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Napoleon eFIRE Integration

GitHub Release GitHub Activity License

hacs Project Maintenance

Integrate your Napoleon eFIRE Bluetooth controlled fireplace into Home Assisstant. Works best with an ESPHome Bluetooth Proxy.

This integration will set up the following platforms:

Platform Description
fan Controls the optional 6-speed blower fan.
light Controls the flame height (modeled as brightness percentage steps of 16.7 % per flame height step) and the optional light kit. The optional LED controller is not yet implemented.
switch Controls the main power as well as auxillary power, continuous pilot and split flow settings.

Implemented features and controls

  1. AUX relay (Switch entity, optional)

    A high voltage relay on the IFC, fed from the IFCs line voltage, that can be used to switch on and off small electric loads. Consult the IFC manual for specifics.

  2. Blower (Fan entity, optional)

    Blower fan that distributes the hot air from the fireplace in the room. The IFC supports 6 speeds for this fan.

  3. Continuous Pilot (Switch entity)

    When switched to the on position the fireplace operates the pilot light in continuous pilot mode (CPI). By default the pilot light operates in intermittent pilot mode (IPI) and is electrically ignited shortly before the main burner is to be ignited.

    Generally, the fireplace should remain in IPI mode unless the benefits of CPI mode (e.g. quicker ignition especially in extreme cold conditions, less condensation on glass, operation during power outages when backup batteries are depleted) outweigh the additional cost and negative air quality effects from constantly burning a small amount of fuel.

  4. Flame (Light entity)

    Allows turning on and off the flame as well as setting the flame height on a scale from 1 to 6, mapped to brightness values in percentage steps of 16.7% (100% / 6).

  5. Night light (Light entity, optional)

    Some fireplaces come with a lamp installed at the top of the firebox. The IFC supports 6 dimming levels for this light.

  6. Split Flow (Switch entity, optional)

    Control for an optional valve that can direct the flow of fuel towards additional burner positions. For example, some fireplaces have a front and a back burner. Enabling this control will enable both burners.

Limitations

This integration has the following limitations. Many of them are a limitation of the Napoleon Bluetooth controller or the ProFlame 2 IFC (Integrated Fireplace Controller) which this integration cannot influence.

  1. The RF remote overrides Bluetooth control (IFC limitation)

    The RF remote will always override the Bluetooth controller. If the remote is used then the controller will no longer be able to send commands to the IFC nor read the current state of the fireplace from the IFC. This also means you cannot turn off a fireplace that was turned on via the RF remote. While the Napoleon eFIRE app has a lock screen implemented that is supposed to engage when the remote is controlling the fireplace this does not work on my own controller (the command hangs indefinitely). Therefor this is currently not implemented here either.

    Ideally, Home Assistant is the only thing controlling the fireplace.

  2. The Bluetooth controller is disabled when the switch on the RF receiver/battery backup inside the fireplace is in the "Off" position. (IFC limitation)

    To disable your RF remote the best thing is to just remove the batteries.

  3. Turning on the fireplace via a direct flame height setting will always cause the fireplace to turn on at the highest flame height first and then reducing the flame height. The same is true for the blower and its speed settings. (Bluetooth controller limitation)

  4. Using this integration will block the eFIRE app from connecting to the fireplace.

    Right now this integration maintains a permanent connection to the Bluetooth controller. And as long as a device is connected to the Bluetooth controller it is not discoverable by the eFIRE app.

    This is a limitation that can technically be worked around by only connecting when fetching the current state of the fireplace (currently every 30s). But it would still lead to situations where Home Assistant and the eFIRE app will conflict with each other.

    Unfortunately the controller does not send updates as BLE advertisements.

Installation

Installation through HACS

  1. Go to HACS in your Home Assistant instance.
  2. Click on Integrations.
  3. Search for the Napoleon eFIRE integration.
  4. Install the integration from the HACS interface.

Manual Installation

  1. Using the 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 napoleon_efire.
  4. Download all the files from the custom_components/napoleon_efire/ directory (folder) in this repository.
  5. Place the files you downloaded in the new directory (folder) you created.
  6. Restart Home Assistant
  7. In the HA UI see if your fireplace was automatically detected or go to "Configuration" -> "Integrations" click "+" and search for "Napoleon eFIRE"

Configuration is done in the UI

When setting up a fireplace for the first time you can select the features of your fireplace you want to control as not all fireplaces come equipped with all features.

Contributions are welcome!

If you want to contribute to this please read the Contribution guidelines