NIBE F1145 GSHP Migration from NIBE Uplink to myUplink Platform

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Historically, NIBE’s F-series of heat pumps (like my F1145 GSHP) used the “NIBE Uplink” Cloud-hosted monitoring platform and the newer S-series heat pumps used the newer “myUplink” instead. The S-series models have more capable control system hardware and touch-screen displays and benefit from some of the more advanced features of the myUplink platform. The network protocols used to link the heat pump to the Cloud platform are also different – rather more ‘dynamic’ so setting changes made via the myUplink app take effect more quickly. Another important change is that firmware updates are downloaded automatically and only need confirmation from the control panel, rather than having to be installed via a slightly temperamental procedure using a USB drive.

About a year ago, NIBE decided to retire NIBE Uplink and move the F-series units across to the myUplink platform and they’ve been gradually making firmware updates available which, when installed, point an F-series heat pump at myUplink instead of NIBE Uplink. They started with the more common models such as the standalone SMO 20 controller (used with various F-series ASHP models) and have been working their way through their model range. The SMO 20 update was made available in late 2023 whereas the firmware update for my F1145 only became available in mid 2024.

I had been running Version 9478(R1) of the F1145 firmware, dated 2021-07-09 (the latest available until mid 2024) and I upgraded to Version 9699(R5), dated 2024-07-03. The update was applied without any issues and after logging into the myUplink platform using my NIBE Uplink login credentials, my heat pump appeared in the myUplink dashboard. My installer’s account, which was granted the ‘Manager’ role for my system. migrated too – maintaining their access.

Observations on NIBE Uplink Network Communications

Roughly every 30 seconds, the unit issued a DNS ‘A’ record query for control.nibeuplink.com which resolves to a CNAME record pointing at an azure.com address. It then proceeded to connect to that address using the HTTPS protocol and exchange about 11 packets of data before closing the HTTPS connection. Periodically there were NTPv4 queries to ntp.nibeuplink.com which maps to CNAME time.google.com (although I have been substituting the address of a local NTP server instead).

Observations on myUplink Network Communications

Looking at the network communications following the migration, there are many more server addresses in play; ones I spotted include:

  • iotstatic.myuplink.com
  • api.myuplink.com
  • internalapi.myuplink.com
  • auth-emmy.myuplink.com
  • ipv4.myuplink.com
  • ntp.myuplink.com

It looks like the main data flow is now on TCP port 8883, which implies MQTT-over-TLS, on a persistent TCP connection. By default there seem to be updates every minute and, interestingly, whenever the myUplink smartphone App is accessed there’s a lot more activity that gets triggered.

ntp.myuplink.com is mapped to a CNAME of se.pool.ntp.org – i.e. one of the servers in the public NTP pool for Sweden.

Implications for Heat Pump Monitoring

I had been calling the NIBE Uplink API every 2 minutes from an automated script, to retrieve operational parameter values such as temperatures and circulation pump speeds, and storing those in a local database for display using the Grafana graphing dashboard. Some of these parameters were also being uploaded (via a separate automated script) to emoncms.org for display on the heatpumpmonitor.org dashboard.

While there is also a good API for myUplink, it’s structured differently – actually a bit ‘better’ in that fewer API calls are required to retrieve more parameter data. I now need to update the scripts so as to reinstate the data download to my local database. Since the API is looking more efficient I’m minded to increase the frequency to every minute.

Preparing for ‘Phase 2’

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The original planning application covered two elements: the construction of the new house and the reconstruction of the original farm outbuildings (barn, stable and cow-shed), arranged around a courtyard. Budget constraints meant it was initially only possible to build the house, but now there’s (expected to be) sufficient funding available for the Outbuildings too.

Page 14 of Project Visuals document approved by Planning in 2013, showing the Outbuildings around a courtyard (part of the house on the left; next door’s steel barn on the right)

From a Planning approval standpoint there’s no issue with starting construction in 2024/25 against planning permission granted in 2013: because there was a single planning application covering both elements, and since construction was ‘started’, planning consent to complete the scope of the original approval remains in perpetuity. Building Control approval isn’t quite the same: while the whole project was covered by a single “Initial Notice” submitted in 2014, since no element of the Outbuildings was started at that time, the new work needs to comply with the latest Building Regulations.

The new buildings will be on the same footprint as, and with the same appearance as, the original outbuildings – but they’ll be used differently from how they were historically:

  • The original Stable and Hay-Loft will be re-purposed as unheated Storage space
  • The original Barn will be re-purposed as unheated Garage space, with garage doors added to the north-facing elevation
  • The original Cow-shed will be re-purposed as a heated hobby Workshop
  • The remaining building will become a heated Utility room, incorporating a shower room

Since a great deal of preparatory work was undertaken as part of the original design phase it makes sense to continue with the same design team – although some of the personnel are different following a change in the ownership of JSA Architects.

Current status is as follows:

  • Material choices for the Bricks and Roof Tiles have been confirmed, in line with the old photos on the Photos – Historical pages
  • Suppliers for external doors and windows, not identified previously, have been provisionally selected
  • The heating and ventilation solutions have been amended
  • The insulation standards for the heated half of the buildings have been upgraded
  • The earlier detailed Drawings have been tweaked in line with the above
  • The Specification document that accompanies the Drawings has been updated

Following a review of the Drawings and Specification document (scheduled for the week commending 12th August) the intention is to put the project out to Tender within the next few weeks.

There will be a bit more activity on this site as further preparations for the build phase are made then the plan is to resume daily updates once the construction of ‘Phase 2’ commences.