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MQTT ​

Zora can connect to an MQTT broker on the boat's network. It reads the topics you subscribe to, and a switch widget can send its commands through the same broker. Sensors and relays that publish to a broker reach Zora this way.

You do this in the Zora Setup app. See Open the Setup app.

Open the MQTT settings ​

On the Setup app's home screen, tap Add-ons & Third-Party. On the Extensions tab, tap MQTT.

The card shows the state of the connection: disabled while the add-on is off, then connecting, connected or disconnected.

Connect to the broker ​

  1. Switch on Enabled.
  2. Enter the broker's host name or IP address in Broker.
  3. Enter its Port. Left empty, Zora uses 1883.
  4. If the broker asks for a login, fill in Username and Password.
  5. Tap Save & Update Broker. Broker settings saved confirms it.

Zora reconnects when you change the broker, the port, the username or the password. With Force Reconnect on, it reconnects on every save, even when none of those changed.

Once connected, Zora reconnects on its own if the link drops. If it cannot reach the broker, the card reads disconnected and Zora keeps trying, at longer intervals up to every five minutes, so a broker that starts after Zora is picked up on its own. If it stays disconnected, check the address and the login, and save again.

Choose the topics ​

Zora receives only the topics you subscribe to.

  1. Next to Subscribed Topics, tap +.
  2. Type a topic in Add topic and press Enter, or tap the + in the field. The MQTT wildcards work: # on its own subscribes to every topic on the broker.
  3. To take a topic off the list, tap its bin icon.
  4. Tap Save. The list is saved straight away.

To change one topic later, tap it in the list. Edit Topic opens: change it and tap Save, or tap Delete.

Check the messages ​

While the broker is connected, Live Messages shows the last ten messages from your topics, newest first. The bin icon beside the title clears the list.

Where the values go ​

Each message becomes a value in Zora's data, named after its topic: mqtt. followed by the topic with its slashes turned into dots. The topic sensors/bilge/level becomes mqtt.sensors.bilge.level. A message in JSON keeps its structure; anything else is kept as text.

Switch a device over MQTT ​

A switch widget can send its commands to the broker. In the widget's settings, set Connection Type to MQTT, then fill in MQTT ON Topic, MQTT ON Message, MQTT OFF Topic and MQTT OFF Message. The topics must be exact, without # or +.

If the broker is not connected when you tap the switch, the widget shows MQTT broker offline and the switch goes back to where it was.