Sounds like "MakerAPI" gets the most votes. @aaiyar helpfully posted a link to a guide. I'll see if I can get that working. Would anyone familiar with MakerAPI and the steps required - who might be willing to assist me - please DM me?
Thanks for the support here, everyone!
Can I urge you to directly add to the main thread started by @dan.t for his MakerAPI-HomeBridge integration? Questions/problems and their answers/solutions add to the richness of this community, and will likely make someone else's installation a wee bit easier down the road!
I'll be here on & off during the day, and promise to pitch in whenever I can.
I'm doing the same; using Config-ui-x as my interface to HomeBridge in Windows. I was using @dan.t 's MakerAPI version in HE but changed to @tonesto7 's Homebridge V2 when he released it and haven't had any issues. I did break down and buy an Apple TV to replace my iPad as the Apple Home Hub and this is definitely the way to go since the Apple TV is always plugged in (unlike my iPad that would get unplugged and then die) and I have an ethernet connection to it.
Not to derail this too much, but...I've been trying to use an iPad as my Home Hub, but when I'm away from home, my phone often complains that devices are not responding. If I try again in a few seconds, it usually works, though sometimes I have to try once or twice more. My guess is that the iPad is "sleeping." It seems a little better, but still not perfect, if I leave the iPad plugged in/charging. Is this one of the problems you've noticed that the Apple TV solved? I've been thinking about replacing my Home Hub with ether an Apple TV (I don't really need one, but at least I'd get some use out of it...) or a HomePod Mini (also don't need it, but it's cheap and I guess Siri is part of the reason I'm doing HomeBridge, anyway). Just wondering if people find these to work better.
I suppose it could also be something with my setup. However, I've re-done it so many times (running alone on an Rasberry Pi, running along side various other things in a server I had set up for other purposes, and now as a TrueNAS jail/plug-in; using HubConnect, MakerAPI, and tonesto7 HomeBridge 2.0 now) that I'd find that hard to believe. But still open to anything that might get me closer to 100% response.
HomePod Mini works well as a hub - I got one for testing. Don't really use it for audio for the most part.
I've had my Pi 3b running for over a year with only 2 freezes ever. Both were remedied by a quick reboot. It's been otherwise rock-solid stable as stable as my Hubitat C-5, and pretty hands-off. I'm no developer.
Two things that can drastically help with stability:
I'm using this Hubitat integration New Homebridge Plug-in via MakerAPI from @dan.t and it's been great.
If I was starting from scratch, I might check out this one out [RELEASE] Homebridge Hubitat v2.0 from @tonesto7 just to see what the pros and cons are vs the other one above (that @aaiyar also posted) even though I'm really happy with what I've got, so I have no reason to change.
I'm running @tonesto7's implementation and it works well (kudos!!!). Am a little leery about HE websocket communications in general but have no issues to report and it works fast.
This is an extremely common issue with HomeKit users that attempt to use an iPad as the sole HomeKit hub. The solution is you need a HomeKit hub that is 'always on' like the Apple TV or HomePods. You will have a considerably better HomeKit experience by moving to one of those and use the iPad to simply look at the Home app, not participate as a hub.
Thanks for confirming my suspicions! I have a HomePod Mini on the way, so we'll see how it stacks up. (I rarely have a desire to look at a dashboard, so I'll probably sell the iPad on the secondary market where I bought it from in the first place. An Apple TV was the only other "hub" option when I started down this path...I think. Or maybe the original "full" Home Pod price just made me withdraw it from serious consideration, haha.)
The Apple TV, HomePod Mini, and original full size HomePod all act as dedicated always on HomeKit hubs. You will be perfectly happy with the HomePod Mini. I have seven of them in my house (along with four Apple TV 4K) and they all act as hubs with zero issues. Apple automatically maintains one hub as 'connected' while the others are in 'standby'. You will see which one is connected fluctuate from day to day which is perfectly normal.
Yes. I had forgotten how annoying that was. It happened with Homebridge-Hubconnect and Homebridge-MakerAPI as well. I've had the Apple TV as the Home Hub since Christmas and that hasn't happened since. It used to go unresponsive quite a bit when away and that was with the iPad plugged in. I also wanted to avoid any possible WI-FI latency issues (4 kids and 50 devices attached), so I hooked it up to a 5 port switch on the shelf next to the TV. Another plus is that my wife really likes the Apple TV and hasn't wanted to switch back to the Fire TV.
Also, I have AT&T fiber and have the AT&T gateway sending my Velop AX it's WAN IP and have it setup as a cascaded router. I know the two router setup can cause issues, but I've bypassed it as much as is possible.
Yes, I had similar issues with an iPad as home hub while on battery. Leaving it plugged in all the time helped, but wasnāt super practical since we do use the iPad for other things.
Iāve since tried both an Apple TV and a home pod mini, and found both to work very well.
+1 on the HomePod Mini... also works nicely as another doorbell chime with HB ring integration..
Guys, not sure I am in the right topic, but:
I have installed HomeBridge, linked it to Hubitat by installing tonesto7' Homebridge v2 plugin, got my devices to show up in homekit on my iphone, lights turn on and off and dim from there, no problem. But then it has a hard time with shades, I have a Zemismart Zigbee 3.0 motor, and another shade controlled by an aeotec nano shutter module. Both work very well in HE, but from homebridge or homekit, the do not close or open completely, or close by ignoring the upper limit (you can imagine the damage this could have done). Anyone had similar issues, and anyone has had more luck with other roller shade devices from HE to Homekit ?
Thanks,
Amine.
Probably best to post in @tonesto7 's Homebridge Plugin topic, to make sure other users, as well as the developer, see you question.
I'll get rocks thrown at me for this, but here goes. How does one get something from Maker API if it is a thing, and how does one install it?
I, too. am interested in moving to HomePod Minis for voice control.
See the link to the thread in the post above yours.
That integration doesnāt actually use Maker API, it uses a Hubitat app written by a community dev. But itās a great integration with Homebridge and the one that I use.
The alternative for integrating Hubitat with Homebridge is indeed based on using Maker API. More details in this thread:
Both integrations depend on another always-on PC to run Homebridge.
Further defining "always-on PC", Homebridge can run on a NAS or Raspberry Pi too. I have it running in a Docker Container on my NAS for example.
Agreed, PC probably isn't the most accurate term I could've used.
Basically anything that can run Linux, Windows or MacOS that's running 24/7.
Homebridge Github repo is a good source of info re: supported configurations.
Just today, I did a lot of video watching at YouTube, and have decided to plunge right in using a Raspberry Pi 4 I have sitting here doing nothing, so, I will have that always-on PC available.
If I don't end up causing explosions and fires, I likely will be back with more questions. My main desire is using HK for dashboards and to get rid of the Alexa issue with "her" responding when I don't want, among other things.
Fingers crossed.
Download the Hubitat app
