Hello and thanks in advance. I'm trying to clean up my system and have a few questions. I have a Hubitat C-8 and Lutron Smart Bridge Pro. I'm a fan of the Caseta system--particularly as I have older home that does not have a neutral in all locations. That said, I'm currently bridging between Apple Home and Hubitat and want to ensure I'm doing this efficently.
The Lutron bridge is already Homekit compatible, so devices that show up there automatically show up in Apple Home. I realized today that I've been using the Hubitat HomeKit integration to also push these switches into HomeKit--thus duplicating devices in Apple Home.
I'm also interacting with these devices in Hubitat. I have a range of Picos to put controls where I don't have wiring and need them. These typically don't get pushed into HomeKit via Hubitat. They don't get pushed in by the Lutron Smart Bridge either, and that's fine with me.
So, I guess my question is: Should I rely on Lutron Smart Bridge to push switches/lights/etc into Apple Home and NOT push them into Apple Home with Hubitat HomeKit Integration?
Except, where Lutron doesn't push them (picos) which are managed in Hubitat (picos not paired with a devices in Lutron) and I do want them in Apple Home?
I'm not sure what use you'd have for remotes in Apple Home except to trigger Apple Home automations or scenes that involve devices that are available there but not to Hubitat.
No. For 1 big reason. Lutron's native Home integration turns lights on at 100% always. Hubitat's Lutron drivers allow for a set value (any, not just 100%) or previous level. Homebridge v2 has always utilized Hubitat driver's settings. Hubitat's native Home integration has had some issues in the past, but is now mostly working as intended.
Just use the built in lutron integration on the hubitat side. You can still pair it to homekit as well for direct use for apple automations. Hubitat uses telnet to control Lutron and is very efficient and as @bill.d pointed out, hubitat control is more granular. I'd also say I use a lot of picos, some for lighting, but more for automations that have nothing to do with lighting.
I never noticed the problem you mention and my family never reported it. Probably because lighting here is mostly automated and Apple Home, which is my family's only "gateway" into our home's automations, is used for rare control / tweaks or just turning lights off.
For me this isn't worth putting a third hub in the path between a Lutron device and my family. I've never rebooted, updated or checked the memory on a Lutron hub. The HomePod mini we use as a HomeKit controller is slightly higher maintenance, but nothing compared to HE. When the sole HE hub running this house fails (often because I'm futzing around with stuff on it) they can still control the lights.
Not a great reason (and maybe that reason will go away with the new HomeKit Controller feature on C8P) and should be avoided if possible IMHO. Makes the link between an HE device and a Home automation implicit & easy to forget. I prefer to use virtual switches to bridge across in both directions and keep automations in one place (HE) as much as I can.
Of course, different people will evaluate these tradeoffs differently.
Everyone’s needs are unique… In my case, I have always used the built-in native HomeKit integration of each manufacturer to directly integrate systems like Lutron Caseta and Philips Hue with Apple Home. By doing so, even if Hubitat is down for some reason, the Apple Home interface still works.
The latest firmware release added a HomeKit Controller integration to the C8 Pro only that allows you to pair HomeKit devices directly to HE similar to what Home Assistant has had for several years. More information is here:
HE devices prior to the C8P and version 2.4.2 have no compatibility with HomeKit devices. However HE can act as a HomeKit bridge and bring its paired devices to an Apple Home or other HomeKit controller.
Starting with 2.4.2 and the C8P, HE can behave as the HomeKit controller and allow one to pair HomeKit devices to it.
If you are referring to this:
The suggestion was that starting with 2.4.2, if you have a C8P, then you may be able to bring your HomeKit devices directly into HE (and then, if desired, re-export them to Apple Home via its HomeKit bridge functionality, a.k.a. HomeKit Integration), allowing one to keep all automations on HE. Just to give one example, this allows local control of the Ecobee thermostat, which previously had to be integrated via their cloud platform.
Keep in mind the new HomeKit Controller feature is still in its infancy and, AFAIK, doesn't necessarily support every HomeKit device out there.
