User Guide for Setting Up MQTT Sensors in Home Assistant

Overview

This guide explains how to set up MQTT sensors in Home Assistant for devices that use MQTT topics in the format /ReefRhythm/<unique_id>/pumpX, where X can range from 1 to 9 for devices with multiple pumps. Prerequisites

• Home Assistant with MQTT integration configured.
• Access to the Home Assistant configuration files.

Step 1: Configure MQTT Sensors

• Open your configuration.yaml file. This file is usually located in your Home Assistant configuration directory.
• Add the following MQTT sensor configurations:

mqtt:
  sensor:
    - name: "<sensor_name>"
      state_topic: "/ReefRhythm/<unique id>/pumpX"
      value_template: "{{ value_json.remain }}"
      unit_of_measurement: 'ml'
      icon: "mdi:cup"
      json_attributes_topic: "/ReefRhythm/<unique id>/pumpX"
      unique_id: "doser_{{ value_json.name | replace(' ', '_') | regex_replace('[^a-z0-9_]', '', ignorecase=True) | lower }}"

    - name: "<sensor_name> Free Memory"
      state_topic: "/ReefRhythm/<unique id>/free_mem"
      value_template: "{{ value_json.free_mem }}"
      unit_of_measurement: 'kB'
      icon: "mdi:memory-arrow-down"
      json_attributes_topic: "/ReefRhythm/<unique id>/free_mem"
      unique_id: "doser_{{ value_json.name | replace(' ', '_') | regex_replace('[^a-z0-9_]', '', ignorecase=True) | lower }}_free_mem"

• Replace <sensor_name> with the actual device name.
• Replace <unique_id> with the actual device ID and pumpX with the appropriate pump number.

Step 2: Create Template Sensors

• Navigate to the sensors.yaml file (make sure this file is included in your configuration.yaml via sensor: !include sensors.yaml).
• Add template sensors for attributes like dose and storage for each pump:

- platform: template
  sensors:
    <sensor_name>_pumpX_dose:
      friendly_name: "<sensor_name> PumpX Dose"
      unit_of_measurement: 'ml'
      value_template: "{{ state_attr('sensor.<sensor name>_pumpX', 'dose') }}"
    <sensor_name>_pumpX_storage:
      friendly_name: "<sensor_name> PumpX Storage"
      unit_of_measurement: 'ml'
      value_template: "{{ state_attr('sensor.<sensor name>_pumpX', 'storage') }}"

• Replace sensor_name with the actual device name.
• Replace pumpX with each pump number as needed.

Step 3: Validate and Restart Home Assistant

• Validate your configuration in Home Assistant via Developer tools > Yaml > Check Configuration.
• Restart Home Assistant to apply the changes via Developer tools > Yaml > Restart > Restart Home Assistant.

Step 4: Accessing Sensor Data

• After restarting, you can access the sensor data through the Developer Tools > States in Home Assistant.
• You can also add these sensors to your Lovelace dashboard for easy monitoring.

Notes

• Ensure that the MQTT topics correctly match the topic structure provided by your devices.
• Modify unit_of_measurement and other sensor properties according to the actual data provided by your device.

This setup allows you to maintain a structured approach to configuring multiple devices and pumps in Home Assistant, making your system scalable and easy to manage.

Configuration example

1-Head doser with unique ID /ReefRhythm/dcda0c190c18/ are dosin Limewater to aquarium.

configuration.yaml:

sensor: !include sensors.yaml

mqtt:
  sensor:
    - name: "Limewater"
      state_topic: "/ReefRhythm/dcda0c190c18/pump1"
      value_template: "{{ value_json.remain }}"
      unit_of_measurement: 'ml'
      icon: "mdi:cup"
      json_attributes_topic: "/ReefRhythm/dcda0c190c18/pump1"
      unique_id: "doser_{{ value_json.name | replace(' ', '_') | regex_replace('[^a-z0-9_]', '', ignorecase=True) | lower }}"

    - name: "Limewater Free Memory"
      state_topic: "/ReefRhythm/dcda0c190c18/free_mem"
      value_template: "{{ value_json.free_mem }}"
      unit_of_measurement: 'kB'
      icon: "mdi:memory-arrow-down"
      json_attributes_topic: "/ReefRhythm/dcda0c190c18/free_mem"
      unique_id: "doser_{{ value_json.name | replace(' ', '_') | regex_replace('[^a-z0-9_]', '', ignorecase=True) | lower }}_free_mem"

sensors.yaml:

- platform: template
  sensors:
    limewater_dose:
      friendly_name: "Limewater Dose"
      unit_of_measurement: 'ml'
      icon_template: "{{ 'mdi:water-pump' }}"
      value_template: "{{ state_attr('sensor.limewater', 'dose') }}"
      unique_id: "doser_{{ value_json.name | replace(' ', '_') | regex_replace('[^a-z0-9_]', '', ignorecase=True) | lower }}_dose"
    limewater_storage:
      friendly_name: "Limewater Storage"
      unit_of_measurement: 'ml'
      icon_template: "{{ 'mdi:cup' }}"
      value_template: "{{ state_attr('sensor.limewater', 'storage') }}"
      unique_id: "doser_{{ value_json.name | replace(' ', '_') | regex_replace('[^a-z0-9_]', '', ignorecase=True) | lower }}_storage"

Overview in Home Assistant: