Google Assistant C-bus Integration

Hi All,

I just got a C-Gate server up and running on a Raspberry Pi using a re-purposed 5000SM/2 SIM from a Homesafe alarm system. I used the instructions I found on another thread from DarylMc. A big thanks to Daryl and the others who helped.

Now I have that up and running I am going to try installing Misterhome on the Raspberry Pi as well to see if I can get it to talk to Google Home. I chose Misterhome because it has CBUS support and also has an emulation mode where it can pretend to be a Phillips Hue. The Google Home can access Phillips Hue devices directly so you can just say "OK Google turn on kitchen light" instead of having to say "OK Google tell XXXXX to turn on kitchen light". That makes it a little more wife and kids friendly and given my wife has let me buy the Google home and some Chromecasts without question, that is a necessity.

As I progress with this I'll let everyone know, and hopefully keep track of everything I do so I can let others know how I did it and the pitfalls I had.

-A

 

@asimcox
Thanks
I just want to note that other people did all the clever stuff.

When you get it going I will be interested to hear about it.

 

Hi Andrew,

Definitely interested. Something which runs locally and talks to a WISER or CNI to do lights and scenes would be absolutely ideal.

 

Hi Andrew
i have just got my wiser 2 working and would love it to work with google home.
you send me any relevant info would be great

 

Hi,
Have been using a Pi and Homebridge now for several months and love it.
I plan to add google home over the xmas break and would appreciate any help available.
Thanks,

 

C-BUS has release an item called the SHAC (Small Home Automation Controller) which is in partner ship with Smart Voice, which you can control your automation with it.

But i am interested in another solution so i do not have to buy the expensive $400 Smart Voice (https://smartvoice.com.au) to try, because I already have a google home.

 

I have used a C-Bus bus coupler and one of these relay devices which has Google Home support. https://www.itead.cc/sonoff-4ch-pro.html
It just provides four momentary or latched output, so control is limited, but enough for me to trigger a few groups/scenes and cost me just $30.

 

Hi guys, very late follow up. Just thought I would provide an update.

Although it worked I dropped my own solution with ifttt. I now use homeautio with cgateweb and mosquitto. It is more aware, as you get feedback of what's on/off and can use routines ect...

https://github.com/i8beef/HomeAutio.Mqtt.GoogleHome is a Google home to mqtt bridge and https://github.com/the1laz/cgateweb is a cbus to mqtt bridge. Once setup it works extreamly well, as good as any commercial google home smart device.

What I like best is using a Google home hub or phone/tablet for touch control as well as voice. Also works with ios.

I may provide a writeup how I tied it all together when/if I find the time.

 

Awesome Andrew! Is this running on a rasp pi? Keen to see your write up

 

Hi Andrew, Super interested in this. I have tried a few other solutions for Google home integration with Cbus and all were too complex. I would really appreciate a write up on how to get this working. Did you use a CNI or PCI and run C-gate on a Rpi? This seems to be my biggest stumbling block in other solutions I have tried. I have all the hardware and just can't seem to get it all talking. Any help or info would be greatly appreciated.

 

Have you tried using Homebridge? Homebridge has a plugin that connects with Google Home. I found it quite easy to setup & I don't have too much linux experience.

 

I pretty much followed andrew12's approach, and whilst it was sometimes painful, the end-result is excellent and very satisfying when it finally worked.

1. Starting with a pi, I installed Debian/Noobs and gave it a static dhcp lease and remote ssh access
2. Added cgate, configured it to allow remote access from my pc and then used C-Bus Toolkit on my PC to make sure it was set up and working with my CNI, had discovered all the lights, etc. I also took a note of all the cbus devices I wanted to control (eg, network 254, group 8 is my outdoor floodlights)
3. Installed MQTT
4. Install cgateweb and connect it to cgate. Tested it by using [mosquitto_pub -m "ON" -t cbus/write/254/56/8/switch]
5. Installed docker and homeautio.mqtt.googlehome:latest-arm32. Created the homeautio config file for all my lights.
6. Installed nginx & certs, forwarded port 443 on my router, set up the google project and voila.

Not exactly a job for beginners, but with patience and RTFM it works really well all on a cheap raspberry pi.

Basically:

Google Home -> NBN Router Port Forward -> NGINX -> homeautio -> MQTT -> Cgateweb -> Cgate -> Cbus Lights!

 

Gtervit, that's awesome thanks! Ill have to sit down and have a serious chop at it soon. Great to know there are people smarter than me willing to help! Hopefully I don't have to come back too soon with noob questions haha.

Lavigha, I thought homebridge was just the software that runs on the CTC? I didn't know that it supported Google home? Or is it a 3rd party plugin?

 

Haha just looked it up. Was thinking of homegate. I'll defs look into homebridge.

 

Hi Mrjuzz,

tes simplest way for google home control of c-bus is to install homebridge, the home-bridge-cbus plug-in and the homebridge-gsh (google home) plugin. With some configuring, you have google and siri voice control support. you can also do a homebridge-alexa plugin (and extend this to Cortana (via Alexa). It works seamlessly and all in the one place (on the same pi as c-gate). See my post in this forum on siri and google support.

Cheers

Jason

 

Hi Jason,
Will this implementation support on screen control of a home hub or the Google home app also? As this is what I'm really searching for rather than the actual voice control.

 

Hi MrJuzz,

do you mean can you control your c-bus devices with the google home app? If that is what you want, then the answer is mostly yes. Google doesn’t support sensors, but has support for lights, switches, fans, etc. you can also do the same with the Alexa app. I have both working. There is a screen cap in the voice control thread.

I hope this is what you want. It’s a very easy thing to set up so trying it out will only cost a small time investment and no capital outlay.

Cheers

Jason

 

Awesome, yeah mainly looking for Google home app and nest hub control. Ill definitely give this a crack first then. I am so impressed at the response from everybody here. I honestly didn't expect such helpful replies so quickly. Thanks so much guys!

 

Great News,

I'm just the messenger though. All of the great programming in homebridge and the plugins has been done by some amazing programmers which I am very grateful for. It breathed new life into c-bus for me and dragged the mobile and voice control of it into the mainstream at almost zero cost and a trivial amount of setup and configuration.

Let us know if it works out!

Cheers

Jason

 

Hi everyone, I’m a Clipsal C-bus newbie. Bought a home with this installed. I think it’s an older model 5000CT.
In my other home, I had smart switches installed and linked these to Google Home app for app control as well as voice.
What is the best method now of integrating the c-bus to google home app so I can use the app to remotely control switches (rather than having to go to the C-bus wall control panel)?
Do I need to upgrade or add a new Clipsal device/part?
Thanks
Peter