After spending some time experimenting with my Fibaro FGR221 roller/shutter controller, I wanted to share my experience and some tips for those looking to integrate multiple devices or streamline their setup.
First, I tried controlling three tube motors using a single Fibaro unit. The goal was to simplify wiring and manage all blinds from one device in Vera. While the initial setup seemed promising, I encountered an issue where the motors would only move a tiny bit before shutting off. After some troubleshooting, I realized the problem was related to the isolation relays interfering with the Fibaro’s operation. It was a bit frustrating, but testing with direct wiring confirmed the motors and relays were fine. This led me to explore alternative configurations and eventually find a workaround by bypassing the relays during testing.
On the ESPHome front, I’ve been working on optimizing my setup. One thing I noticed is that ESPHome creates separate PlatformIO environments for each device, which can be a bit resource-heavy. I reached out to the community to understand if there’s a way to consolidate these environments, especially since my devices have similar configurations. The feedback I received was really helpful, and it seems like there are valid reasons for the current setup, but I’m still hoping for more flexibility in the future.
Another interesting project I’ve been working on involves integrating my Xiaomi gateway V3 with Home Assistant. While the sensors work perfectly, I was disappointed that the gateway itself doesn’t create an entity, making it harder to manage alarms directly. I ended up using a workaround with custom scripts to mimic the functionality I needed.
If anyone has tips or tricks for optimizing Fibaro setups, ESPHome configurations, or Xiaomi gateway integrations, I’d love to hear them! It’s always great to learn from others’ experiences and find new ways to enhance our smart home setups.