Motion Controlled Water Fountain for a Cat

How it works

When PIR sensor detects movement it sends message to Radio Dongle plugged to the Raspberry Pi which sends the message to the MQTT server. On the other side MQTT message is processed by the Home Assistant which then using the automation triggers smart plug and starts configured countdown.

Radio Dongle

In my deployment, I wanted to reuse old Raspberry Pi 1 Model B Rev 2 for the BigClown Radio Dongle, which was quite challenging as the standard installation was not supported on this particular old version of Pi. So plan B was needed - manally install only what is needed.

# Install Python
apt install python3 python3-pip python3-setuptools
pip3 install --upgrade pip 
  
# Install BigClown tooling
pip3 install --upgrade bcf bcg bch

When we have needed tools ready, let's create udev rule for the dongle:

echo 'SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ACTION=="add", KERNEL=="ttyUSB*", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0403", ATTRS{idProduct}=="6015", ATTRS{serial}=="bc-usb-dongle*", SYMLINK+="bcUD%n", TAG+="systemd", ENV{SYSTEMD_ALIAS}="/dev/bcUD%n"' | sudo tee --append /etc/udev/rules.d/58-bigclown-usb-dongle.rules

After the RPi restart Radio Dongle should be properly detected now:

# ls /dev/bc*/dev/bcUD0

Now we can start gateway and start submitting the MQTT messages to the broker:

/usr/local/bin/bcg --device /dev/bcUD0 --mqtt-host 10.10.10.10

Motion Detector

My Motion Detector kit came with the default firmware already loaded and by default, the module sends updates every time the motion is detected, but not more often than 1 minute. Which is fine for my intended use, but if you would like to adjust the threshold, default firmware is available on Github at repository https://github.com/bigclownlabs/bcf-radio-motion-detector and in file app/application.c value of PIR_PUB_MIN_INTEVAL needs to be adjusted accordingly. Firmware flashing process if thoroughly described in the documentation.

Smart Plug

I've chosen the tp-link HS110 as it can be remotely controlled via Home Assistant without any cloud account needed but anything can be used to control the power. Other option would be to use BigClown's Relay Module (https://shop.bigclown.com/relay-module/) and directly control the power of the water fountain, but I prefer the separate power control so I can move PIR sensor in the room freely, typically in the corridor, so the water would start flowing before the cat gets near the fountain :-)

Home Assistant

This is the excerpt of the configuration to support this scenario:

~/.homeassistant/configuration.yaml

mqtt:
 broker: 10.10.10.10
 port: 1883
switch:
 - platform: tplink
   host: 10.10.10.11
   name: "Water Fountain"
sensor:
 - platform: mqtt
   state_topic: 'node/kit-motion-detector:0/pir/-/event-count'
   name: 'Counter'
   icon: mdi:smoke-detector
 - platform: mqtt
   state_topic: 'node/kit-motion-detector:0/battery/-/voltage'
   name: 'Voltage'
   unit_of_measurement: 'V'
input_number:
 slider_water_fountain:
   name: Timeout after PIR
   initial: 15
   min: 1
   max: 60
   step: 5
   unit_of_measurement: min
automation:
 - alias: Start Water Fountain by PIR
   trigger:
     platform: state
     entity_id: sensor.counter
   action:
     service: switch.turn_on
     entity_id: switch.water_fountain
 - alias: Vypnutí fontány po pohybu
   trigger:
     platform: state
     entity_id: sensor.counter
   condition:
     condition: and
     conditions:
       - condition: state
         entity_id: switch.water_fountain
         state: 'off'
   action:
     service: homeassistant.turn_on
     entity_id: script.timed_water_fountain
script:
 timed_water_fountain:
   alias: "Set water fountain timer"
   sequence:
     # Cancel ev. old timers
     - service: script.turn_off
       data:
          entity_id: script.timer_off_water_fountain
     # Set new timer
     - service: script.turn_on
       data:
         entity_id: script.timer_off_water_fountain
 timer_off_water_fountain:
   alias: "Turn off water fountain"
   sequence:
     - delay: '00:{{ states.input_number.slider_water_fountain.state | int }}:00'
     - service: homeassistant.turn_off
       entity_id: switch.water_fountain
group:
 bcpir:
   name: 'PIR Sensor'
   icon: mdi:smoke-detector
   entities:
     - sensor.voltage
     - sensor.counter
 fountain:
   name: 'Water fountain'
   entities:
     - switch.water_fountain
     - input_number.slider_water_fountain
     - automation.start_water_fountain_by_pir

MQTT output

If everything works, in MQTT you should soon see events sent by the BigClown Gateway from the Motion Detector like this:

# mosquitto_sub -h 10.10.10.10 -t "node/#" -v
node/kit-motion-detector:0/pir/-/event-count 28250
node/kit-motion-detector:0/pir/-/event-count 28253
node/kit-motion-detector:0/pir/-/event-count 28264
node/kit-motion-detector:0/pir/-/event-count 28279
node/kit-motion-detector:0/pir/-/event-count 28282
node/kit-motion-detector:0/pir/-/event-count 28311
node/kit-motion-detector:0/battery/-/voltage 2.91
node/kit-motion-detector:0/pir/-/event-count 28318

Home Assistant

This is how it looks in my Home Assistant instance, everything is controlled from one tab.