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Recently I discovered the various Kincony Home Automation solutions and was impressed. Review and consider now the usage potential for my situation. Therefor I pose some clarification questions in this Forum, geared to my home automation situation, ambitions and needs.
For more than 20 years, like many others with a DIY habbit, I have been using the proven reliable Homevision Controller (HV)( (http://www.csi3.com/homevis2.htm ) for home automation purposes (lights, switches, security-system, screens, sensors, etc.). In my home the HV-Inputs (16) are connected to sensors and motion detectors via CAT4 cable. The HV-communication with and HV-control of 220V-devices in the home is done via protocol X10 (this is outdated and being phased out) and via Tasmota-software (the MQTT-bridge/ broker is on an ES8266-12E NODEMCU, connected to the HV controller via RS232 link).
The 220V architecture at home is a common 3-phase distribution network, with local switches.
Since 2023 my HV-Controller also has an integration interface with Home Assistant (HASS), allowing the HV-connected devices to be also monitored and operated via HASS.
However, the primary/basic automation of the home is and remains via HV (the routines are configured by me in HVXL-software).
HV has the great advantage that it can function completely stand-alone (based on HVXL- software download). And, in the event of a mains voltage failure and restoration, HV is fully operational again within one second!
That includes her MQTT bridge and the restoring of the device states and functioning in the home, exactly as it was before the voltage outage.
Questions:
1. Can A16 also function stand alone as the main home controller & as an MQTT-broker (Mosquito)? Based on which software of yours (KCS and or ESP-Home?)? Are the software programming facilities quite comparable to those of HV (like: if-then-else, timers, date, sunrise/sunset, flags, macros, etc.)?
2. Can the A16 communication accesses/ports (Ethernet, WIFI and RS485) be used independently and in parallel?
3. Is a quite simple integration with HASS possible? If so: which of your software is additionally required and configurable (howto)?
Can I also (or instead of) use the specific HASS integrations (like ESP-HOME and MQTT)for discovery and configurations?
4. Does a HASS integration not violate the stand alone functioning of the A16 instead of HV?
5. What main limitations/issues do I also have to take into account when transitioning from HV to A16?
6. What else do you think is important to pay attention to, regarding this transition?
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