Skip to main content

OpenEPaperLink smart home integration, free and open source

OpenEPaperLink integration for Gladys Assistant

OpenEPaperLink e-paper tags: battery, temperature, last contact, and texts shown from scenes.

View on GitHubAll integrations

Brings the e-paper tags of an OpenEPaperLink access point into Gladys, through the local API of the access point (HTTP and websocket, no cloud), and shows texts on them from your scenes.

Never tested with a real device. This integration was written from the Home Assistant integration of the project and the firmware source of the access point, and tested against a simulated access point only. Unofficial, not affiliated with the OpenEPaperLink project.

What you get​

  • The access point: reachable or not, the state of its radio, the number of tags with a low battery and of tags overdue (as the access point counts them).
  • One device per tag (keyed by its MAC address): battery level (estimated from the voltage: 2.2 V is 0 %, 2.6 V and above 100 %), the temperature of the tag chip, "reachable" (the tag checked in on time) and its last contact (UTC). A tag served by another access point has no battery value.
  • Scene action "Show a text on an e-paper tag": pick the tag, type the text (scene variables work), and optionally the colour, the background, the size and the alignment. Read only devices: nothing else can be commanded.

Setup​

  1. Your OpenEPaperLink access point runs and its web page opens in a browser (for example http://192.168.1.30). Give it a fixed address in your router if you can.
  2. In Gladys, open this integration and type that address (no https://: the access point speaks plain HTTP). It has no password.
  3. Save. The access point and its tags appear in the Discovery tab: create the ones you want.

Showing a text​

  • Up to 280 characters; line breaks are kept. The text is drawn as large as it fits on the display (or small, medium, large), centred or left aligned.
  • The font draws the ASCII characters and the French accents of lower case letters (é, è, à, ç…); an accented capital is drawn without its accent, and any other character (an emoji…) shows as "?".
  • Red and yellow only on displays that have them (the action says so otherwise).
  • The access point stores the image; the tag shows it at its next check-in (often within a minute, longer for a tag that sleeps more). The output "Taken by the access point" is true when the access point accepted it.

Never a burst​

  • One upload at a time, at least 2 seconds apart, and at least 15 seconds apart for the same tag.
  • A newer text for a tag replaces the one still waiting for it (the older one ends with "replaced").
  • At most 10 texts wait; a text that could not leave within the 25 seconds of the action is dropped, never sent late.
  • "Busy" (409) from the access point: the next uploads wait what it asked (5 seconds to 5 minutes). 429 or 5xx: everything pauses (1 minute to 6 hours), across restarts too.
  • If the access point does not answer an upload in time, the action says "sent, without confirmation": the tag may still show the text.

How it reads​

  • The tag list (/get_db) when connecting, at most every 15 minutes; then the websocket (/ws) brings every tag check-in and the state of the access point as they happen.
  • A dropped connection is tried again after 10 s, 30 s, 1, 2, then 5 minutes; never two attempts closer than 10 seconds, even when the container restarts. "Reconnect" right after an attempt does nothing more.
  • Values go to Gladys in groups, at most 240 per minute; an unchanged value is not sent again (battery and temperature are, every 30 minutes, for the history).

Questions for testers​

If you own an access point, please tell us (forum, or an issue on GitHub): does the tag show the text with the right size and colours? How long until it shows? Do the battery level and the temperature match the web page of the access point?

Data and privacy​

Nothing leaves your network. The integration keeps in its /data volume only the tag list (MAC, name, type), the end of a pause and the time of the last connection attempt.

Configuration settings​

These are the settings OpenEPaperLink asks for in its configuration screen in Gladys.

SettingTypeRequiredDescription
Your OpenEPaperLink access pointsectionNoBrings the e-paper tags of an OpenEPaperLink access point into Gladys, through the local API of the access point (no cloud): for each tag its battery, its temperature, whether it checks in on time and its last contact, and the state of the access point. A scene action shows a text on a tag (drawn by the integration, sent to the access point, displayed by the tag at its next check-in). The access point has no password. Never tested with a real device. Unofficial, not affiliated with the OpenEPaperLink project.
Address of the access pointstringYesIts IP address or host name on your network, the one you open its web page with. A port may follow (192.168.1.30:8080). Plain HTTP: no https://.
Language of the namesselectNoUsed for the names of the features added from now on, and for the radio state of the access point.
  1. In Gladys, open Integrations: OpenEPaperLink appears in the catalog, next to the native integrations, with a community badge.
  2. Click Install. Gladys pulls the Docker image (ghcr.io/lm1lc3n7/gladys-openepaperlink:0.1.1), starts it in a sandbox isolated from the core, and generates the integration's interface (devices, discovery and configuration).
  3. Open the Configuration screen of the integration, fill in the settings, and save.
  4. You can also install it directly from its repository URL: https://github.com/LM1LC3N7/gladys-openepaperlink.

OpenEPaperLink requires Gladys >=5.1.0. The catalog inside Gladys refreshes every hour, so a new version becomes available at most one hour after its release.

Not running Gladys yet? It is free and open source: follow the installation guide to get started.

About external integrations​

OpenEPaperLink is an external integration: a community integration packaged as a Docker container and published on GitHub, that Gladys installs in one click and runs in a sandbox isolated from its core. It is published and maintained by LM1LC3N7, not by the Gladys core team.

Subscribe to the Gladys Assistant newsletter

A few emails per month about new releases and project news. Sent by Pierre-Gilles Leymarie, founder of the project. Unsubscribe anytime 🙂
Last updated on