OmniLinkBridge to integrate Home Assistant, SmartThings, Node-RED

I think it’d be shorter, easier and more future proof to change the name in the customize.yaml. You can also do a global customization and change icons,names, etc.
it accepts wildcards, so maybe you can do it with a few lines of code.

Edit: you can also add a 'friendly name' properties to any entity. This won't break your existing automations and references while providing a more human readable name.

here’s mine, I didn’t change the names but it is possible:
homeassistant:
customize: !include customize.yaml
customize_glob:
"cover.shelly*":
device_class: shutter
"binary_sensor.omnilink_garage*":
device_class: garage_door
"binary_sensor.rdr*":
device_class: motion
"binary_sensor.omnilink_pf_*":
icon: mdi:window-closed-variant
device_class: door
"binary_sensor.omnilink_trmst*":
icon: mdi:thermostat
device_class: heat
"light.omnilink_ris_*":
icon: mdi:radiator
device_class: heat
"switch.omnilink_irrig*":
icon: mdi:sprinkler
 
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Thanks Pete! Looks like I hadn't named any of the entities in the first place and they had defaulted to the names read by mqtt. All fixed!
 
I think it’d be shorter, easier and more future proof to change the name in the customize.yaml. You can also do a global customization and change icons,names, etc.
it accepts wildcards, so maybe you can do it with a few lines of code.

Edit: you can also add a 'friendly name' properties to any entity. This won't break your existing automations and references while providing a more human readable name.

here’s mine, I didn’t change the names but it is possible:
Hmm that would be easier. I'll look into this! Thanks.
 
Hi there. I've been controlling my HAI Omni Pro II with OpenHAB for the last few years. I would like to switch to Home Assistant.

I have HA running on a Rasberry Pi, and it's working. I can't figure out how to integrate my OP II. I've read this entire post, tried to configure MQTT and OmniLink Bridge, but I'm sort of lost.

Can someone direct me to a simple, step by step guide to setting it up? I'm certainly not as savvy as many in here, so looking for very simple instructions. I feel like I'm close, but it's only because I've been piecemealing the install together from old posts with outdated info

Thanks!
 
Hi, as a total noob I did it twice myself with your setup I'll try to explain it in simple words. They will probably be incorrect or simply wrong, but I hope they'll help you. It's not the easiest task since omnilinkbrodge needs some c libraries that are windows only and must be emulated in Linux using something called mono, that must be separately installed and manually launched with a cron. That's what I did in my first install and it's been working fine for years, you can follow that route, but I'd not recommend it, I'd rather do what I did in my second try using Docker.
I don't know if you're familiar with it, in simple words I'd say it's a way to run a software in Linux in a way that resembles a Windows install: the software carries all the necessary "libraries" and it "just runs". The downside is that to do that it creates a separate "image" with the whole system contained within so all the commands and the config must be done "entering" the image. This is bad since all the config is lost every time we recreate the image, so you usually create a link between the internal directory of the image in your local system. On the omnilinkbridge page there are links on how to run it in Docker. The only thing you need to do to to get it up and running is setting the config.ini in this linked directory by copying the base and inserting your 2 secret keys and the IP address of the OPII, and the info about the MQTT server (IP, I'd and password). Then you can enter the docker image and launch in verbose mode to see if everything is ok.
Before elaborating further let me know if you need help with some specific passage, I can share my config or give e more detailed step by step on what you need.
 
Welcome to the Cocoontech forum @torque.

Did the same as @tigers with original install of the OmnilinkBridge way way back. Today it is much easier and while it is good to read this entire thread its plug n play today using HomeAssistant.

1 - Start with an RPi image for Home Assistant

HA Rpi image

2 - Configure HA with first boot (user name and location, et al)

3 - Install MQTT per link:

Installing MQTT to HA

4 - Install HACS to your HA instance per link:

Initial configuration of HACS

5 - Then go to HACS ==> Integrations ==> add repository ==> download repository

6 - Go to HACS ==> Addons ==> Add on Store ==> Omnilinkbridge ==> configuration

OmnilinkBridge.jpg
 
But does this work without HASSOS? I prefer using a core installation of HA, to have more freedom of running other things on the raspberry. Also I like to have things separated so I'm case of failure of one of them the rest will keep going.
 
@tigers

OP states:
I would like to switch to Home Assistant.
I have HA running on a Rasberry Pi, and it's working.


But does this work without HASSOS?


Thinking HA used to be known as HASSOS and today it is just HA Core.

OmniLinkBridge is just a separate module for integration in to HA. If it fails then HA will continue to run just fine.

Here migrated initially to Windows; then to Linux Mono; then to HA running in Linux and currently running it on an Oracle VB in Ubuntu Linux.

I do a weekly back up of HA and a monthly back up of the VB.

The HA core basic alarm and thermostat changes have provided a better interface these days (keyboard and thermostat).
 
Ti my understanding HASSOS (or whatever they call it now) is a full operating system featuring only HA and its plugins. That is: on the raspberry you can only install HA and are limited to his plugins and add-ons, nothing else can run on it.
The core version is instead simply an "app" on the raspberry.
The former is maybe best for a beginner, but may limit the things you can do, the second is more flexible in my opinion.
When I started I discovered I could not run mono on the HASSOS machine, and couldn't get the HACS option to work (was a beginner back then so maybe my fault), so I went with the core version.
 
Yes today HA is a core OS and yes you cannot run autonomous applications on the RPi with HA core OS. HA quit pushing the autonomous add on a while ago. I saw this running HA in a Linux OS (Ubuntu).

When I started I discovered I could not run mono on the HASSOS machine, and couldn't get the HACS option to work (was a beginner back then so maybe my fault), so I went with the core version.

Me too and related to Mono and the OmniLinkBridge. I did get it to run after a bit of tinkering. It was all about using Docker and switching over from 32bit to 64bit stuff on the ARM CPU at the time. I did keep upgrading HA and started to have problems upgrading until I went to running the OS in a virtual machine. There are literally hundreds of add ons to HA today. I did switch running MQTT broker from the main Linux OS to the HA OS and it runs well. I am doing a bunch here now with Tasmota devices. The OmniLinkBridge never fails here these days.

Like you here it has been a learning experience. HA is getting better every day. I did switch here to a Lenova Tiny M900 (lite) with 32Gb of RAM and an SSD drive instead of the RPi.

From the HA Wiki:
In July 2017, a managed operating system called Hass.io was initially introduced to make it easier to use Home Assistant on single-board computers like the Raspberry Pi series

In January 2020, branding was adjusted to make it easier to refer to different parts of the project. The main piece of software was renamed Home Assistant Core, while the full suite of software with the Hass.io embedded operating system with a bundled "supervisor" management system was renamed Home Assistant (though it is also commonly referred to as "HAOS" as in short for "Home Assistant OS").


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Hi there. I've been controlling my HAI Omni Pro II with OpenHAB for the last few years. I would like to switch to Home Assistant.

I have HA running on a Rasberry Pi, and it's working. I can't figure out how to integrate my OP II. I've read this entire post, tried to configure MQTT and OmniLink Bridge, but I'm sort of lost.

Can someone direct me to a simple, step by step guide to setting it up? I'm certainly not as savvy as many in here, so looking for very simple instructions. I feel like I'm close, but it's only because I've been piecemealing the install together from old posts with outdated info

Thanks!
Did you get your set up and running. I’ve been using Homebridge for years and thought I would try Home Assistant and got this up and running in a couple hours on a raspberry Pi 5. Configuration of the mqtt link was somewhat confusing . But I am up and running now.

The question I have is that it shows every one of my doors and windows with a switch in case I want to bypass that sensor, which I don’t want to do. in fact I don’t want any of the doors or windows to show it all. Does anyone know how to turn off the dashboard
 
1 - go to settings ==> devices and services ==> devices ==> Omnilink
You will be at this page: All you care about is controls and sensors on this page.

controls and sensors.jpg



2 - copy all of the controls and sensors to your alarm page. Edit them any way you want. Easy peasey stuff.

The question I have is that it shows every one of my doors and windows with a switch in case I want to bypass that sensor, which I don’t want to do. in fact I don’t want any of the doors or windows to show it all. Does anyone know how to turn off the dashboard

Go to the main page OmniLinkBridge for set up and display of variables.

The OmniLinkBridge add on also adds a bypass variable to each sensor / zone under controls. You can chose to display this variable / device in the dashboard.

Here is the top section of the controls variables. Set up a box on your alarm page with just the bypass devices if you want.
Call it Bypass controls or bypass zones. You can build the alarm tab / page / dashboard anyway you want.
controls.jpgBypass.jpg

Keypad bypass

Keypad-bypass.jpg
 
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Welcome to the Cocoontech forum @torque.

Did the same as @tigers with original install of the OmnilinkBridge way way back. Today it is much easier and while it is good to read this entire thread its plug n play today using HomeAssistant.

1 - Start with an RPi image for Home Assistant

HA Rpi image

2 - Configure HA with first boot (user name and location, et al)

3 - Install MQTT per link:

Installing MQTT to HA

4 - Install HACS to your HA instance per link:

Initial configuration of HACS

5 - Then go to HACS ==> Integrations ==> add repository ==> download repository

6 - Go to HACS ==> Addons ==> Add on Store ==> Omnilinkbridge ==> configuration

View attachment 11486
Thank you for the step by step instructions.
Welcome to the Cocoontech forum @torque.

Did the same as @tigers with original install of the OmnilinkBridge way way back. Today it is much easier and while it is good to read this entire thread its plug n play today using HomeAssistant.

1 - Start with an RPi image for Home Assistant

HA Rpi image

2 - Configure HA with first boot (user name and location, et al)

3 - Install MQTT per link:

Installing MQTT to HA

4 - Install HACS to your HA instance per link:

Initial configuration of HACS

5 - Then go to HACS ==> Integrations ==> add repository ==> download repository

6 - Go to HACS ==> Addons ==> Add on Store ==> Omnilinkbridge ==> configuration

View attachment 11486
Thank you for this! I have been traveling but will work on this today and let you know.

Thanks to all for the great feedback on this forum!
 
Welcome to the Cocoontech forum @torque.

Did the same as @tigers with original install of the OmnilinkBridge way way back. Today it is much easier and while it is good to read this entire thread its plug n play today using HomeAssistant.

1 - Start with an RPi image for Home Assistant

HA Rpi image

2 - Configure HA with first boot (user name and location, et al)

3 - Install MQTT per link:

Installing MQTT to HA

4 - Install HACS to your HA instance per link:

Initial configuration of HACS

5 - Then go to HACS ==> Integrations ==> add repository ==> download repository

6 - Go to HACS ==> Addons ==> Add on Store ==> Omnilinkbridge ==> configuration

View attachment 11486

okay, making progress.

I'm at step #5 (5 - Then go to HACS ==> Integrations ==> add repository ==> download repository)

I don't see what you mean by "download repository"?
 
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