New Homebridge Plug-in via MakerAPI

erktrek · February 12, 2021, 10:01pm

Oh very cool! Hope it works out!! Was kinda bummed that his HE experience wasn't all that good. It happens I guess. The 4 systems I have set up are working well.. no callbacks so far

shawnx1 · February 14, 2021, 9:31pm

This app with an apple watch is crazy convenient or is it the other way around Switched from Android phones to apple this app was the icing on the cake works really well. where's that donate link

rakeshg · February 21, 2021, 1:48pm

Can anyone confirm if this plug-in is compatible with v1.3.0 of Homebridge? It was not in the testing status list so wanted to check before I upgraded

erktrek · February 21, 2021, 2:42pm

I can't say for sure as I use the other HE plugin (and it works) but the upgrade notes indicate non-breaking changes so you would probably be okay. Also is very easy to revert back if necessary. Ymmv though!!!!!

rakeshg · February 21, 2021, 2:49pm

I'm running that in my test instance - may be it's time to switch. I would hate to redo the layout in my Home app though

erktrek · February 21, 2021, 2:52pm

You don't have to change anything in Home just by virtue of upgrading HB right? I have not set any child instances yet and all my devices (Ring/Arlo/HE) are showing up.

edit1: I have not done anything fancy, just have devices on the "My Home" page right now.

edit2: I do anticipate making adjustments as I incorporate child instances though.. but I should be able to do that bit by bit..

rakeshg · February 21, 2021, 3:25pm

I meant if I change to the @tonesto7 app and plug-in instead of the MakerAPI version of the plug-in.

erktrek · February 21, 2021, 3:33pm

Ah okay - sorry missed that. I started with @tonesto7's and it's worked fine. I've been reading that others have been having excellent experiences with this plugin so it really seems like a toss up.. Maybe using websockets is a little faster/more responsive than going the maker route but it's probably negligible.

If you wanted to change you could theoretically run both and with the new HB update run one in a child instance... then switch your layout that way without rebuilding everything.

rakeshg · February 21, 2021, 3:36pm

That's an interesting idea! Thanks

dan.t · February 21, 2021, 3:46pm

Maybe to chime in here to show how much of a toss up it is. I am using both plugin's in my production environment. I have two hubs and both connect to my homebridge. I use the MakerAPI version on one hub and @tonesto7 2.0 app on the other. Why? Because I can! Both run absolutely fine and you can't go wrong with either. I haven't changed anything on the MakerAPI version in a long time, there was no need to as it just runs.

Terk · February 22, 2021, 3:13am

So far I haven't seen an issue with it.

aaiyar · February 22, 2021, 3:30am

Yup. However, I've stayed with yours on both my Hubitats simply because it is easier to setup and does everything I need.

rakeshg · February 22, 2021, 12:59pm

Just upgraded to HB 1.3.0 and seeing this "warning" repeatedly in the logs:

[2/22/2021, 6:48:01 AM] [homebridge-hubitat-makerapi] This plugin generated a warning from the characteristic 'Current Ambient Light Level': characteristic was supplied illegal value: number 0 exceeded minimum of 0.0001. See https://git.io/JtMGR for more info.

I have 2 lux sensors (Aeotec MS6 using the driver by @csteele and a Xiaomi Zigbee Light sensor using the driver by Makus) so not sure which one it is. Any thoughts on how to correct this?

EDIT:
Another "warning" - I think this is either for a virtual switch that is turned on from Homekit automation or a physical switch that is turned on from HE.

[2/22/2021, 6:59:04 AM] [homebridge-hubitat-makerapi] This plugin generated a warning from the characteristic 'On': SET handler returned write response value, though the characteristic doesn't support write response! See https://git.io/JtMGR for more info.

M6TTL · February 23, 2021, 5:26am

I'm running into very similar messages in my homebridge log. I wasn't sure if it was just something I never noticed before or it was a result of moving everything over to an M1 Mac mini with the arm version of node.

Today, I reinstalled the tonesto7 homebridge v2 app and plugin, but I think it spit out even more errors. I ended up deleting the app again because of other features and implementations that just didn't work well with me.

Plus I appreciate that makerapi is a built in hubitat app that does not need to be installed separately.

I'm hoping @dan.t's homebridge makerapi plugin would continue to be developed for at least bug fixes (addressing the homebridge log errors, specifically).

dan.t · February 23, 2021, 11:44am

I am going to take a look at it. It is just going to take me a bit (hopefully this weekend).
Also, it would be helpful to get as many samples as possible of the different warning messages you see, it would take ages to test out every single device type by myself. Just PM them to me

Vettester · February 23, 2021, 12:41pm

I’ve been back and forth a few times and really haven’t noticed any performance difference with either. I ended up settling on tonesto7’s app because of the built-in filtering options. I have a bunch of Iris V1 sensors that were reporting tampering every time the batteries were changed. With the tonesto7 app it was easy to filter out the tampering.

I know this is just masking a problem, but it beats having to configure exclusions or even worse resetting the device.

SoundersDude · February 23, 2021, 8:52pm

I'm on this makerapi version and Homebridge 1.3.0 and it's been running fine for me as well.

dan.t · February 23, 2021, 10:40pm

The plugin runs fine on the version. In HB 1.3, the team added more detailed warning and logging messages to highlight some things that can be done better but it doesn't impact functionality. I think I already know what needs to be done, I just need to find the time to do it.

douglaspitman · February 24, 2021, 1:22am

I want to expose my HE devices to homebridge using Maker API. I have Maker running on multiple HE hubs to expose the devices to Node-Red. I am using Hub mesh to share all the devices to one hub but have each individual hub as the source for node red. Would it be best to use the one HE hub to expose devises to Homebridge? or use the multiple HE hubs?

erktrek · February 24, 2021, 2:35am

That is the question I wrestle with too... for efficiency it might be better to go from each hub to HomeBridge. Less "hops" so probably better responsiveness and greater stability.. though to be fair performance differences might not be all that noticeable.

The new HB child instance works really well in homebridge but requires some editing..

Here's my experience - I was testing and added 2 instances of both Maker and V2 apps.. they both worked fine.

edit: All my ancillary servers like Node-RED, HomeBridge, and a C-4 Cloud/Network Hub act like intermediaries between the HE Hubs and outside systems so it makes sense to go to each directly rather than going through another hub like my C-4 as I originally planned.