MAX!Cube Binding

Documentation of the MAX!Cube Binding Bundle

Introduction

The openHAB MAX!Cube binding allows to connect to (ELV) MAX!Cube Lan Gateway installations. The binding allows to communicate with the MAX! devices through the MAX!Cube Lan Gateway.

To communicate with MAX! devices, a already setup MAX! environment including a MAX!Cube Lan Gateway is required. In addition, the binding expects an already set up MAX environment.

MAX!Cube Binding Configuration

No configuration is required in basic setting. The MaxCube is automatically discovered from the network. You can configure the MAX!Cube Lan Gateway IP address in the openhab.cfg file. If not configured via DHCP, the factory default address of the MAX!Cube is 192.168.0.222.

################################ MAX!Cube Binding #####################################
#
# MAX!Cube LAN gateway IP address (Optional, can be auto-discovered)
# maxcube:ip=192.168.0.222

# MAX!Cube port (Optional, default to 62910)
# maxcube:port=62910

# MAX!Cube refresh interval in ms (Optional, default to 10000)
# maxcube:refreshInterval=10000

# Max!Cube exclusive mode. (Optional, default to false)
# When true, the binding keeps the connection to the Cube open
# and polls more efficiently. No other application can use the Cube while the binding is running
# in exclusive mode, including Android and Desktop Max! Software.
# With this mode, the refreshInterval can easily set to 500 or 1000ms if you
# want the window contacts or eco button more responsive.
# maxcube:exclusive=false

# Max!Cube maximum requests per connection. (Optional, default to 1000)
# In exclusive mode, the binding will open the connection to the Cube and polls with
# refreshInterval maxRequestsPerConnection times. When maxRequestsPerConnection is reached
# it will disconnect and reconnect. This may work around issues with long going connections
# like slow reaction on events.
# When set to 0, the binding will keep the connection open as long as possible.
# maxcube:maxRequestsPerConnection=1000

Additional you can configure the port the MAX!Cube communicates with openHAB. By default this is 62910 and should not need to be changed.

Furthermore, you can change the refresh interval openHAB communicates with the MAX!Cube. By default the refresh interval is set to 10 seconds.

Starting from 1.6.0 you can use the exclusive mode. If you are not using MAX! smartphone or desktop software, this is recommended.

Please note that the MAX!Cube desktop software also keeps the connection open and openhab will not be able to connect if the MAX!Cube software is running. Close if from the windows taskbar.

Item Configuration

In order to bind an generic item to the device, you need to provide MAX!Cube configuration settings in your item file (in the folder configurations/items) containing at least the serial number of the device you wish to control (not the serial of the cube).

How to get the serial number of a device: you can use the original MAX! software: edit the room, click on structure, rename devices. There you'll see the names and serials.

The syntax of the binding configuration strings accepted is the following:

maxcube="<serialNumber>"

Shutter Contact

The state of a shutter contact can be retrieved via the generic item binding. To display the shutter state, you need to use a Contact item.

Contact Office_Window "Office Window [MAP(en.map):%s]" (MyGroup) { maxcube="JEQ0650337" }

Heating Thermostat or Wallmounted Thermostat

Display the Target Temperature

For a heating thermostat, an identical configuration will provide the setpoint temperature of the heating thermostat (4.5° corresponds to OFF shown on the thermostat display). To show the temperature setpoint you need to use a number item.

Number Heating_Max "Heating Thermostat [%.1f °C]" (MyGroup) { maxcube="JEQ0336148" }

The above examples would be shown as

MAX heating thermostat devices show OFF when turned to the minimum or On when turned to the maximum. The openHAB MAX!Cube binding would show the values 4.5 for OFF and 30.5 for On instead.

If you would like to display OFF and on instead, you can apply a mapping and change the binding using this mapping to

Number Heating_Max "Heating Thermostat [MAP(maxcube.map):%s]" (MyGroup) { maxcube="JEQ0336148" }

Instead of values 4.5 and 30.5 the results would look like

To apply this mapping you need to copy the maxcube.map mapping file into the configuration/transformation folder within the openHAB directory. (Alternatively you can use this maxcube.map file when the mappings of round temperature settings don't show.)

Depending on the correpsonding device the MAX!Cube binding can be used to provide specific information about a device instead of the default information.

Setting the Target Temperature

In order to be able to set a thermostat (and thus sending a temperature setting to an individual thermostat) use the Setpoint item in your sitemap configuration:

Setpoint item=Heating_Max_Valve step=0.5 minValue=18 maxValue=30

This SetPoint item will allow a user to set the thermostat with 0.5 degrees intervals. If you would like to set the thermostat yourself, for instance in a rule, use the sendCommand option in your rules file, like in the following example:

 rule "Bedtime"
 when
    Time cron "0 0 23 * * ?"
 then
    sendCommand (Heating_Max_Valve, 15 )
 end

To receive the valve position of a heating thermostat, the type for the desired information needs to be specified in the bonding configuration.

Actual Temperature

Per release 1.6 you can request the actual temperature for the WallThermostat. The actual temperature can also be requested from the heating Thermostats, however is usually outdated for the radiator thermostats, since they only send it over when their valve position changes. For the Wall thermostats, the value is accurate, since those send updates every couple of minutes.

Number Heating_Max_Temp "Thermostat Temperature  [%.1f °C]" (MyGroup) { maxcube="JEQ0336148:type=actual" }

Valve Position

To receive the valve position of a heating thermostat, the type for the desired information needs to be specified in the bonding configuration

Number Heating_Max_Valve "Thermostat Valve Position [%.1f %%]" (MyGroup) { maxcube="JEQ0336148:type=valve" }

Battery State

The battery state of a device can be requested using the battery type in the corresponding binding configuration.

String Heating_Max_Valve "Thermostat Battery [%s]" (MyGroup) { maxcube="JEQ0336148:type=battery" }

String values returned by the binding are either ok or low.

Mode

The operating mode can be requested using the mode type in the corresponding binding configuration.

String Heating_Max_Valve_Mode "Thermostat Mode [%s]" (MyGroup) { maxcube="JEQ0336148:type=mode" }

The mode is displayed as "AUTOMATIC" for example.