Integration Solutions using MQTT

[jpstewart]

Thank you! I had seen that example before – but wasn’t sure how to use it since I had the MQTT publishing “device” installed and didn’t have the temperature device.

I get it now, and after hydrating a virtual “mqtt temperature” device, I was able to use the exact rule text to call the setvTemp command and publish the update, which I have confirmed using MQTTX as a subscriber.

So, note to others who find this (and I didn’t even after reviewing all the threads / topics), you need to create a new virtual/child device using the mqtt parent first, plus create a matching copy for every one of the temperatures you want to publish to mqtt (our house has 8 or so). I’ll create a virtual “room” for them to hide them away.

Thanks again. Would have been nice to have a single mqtt bridge device, but I get it now based on what you said, the types cannot be converted in the rules engine.

Cheers, thanks again!

[TapioX]

The MQTT Devices driver crashes if a numeric value NaN is received via MQTT.

My RPi Python program sends the temperature values ​​using MQTT to the ST Hub.
From the source of the temperature values ​​became a NaN value
and the Python program sent it with the MQTT Retain flag.

This caused the driver to crash constantly. The driver received a NaN value as a response immediately after driver started and started to update MQTT topics’ values.

Figuring out the fault was really challenging because the situation looked like a network failure.

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NaN

[ruostee66 (Niko Rostedt)]

Hi,

I got a new router and even though I got my node red (mosquitto broker) running with a new IP address I can’t connect the Smartthings Device Handler to the broker. Does the IP address need to be 192.168.1.xxx? I have 192.168.68.xxx

[TapioX]

@ruostee66

Does the IP address need to be 192.168.1.xxx? I have 192.168.68.xxx

I’m using MQTT Devices driver and Mosquitto broker running on Raspberry Pi. My IP addresses are other than 192.168.1.xx.

[ruostee66 (Niko Rostedt)]

After a struggle I got it working!

[TapioX]

I bought my first Shelly device this week.
The device is Shelly 1 Gen3.

I wanted to use local communications to ST Hub.
I didn’t want add more drivers to the Hub and decided to try MQTT communication.
I already had the MQTT Devices driver ready to use.

MQTT communication seems to work using MQTT Devices driver.

Here is a summary of Shelly’s settings for MQTT communication.
All Shelly Device settings are done using Shelly Device’s local web interface.

Here is a summary of the device settings for the MQTT Devices driver.

MQTT Switch Device settings to subscribe Shelly 1 Input status

MQTT Switch Device settings to publish and control Shelly 1 Output

The first letters are lowercase. ST App always shows them in uppercase.

Publish and subscribe topics are defined which allow direct control of the device over MQTT.
More info about Shelly’s MQTT topics using MQTT Control.

Shelly MQTT Control

Mosquitto allows you to monitor what MQTT topics Shelly publishes.

This is a good command. Use your Shelly Device’s <device_id>.

mosquitto_sub -h localhost -F ‘%t : %p’ -t “shelly1g3-123456789123/#”

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Edit:

Shelly 1 Gen3 devices output relay is also possible to control using driver

@TAustin

HTTP Devices V1

[mocelet]

@TapioX

I bought my first Shelly device this week.
The device is Shelly 1 Gen3.

I wanted to use local communications to ST Hub.
I didn’t want add more drivers

The Shelly 1 Gen4 has just released and includes Matter and Zigbee support out of the box so no need for anything fancy or custom drivers for local communication with SmartThings. Your Gen3 will also receive Matter update eventually.

[TapioX]

I’m in no hurry to use Matter. The reliability of the Matter WiFi bulb (I have one Wiz bulb) is clearly worse than that of Zigbee bulbs.
The Matter WiFi bulb is offline almost every week.

MQTT’s reliability is on the same level as Zigbee.

[mocelet]

Got it, Gen4 has Zigbee too in addition to Matter, I guess it’s worth it as first Shelly device to have more options.

MQTT if I understand correctly requires not only the SmartThings hub and this custom driver but another machine running 24/7 to run the MQTT broker.

I’m surprised with your experience with Matter lights, I have 9 WiZ and 3 Nanoleafs and don’t really remember if they’ve been offline in a year using the Aeotec hub. My Matter sensors have been stable too, except the Aqara P2 door sensor which goes offline for a couple minutes from time to time but that’s running a two years old firmware because Aqara.

[TapioX]

@TapioX

MQTT communication seems to work using MQTT Devices driver.

Here is a summary of Shelly’s settings for MQTT communication.

I made this post about connecting Shelly with MQTT, mainly for current users of the MQTT Devices driver.

@mocelet

MQTT if I understand correctly requires not only the SmartThings hub and this custom driver but another machine running 24/7 to run the MQTT broker.

This is all true. MQTT Broker can run on, for example, Raspberry Pi Zero.

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Edit (May 8, 2025)

@mocelet

Your Gen3 will also receive Matter update eventually.

Today I installed to Shelly 1 Gen3 firmware version 1.6.1 (stable).
Using this firmware version it’s possible to add Shelly 1 Gen3 as Matter Device.

It’s possible to control Shelly 1 Gen3 output relay.

Now I have a redundant connection to the Shelly 1 Gen3 device:

• From my Home main Hub using Matter
• From my Home testing Hub using MQTT

[JDRoberts]

@mocelet

Got it, Gen4 has Zigbee too in addition to Matter, I guess it’s worth it as first Shelly device to have more options.

I may be mistaken, but I think it’s the same radio, so when you set it up, you select either matter over thread or Zigbee. But not Zigbee with one coordinator and matter with another For the same device at the same time.

If I’m wrong on that, hopefully someone will let us know.

[mocelet]

@JDRoberts

But not Zigbee with one coordinator and matter with another

It’s one or the other indeed, by default it’s Matter and you can “Press 5 consecutive times to switch the Device from Matter firmware (default) to Zigbee”.

What I meant is that Gen4 not only has Matter but Zigbee too, both technologies with local connection to SmartThings.

[Controller (Matti)]

Thank you very much, very good instructions!

[TapioX]

Using a BLE MQTT gateway it is possible to connect BLE devices to SmartThings.

I have a Xiaomi LYWSDCGQ temperature and humidity meter. I’ve been wanting to connect it to SmartThing for a long time.

@Johnnybegoode mentioned OpenMQTT in this topic

@Johnnybegoode

Openmqtt

I found Theengs Gateway while researching OpenMQTT.

Theengs Gateway is a complementary solution to OpenMQTTGateway.
Theengs Gateway can be installed on, for example, a Raspberry Pi
The gateway uses the Bluetooth Low Energy adapter of Raspberry Pi.

Theengs BLE MQTT Gateway

It retrieves data from a wide range of BLE sensors (for example LYWSD03MMC, CGD1, CGP1W, H5072, H5075, H5102, TH1, TH2, CGH1, CGDK2, CGPR1, RuuviTag, WS02, WS08, TPMS, MiScale, LYWSD02, LYWSDCGQ, and MiFlora) and translates this information into a readable JSON format and pushes those to an MQTT broker.

Supported BLE sensors: Theengs Compatible BLE devices

I installed Theengs Gateway on the same Raspberry Pi where the MQTT broker is running.
Now Xiaomi LYWSDCGQ temperature measurements come to SmartThings.
The ST Hub uses the MQTT Devices Edge driver.

Theengs Gateway does not require programming to use. All you need is a Raspberry Pi to install the software.

I can provide more detailed instructions on how to use Theengs Gateway if there is interest in using Gateway.

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Edit:

@TAustin

This driver works really well. I can read data from one topic (in JSON format) to multiple devices. I can now get temperature, humidity, and battery values ​​from the Xiaomi LYWSDCGQ temperature and humidity meter.
The information contained in each MQTT message varies. The driver can handle all combinations very well.

[TAustin]

That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing.

[TapioX]

Example of a JSON-formatted measurement’s error message and error correction

@TapioX

The reason for the error is that the driver could not find the temperature value in the JSON message.

You have check your temperature device settings. Your JSON Key is Temperature

[TapioX]

I started using a new The Pill by Shelly.

The Pill by Shelly - Shelly Europe

MQTT communication to / from The Pill by Shelly works using MQTT Devices driver.

I tested The Pill’s temperature measurement, output, and input functionality via MQTT.