Your TekOnline 8-Zone Controller V3 Pro has arrived. This guide takes you from powering up an installed board to setting your zone openings in Home Assistant. It applies to the V4 hardware revision running the percentage-control firmware with Target Open and Estimated Open entities.
Which version is this? V3 Pro is the product name; V4 is the hardware revision and the label used by its firmware. That is why the setup hotspot is called 8Zone-V4-Setup and Home Assistant shows 8 Zone Controller V4. Owners of the older V2 Standard controller should follow the V2 setup guide.
For everyday setup, you do not need to write YAML, install custom dashboard cards or flash firmware. You connect the controller to your Wi-Fi through its own setup page, then add it to Home Assistant.
Before you start
- Have the controller installed and connected to the correct power supply and compatible dampers, following the supplied wiring instructions. This guide starts with the installed controller ready to power on.
- Have a phone or laptop and your 2.4 GHz home Wi-Fi name and password ready. A combined 2.4/5 GHz network is fine if it supports 2.4 GHz connections.
- Have Home Assistant running on the same home network if you want to control zones from Home Assistant.
- Keep your controller setup details handy, including its Home Assistant encryption key. If you have not received the key, contact TekOnline before the Home Assistant step.
Need installation information first? See the 8-zone V3 product information and three-wire damper wiring guide.
1. Connect your phone to the controller
- Power on the controller and open your phone or laptop’s Wi-Fi settings.
- Join
8Zone-V4-Setup. That is the hotspot name used by the firmware covered in this guide. - Enter the setup password
tekonline. If your supplied setup details list a different password, use that one. - Your phone may say this network has no internet. Choose to stay connected: you are connecting directly to the controller for setup.
- If a setup page does not open automatically, open your browser and type
http://192.168.4.1/into the address bar. Usehttp, and make sure you are still connected to the controller hotspot.
A controller with no saved Wi-Fi details starts its setup hotspot directly. If it has saved details for a network it cannot reach, allow about one minute for the hotspot to appear.
2. Enter your home Wi-Fi details
- On the controller’s setup page, select your home Wi-Fi network or enter its name.
- Enter your home Wi-Fi password and save.
- Allow the controller to connect. The setup hotspot may disappear as it joins your home network.
- Reconnect your phone or laptop to your normal home Wi-Fi.
The setup password gets you into the controller hotspot. Your home Wi-Fi password connects the controller to your router. The controller saves the home Wi-Fi details, so you do not need to repeat this after normal power-offs.
The setup address 192.168.4.1 is for the hotspot. Once the controller joins your home network, your router gives it a home-network IP address. If you need that address later, look in your router’s connected-device list for 8zone-controller-v4 or the controller name shown in your setup details.
3. Add the controller to Home Assistant
- Open Home Assistant and go to Settings > Devices & services.
- Look for a discovered ESPHome device named 8 Zone Controller V4, or the name supplied with your controller.
- Select Add or Configure and follow the prompts.
- If asked for an encryption key, paste the Home Assistant encryption key supplied for your controller. This is different from both Wi-Fi passwords.
- Choose an area if you wish, then finish setup.
If discovery does not appear, choose Add integration > ESPHome and enter the controller’s home-network IP address. If the form asks for a port, keep the default 6053. Keep Home Assistant and the controller on the same network; an isolated guest network can prevent them from connecting.
You can add the preconfigured device through the ESPHome integration without installing ESPHome Device Builder. Device Builder is useful later if you want to customise or rebuild firmware. See the official Home Assistant ESPHome instructions for more detail.
4. Understand the two controls for each zone
For Zones 1 through 8, you will see a target control and an estimate:
| Entity | What it means |
|---|---|
| Target Open | The opening you want. Set 0% for closed, 100% for fully open, or a percentage in between. |
| Estimated Open | A read-only estimate of the opening now. It updates as the motor runs. You cannot change this reading. |
For example, set Zone 2 Target Open to 40%. After the movement finishes, Zone 2 Estimated Open should settle at about 40%. The estimate uses motor run time; it is not a physical position measurement.
5. Check travel time before relying on percentages
Each damper needs the correct time for a complete closed-to-open stroke. Use the full-stroke time specified for your actuator, or have the installer measure it. The firmware default is 10 seconds; your dampers may need a different value.
The controller has a Zone N Travel Time setting for each zone. These advanced settings are disabled by default in Home Assistant to keep the everyday controls simple. To change one, open the controller’s entity list, show disabled entities if needed, open the appropriate Travel Time entity, enable it and save. Once available, set its value in seconds. The controller saves the value across restarts.
You can also adjust travel times on the controller’s web page by opening its home-network IP address in a browser. Incorrect travel times can make the displayed estimate differ from the actual damper opening. If you are unsure which value to use, ask your installer or TekOnline.
6. Make the first opening command
Expect a full opening movement on the first command after a restart. The controller first needs a known starting point for that zone. It runs the damper fully open for the configured travel time, establishes 100%, then moves back to the percentage you requested.
For example, the first 40% command opens that zone fully and then closes it back to 40%. Later commands use the established estimate. Each zone goes through this reference process separately after a controller restart.
Unknown on Estimated Open before that first reference finishes is expected. The initial Target Open value of 0% does not mean the damper has physically closed: it has not yet been referenced. Send a target to one zone and allow it to finish before checking its result.
Zones move one at a time with this firmware because they share the direction relay. If you change several zones, their commands wait their turn. You can change a target while a zone is waiting or moving.
7. Put all eight zones on a simple dashboard
- Open the Home Assistant dashboard you want to use and choose Edit dashboard.
- Choose Add card and select an Entities card.
- Use the visual entity picker to add Zone 1 Target Open, followed by Zone 1 Estimated Open.
- Repeat those pairs for Zones 2 through 8. Search for the displayed names rather than typing entity IDs.
- Give the card a name such as Air-conditioning zones, turn off the header toggle if shown, and save.
This gives you one target control and one reading for each zone, using Home Assistant’s standard dashboard tools. The official Entities card guide explains the card options.
Using the controller without Home Assistant
Once it is on your home Wi-Fi, open the controller’s home-network IP address in a browser. Its web page provides the target controls, estimated readings and travel-time settings. Home Assistant can be connected later; it is not required to use this local web page.
If you change your router or Wi-Fi password
When the controller can no longer reach its saved network, its setup hotspot returns after about one minute. Join 8Zone-V4-Setup, open http://192.168.4.1/, and save the new Wi-Fi details. Reconnect your phone to your home Wi-Fi afterwards. If the controller receives a different home-network IP, Home Assistant may rediscover it; check the ESPHome integration if it remains unavailable.
Quick troubleshooting
- I cannot see the setup hotspot. Check that the controller is powered, move closer, and allow about one minute. If it is already connected to your home Wi-Fi, use its home-network address instead.
- The phone leaves the setup network. Choose to stay on the network without internet. If it keeps switching, temporarily turn off mobile data or automatic switching to another Wi-Fi network.
- The setup page will not open. Confirm you joined the controller hotspot and type
http://192.168.4.1/into the browser address bar. - The controller will not join home Wi-Fi. Check the password and 2.4 GHz coverage where the board is installed.
- Home Assistant asks for a key. Use the supplied ESPHome encryption key, not the hotspot or home Wi-Fi password.
- Estimated Open is Unknown. Send a target to that zone and wait for its full reference stroke and return movement.
- A zone is waiting. Another zone may be moving. Commands run one at a time.
- The percentage does not match the damper. Check its full Travel Time setting and have the installer check actuator movement and wiring.
For help, contact TekOnline with your order details, the board version, and the step where you got stuck. If you have an older V2 controller, use the V2 Wi-Fi setup guide, which has different setup details.