 12V.

I am waiting to see the frogs!

BTW, how do you like those lever wire nuts? I've been meaning to order some to give them a try. Based on some VERY cursory research, it looks like they're acceptable (code compliant) for mains power now.

These have been code compliant in the UK for mains, at our higher 230V for at least a few years and I use them a lot, including the skinnier versions and like them a lot. A couple of professional electricians I have had to work have also used them on mains as well as 12V.

Thanks. Without being able to speak with authority, I think most electricians in the States still use traditional wire nuts.

Yeah we dont have those in UK, so used to use "chocolate boxes" (no idea where name came from) that needed screw driver so these lever ones are a massive improvement although more expensive. Although we don now have some push fit devices also by Wago (who make these lever ones) that I guess are similar to your wire nuts.

Never seen a Chocbox before - those would be supremely useful for my one-wire sensor network. Clearly less than ideal in an electrical box. We have these:

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I love Wago. My kitchen refit in 2015 is full of it, Indigo, mains and the lot!

I hate traditional UK junction boxes.

Chocolate blocks are ok but you need a loop for every common so it’s a pain.

That’s why Wago are great because the common is built in.


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Most of my mains Z-Wave stuff is connected using Wago in its various forms.

I wouldn't want to go back to connecting it any other way.

Many thanks to everyone involved in developing Indigo 7 and it's AWESOME plugins. My setup (pictured below) successfully makes use of all your hard work, knowledge and passion for the DIY idea.

So, a big THANK YOU is in order for the Matt and Jay, as well as for the developers of "Better Email", "Clock Display", "Cynical Cache, Denon and Network", "Doorbird", "EPS Control Page Keypad, Device Extension, LCD Creator and Super Conditions", "Fantastic Weather", "GhostXML", "Group Trigger", "Harmony Hub", "Homekit Bridge", "Hue Lights", "Led Simple Effects", "LIFX Bridge", "RFXCOM", "Timers and Pesters", "Variable Devices", "Z-Wave Node Matrix" and "Z-Wave Scene Controller".

YOU GUYS ROCK!!!

After literally YEARS using the "Hue Lights" plugin, I have now completed my migration from the Philips Hue Bridge to a custom Raspberry Pi4 install, sporting the deCONZ ConbeeII USB adapter.

This led me into new discovers and I have now successfully completed integrating both MQTT and Node-RED. So now I can add additional Zigbee modules into my automated home, without having to worry about Indigo ever supporting Zigbee.

Outside of the Indigo ecosystem, an aditional big thank you is due to the developers of "node-red-contrib-aedes", "node-red-contrib-deconz" and "node-red-contrib-indigo", as those were the Node-RED plugins I used on my setup.

I wish you all a nice holidays!

Cesar

Nice. Node red is a useful piece of software.

Are you using the deconz software?

You could simplify and remove node red and HOOBS and your Pi4 by using zigbee2mqtt on your Mac and passing the zigbee commands direct to indigo devices with the mqtt shims plugin.