Just watched the Switchbot lock video on Paul Hibberts channel. It is a very interesting device in two ways. First it's a lock that can work with many types of pre-existing locks. Second and more basic this thing is basically a new type of bot. Instead of a small lever on the actual bot this thing can twist . My mind is spinning in thinking of what things I can automate with a twisting action.
Anyways, @tomw can you get this thing to work with the API in Hubitat? That would really make this trip hunt awesome.
Anybody have any thoughts on automations you could do with a bot capable of a twisting action?
I’m sure there are uses beyond locks, but nothing comes to mind right now. I’ve reached out to the author of the SwitchBot ESP32 MQTT integration to see if he’s planning to add it. I’d much rather have it fully local.
I’ve been using his integration with four SwitchBot contact sensors and I just added another ESP32 for a SwitchBot Bot in another area of my house that’s too far away from my first ESP32 for Bluetooth.
With Home Assistant Device Bridge, I have full local integration of these with my Hubitat hubs.
I'm extremely disappointed in the reliability of Switchbot. The lock and Bots would work less than 75% of time. I sent note to Switchbot about it thru app and they sent firmware upgrades for lock and Bots. That helped but still not to a level I would call reliable.
When lock works, it's great and super easy to install. I'm renting so I thought this would be great option.
EDIT: To clarify, this was thru the Switchbot app and no reflection of quality of HE integration.
If you’re an HA user too, I’d encourage you to try the ESP32 method. It’s been 100% reliable for me. I would not suspect the lock would be any less reliable if support was added to that integration as well.
Beyond the SwitchBot devices themselves, it was a $15 CAD investment for the D1 Mini ESP32, and an hour of my time to follow his video and written instructions.
I have HA running on a VirtualBox machine just for fun and have a couple of D1 Minis sitting in a box unused so looks like I have a new project..... Thank you.
Feel free to ping me if you run into trouble getting setup. I did a bit of reading when I setup my first. I read some accounts of random disconnects when you used the ESP core library newer than 1.0.6, so I’m using the older version and the author of the code actually recommended that too.
Nice thing is, once you have all the libraries loaded and the Ardunio sketch saved, you can just program additional boards, with the only requirement being the change of the MAC address for the SwitchBot you’re connecting it to.
I did run into a problem writing to my second board. I found the fix which involved soldering a capacitor to the board, but since I had just bought this from Amazon a day earlier, I just exchanged it. The replacement worked without a hitch.
I saw it too & had exactly the same thought: "A bot that can turn something. Why stop at a lock?"
I've got some Ikea FÖRNUFTIG air purifiers that have rotary knobs for fan speed. Something like that could make them a lot smarter than just having a smartplug attached.
Not available (yet) in the UK but $100 in the US. Not bad for what it is. A bit on the pricey side for the purposes of idle curiosity.
Let's hope they're smart enough to see that in this lock they have created a new bot. Than produce a less expensive device based only on the twisting mechanism and call it bot 2 or something.
tomw, I was replying to jnosa899. I emailed them about hopefully releasing a version that's a multi-purpose twist-action bot. A "KnobBot" perhaps? On reflection, a "DialBot" might sound better.
If priced right & able to work with HE a few would definitely be on my shopping list!
We are constantly updating our products and improving our existing product line, and so what I can do is submit a feature request for this particular feature so our development team can review it, I personally think this is a pretty decent request. Hopefully, you'll be able to see this released in the future.
It wouldn't be nice to bombard them with emails but anyone who'd be interested in seeing a "DialBot" developed from the principle of this lock might want to drop them a line. If enough people ask they might realise there's a market for it.
