I2C Plugin for Sensing In-/Out-Puts of Port Expanders

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A Plugin for reading I2c Port Expander would be nice,
with this you can sense up to 8x8 Ports without any Multiplexer wich would otherwise then allow to sense up to 8x(8x8) Port Expanders wich have each 8 Extra Ports on them.

The Benefit would be to have a switch detected before you execute a rule.

In My Project i switch a Web-Based Relay from within Pimatic but it would be much safer if i can sense if the switch on the wall is pressed so i execute just the rule the Button tells the Device and not like …

Button up is pressed but maybe the Kids push Button down on the Tablet, making the Device drive up and Down at a Time.(Crash Boom Bang)

@sevensins

I would be intressted too.

I would like to watch the I2c Expander, too and if one of the 16 Ports changes the state, a rule turns a device off or on.

How does the community resolve a Problem like this now

sinserly

ankn99

Guys, you can use pimatic-johnny-five for this purpose. It supports a variety of expanders which can be connected to Raspberry Pi, an Arduino connected via USB, or an remote board connected via LAN or WiFi.

Please be aware, that pimatic-johnny-five should not be installed via pimatic-mobile-frontend as this installation process will run as root which currently causes a build error. The package should be installed from the command line instead without root privileges. See also https://forum.pimatic.org/topic/1174/new-plugin-for-johnny-five for details.

I would like to watch the I2c Expander, too and if one of the 16 Ports changes the state, a rule turns a device off or on.

With pimatic-johnny-five you can define devices for expander inputs and outputs. The device types used are based on pimatic base device types like contact, presence, switch. Thus you can easily define pimatic rules like if jf-di-1 is closed then switch jf-do-4 on.

# plugin
{
      "plugin": "johnny-five",
      "debug": true,
      "boards": [
        {
          "id": "1",
          "boardType": "raspi-io"
        },
        {
          "id": "3",
          "boardType": "expander",
          "port": "1",
          "controller": "MCP23017"
        }
      ]
    },

# devices
{
      "id": "jf-do-4",
      "name": "Johnny Five Expander Output",
      "class": "JohnnyFiveSwitch",
      "boardId": "3",
      "pin": "8"
    },
    {
      "id": "jf-di-1",
      "name": "Johnny Five Expander Input",
      "class": "JohnnyFiveButton",
      "boardId": "3",
      "pin": "7"
    },