Homemade Z-wave temperature sensor - Can I display the temp in homey without writing an app?

Developers
1

I have a project where I want to be able to measure the surface temperature of various things (asphalt, snow, etc) wirelessly. As I could not find any IR thermometers that fit the bill I am now trying to make a Z-uno talk to a Melexis MLX90614 and send the temperature to my Homey via Z-wave on a set wakeup interval.

I was (maybe naively) thinking that even if I did not have a specific Homey driver, the controller would do some kind of best effort displaying of the device capabilities based on the device type in the NIF and the command class sensor type/precision when it was an unknown manufacturerID/productID.

When trying to add my device as a “Homey” Z-wave device, it is added as a basic device where the only capability is the basic command class and not the multilevel sensor command class that my device is sending.

I think the reports sent from my device to homey look sane. Example:

Node[44]: [COMMAND_CLASS_SENSOR_MULTILEVEL] {"Sensor Type (Raw)":{"type":"Buffer","data":[1]},"Sensor Type":"Temperature (version 1)","Level (Raw)":{"type":"Buffer","data":[66]},"Level":{"Size":2,"Scale":0,"Precision":2},"Sensor Value (Raw)":{"type":"Buffer","data":[9,66]},"Sensor Value":{"type":"Buffer","data":[9,66]}}

Does anyone have any hints on what I should do?
Is the “Homey” Z-wave device pairing supposed to identify generic temperature sensors and I just have to tweak the NIF/command classes a bit?
Is there another third party app that would recognise my temperature measurement messages?
Do I have to write a full app to make the temperature usable by homey?

2

You could have alook at the existing app HomeyDuino, works fine in combination with ESP8266 or ESP32. Espruna is also an option.
Generic temperature device does not exist.

1 Like
3

Thanks, I did not know about HomeyDuino.

I was hoping for a controller independent solution that would require close to zero maintenance, but I guess the most sensible option for me now is to port my sketch to HomeyDuino and lock myself to Homey forever :slight_smile:

At least the ESP boards are much cheaper.