SmartThings-Sense-Edge

SmartThings/Sense Integration via Edge

This provides an integration between SmartThings and Sense Home Energy Monitor using a LAN bridge server and an Edge driver.

Overview

This SmartApp integrates Sense devices into SmartThings.

Prerequisites and Network requirements

• You will need a machine that can continually run the Sense server bridge application on your network. Examples include: Raspberry Pi, Linux server, Windows desktop, Mac, Unraid server, etc.
• Your SmartThings hub and the machine running the bridge server application must be able to reach each other on the same LAN.
• In most cases, the hub will be able to use SSDP broadcasts to auto-detect the IP address of the server (assuming applicable port mapping, including UDP 1901, has been set up - see detailed instructions below).

Installation

• Add the Edge driver to your SmartThings hub - click here to add the driver channel
• Decide how you will host the bridge server on your LAN (details on methods below).
  • Using Docker
  • Using a simple executable
• Once your bridge server is running, open the SmartThings mobile app.
• Go to devices and click the add button to Add device.
• Scan for nearby devices
• You should see the Sense Controller device added in the ST mobile app. This can take up to 30 seconds. If it still does not show up, go back out to whatever "room" your hub is in and see if it got added to the bottom.
• Go to the Sense controller device, tap the elipses at the top right, then tap settings
• Enter your Sense email and password
• You can leave the other settings as-is (see advanced options below)
• Upon saving, the SmartThings hub will try to find your bridge server, login, and automatically create devices.
• If something goes wrong, refresh the controller device and check the status field.

Running the bridge server with an executable

• Find the executable for your OS here
• Download it
• Run the executable. After several seconds, you should see a message indicating it is waiting for a connection from the hub.
• By default, the http server spins up on a random port. If you want to specify one, set the SENSE_SERVER_PORT environment variable on your system.

Running the bridge server with Docker (recommended)

• Check out information here to install Docker: https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/

• As info: Dockerhub image can be found here: https://hub.docker.com/r/brbeaird/smartthings-sense-edge

• Reminder: this docker container must be on the same LAN as the SmartThings hub so they can communicate

• Pull the image down: docker pull brbeaird/smartthings-sense-edge

• Start the container. The command will vary depending on platform (some do not use equal signs), but it will look something like this: docker run -d --name='smartthings-sense-edge' --network=host 'brbeaird/smartthings-sense-edge:latest'

• What this command does:

  • -d: runs the container in detached mode, so it continually runs in the background
  • --network=host: sets the container to run with "host" mode, which means running without an extra layer between it and the host. This is very important for IP/Port auto-detect

• If you know what you are doing and want to run the container in bridge mode:

  • Note that with some platforms, UDP broadcast will not work in bridge mode even if you explicitly map the UDP port. If that is the case, autodetection will not work, and you will need to set up the IP/Port manually on the Sense-Controller device in the SmartThings app.
  • Set the SENSE_SERVER_PORT variable to 8090 (this must be the same port that will be mapped to the host)
  • Map port 8090 TCP, container and host set the same
  • Map UDP 1901, container and host set the same
  • Note: This assumes port 8090 is not already in use on your Docker host. You can change it to something else, but be sure to change both the environment variable and the port mapping.
  • If using IP auto-detection, it is required that the SENSE_SERVER_PORT variable is set to the same port that is mapped to the host. This is because the app needs to know the publicly accessible port is so it can pass that information back to the hub.

• For Synology:

docker run -d --name=sense \
-e PUID=XXX \
-e PGID=XXX \
-e TZ=America/Chicago \
--net=host \
--restart always \
brbeaird/smartthings-sense-edge:latest

Advanced Settings (configured in the Sense-Controller device)

• Sense Polling Interval: by default, the Edge driver polls Sense every 30 seconds to check the status of Sense devices. You can override that interval here. Note that a frequent interval is recommended if you want SmartThings to accurately catch all open/close events.
• Device include list: if you want to only include certain devices in your Sense account, you can enter the names of which ones you want to be created in SmartThings (separated by a comma)
• Server IP and Server Port: if you want to bypass auto-detection, you can manually set the Sense server IP/Port here. This is only recommended for setups where the server has a static IP address as well as the port variable configured.

Advanced troubleshooting and logging

• To view logs of the edge driver, download the SmartThings CLI here: https://github.com/SmartThingsCommunity/smartthings-cli/releases
• Then, run this command: smartthings edge:drivers:logcat --hub-address=xxx.xxx.x.x (entering your hub IP address)
• The CLI should prompt you to login
• When prompted with a list of drivers, choose "Sense Connector"

Donate/Sponsor:

If you love this integration, feel free to donate or check out the GitHub Sponsor program.

Platform	Wallet/Link	QR Code
GitHub Sponsorship	https://github.com/sponsors/brbeaird
Paypal