Feature Request: Native MQTT Support for Raspberry Pi Relay Boards

[MasonD_Chef]

Hi Sequent Microsystems team,

First of all, thanks for making such reliable and well-documented Raspberry Pi relay boards! I’ve been using the 8-Relay board in a home automation project to control lighting and fans remotely.

One thing I’d love to see is native MQTT support built into your software or firmware. Many home automation platforms like Home Assistant and OpenHAB rely heavily on MQTT for device communication. Having built-in support would make integration a lot smoother without the need for custom scripting or wrappers.

Are there any plans to add this in a future firmware update? If not, I’d be happy to help test or even contribute to the feature if you're open to collaboration.


Thanks again for the great work!
MasonD

 

[alexburcea]

Hi,

Thank you for your appreciation.
Since is a separate protocol layer and is integrated in the Home Assistant we never thot to integrate it in our drivers (in the firmware is impossible). Just to avoid some scripting, I think it is too much to develop, but we will consider it. Thank you for the suggestion.

Alex.

 

[YAMLcase]

This is one of my goals: to get Sequent HAT sensor data into my MQTT tree, but wouldn't expect the HATs to do this since MQTT relies on the network stack. My first stab at this will probably be to find an MQTT gateway for i2c or an RS485-based protocol support by Sequent. Would canbus or modbus be a good choice @alexburcea? I just received my 8 relay and building automation HATs so I'm still in the learning process on what can be done.

 

[alexburcea]

Hi,

The fastest choice is to use a Raspberry Pi as an MQTT gateway, using WiFi or Ethernet as a communication link. The second choice, if you need a cheaper solution, is to use an Arduino MQTT-capable device that communicates I2C or Modbus with our cards. We have Arduino libraries for almost all our cards.