Is it possible to send notification or trigger a device on controlled by a hub on a different network? Something more than a text message which may be missed.
Example: i have a hub running at an elderly parent’s house. Is it possible to trigger an event on my home’s hub / device?
Example were she to push a panic button it would activate a siren at my home or possibly call my home phone?
Exploring the potential possibilities and capabilities of the system - yes, still learning. I appreciate the friendly support of a community such as this.
One option: set up Maker API on your hub, enable the cloud option, and create a virtual button device that is exposed via this Maker API instance.
Then, on the other hub, create a Button Controller (or Rule Machine--either would work) rule "triggered" by a push of their real button. As its action, make it do an HTTP GET to the Maker API instance on your own hub using the format specified for "Send device command" under "Cloud URLs" in that Maker API instance. It will be something like:
The command here is "pushed" and I'm assuming the virtual button number you want to use is "1", though any event and button number supported by your button device should work.
The idea here is that it gets their "real" button event into this "virtual" button device on your hub via the Internet. Now you can do whatever you want with this event on your own hub. For example, if you have a siren, you could turn that on. If you have some way to call yourself, that could also work, though there's nothing built-in that can do that (and if it relies on some cloud service, you might be able to skip this and just set it up all on their hub)--maybe Twilio, though I think I've only seen that used for SMS? Other options include a TTS annoucement (if you have such devices), a push notification, or whatever automation you want to set up.
Thinking about this more, you could skip the whole virtual button thing and just trigger a rule on your hub using a cloud endpoint trigger for they rule on your hub from a rule on their hub (in response to the real button). The idea is otherwise pretty similar, just maybe a bit simpler if you're using Rule Machine anyway.
Being new to home automation and Hubitat, I am struggling to follow. I understand that Maker API on my local hub exposes a device to the internet and potentially to receive a command such as to turn on.
Due to the nature of the communication, the instruction could come from any source with the appropriate URL and instruction.
I am not yet sure how to trigger the communication on the originating hub. A couple of questions. 1) Does Maker API need to be loaded to the originating hub? 2) May the communication be generated from the Basic Rules App or must it be generated from the Rules Machine App?
On your hub, you have Maker App running. One of the devices that is exposed to Maker App is a virtual button device.
On your Mother's Hub, you have a Zigbbe/Zwave push button device. When she presses the "panic" button, it runs the snippet of code that @bertabcd1234 suggested (as per above),
You'll need to use Rule Machine because Basic Rules doesn't have an action to send the http request. When creating the rule action on the originating hub you'll select "Send Message, Notify, Speak, Log, HTTP Request", then "Send HTTP Get", then paste in the URL from the receiving hub.
An alternative to using Maker API on the receiving hub is to create a rule in Rule Machine and for the trigger select "Cloud Endpoint". That will generate the URL you need to use on the originating hub. Whenever that URL is called the rule will trigger. Set up the rule actions to do whatever you want to have happen at that end (notify you, turn on a siren, flash a light, etc). Using Maker API on the receiving hub will allow you to issue a single command to a single device. Using Rule Machine will allow for potentially doing multiple or conditional actions from the one http request trigger.
I'd personally question the use of a home automation solution for this purpose, if it is a genuine emergency. Fine to walk through the options for something less critical, but I'd personally look to more tailored solutions for circumstances like this. There can be a number of pieces to this puzzle that have not been designed with this kind of situation in mind, so are not treated with the same attention other system may be given.
