Bring Your Own Device

This guide walks you through connecting your own devices to ControlCom Connect using Node-RED or other MQTT-compatible tools. This approach is ideal when you have existing hardware or custom solutions that need to integrate with the platform.

Workflow Stage: Connect & Collect

Overview

The Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) approach allows you to connect any device capable of MQTT communication to the ControlCom Connect platform. This is useful when:

  • You have existing devices with custom firmware
  • You're using development boards like Raspberry Pi or Arduino
  • You want to integrate with existing Node-RED flows
  • You need to connect devices that don't support the Edge Server protocols

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

  1. A ControlCom Connect account - Create an organization and user login at console.controlcomtech.com
  2. Node-RED installed - Either on your local machine or an edge device (version 2.0.0 or higher recommended)
  3. Network access - Ensure your device can reach the ControlCom Connect MQTT broker

If you haven't installed Node-RED yet, follow the official Node-RED installation guide.

Creating a Device

First, you need to create a device in the ControlCom Connect platform:

  1. Go to console.controlcomtech.com
  2. Log into your organization
  3. Navigate to Administration > Devices
  4. Click [New Device]
  5. Select Generic Device
  6. Give your device a name and description
  7. Click Create

After creating your device, you'll receive:

  • Device certificates for secure MQTT communication
  • MQTT connection details (endpoint, client ID, topic)

Save these securely as you'll need them to connect Node-RED.

Setting Up Node-RED

With your device created, follow the comprehensive Node-RED integration guide:

Node-RED Integration Guide →

This guide covers:

  • Configuring the MQTT connection with TLS certificates
  • Setting up secure communication with the platform
  • Creating example flows to send data
  • Best practices for Node-RED integrations

Creating Variables

Once your device is connected, create variables on the ControlCom Connect platform to store the data sent from Node-RED. Variables define the data points you want to track, such as temperature readings, sensor values, or equipment status.

When creating variables, ensure the Topic Property Path matches the key names in your MQTT payload. For example, if your Node-RED flow sends:

{
  "dataArray": [
    { "key": "temperature", "value": 24.5 }
  ]
}

Your variable's Topic Property Path should be temperature.

Learn more about variables in the Variables documentation.

Building Dashboards

Now that data is flowing from your device to the platform, create dashboards to visualize and monitor your data in real-time.

Creating Dashboards Guide →

Dashboards allow you to:

  • Display live data from your variables
  • Create charts and gauges for trend analysis
  • Set up custom layouts for different use cases
  • Share views with team members

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