Homebridge Plug-in

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445

My Homebridge logs show:

app:19 2019-02-27 07:55:45.223 am debug Sending DEVICE Event (testshade2 | WINDOWSHADE: partially open) to Homebridge at (192.168.1.19:8007)
app:19 2019-02-27 07:55:45.206 am debug Sending DEVICE Event (testshade2 | POSITION: 3) to Homebridge at (192.168.1.19:8007)
app:19 2019-02-27 07:55:45.072 am info  Command Successful for Device testshade2 | Command setPosition(3)
app:19 2019-02-27 07:55:44.937 am info  Process Command | DeviceId: 276 | Command: (setPosition) | Param1: (3)
app:19 2019-02-27 07:55:31.983 am info  Command Successful for Device testshade2 | Command setPosition(100)
app:19 2019-02-27 07:55:31.876 am info  Process Command | DeviceId: 276 | Command: (setPosition) | Param1: (100)
app:19 2019-02-27 07:54:57.989 am info  Command Successful for Device testshade2 | Command setPosition()
app:19 2019-02-27 07:54:57.870 am info  Process Command | DeviceId: 276 | Command: (setPosition)
app:19 2019-02-27 07:54:44.785 am debug Sending DEVICE Event (testshade2 | POSITION: 100) to Homebridge at (192.168.1.19:8007)
app:19 2019-02-27 07:54:44.781 am debug Sending DEVICE Event (testshade2 | WINDOWSHADE: open) to Homebridge at (192.168.1.19:8007)
app:19 2019-02-27 07:54:44.709 am info  Command Successful for Device testshade2 | Command setPosition(100)
app:19 2019-02-27 07:54:44.409 am info  Process Command | DeviceId: 276 | Command: (setPosition) | Param1: (100)

From the bottom up, it's me saying:

Siri set testshade2 to open (07:54:44 set)

Siri set testsade2 to closed (07:54:57 set)

Siri set testshade2 to open (07:55:31 set)

Siri set testshade2 to 3% (07:55:44 & 07:55:45 set)

The "closed" didn't work and thus the shades remained open and the 2nd Open did nothing, since it was open. Setting to 3% worked.

All of this is to MY virtual shades (hybrid) driver that mimics the device info page of the built in driver.

All but closed works. IT doesn't because setPosition() should be setPosition(0) in my opinion.

446

Agreed

447

I have noticed that the Apple Home app on my iPhone seems to have intermittent trouble connecting to my homebridge accessories when Iā€™m not on my home WiFi network. Iā€™m using an iPad thatā€™s always-on at home to allow for remote access.

Does anyone know if an iPad going to sleep affects its ability to function as the ā€œserverā€ for remote access in the Home app?

448

I wouldn't be surprised if it did. I'm also using an always-home iPad Mini for this, and I don't often use away-from-home control, but I am trying to use presence, which also requires Home "hub" (iPad or Apple TV). I had the hardest time getting this to reliably update for me, as I noted a few months ago in another thread. "Using" the hub iPad at least once or twice a day, even just unlocking it, seems to have been enough to mitigate this problem for me, or at least I don't notice it now as much as I did when it was new, and that's the only difference I can think of.

449

Actually, this is exactly why I setup homebridge, to try out the geolocation, and it has been far less reliable than what I was hoping for based on othersā€™ experiences. Iā€™ll see about keeping the iPad ā€œactiveā€ once a day to see if that makes a noticeable difference. Thanks!

450

Yes, it does. It needs to be plugged in to be an "always on" hub. Best fix is just get a Gen 3 or newer AppleTV, they are "always on" as a hub.

451

Thanks, I have tried to keep the iPad plugged in since I started using it for this purpose. It has been unplugged a few times though, so that could be a factor.

I still think itā€™s possible that even when plugged in, if the iPad is locked for an extended period, that might be problematic too, especially given what @bertabcd1234 mentioned.

Anyone have an opinion on setting the iPad to never auto-lock and just leaving the screen brightness set to its lowest setting all the time? :grin:

452

I used to do similar things with an old iPod Touch for a jailbreak tool to enable an iMessage web server.
It worked fine but it could run down the display life expectancy.
Obviously all local security is out the window, but if you've got nothing to hide then you're fine.

Apple TV is a great product, you should try it out! :wink:

453

Tempting, but with a Fire TV already connected to each TV, I would have some major ā€˜splaining to do when the boss wife catches wind of that plan...

1 Like
454

Respectfully disagree. Security and personal privacy are two entirely different things.

455

Not if you're dating a Russian sleeper agent?

Trust no one!

But seriously, none of my devices used to be locked.
Now they all are, not out of domestic privacy concerns, just because leaving things unlocked only while at home is tough to do on iOS.
Android had that feature built in I remember.

456

Right. You lock your phone for privacy reasons, to secure your personal assets and reputation. At home you would not lock your phone, because you are not guarding your secrecy.

I see this all the time with clients. They confuse the two and end up not protecting either.

Me: "That's not a strong enough password"
Client: "It's just my air miles account. I've nothing to hide there"
Me: "It's the same password you used for your bank account!"

1 Like
457

Just tell her you are swapping it out for a superior product. :slight_smile:

458

Who says it has to be attached to a TV? :smiley:

Just treat it like a Lutron SmartBridge PRO. (Just a bridge.) :smiley:

Our C-4 Hubitat Hubs have an HDMI port too.. not attached to anything.

459

Tried that once. She said she would swap me out for a superior product :hushed:.

4 Likes
460

She can still watch all of her Amazon stuff on an AppleTV. With a better interface.

1 Like
461

OK, this might be a stupid question but I am new to this....I am trying to understand how to utilize presence sensors used by Homekit? I have been reading a lot and I am confused as to whether Homekit has to be setup with Homebridge or Home Assistant? Or both? Or is it one or the other? If so, which is the better one to use? Also, what is the general layout? HE to Homebridge/Home Assistant to Homekit?

462

Unless you are already using Home Assistant, there is no reason to bring that into the mix--all you need is HomeBridge (a node.js app you can run on any computer; I'm using a Raspberry Pi) and the HomeBridge app on Hubitat. You'll also need a Home "hub" (Apple TV or iPad), but that's more of an Apple HomeKit thing than a HomeBridge issue, since without it, you won't be able to get presence to work--just because it's a HomeKit automation and those need a hub to work.

As for how to actually make it work, I'm using the Virtual Presence with Switch driver by @ogiewon. This lets you create a Presence device in Hubitat that also implements the Switch capability. You can have HomeKit turn the switch off when you leave and on when you arrive; the driver takes care of setting the presence sensor to home or away based on that. (There is more than one way to do this, but this works well for me.)

I had some problems originally with presence detection not working reliably for me on my phone with HomeKit, but making sure my hub (an iPad; an AppleTV would probably work better) wasn't asleep for too long--and obviously never out of battery--seems to have helped. If the Hubitat iOS app ever gets released and has presence built-in as suggested (and doesn't eat battery), I'll probably switch to that instead. (For a while, I didn't even do presence at all and just relied on motion sensors to guess when no one was home. I still do that for quite a lot but am slowly coming up with ideas for how to use actual presence in automations.)

463

OK, so I just need Homebridge. I have an Apple TV coming. I am going to install Homebridge on my Unraid server in a docker. I just wasn't sure if they were the same type of platform or if I needed both of them. And I am guessing that I would need the Homebridge Plug-in(app) in HE to tie HE to Homekit, correct?

464

Yes. You need to Import the Homebridge App [Homebridge (Hubitat)] and then configure it.

"nodejs" appears all over this forum...
Google Home Assistant Relay
NodeRed and Grafana
HousePanel

Once you have a functioning nodejs server running, Homebridge can have some friends over. I'm not sure a Docker nodejs will be as adaptable since Dockers are not intended to be altered.

Also, get in the habit of backing up the subdirectories in your Homebridge installation.