ebus, Vaillant and tapping into the bus data

[Harry Bloomfield]

I was at the forefront of computers, programming, and microelectronics, from the 70's through to maybe the early 90's, then I lost interest, then it all went for the most part - way over my head.....

I have a Vaillant boiler, fancy Vaillant ebus control system, and I want to just monitor what the heating system is doing, but in simple terms how? Ideally, I would like to do what I can do with my weather station. That wirelessly sends data to it's display, that display then feeds it's data to a Raspberry Pi, via USB, every 15seconds. The Pi, has a wired LAN, and I can just look at a webpage on the Pi, to see it's stored data, via my PC.

I have on order, delivery within the next 7 days, EBUS to WiFi Adapter Module V6.3 this - https://www.elecrow.com/ebus-to-wifi-adapter-module-v5-2.html

It's obvious how to connect it to the ebus, and the wifi, but what then is the question, for a simpleton?

Can the Pi, perhaps act as a server for both the weather station, and the ebus data, if so how? In a none tech explanation.

If it needs a second Pi, then I will buy one, but I'm trying to keep my electric baseload down to minimum, and so would rather avoid if possible.

The data will be there on the wifi, is there any way for the PC to directly tap into and see that ebus data?

 

[RandomGrinch]

Can the Pi, perhaps act as a server for both the weather station, and the ebus data, if so how? In a none tech explanation.

It should be able to be a server to both.
Edit...
Actually, does the weather station use the RPi serial i.e. ttyAMA0?

Have you investigated eBUSd?

Home

daemon for communication with eBUS heating systems - john30/ebusd

github.com

An example eBUSd interface...

Congoblue - Ebus

Home Assistant integration...

ebusd

The ebusd integration allows the integration between eBUS heating system and Home Assistant.

www.home-assistant.io

 

[hllns]

ebusd gives you access to read (and write) data to devices on the ebus setup, no more, no less.

What you then do with that data is down to what you want to achieve, you could just read all various diagnostic values that your boiler/heap pump produce, if you're feeling adventurous you could change thermostat states which could turn a bog standard ebus thermostat into a smart thermostat or set the date and time automatically.

How you achieve the above is possibly slightly complicated if you've not worked with the likes of linux systems or MQTT before so there's possibly a slight learning curve.

 

[hllns]

If you're looking at Home Assistant it's easiest just to run it on a completely separate device unless you know what Docker is, there's a downloadable image to stick on a card that you can put in a Raspberry Pi.

 

[Why Not Indeed]

If you want to run HA and your weather station collector on the same Pi, it depends if the two bits of software can coexist and how resource intensive they are.
No physical connection required between Pi and ebus shield, they can talk over the network.
What is the weather station collector? Mine is rtl_433 talking to a USB stick, listening for broadcasts from a Bresser outdoor sensor. I am sure that could coexist with Home Assistant as it's not too resource intensive.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

What is the weather station collector? Mine is rtl_433 talking to a USB stick, listening for broadcasts from a Bresser outdoor sensor. I am sure that could coexist with Home Assistant as it's not too resource intensive.

The weather station, is a Fine Offset. The software running on the Pi, is cumulus MX - I haven't a clue how I managed to set it up, but it has run fine for several years.

 

[hllns]

If you want to run HA and your weather station collector on the same Pi, it depends if the two bits of software can coexist and how resource intensive they are.
No physical connection required between Pi and ebus shield, they can talk over the network.

They can coexist but to run HA you'd have to set up and run it in Docker on the Pi (which should be doable if slightly fiddly), it can't be installed as a normal daemon or service.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

They can coexist but to run HA you'd have to set up and run it in Docker on the Pi (which should be doable if slightly fiddly), it can't be installed as a normal daemon or service.

Thanks, but total gibberish to me, at the moment, but the gist seems to be, to take the easy way out, and buy a second Pi, to run it on. So, does the Pi, present the data as a website, on the Pi, similar to my weather station?

 

[RandomGrinch]

An alternative to Home Assistant is OpenHAB, with an eBUS binding.
The relatively simple RPi setup is called OpenHABian.

So, does the Pi, present the data as a website, on the Pi,

OpenHAB could provide this, but as others say, there could be a learning curve - it's not an out of the box solution.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I found what seems to go some way towards an idiot's guide, here - https://congoblue.me/ebus.htm

My ebus interface is now on an aircraft somewhere. It's ebus powered, and communicates via wifi. Setting that up, is fairly obvious, but need to order up a rpi - any advice on which version of Pi I might need, to run this please?

 

[Why Not Indeed]

Raspberry Pi

Install Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pi

www.home-assistant.io

4 or 5, 3B might work but not recommended.
Difference in price between 4 and 5 is small enough that I would just go with the 5 IIWY.

 

[morqthana]

It's obvious how to connect it to the ebus, and the wifi, but what then is the question, for a simpleton?

Well I don't mind being regarded as a simpleton, so I have a question....

I have a Vaillant boiler, fancy Vaillant ebus control system, and I want to just monitor what the heating system is doing

Why??

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Well I don't mind being regarded as a simpleton, so I have a question....



Why??

A project, I like projects, they float my boat(s).

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

(Unhelpful post removed)

And how might you know I don't already do that? You make lots of assumptions, often wrong..

Anyway, take your trolling elsewhere..

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

The ebus powered, wifi adaptor, was delivered an hour ago. so I've connected that, and set it up on my network. It's tinier than I was expected, and will easily fit within the spare space, in the VR65 control unit, in the airing cupboard. I've Telnet'ed into it esp-ebus.local 3334, and it's producing a steady stream of data.

I also decided to order a Rpi 5, to attempt to sun the software on for now, rather than mess up my weather station. I've also done a bit of studying of Pi things, trying to refresh my memory from when I set the weather station up. It seems the Pi, is just set up with boot-up abilities, that it needs the OS, on an SD card, I found a utility, which writes various OS's, onto the card, using a PC. The Pi 5, is a used one, one of a few from the same seller, complete with PSU, and SDcard, for £48, delivered.