homebridge-rtl

Homebridge plugin to display information from 433 Mhz sensors, like the Skylink HA-434TL motion sensor or the AcuRite Digital Wireless Fridge and Freezer Thermometer temperature sensor. This plugin uses the RTL_433 package to listen to the sensor in-conjunction with a sdr device to receive the signals from the sensor. In my setup I use this RTL_SDR to receive the radio signal from the sensor.

Supported Sensors

For sensors, I'm using these

• Fridge Temperature
• Motion

Contributor added sensors:

• Mighty Mule Driveway alarm see instructions here

Features

• Supported sensors include Motion, Contact, Temperature and Humidity
• Also shows "not responding" if the sensor stops sending data
• For temperature and humidity sensors, has ability to create alarms if the current value exceeds a alarm value

I have tested this on both a Mac and a RPI3

Installation

1. Install Homebridge using sudo npm install -g homebridge
2. Install this plugin sudo npm install -g homebridge-rtl
3. Install RTL_433 following the instructions here
4. Configure homebridge

Configuration

• platform: "rtl_433"
• rtl433Path: by default this is "/usr/local/bin/"; for windows, the directory rtl433 exe is located. End this with a .
• rtl433Bin: by default this is "rtl_433"; for windows, this is the exe.
• killCommand: by default this is "pkill"; for windows, this is taskkill /IM, however, the service may not have sufficient privileges to do this. " " for no command.
• name: "Front Porch" - Name of device for display in the Home App
• id: id number of device - To find the ID of your device, run homebridge in DEBUG mode, and it will log the message received from all rtl_433 devices. See below for examples
• type: Type of sensor device. Supported sensors are motion, temperature, humidity, and contact
• alarm: Optional, Create a fake contact sensor called name + Alarm. Value is temperature in Celsius that if exceeded will trigger contact sensor.
• humidity: Optional, For devices of type temperature that emits also humidity set to true and humidity will shows in HomeKit/Eve app in the sensor.

Example configuration:

"platforms": [{
    "platform": "rtl_433",
    "devices": [
      {
      "id": "1e3e8",
      "name": "Front Porch",
      "type": "motion"
      },
      {
      "id": "92",
      "name": "Outside temperature",
      "type": "temperature"
      },
      {
      "id": "834551",
      "name": "Front Door Sensor",
      "type": "contact"
      }
    ]
  }]

Example windows configuration:

"platforms": [{
    "platform": "rtl_433",
	"rtl433Path": "c:\\temp\\",
	"rtp433Bin": "rtl_433_64bit_static.exe",
	"killCommand": " ",
    "devices": [
      {
      "id": "1e3e8",
      "name": "Front Porch",
      "type": "motion"
      },
      {
      "id": "92",
      "name": "Outside temperature",
      "type": "temperature"
      },
      {
      "id": "834551",
      "name": "Front Door Sensor",
      "type": "contact"
      }
    ]
  }]

Sample log file entries from homebridge to determine sensor ID

• Motion sensor log entries

Message {"time" : "2019-04-03 09:43:05", "model" : "Skylink HA-434TL motion sensor", "motion" : "false", "id" : "1e3e8", "raw" : "5e3e8"}

id is 1e3e8

Message {"time" : "2022-03-23 20:11:54.643434", "protocol" : 68, "model" : "Kerui-Security", "id" : 840811, "cmd" : 10, "motion" : 1, "state" : "motion" }

id is 840811

• Temperature sensor log entries

[rtl_433] FYI: Message from unknown device ID 21650
[rtl_433] Message {"time" : "2021-02-02 10:22:30", "model" : "Acurite 986 Sensor", "id" : 21650, "channel" : "1R", "temperature_C" : 20.556, "battery" : "OK", "status" : 0}
[rtl_433] FYI: Message from unknown device ID 21650
[rtl_433] Message {"time" : "2021-02-02 10:22:30", "model" : "Acurite 986 Sensor", "id" : 21650, "channel" : "1R", "temperature_C" : 20.556, "battery" : "OK", "status" : 0}

id is 21650

If the device does not transmit an ID value, will default to channel

Message {"time" : "2020-03-14 11:34:22", "model" : "Philips outdoor temperature sensor", "channel" : 1, "temperature_C" : 1.500, "battery" : "LOW"}

id is the channel 1

Message {"time" : "2020-03-14 14:40:41", "model" : "Acurite tower sensor", "id" : 15424, "sensor_id" : 15424, "channel" : "A", "temperature_C" : 3.600, "humidity" : 60, "battery_low" : 0}

id is 15424

Message {"time" : "2022-03-23 21:28:05.748872", "protocol" : 38, "model" : "Generic-Temperature", "id" : 92, "battery_ok" : 1, "temperature_C" : 6.100 }

id is 92 the channel 1 for tiny AVIDSEN Weather station

Message {"time" : "2022-03-29 21:32:16.707696", "protocol" : 19, "model" : "Nexus-TH", "id" : 36, "channel" : 1, "battery_ok" : 1, "temperature_C" : 11.800, "humidity" : 77 }
Message {"time" : "2022-03-29 21:32:35.938421", "protocol" : 19, "model" : "Nexus-TH", "id" : 31, "channel" : 2, "battery_ok" : 1, "temperature_C" : 12.800, "humidity" : 66 }
Message {"time" : "2022-03-29 21:32:47.165018", "protocol" : 19, "model" : "Nexus-TH", "id" : 198, "channel" : 3, "battery_ok" : 1, "temperature_C" : 20.900, "humidity" : 45 }

id are 36, 31 and 198 (Bresser Temeo Hygro Quadro)

• Contact Sensor log entries (Door or Window Open/Close)

Message {"time" : "2022-03-23 20:12:15.579712", "protocol" : 68, "model" : "Kerui-Security", "id" : 843552, "cmd" : 14, "opened" : 1, "state" : "open" }
Message {"time" : "2022-03-23 20:12:18.993887", "protocol" : 68, "model" : "Kerui-Security", "id" : 843552, "cmd" : 7, "opened" : 0, "state" : "close" }

id is 843552

Credits

• merbanan - RTL_433 Sensor decoder
• simont77 - History Service
• matopeto - Humidity Sensor Support