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Using the IO Pi Plus with Home Assistant on the Raspberry Pi

Adding up to 128 GPIO channels to Home Assistant on your Raspberry Pi

Created 11/11/2023 | Last Updated: 30/07/2024

This tutorial will setup the IO Pi Plus to use with Home Assistant Operation System on your Raspberry Pi.

This custom component is designed to run the IO Pi Plus and IO Pi Zero Raspberry Pi development boards from AB Electronics UK with Home Assistant Operating System to add up to 128 input and output channels to Home Assistant to act as either switches or input sensors.

The IO Pi boards use the Microchip MCP23017 IO expanders and this library is based on the Home Assistant MCP23017 integration modified to use our own IOPi Python library from abelectronics.co.uk/kb/article/23/python-library-and-demos

Note: Microchip recommends that pin 8 (GPA7) and pin 16 (GPB7) are used as outputs only. This change was made for revision D MCP23017 chips manufactured after June 2020. See the MCP23017 datasheet for more information.

This component will enable the following platforms.

  1. binary_sensor: Show pin status True or False.
  2. switch: Switch pin status True or False.

I2C Support Required

First you will need to enable I2C support in the Home Assistant Operating System, we have a tutorial to enable I2C.

Installation and Configuration

To be able to install the custom components for the IO Pi you need to be able to edit files in your configuration directory / folder.

We recommend using either the Samba add on or Studio Code Server which allows you to use Visual Code within Home Assistant.

Download the custom component from GitHub and extract to a directory on your computer.

  1. Using your tool of choice, open the directory (folder) for your HA configuration (where you find configuration.yaml).
  2. If you do not have a custom_components directory (folder) there, you need to create it.
  3. In the custom_components directory (folder) create a new folder called abelectronicsiopi.
  4. Copy all the files from the custom_components/abelectronicsiopi/ directory (folder) to the new abelectronicsiopi directory (folder).
  5. Restart Home Assistant

Using your HA configuration directory (folder) as a starting point you should now also have this:

custom_components/abelectronicsiopi/__init__.py
custom_components/abelectronicsiopi/binary_sensor.py
custom_components/abelectronicsiopi/IOPI.py
custom_components/abelectronicsiopi/manifest.json
custom_components/abelectronicsiopi/switch.py

Example configuration.yaml

binary_sensor:
  - platform: abelectronicsiopi
    i2c_address: 0x20
    scan_interval: 1
    invert_logic: false
    pull_mode: true
    pins:
      1: Pin 1 Sensor
      2: Pin 2 Sensor
      3: Pin 3 Sensor

switch:
  - platform: abelectronicsiopi
    i2c_address: 0x21
    invert_logic: false
    pins:
      1: Pin 1 Switch
      2: Pin 2 Switch
      3: Pin 3 Switch   

Usage

Binary Sensor Configuration Variables

The binary_sensor component uses the following variables to configure the sensor

Key Type Required Description
i2c_address Hex True This contains the I2C address of the MCP23017 device. The default I2C addresses on the IO Pi Plus are 0x20 and 0x21.
scan_interval Integer True This contains the scan interval in seconds between reading the device or pins in seconds.
invert_logic Boolean False This boolean value (true / false) allows you to invert the polarity of the selected pin.
pull_mode Boolean False This boolean value (true / false) enables or disables the internal 100K pull-up resistors for an individual pin.
pins Array True This contains an array of the pins of the MCP23017 device numbered 1 to 16 with the pin number followed by the custom pin name.

Editing the configuration.yaml file to add the binary sensor

Using the text editor of choice open the configuration.yaml for your HA configuration.

Add a new binary_sensor with the following code:

binary_sensor:
   - platform: abelectronicsiopi

Add the following attributes to setup the component:

i2c_address: 0x20
scan_interval: 1
invert_logic: false
pull_mode: true

Add the pins array for the component:

pins:
  1: Pin 1 Sensor
  2: Pin 2 Sensor
  3: Pin 3 Sensor
  4: Pin 4 Sensor
  5: Pin 5 Sensor
  6: Pin 6 Sensor
  7: Pin 7 Sensor
  8: Pin 8 Sensor
  9: Pin 9 Sensor
  10: Pin 10 Sensor
  11: Pin 11 Sensor
  12: Pin 12 Sensor
  13: Pin 13 Sensor
  14: Pin 14 Sensor
  15: Pin 15 Sensor
  16: Pin 16 Sensor

The completed YMAL code should look like this:

binary_sensor:
  - platform: abelectronicsiopi
    i2c_address: 0x20
    scan_interval: 1
    invert_logic: false
    pull_mode: true
    pins:
      1: Pin 1 Sensor
      2: Pin 2 Sensor
      3: Pin 3 Sensor
      4: Pin 4 Sensor
      5: Pin 5 Sensor
      6: Pin 6 Sensor
      7: Pin 7 Sensor
      8: Pin 8 Sensor
      9: Pin 9 Sensor
      10: Pin 10 Sensor
      11: Pin 11 Sensor
      12: Pin 12 Sensor
      13: Pin 13 Sensor
      14: Pin 14 Sensor
      15: Pin 15 Sensor
      16: Pin 16 Sensor

After a restart you can now add the sensor into the user interface.

Switch Configuration Variables

The switch component uses the following variables to configure the switch

Key Type Required Description
i2c_address Hex True This contains the I2C address of the MCP23017 device. The default I2C addresses on the IO Pi Plus are 0x20 and 0x21.
invert_logic Boolean True This boolean value (true / false) allows you to invert the polarity of the selected pin.
pins Array True This contains an array of the pins of the MCP23017 device numbered 1 to 16 with the pin number followed by the custom pin name.

Editing the configuration.yaml file to add the binary sensor

Using the text editor of choice open the configuration.yaml for your HA configuration.

Add a new switch with the following code:

switch:
   - platform: abelectronicsiopi

Add the following attributes to setup the component:

i2c_address: 0x21
invert_logic: false

Add the pins array for the component:

pins:
  1: Pin 1 Switch
  2: Pin 2 Switch
  3: Pin 3 Switch
  4: Pin 4 Switch
  5: Pin 5 Switch
  6: Pin 6 Switch
  7: Pin 7 Switch
  8: Pin 8 Switch
  9: Pin 9 Switch
  10: Pin 10 Switch
  11: Pin 11 Switch
  12: Pin 12 Switch
  13: Pin 13 Switch
  14: Pin 14 Switch
  15: Pin 15 Switch
  16: Pin 16 Switch

The completed YMAL code should look like this:

switch:
  - platform: abelectronicsiopi
    i2c_address: 0x21
    invert_logic: false
    pins:
      1: Pin 1 Switch
      2: Pin 2 Switch
      3: Pin 3 Switch
      4: Pin 4 Switch
      5: Pin 5 Switch
      6: Pin 6 Switch
      7: Pin 7 Switch
      8: Pin 8 Switch
      9: Pin 9 Switch
      10: Pin 10 Switch
      11: Pin 11 Switch
      12: Pin 12 Switch
      13: Pin 13 Switch
      14: Pin 14 Switch
      15: Pin 15 Switch
      16: Pin 16 Switch

You can now add the sensors into the user interface.

Demo UI Cards

type: entities
entities:
  - entity: binary_sensor.pin_1_sensor
  - entity: binary_sensor.pin_2_sensor
  - entity: binary_sensor.pin_3_sensor
  - entity: binary_sensor.pin_4_sensor
  - entity: binary_sensor.pin_5_sensor
  - entity: binary_sensor.pin_6_sensor
  - entity: binary_sensor.pin_7_sensor
  - entity: binary_sensor.pin_8_sensor
  - entity: binary_sensor.pin_9_sensor
  - entity: binary_sensor.pin_10_sensor
  - entity: binary_sensor.pin_11_sensor
  - entity: binary_sensor.pin_12_sensor
  - entity: binary_sensor.pin_13_sensor
  - entity: binary_sensor.pin_14_sensor
  - entity: binary_sensor.pin_15_sensor
  - entity: binary_sensor.pin_16_sensor
title: IO Pi Inputs 

type: entities
entities:
  - entity: switch.pin_1_switch
  - entity: switch.pin_2_switch
  - entity: switch.pin_3_switch
  - entity: switch.pin_4_switch
  - entity: switch.pin_5_switch
  - entity: switch.pin_6_switch
  - entity: switch.pin_7_switch
  - entity: switch.pin_8_switch
  - entity: switch.pin_9_switch
  - entity: switch.pin_10_switch
  - entity: switch.pin_11_switch
  - entity: switch.pin_12_switch
  - entity: switch.pin_13_switch
  - entity: switch.pin_14_switch
  - entity: switch.pin_15_switch
  - entity: switch.pin_16_switch
title: IO Pi Outputs

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