How to make a sensor paired to iHost available to the eWelink app?
It’s a ZigBee-only sensor and I paired with iHost ZigBee host successfully.
I guess I need to have it available in the app (cloud) so I can use it on Home Assistant through SonoffLAN component.
Thank you.
I’m linking also my self in to this question. I had problem with my ZBrigde and decide to order iHost and move sonoff sensors to iHost. but now are not visible in app what is pitty. Any possibilities to sync zigbee devices with Evelink Cloud via any docker ?
I dont like the fact that I need to use the computer
to pair a new zigbee device using iHost. I wish I could do this from ewelink app as I did with the old version of zigbee 3.
It’s a bit of a pain but have an MQTT broker somewhere and then talk between the iHost and the Home Assistant using MQTT. The Node Red docker can broadcast to home assistant and this can be used as a trigger for Home Assistant automations.
I don’t know how to send a value like temperature. There likely is a way to attach it as a payload, but am not an MQTT expert and have never looked into it. It’s just an easy way to talk between the iHost and Home Assistant. Imagine it’s entirely doable for someone who has experience with node Red to send, for example, Living_room_temperature as the topic with the value attached to the object. Simple booleans triggering automations is super easy though. Just install Mosquito on the iHost as a broker
Just thought: I get electricity and gas usage send from my smart meters via MQTT and that’s a number. It’s a JSON object.
iPad. No good for complex stuff as the interface is broken but okay for pairing new Zigbee devices. Just don’t try to do anything clever or it’ll drive you mad.
You might even be able to do something that basic on a phone but haven’t tried.
Ihost is meant to be used locally. No way of easily synching devices from iHost to ewelink app.
If it’s for Home Assistant, there are multiple ways, but not easy as installing a docker image and click on some buttons.
Thank you for your response.
Do you mind sharing those multiple ways?
Thanks.
I don’t use it this way, for now my iHost is only a container for running docker images (HA, nodered, MQTT…), nothing is paired with it directly as it doesn’t fit my needs for now.
As eerke suggested, you could make nodeRed, Mosquitto and HA speaking with each other to share the devices, but I can’t give you a precise path to do it.
Do you have a Nabu Casa account so you can use Home Assistant remotely or have you set up Notifications in a more complicated way?
No, I don’t.
My use case is pretty simple.
I have about 30 SONOFF wifi devices connected to eWelink app and available to iHost via eWelink CUBE. Also, I’m using a Home Assistant docker image with SonoffLAN custom component, so I can setup a Home Assistant instance with all devices available (that’s the main goal).
I recently got an Aqara Zigbee door sensor to test it with iHost. Then I faced the problem I’m asking advice for.
I don’t think you can make the device available without creating a virtual device in Home Assistant currently. You can see it using a iHost.local/cast webpage locally or IP/Cast using the TailScale VPN docker.
If you wish to know the door state in Home Assistant
May become easier if the Sonoff integration for Home Assistant is updated of if the iHost can bridge devices to matter. Have seen both bridge and hub used to describe the iHost’s ability and don’t know what it is. The home Assistant can be made Matter compatible with a SkyConnect dongle but I don’t know if that means iHost Zigbee devices will appear in Home Assistant and last I read it was only basic devices like switches anyway. That was a while ago though. There really needs to be an update.
Thanks, eerke
I’ll take a look on this.
Which MQTT broker do you use on iHost? Is it a docker container?
Yes, the standard one is called Mosquitto. I think the only thing I did was change the external port by making the last digit 9. No idea if that was necessary though. Don’t think I did anything else other than install and run it.
I also think it’s not a true solution, taking devices from eWeLink, I to iHost.
iHost should show up in eWeLink (which it does), but within iHost, you should be able to see your devices and work from there…but sadly, not
the iHost definitely needs to work / look like a zigged bridge within the eWeLink app. It’s crazy that if I link my devices to the iHost Bridge I can’t see them in the app? Mental.
iHost is designed to be a purely localized server device, so it does not transfer data to any cloud, and of course it cannot be used directly on the app - this feature is very obvious on the device sales page: the device you access will not appear in eWeLink app.
That doesn’t mean iHost can’t use remote, of course, this local server idea came about because of what we expected from Matter! With the functionality of Matter Bridge, you can add ihost to any platform and its app， including Google home, Apple home, Amazon Alexa, SmartThings , home assistan and of course - including the eWeLink app （eWeLink support Matter in 5.0 version）. With the Matter support of these platforms, ihost devices can be synchronized to each App.
The plans for this year were that IHOST would act as Hub Matter? Is this feature in development and when will it be launched?
At present, the function of matter hub is already under development, but it has encountered many problems and is still being solved. If all goes well, it is expected to be released in the first half of 2024.
I guess the easiest way is using homebridge.
