micro-ebusd is born

[john30]

Today the first version of micro-ebusd was released to the public.

This is really exciting and was an awful amount of work. Basically I have it running on my heating since March 2025, but there were just too many things needed to add and issues to solve back then.

Meanwhile it has grown to quite some degree and I think it is really cool as it integrates smoothly with Home Assistant for example without needing an ebusd process on a host.

It is an opt-in anyway, so: no worries - you don't have to use it :-)

Documentation is here as usual, post me a line or even better open an issue in ebusd-esp32 to have it tracked.

[andrejs2]

Thanks @john30 for your work! So, micro-ebusd is compatible with ESP32-C6, rev 1?

[john30]

it is compatible with my devices, so the shield C6 and v5, the stick, and even the Wemos C3 for older adapters

[mwrben]

Thanks for this, it's a significant achievement. Currently I use local config files cloned from the repository for my heat pump. I've tweaked them a bit e.g. I've got cooling mode working. Presumably this isn't possible using micro-ebusd as it relies on scanning and one cannot set up local config files on the adapter?

[john30]

Thanks for this, it's a significant achievement. Currently I use local config files cloned from the repository for my heat pump. I've tweaked them a bit e.g. I've got cooling mode working. Presumably this isn't possible using micro-ebusd as it relies on scanning and one cannot set up local config files on the adapter?

right now it is not possible yet, but it is one of the many features on the roadmap and in the top category :-)
anyway, the idea is of course to have findings for a certain heating unit to be added to ebusd-configuration. so maybe you could post your enhacements in https://github.com/john30/ebusd-configuration/pulls ?

[mwrben]

I have thought about sharing my progress. I worked out the config to set the start and end dates for cooling mode (which some pumps need) and also what is necessary to enable cooling mode in general - some heat pumps require plugging in a resistor and also there's a buried setting in the VWZ AI control module. But although I can follow the CSV file structure, I struggle to understand the typespec methodology and so I am not confident to share this.

Going back to the local config question, I have wondered if it would be possible to have a setting in micro-ebusd so that you could point it to local config files held on a local server. This would avoid the problem of finding space on the actual adapter.

[john30]

basically typespec is a 1:1 translation of the CSVs which is better readable, maintainable and reusable. there is even a converter for CSV to typespec as well as a VSCode extension to ease the conversion. if you're struggling with that, feel free to send me the changes (even if on CSV level) and I'll do the conversion for you.

anyway, the long-term goal is of course to add direct message definition editing to the firmware, but that will take some time.

I'm already working on the feature for downloading the relevant data

[zolakt]

This sounds great. Does this still require the ebusd integration installed in HA or will it just discover everything automatically through the mqtt integration?

[john30]

not sure which "ebusd integration" you're referring to, but ebusd never needed anything on HA side besides a MQTT broker and the MQTT integration on HA being active (which it is by default afaik). so ebusd and miro-ebusd both don't need anything special on HA directy

[piotrtobolski]

Sounds like a great idea. There is one big unknown for me now. What will be the pricing? I subscribed to the 30 day trial which is the only option available and I am afraid it will be a subscription. Not great for set-up and forget type of device, well, maybe check every 2 years if there is some update. Will it be one time purchase or a subscription? I don't know if it is worth switching my setup because I wouldn't sign up for a subscription.

BTW for now it seems that it doesn't scan everything well. When I started my current ebusd addon, it does the scan nicely and gets all my data (VRC 700 + VSC 206) while the micro-ebusd in a 15 minutes received the broadcast and VSC data but nothing from the VRC. I did not configure anything in there, just used the default options.

[piotrtobolski]

When I now think about this maybe there is polling by default enabled on ebusd but not on micro-ebusd? I'm not very knowledgeable about ebusd.

[john30]

What will be the pricing? I subscribed to the 30 day trial which is the only option available and I am afraid it will be a subscription.

as I personally don't like subscriptions at all, I don't plan to have it for micro-ebusd either. I'm targeting a price below the cost of the hardware.

BTW for now it seems that it doesn't scan everything well. When I started my current ebusd addon, it does the scan nicely and gets all my data (VRC 700 + VSC 206) while the micro-ebusd in a 15 minutes received the broadcast and VSC data but nothing from the VRC. I did not configure anything in there, just used the default options.

then please open an issue at https://github.com/john30/ebusd-esp32/issues/ and post the log as well as the output of "info" in the REPL

[piotrtobolski]

Thank you for quick response. If it won't be subscription I will for sure purchase it when it become available. Here is the issue that I created john30/ebusd-esp32#111

[Zagor4]

Good morning everyone,

I’m just starting to get into the world of eBUSd because I’ll soon be having a Vaillant InWall condensing boiler installed, together with a Multimatic 700 weather-compensated controller and a Gateway for remote control via the My Vaillant app (VR940F).

I’d like to understand a few things that I’m currently unsure about:

With this setup, where should I physically connect the eBUSd shield to the eBUS? Directly to the boiler in parallel with the Multimatic, or to the Multimatic in parallel with the Gateway?

If I’m not interested in using the MyVaillant app, could I replace the Gateway directly with the eBUSd shield and control the boiler remotely through entities acquired in Home Assistant? Or can the eBUSd shield only read parameters but not modify them?

Regarding the voltages and messages on the BUS, could installing the eBUSd shield interfere with the existing Vaillant devices (Multimatic 700 and Gateway)?

Thanks a lot !

[JonesGW-MGD]

You might wish to move your queries to a new discussion item that is more appropriate than John's Micro-ebusd announcement thread here but in brief you can install the adapter in parallel anywhere on the bus (but the VR940F seems an obvious place as access is super easy and presumably you have power nearby.) It's hard to generalise on your next point but ebusd is better suited to collating and analysing the behaviour of your system, rather than controlling. So use it to complement rather than replace MyVaillant. Some control is possible, but it's not a 'beginners' activity - and it depends on your systems - if you have Vaillant VR50 TRVs for example as I do, these are not controlled via ebus (but are RF instead) so not visible in ebusd so you pretty much have to use MyVaillant in that case.

[novakrob]

Great to hear that! Bringing to live ebusd on a NAS was one of my obstacles—I’ve been dreaming of having a single device that could handle everything. This news motivates me to finally tackle the integration of my Protherm heating.

Unfortunately, after flashing the latest release and struggling for two days to get it working, I’m still hitting an MQTT TLS error—even though I’m using the mqtt:// URI and I can see traffic going to port 1883, but with no positive resolution.

Fingers crossed for future releases! :-)