Help Needed: Creating a Custom Deebot 500 Script (vsc5ia.py)

[Marcoske23]

Checks

• I have searched the existing issues and no issue is describing my issue
• I have checked the FAQ
• I have checked the documentation
• I have installed the latest version

The problem

Hey everyone,

I've got a Deebot 500, and thanks to another user's work (which was based on a similar vacuum), I've managed to get it functioning. Now, I'm really looking to customize it significantly for my specific vacuum model.

I currently have two main questions:

1. In Home Assistant (HA), is it possible to create custom commands? If so, how can I implement them by including act, type, and speed data?
2. Could someone guide me or help me create a vsc5ia.py file for my model? My biggest hurdle is that I don't fully understand GitHub or its workflow, and I'm also unsure about the guidelines for structuring the code as seen in existing examples. (I'm not a professional programmer; I have very basic coding knowledge).

Let me explain a bit more:

My vacuum has three cleaning modes: Auto, Spot, and Border. (These modes seem to be common for vacuums without mapping features.)

However, the 2pv572.py file (which is the basis for my current setup) only has the "Auto" mode configured.

I'd like to add the "Spot" and "Border" modes, but I'm not sure of the best way to approach this. Should I add a new class within clean.py (e.g., CleanSpot), create a separate CleanSpot.py file, or modify something within the existing Clean structure?

From what I've observed, CleanMode.SPOT and CleanMode.BORDER do not appear to exist. I'm also unsure if I can create them.

The clean command uses the following parameters:

• type: auto, border, spot
• act: s (start), p (pause), r (resume), h (stop)
• speed: standard, strong

I also noticed that the "Border" and "Spot" modes cannot be paused; they can only be stopped.

Some time ago, I created a custom component for my own vacuum in HA, and the details above are what I was able to gather then. For "Spot," there's already a specific button available in the HA vacuum entity, but for "Border," it seems there isn't one. Could this be added as a separate button?

Just a note: the Deebot 500, 501, and 502 models are essentially the same (only color differs), so any insights for these models would be very helpful in completing the list.

Any guidance or assistance would be greatly appreciated!

On which deebot device (vacuum) you have the issue?

Deebot 500, 501 AND 502

Which version of the deebot-client are you using?

13.5.0

Country

US

Continent

US

Anything in the logs that might be useful for us?

Additional information

No response

[edenhaus]

You can use the action vacuum.send_command to execute any custom command, but you need to find out the correct parameters on your own, as the commands are device-dependent, and I don't have your model. You can check the code to find some commands but it's not guaranteed that they will work for your bot

[Marcoske23]

At the time, I documented some custom commands, which is why I wanted to test them first via Home Assistant.
My main issue is that I’m not sure how to properly structure the vacuum.send_command YAML.

Test YAML:

target:
  entity_id: vacuum.berenizo_2
data:
  command: clean
  params:
    type: clean
    act: s
    speed: strong
action: vacuum.send_command

Once I confirm which commands work, could I submit a modification and create a pull request so the changes can be reviewed and potentially merged?

[edenhaus]

the command is the name of the command
and the params will be passed are they are defined to the command as params

[Marcoske23]

I'm sorry, but I don't understand :(
Let's assume the command is PlaySound, which should simply play a sound.

from __future__ import annotations

from .common import ExecuteCommand


class PlaySound(ExecuteCommand):

    NAME = "PlaySound"

    def __init__(self) -> None:
        super().__init__({"sid": "30"})

So, would the YAML in HA be like this?

action: vacuum.send_command
target:
  entity_id: vacuum.berenizo_2
data:
  command: PlaySound

[edenhaus]

Yes that's correct but dependeing on your model there are XML and Json based commands. The 500 is a XML based one so don't use any json command

[Marcoske23]

I understand, so I’m not sure if this is considered a bug or normal behavior, but I’m facing this situation:
I’m using the following YAML:

action: vacuum.send_command
target:
  entity_id: vacuum.berenizo_2
data:
  command: Charge

This should send the "Charge" command to the robot. Since it’s a single command without parameters, it’s defined in the XML .py file like this:

"""Charge command."""

from __future__ import annotations

from .common import ExecuteCommand


class Charge(ExecuteCommand):
    """Charge command."""

    NAME = "Charge"
    HAS_SUB_ELEMENT = True

    def __init__(self) -> None:
        # example: <ctl><charge type='go'/></ctl>
        super().__init__({"type": "go"})

The robot should go to charge, right? If I press the charge button on the entity, it does go to charge, but if I send the YAML I provided above, the robot doesn’t go to charge.
I don’t know what I’m doing wrong or if it’s a bug in how the command is sent from Home Assistant to the Deebot client. Or could it be that I need to specify whether it’s XML or JSON somewhere in the YAML?

I’ve already created a vsc5ia.py file where I removed the features the robot doesn’t use, but there are sensors like "Area Cleaned" and "Cleaning Duration," as well as the "Last Job" event and attributes like Rooms, that I can’t figure out how to hide. These are entities that the robot simply doesn’t use, so ideally, they shouldn’t be generated when the robot is loaded.
Best regards and thank you for your understanding.