ha-mqtt-lpd8806

Integrates Home Asssitant and LPD8806 LED strips via MQTT

NOTE: My RPi is running a very old version of Rasbian (which I can't upgrade for various reasons). As such, this is running in python 2.7 but should theoretically work on python 3.x.

Prerequsistes

1. Install paho-mqtt using pip:

   pip install paho-mqtt
   

2. The RPi-LPD8806 package is installed, configured, and working as per https://github.com/longjos/RPi-LPD8806

3. Home Assitant is configured with the MQTT addon and a configured username/password.

Home Assistant Configuration

Update configuration.yaml with a light as per https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/light.mqtt/#brightness-and-rgb-support. Example:

light
  - platform: mqtt
    name: "Computer Backlight"
    state_topic: "computer/backlight/light/status"
    command_topic: "computer/backlight/light/switch"
    brightness_state_topic: "computer/backlight/brightness/status"
    brightness_command_topic: "computer/backlight/brightness/set"
    rgb_state_topic: "computer/backlight/rgb/status"
    rgb_command_topic: "computer/backlight/rgb/set"
    state_value_template: "{{ value_json.state }}"
    brightness_value_template: "{{ value_json.brightness }}"
    rgb_value_template: "{{ value_json.rgb | join(',') }}"
    qos: 0
    payload_on: "ON"       
    payload_off: "OFF"               
    optimistic: false  

Raspberry Pi configuration

1. Navigate to /usr/local/bin/

2. Checkout this repository

   sudo git clone https://github.com/klagroix/ha-mqtt-lpd8806.git
   cd ha-mqtt-lpd8806/
   

3. Create a config.json file within the ha-mqtt-lpd8806 folder. Replace the variables as needed:

   {
       "BrokerAddress": "192.168.1.1",
       "BrokerUser": "mqtt_username",
       "BrokerPass": "mqtt_password",
       "ClientName": "BacklightClient",
       "TopicPrefix": "computer/backlight",
       "NumLeds": 56
   }
   

4. Run python main.py

Running as a service

NOTE: As stated earlier, I'm on an old OS. This isn't based on systemd. If I had systemd, I'd run something like this https://tecadmin.net/setup-autorun-python-script-using-systemd/

I followed this guide: http://blog.scphillips.com/posts/2013/07/getting-a-python-script-to-run-in-the-background-as-a-service-on-boot/

1. Copy backlight from /usr/local/bin/ha-mqtt-lpd8806/ to /etc/init.d/

   sudo cp /usr/local/bin/ha-mqtt-lpd8806/backlight /etc/init.d/backlight
   

2. Edit the permissions:

   sudo chmod 755 /etc/init.d/backlight.sh
   sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/ha-mqtt-lpd8806/main.py
   

3. Execute:

   sudo update-rc.d backlight.sh defaults
   

4. Stop and Start the service as needed

   sudo service backlight stop
   sudo service backlight start
   

Troubleshooting

Optional: Stop the service above (sudo service backlight stop)

Run the script in shell. Debug info is output to STDOUT

TODO items:

• Add Logging
• Support individually addressable LED applications. Examples:
  • Progress bar
  • VU meter