HomeAssistant to Omni via Omnilinkbridge

[paullyboy83]

Hey Cocooner's
 
Upon troubleshooting a bunch of UPB problems my dad had on his new house I have really got a crash course on UPB lighting, PC Access and Upstart.
Thanks to all on this forum for help I have got my dad's UPB in very stable condition and all physical buttons work great!
 
My next goal is to get Raspi and homekit bridge so he can arm/disarm, control lights and turn on/off spa heat (OP2 connected to RS232 jandy controller).
 
I think in previous work done to his system a bunch of his links are not correct from Upstart to PCA(OP2). Hence lots of his buttons on his 5.7" touch screens just don't change lights or do their respective scenes.  (House build in 2007 and second AV contractor played with this sometime in 2015) 
 
So...
I can go through and fix it all line by line then control it well via touch screens and use the raspi/homeassistant to OP2 to control everything
OR
I can do a UPB bridge direct to raspi/homeassistant in front of the omni and do lighting exclusive of the omni and just use omnilinkbridge/OP2 for the hot tub and alarm arm/disarm. Looks like this has native HA support.
 
Hoping someone with the knowledge could let me know the pro's and cons of fixing all the links and using OP2 for lights/security and to control tub/pool VS doing the lighting exclusive of the OP2 (UPB) and using the OP2/omnilinkbridge to just do security and hot tub/pool.
 
At first thought I feel like going in front of the OP2 and going straight to a PIM would be faster and ultimately I'd like to get some iPad's to replace his 5.7" screens. 
 
Thoughts?

 

[paullyboy83]

I was just tinkering and trying to setup some pool automations(button macros) and it just seems omni is clunky for controlling lights and scenes. I'll probably just go around and interface direct to a PIM connected via ethernet.
 
Thoughts?

 

[ano]

I was just tinkering and trying to setup some pool automations(button macros) and it just seems omni is clunky for controlling lights and scenes. I'll probably just go around and interface direct to a PIM connected via ethernet.
 
Thoughts?

I use HA to the Omni mainly for one purpose, so Alexa can announce doors open, and other events only the Omni knows. Also HA controls the Omni which controls UPB.  Yes HA can control the lights directly, and that would work, but then you have two systems.  The same for Somfy blinds which the Omni controls. Again I'm sure HA could do this, but again, two systems. 
 
There are lots of ways to slice and dice it, but I guess it comes down to how important Omni zone info is?  
 
As for "actions" they all run in the Omni, OR a few actually run in Amazon. I guess I have never learned how HA actions work.   

 

[paullyboy83]

Yes, I suppose you are correct Ano. After digging in for another couple hours I realized UPB link # (PCA) and Scene # (upstart) are directly correlated and UNIT # (PCA) and Device # (upstart) are as well. I was getting it all mixed up that was causing quite a bit of confusion. Also the original installer had a bunch of code's that activated all different sorts of UPB links so the automation tab is very scattered. I'm guessing it was IR work around as I see there was quite a few automation "codes" that operated the theater lighting. 
 
I guess I will try it Omni way first.
 
Not interested in zone info really. Really just arm/disarm, hot tub on/off, and lighting on/off/dim/scene via Siri (homekit bridge). Also want to add gate control which seems to be a low voltage contact. Do you know is there an easy way to use OP2 to just add 2 wires from the panel to the gate controller? I just ordered a UPB to low voltage controller and was going to use that.
 
I see you are in AZ as well! That is awesome. He just moved to Scottsdale. Such a cool property. Are you near there?

 

[paullyboy83]

Ano,
Are you able to run "buttons" via Omnilinkbridge in HA?
That is kinda how I assume I will need to operate the pool that is connected.

 

[bbrendon]

I'm a believer its best to run everything through a smart hub since it has the most capabilities and possibilities for automation. In your case it sounds like that would be Home Assistant.

 

[ano]

Ano,
Are you able to run "buttons" via Omnilinkbridge in HA?
That is kinda how I assume I will need to operate the pool that is connected.

Yes, Omni "Buttons" do appear in Home Assistant and you can run them. Having said that, Amazon can only get to "devices" and only some devices at that. So my Alexa can't activate buttons. At least I don't know how.