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+--- Thread: UCMA/Pi for Home Assistant (/thread-5859.html)
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RE: UCMA/Pi for Home Assistant - PaulGordon - 09-24-2026
(09-24-2026, 01:40 AM)slychiu Wrote:(09-23-2026, 05:09 PM)PaulGordon Wrote: Actually... I have further questions.. - the device page specifies: "USB: 1 × USB 2.0 (maintenance use only)" - How does that square with the need to connect a Zigbee/Thread radio to the HA instance? - I currently have the (USB only) Sonoff Dongle Plus MG24... I am aware of the Sonoff Dongle MAX which can connect via ethernet/wifi, so I guess that could solve that one... But the next one isn't so simple: "Storage: Pre-programmed micro SD card (included)" I'm really wary of SD for the write-heavy load of HA's recorder database, and the subsequent wear on the SD card... - is there any way at all to utilise the PCIe hardware which does exist on the CM4 to connect (say) an NVMe SSD via the appropriate HAT??
Paul G.
Or.. how about, a free-tier cloud option like (say) Oracle Cloud's perpetually-free ARM instance running MariaDB, joined to my tailnet, to provide a shared, professionally hosted, always-on database as the target for the recorder database instead of any local storage? - anyone tried that?
Thoughts??
Paul G.
That was a mistake. USB is not just for maintenance, y into the USB you can plug the dongles into the usb port.
SD card is prone to corruptiom due to frequent writes. However our application minimised writes to the CD card - the logs are writtent to RAM, so most of the problems dsue to this should not occur. we also minitor the SD card wear and reprt ifd there is a problem. Howeverf that remiins to be proven over time
you can plug in the SSD into the USB and follow the steps
1. Plug the SSD into the free USB port (powered enclosure or low-draw NVMe/mSATA — that port is 500 mA USB 2.0).
2. Settings → System → Storage — the new disk shows up there.
3. Press Move data disk and pick it.
4. It reboots itself; config, add-ons and backups now live on the SSD.
However you need the SD crad to start
I have not tried the free cloud option to store the database. if that is a backup option, ithere should be no problem
Excellent news, thanks for the update... just to be clear, - there is just the single USB yes? - I like the USB storage option... I do already have an NVMe disk in a USB enclosure... - but will it be OK to connect via a (powered) USB2 hub? - I'd only have 2 devices - the NVMe disk, and the Sonoff radio.... hopefully a decent quality, powered hub would avoid the 0.5A capacity limit on the onboard port... and hopefully the hub wouldn't intoduce latency to the radio signals...
That being the case, this really is a no-brainer for me, and I'll be ordering TWO of them! :-)
RE: UCMA/Pi for Home Assistant - slychiu - 09-24-2026
yes, use a powered usb hub
RE: UCMA/Pi for Home Assistant - PaulGordon - 09-24-2026
Cool... my current plan is to fit this buck converter to Comfort 12V - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0H9RSRWXB/?coliid=I1R5XHIAF4U0W7&colid=3RPTEAFXZD64L&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it
then use this USB hub - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0079R5LL0/?coliid=I82PXL3ZZQ4UU&colid=3RPTEAFXZD64L&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it&th=1
And to house both components inside the Comfort enclosure & feed a USB lead through the case to the Sonoff dongle located outside the enclosure...
The NVMe drive will be connected inside the enclosure connected to one of the USB hub's 4 ports...
then everything is inside the Comfort enclosure, and protected by Comforts battery backup...
Anyone see any issues with this plan?
RE: UCMA/Pi for Home Assistant - slychiu - 09-25-2026
(09-24-2026, 05:50 PM)PaulGordon Wrote: Cool... my current plan is to fit this buck converter to Comfort 12V - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0H9RSRWXB/?coliid=I1R5XHIAF4U0W7&colid=3RPTEAFXZD64L&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it
then use this USB hub - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0079R5LL0/?coliid=I82PXL3ZZQ4UU&colid=3RPTEAFXZD64L&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it&th=1
And to house both components inside the Comfort enclosure & feed a USB lead through the case to the Sonoff dongle located outside the enclosure...
The NVMe drive will be connected inside the enclosure connected to one of the USB hub's 4 ports...
then everything is inside the Comfort enclosure, and protected by Comforts battery backup...
Anyone see any issues with this plan?
The only worry is the current drain from the comfort power supply with the extra equipment. if there is a suden dip in the vcoltage due to a current surge that may cause a problem
My suggestion; Power the hub + SSD from their own 12 V supply or a 5 V UPS/power‑bank with pass‑through for a USB‑powered setup.
RE: UCMA/Pi for Home Assistant - PaulGordon - 09-25-2026
Thanks Chiu. I'll mull on it a bit... - could it be an option to go:
Comfort 12V rail --> buck converter to 5VDC --> USB powerbank input --> USB powerbank output --> USB hub --> NVMe disk and Sonoff
Effectively adding in a small powerbank as a "smoothing capacitor" for the USB power side of things, but still all inside the main enclosure...
I'm trying to stay where everything is protected by Comforts battery backup... although I admit the concept of putting a consumer grade Li-Ion battery inside the enclosure does feel kind of wrong...
I think the actual consumption of the 2 devices is pretty low... - one thing I guess I could change - the panel already has a UCM-ETH for Comfigurator, which I could remove & use the UCMA/PI in comfigurator mode for those occasions when I need to change the config... - I'd need to look at the actual power budget, but it's not an especially heavily loaded panel... (UCM-GSM, UCM-ETH) No LEM's - what's the trade off between UCM-ETH against NVMe SSD & Sonoff radio?
NB: this specifically is for a holiday home where I anticipate very minimal changes to the config once it's setup. The requirement to flip the ETH port between MQTT & comfigurator wouldn't be an issue in that case. Also in the holiday home, the placement of the panel is inflexible as the sensor wires are inside walls, so the panel pretty much has to go in the place the original builders determined, and there's not a nice & neat option to power additional devices independently of Comfort...
For my other panel in my main home, it's in a closet with plenty of power sockets available, so I will do as you suggest & power it separately from the Comfort panel...
RE: UCMA/Pi for Home Assistant - slychiu - 09-26-2026
Also there is a 12V terminal block on all UCMs including UCMA/Pi, which can supply any additional current , and at the same time be ed up by the Comfort Battery
RE: UCMA/Pi for Home Assistant - PaulGordon - 10-08-2026
Additional question: - If I already have UCM-CBUS and UCM-Zwave installed (as I do) - Can the UCM-Zwave be used as a Z-Wave radio in HA, also, are the CBUS groups exposed as entities in HA so I can control CBUS devices from HA?
RE: UCMA/Pi for Home Assistant - slychiu - 10-08-2026
UCM/Zwave canot be used as a radio. from Home assistanmt you can execute responses that control zwave by UCM?Zwave
. The ucm/zewaved is a slave and its functions are limited
For Cbus, the group addresses are mapped to Counters (or also flags if u=you havew UCM/Cbvus2). Counters and Flags are entitires in the Comfort app so you can do 2 way control from Home assistant
RE: UCMA/Pi for Home Assistant - Majik - 11-12-2026
My SD card seems to have got corrupted and now it won't boot. When it starts up it goes into a boot loop with:
Card did not respond to voltage select! : -110
I have tried cloning the Micro SD to another one, but it doesn't work. But if I install a fresh HAOS image on the Micro SD, it boots up fine. Obviously it no longer has the Cytech modules, config, etc.
I tried restoring the config from a backup but this also failed.
Is there a way to image a fresh HAOS with Comfort (and any OS level tweaks) onto a Micro SD?
Cheers,
Keith
RE: UCMA/Pi for Home Assistant - slychiu - 11-13-2026
which UCM/Pi do you have the old alphawerks one, ore the new UCMA/PI
If the new one you can download the image from https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1tBvjjZrzY-zwBctwIOa5xHCKn9NBjdiF?usp=sharing Choose the latest image