Home automation home with Home Assistant and MQTT protocol
The living of the future? Increasingly inclined to envelop you with the convenience of home automation. Creating a relaxed atmosphere between turning on a soft light and playing your favorite music without getting off the couch, perhaps at the end of a long workday, is possible thanks to free and open source home automation software designed to be the central control system for smart home devices such as Home Assistant. With Prism Solar, an electric car charging device equipped with electronics to connect to the Internet, you can add to this picture the automatic activation of car charging, in the mode of your choice. In this article we will elaborate on:
What the MQTT protocol is for and what it makes possible
The communication that generates synergies and commanded automatisms between the elements of a system is basically governed by the presence of a “protocol” that in the same way as a language puts two entities in dialogue, making use of rules that are respected and considered valid by both parties. In the case of the Internet, for example, we are able to navigate using the HTTP protocol.
In the case of IoT or the Internet of Things, a category into which home automation in the home falls, then the protocol we use is MQTT. A dialogue mechanism that, because of its flexibility and simplicity, lends itself well to interfacing with devices with more limited computing capacity than a computer. The MQTT protocol thus makes possible all kinds of communication between devices that are part of the same system, for example home automation. In short, thanks to the MQTT protocol, every type of automation comes to life that does not so much involve manual intervention or remote management via APP, but rather input exercised by the user, consistent with the information with which we have instructed the system.
Prism and MQTT: why together?
We have designed Prism so that it can fit into the conversation with the home automation system, with the goal of encouraging and stimulating spontaneous user activity. By consulting the dedicated manual in the documentation section on our website, you can learn more about it and begin to make the most of MQTT’s potential.
Ours is a community made up of enthusiasts, people whose know-how allows them to get their hands on, intervene and customize features where possible, as in this case. This integration also gives the opportunity to imagine solutions that we had not thought of, for example!
The experience of Davide Zanatta
Davide Zanatta, the very young automation engineering talent, has created a customized dashboard, within the Home Assistant operating system, that allows the user to control the charging current, change the charging mode, and start or pause charging the car.
What’s more, Davide has been able to make this customized Dashboard available to others with the additional features specified just now, taking advantage of the open source nature of the protocol. A great story of knowledge sharing and true passion for the topic so much so that, a few months ago, we wanted to meet him in person at the 2021 Maker Faire in Rome. We are curious to see how our users will continue to amaze us!
In the meantime, we hope you enjoy reading the blog containing Davide’s fine work: Integrating Wallbox Prism into Home Assistant.
