esp8266-benq-rs232-mqtt

Objective: Control this BenQ w1070 projector with an ESP8266 and MQTT via its RS232 interface and Home Assistant. I follow BenQ's RS232 documentation.

Adaption

Forked from nicolaus-hee who has a different projector and uses openHAB. I've made several small changes and use it with Home Assistant:

• Support setting lamp mode (eco, normal, etc)
• Support reading lamp hours
• Read the status of a connected reed switch

I've added a reed switch to the ESP, as the projector is in a cabinet and I'd like to base automations on if the cabinet is open or closed.

(TODO: image of the whole setup)

What you need

• ESP8266 (I use model E12 on a nodeMCU)
• RS232 to TTL converter with female DB9 connector
• Basic wires

Connect pins like this:

ESP8266	RS232-TTL
G	GND
3V	VCC
D4	TXD
RX	RXD

The reed switch is simply connected to 3V and D7, with a resistor (10kΩ) in paralell, like this:

Source: tutorial on a reed switch

The end result, not too pretty but it works:

What the code does

• Read power / source / volume / lamp status from projector
• Send power (on/off), source change, lamp mode change and volume change commands to projector
• Publish status updates to MQTT server
• Listen for commands from MQTT server, then execute them
• Send custom commands via MQTT message
• Respond to custom commands via MQTT message

How to use: MQTT

stat topics are published by the module, cmnd topics are listened to by the module and acted upon.

Topic	Payload	Comment
stat/projector/STATUS	{"POWER":"ON","SOURCE":"HDMI","VOLUME":"4","LAMP_HOUR":"3","LAMP_MODE":"ECO"}	Published every 5 seconds
cmnd/projector/POWER	ON, OFF	Power on or off
cmnd/projector/SOURCE	HDMI, SVID, VID, RGB, RGB2	Set source / input
cmnd/projector/VOLUME	0...20	Set volume
cmnd/projector/LAMP	LNOR, ECO, SECO	Set lamp mode
cmnd/projector/COMMAND	-->	Any command, e.g. vol=+
stat/projector/COMMAND	{"COMMAND":"...","RESPONSE":"..."}	Returns result of above

How to use: Home assistant

If you have not set up MQTT you can read the home assistant docs on how to do it. Add the below to your configuration.yaml and automations.yaml

# The on/off switch
switch:
  - platform: mqtt
    name: "Projector"
    state_topic: "stat/projector/STATUS"
    value_template: '{{ value_json.POWER }}'
    command_topic: "cmnd/projector/POWER"
    payload_on: "ON"
    payload_off: "OFF"
    icon: "mdi:projector"

# Define the valid lamp modes
input_select:
  projector_lamp_mode:
    name: Mode
    options:
      - "ECO"
      - "LNOR"
      - "SECO"
    icon: mdi:target

# The cabinet switch
binary_sensor:
  - platform: mqtt
    name: Projector cabinet
    state_topic: "stat/projector/STATUS"
    value_template: "{{ value_json.CABINET_DOOR }}"
    payload_on: "OPEN"
    payload_off: "CLOSED"

sensor:
    # Lamp hours sensor
  - platform: mqtt
    name: Lamp hours
    state_topic: "stat/projector/STATUS"
    unit_of_measurement: 'h'
    value_template: "{{ value_json.LAMP_HOURS }}"

    # A template switch to get the cabinet open/closed instead of on/off
    # Can probably be done in a nicer way, but this works.
  - platform: template
    sensors:
      projector_cabinet:
        value_template: '{% if states.binary_sensor.projector_cabinet %}
          {% if states.binary_sensor.projector_cabinet.state == "on" %}
            Open
          {% else %}
            Closed
          {% endif %}
          {% else %}
          n/a
          {% endif %}'
        friendly_name: 'Projector cabinet'

# Automations to update the input select when the projector changes,
# and change the projector when the input changes.
- id: projector_lamp_mode_get
  alias: Set projector lamp mode selector
  trigger:
    platform: mqtt
    topic: "stat/projector/STATUS"
  action:
    service: input_select.select_option
    data_template:
      entity_id: input_select.projector_lamp_mode
      # We don't want to trigger on "UNKNOWN" (not a valid option) or when the input is already at the same value (so we don't trigger the next automatino again, and end up in a loop. Yes that happend to me)
      option: "{{ trigger.payload_json.LAMP_MODE if trigger.payload_json.LAMP_MODE != 'UNKNOWN' and trigger.payload_json.LAMP_MODE !=  states(input_select.projector_lamp_mode) else states(input_select.projector_lamp_mode) }}"

# This automation script runs when the input mode is changed.
# It publishes the value to the command MQTT topic for the projector
- id: projector_lamp_mode_set
  alias: Set projector lamp mode
  trigger:
    platform: state
    entity_id: input_select.projector_lamp_mode
  action:
    service: mqtt.publish
    data_template:
      topic: "cmnd/projector/LAMP"
      retain: true
      payload: "{{ states('input_select.projector_lamp_mode') }}"%     

Note that not everything is configured, like the volume, but it would be simple to add. I simply don't need it as everything is connected to a networked receiver. The end result in home assistant can look like this:

How to use: openHAB

This section is removed in the fork because it won't work with what I've added. You can see what was here in a previous git version of this file.