homebridge-rinnai-touch-platform

Rinnai Touch Platform

This Homebridge Plugin allows you to control a Brivis HVAC system via a Rinnai Touch WiFi Module. It supports the following operation modes:

• Single Temperature Set Point (ie. one controller with 1 to 5 zones including the Common zone)
• Multi Temperature Set Point (ie. one controller per zone, up to 4)

Functions available:

• Displaying the current state (eg. idle, heating, cooling)
• Switching to Off, Heating or Cooling modes
• Displaying the current temperature (depends on controller model)
• Setting the desired temperature
• Switching zones On and Off
• Switching the circulation fan On and Off as well as setting rotation speed
• Turning the water pump On and Off (for Evaporative Cooling only)
• Advancing to the next period of the Programme Schedule. (eg. Leave -> Return)
• Switching between Manual and Schedule control modes
• MQTT client. See MQTT.md for details.

Accessories

This plugin will add one or more accessories to the Home app depending on the status received from the Rinnai Touch module. Accessories are discovered automatically. The following table describes each type of accessory.

Accessory	Description
Thermostat / Heater Cooler	Displays the current temperature, units (Celsius or Fahrenheit) and mode of the Brivis HVAC system. It allows you to set the desired temperature and change the mode. Modes are: OFF - System is off HEAT - System is in heating mode COOL - System is in cooling mode AUTO - Returns system into Auto mode and the current period of the programme schedule (this option can be hidden with the showAuto config option). It will return to the HEAT or COOL mode when complete NOTES: One accessory will be added for each controller Temperature units in the accessory do not determine which unit to use when displaying temperatures in the Home app. This is controlled by your phone's settings
Zone Switch	Shows if the zone is currently On or Off and allows you to change it. Zone Switches are shown if the operation mode is 'Single Temperature Set Point' and at least one zone is enabled (excluding the Common zone) NOTE: The 'Heater Cooler' accessory can be used as a zone switch
Fan	Displays the current state and speed setting of the circulation fan. Allows you to turn it Off or set the rotation speed NOTE: The fan can only be used when the Thermostat is in the OFF mode or COOL mode for Evaporative Cooling
Advance Period Switch	Shows if the Period of the Programme Schedule has been advanced and allows you to change it
Manual Switch	Shows if the Manual mode is On or Off and allows you to change it
Pump	Displays the current state of the pump if you have Evaporative Cooling. Allows you to turn it On or Off NOTE: The pump can only be used when the Thermostat is in COOL mode.

Installation

Note: This plugin requires homebridge (version 1.0.0 or above) to be installed first.

It is highly recommended that you use Homebridge Config UI X to install and configure the plugin. Alternatively you can install from the command line as follows:

npm install -g homebridge-rinnai-touch-platform

Migration from homebridge-rinnai-touch-plugin

If you currently use the old plugin (ie. homebridge-rinnai-touch-plugin) you must uninstall it first before installing this plugin. To uninstall from the command line:

npm uninstall -g homebridge-rinnai-touch-plugin

Once uninstalled restart Homebridge which should clear the accessories. If this doesn't work you can delete the cachedAccessories file from the .homebridge/accessories folder.

Configuration

This is a platform plugin that will register accessories and their services with the bridge provided by Homebridge. The plugin will attempt to discover your Rinnai Touch accessories automatically thus requiring minimal configuration to the config.json file.

If you find the default config is not correct for your system or not to your liking there are some overrides you can define in the config.json file.

Option	Required	Type	Description	Default Value (if not supplied)
platform	Yes	string	Must be "RinnaiTouchPlatform". This is the only mandatory configuration setting.
name	Yes	string	The name of the platform	"Rinnai Touch"
address	No	string	IP Address of the WiFi module NOTE: leave blank for auto discovery
port	No	number	Port to use for the WiFI module NOTE: leave blank for auto discovery	27847
controllerType	No	string	The type of accessory to use for the controller(s). Options are: T for Thermostat H for Heater Cooler	T
zoneType	No	string	The type of accessory to use for controlling zones (only applicable for Single Temperature Set Point). Options are: N for None (ie. don't show any accessory for zones S for Switch H for Heater Cooler	S
showFan	No	boolean	Show the fan accessory in the Home app	true
showAuto	No	boolean	Show the AUTO option in the Thermostat menu	true
showAdvanceSwitches	No	boolean	Show the Advance Period switch accessory in the Home app	true
showManualSwitches	No	boolean	Show the Manual switch accessory in the Home app	true
showHomebridgeEvents	No	boolean	Include the homebridge events such as getting and setting characterics in the logs	true
showModuleEvents	No	boolean	Include the module events such as commands sent in the logs	true
clearCache	No	boolean	Clear all the plugin's cached accessories from homebridge to force full discovery of accessories on restart	false
mqtt	No	object	See MQTT.md for details

Example: Bare mimimum

"platforms": [
  {
    "platform": "RinnaiTouchPlatform"
  }
],

Example: Use the 'Heater Cooler' accessory

"platforms": [
  {
    "platform": "RinnaiTouchPlatform",
    "name": "Rinnai Touch",
    "controllerType": "H"
  }
],

Example: No Auto option, Advance Period & Manual switches

This is useful if you only use Manual Control of your HVAC (ie. no programme schedules).

"platforms": [
  {
    "platform": "RinnaiTouchPlatform",
    "name": "Rinnai Touch",
    "showAuto": false,
    "showAdvanceSwitches": false,
    "showManualSwitches": false
  }
],

Example: Showing all available options except for MQTT

"platforms": [
  {
    "platform": "RinnaiTouchPlatform",
    "name": "Rinnai Touch",
    "controllerType": "H",
    "zoneType": "S",
    "showFan": true,
    "showAuto": true,
    "showAdvanceSwitches": true,
    "showManualSwitches": true,
    "showHomebridgeEvents": true,
    "showModuleEvents": true,
    "clearCache": false
  }
],

Version History

See Change Log.

Known Limitations / Troubleshooting

• The Rinnai Touch module appears to only allow a single client to connect to it at one time via TCP/IP. As the plugin only supports a TCP/IP connection to the module no other connections from other clients (such as the TouchApp by Rinnai) can be active at the time the plugin starts. Once a connection is established the plugin will keep it open to prevent other clients connecting to it via TCP/IP. NOTE: Once the plugin has started you can then use the TouchApp as it will connect to the module via the cloud.
• The module will disconnect if it has not received any requests after 5 minutes. To prevent this the plugin will send a blank command every minute.
• The module is also very temperamental about the TCP/IP connection. If it is not not closed properly or re-opened too quickly then a "Connection Refused" error may occur which prevents the plugin from connecting to the module. This may happen if Homebridge is not shutdown gracefully (eg. a crash). If it does happen try restarting Homebridge, the Rinnai Touch module or your router.
• Multi controller and Evaporative cooling configurations were not able to be tested so may not function properly.
• Due to the lag between sending a command to the module and it correctly reflecting that command in it's status there may be a short delay of a few seconds before the Home app shows the correct values. eg. When switching from HEAT to COOL mode some details such as the desired temperature will take a few seconds before the current value is shown.
• If the number of zones is different between the HEAT and COOL modes the Zone Switches are dynamically added or removed as necessary. The downside of this is that you will loose any changes you made to the accessory (eg. name).
• If the WiFi module does not supply a current temperature then the temperature will display as zero in the Thermostat/Heater Cooler accessory. I would have prefered it showed as blank but couldn't find a way to do it. This appears to be a limitation of the service within Homebridge.
• The 'Heater Cooler' accessory is not currently supported by Home Assistant. See https://github.com/home-assistant/core/issues/30384

Changelog

3.1.1 (2020-10-17)

• [FIX] Some commands not working for Evaporative Cooling
• [FIX] MQTT publishing incorrect TCP/IP connection status
• Update dependencies