HomeKit Bridge Official Released (Testing Closed)

A question...I didn't see in the current stuff or threads where RGB and RGBW devices are in there.

The only RGBW device currently supported is the Hue because of how each device uses completely different values for HSB. That will change but that's what we have for now.

FYI, I also saw this problem with the previous version and had to delete my entire configuration and start over to get it working. I upgraded to the newest beta to see if something on my end by it is still happening. (I have not yet nuked the configuration and tried to start over.)

To have it once is pretty odd, it's not a bug because we aren't getting reports about the issue. To have it twice is extremely suspicious. Nothing changed in the last two releases that would impact the config folder in any way, so that makes me wonder if there is an OS issue of some kind. HKB is one of the few plugins that actively writes to your hard drive when you start your servers (not after that though). Blowing away those folders won't harm anything at all, they are made to be dynamically rebuilt and the plugin does not rely on them to run, only for Homebridge to work.

The one thing that would be different about HKB versus just about any other plugin is that the preference folder has some symbolic links, but that shouldn't make any difference. And for it to work and then break is highly suspicious since the only file, once the folder is created initially, that ever changes there is the config.json file that rebuilds each time the server starts.

What is the error you get? Just that it won't start and that you should try rebuilding? If you are getting startup errors then please post an issue on Git with your HB config and HB logs (both in the advanced plugin actions menu option).

I have a ‘Is this a HomeKit Bridge problem or a third party problem’ question.
Recently migrated to HomeKit Bridge from HBB, which overall has been an outstanding experience. But, I have 2 devices that occasionally wander back to the Default Room. One is an Adapter that converts a Fibaro temperature from C to F; the other is my thermostat using the Nest Home plugin. I seem to recall that devices return to the Default Room when they disappear and reappear from HomeKit.
So , this is a request for help, minor complaint, or bug report depending on the cause.
[MODERATOR NOTE] Moved this to the proper topic for beta test questions.

I am the king of losing room configs, it's happened to me a lot over the past six weeks and I credit the number of times I'm restarting HKB as to why since there have been a number of times that HomeKit probably tried to check in and nothing was there. That being said, we aren't certain as to what has caused it but, yes, we believe it's for the reason you stated. That being said, a few updates back there were things added to both Homebridge-Indigo2 and HomeKit Bridge to prevent that condition from happening. On the HKB side it will not start a server with zero accessories and on the HBI2 side it won't try to update HomeKit if it cannot find accessories. Now, for me, I haven't lost a room assignment since but that could be coincidental. Have you updated to the latest version?

Another possibility is a corrupt HomeKit database, it does happen. The only way to fix that would be to first try deleting the home and recreating it (remove your accessories FIRST though to prevent any other issue) and if that doesn't take then blow away all homes and reset HomeKit entirely.

It's uncertain why notifications get reset, that's another issue that has yet to present a solution (you turn off notifications for, say, a door opening and it magically turns back on later).

FYI if it’s a corrupt homekit database when you create your new one give it a different name to the original.. I had a weird issue where this happened to me, I deleted and created a new one, verified it’d gone from the wife’s phone.. renamed it back to the original name.. and the wife’s phone suddenly started showing it again but still showing the old DB.. but no actions would work.. but weirdly it’d show the correct states of things.. and I hadn’t even re-added her! Deleting again and a different name fixed it.


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I should have mentioned that I’m running the iOS 11.4 Beta, which combined with and iDevice Switch that was behind one firmware update caused me to wipe my HomeKit installation last week. I migrated just this weekend so fairly certain I’m up to date (unless your working really hard on updates ). I’m expecting a ‘new’ refurbished Mini this week to replace my Indigo server that has developed the irritating habit of randomly restarting, so I set that up on my next day off and see what happens.



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I migrated just this weekend so fairly certain I’m up to date (unless your working really hard on updates

Two updates this weekend and a third that will release in the next day or so. So, yea . The only thing you won't have until the 3rd update is complete SenseMe integration for fans and lights.

Blowing away those folders won't harm anything at all, they are made to be dynamically rebuilt and the plugin does not rely on them to run, only for Homebridge to work.

...
What is the error you get? Just that it won't start and that you should try rebuilding? If you are getting startup errors then please post an issue on Git with your HB config and HB logs (both in the advanced plugin actions menu option).

If I blow away the folders, where is the device mapping stored, in the prefs file? The only thing I want to avoid rebuilding is mapping the 47 devices from Indigo to HomeKit and having to re-add them to HomeKit and re-configure the assigned rooms.

The error log I get is:

HomeKit Bridge Attempting to start 'HomeKitBridge'

Apr 9, 2018 at 12:11:58 PM
HomeKit Bridge Error HomeKit server 'HomeKitBridge' could not be started, please check the service logs for more information,
now issuing a forced shutdown of the service to be safe.

If you continue to have problems starting this server use the Advanced Plugin Actions menu option to rebuild the Homebridge folder.
Instructions at https://github.com/Colorado4Wheeler/Hom ... dge-folder
HomeKit Bridge Attempting to stop 'HomeKitBridge'
HomeKit Bridge HomeKit server 'HomeKitBridge' has been stopped
HomeKit Bridge Error send "HomeKitBridge" on failed

If I blow away the folders, where is the device mapping stored, in the prefs file?

In the plugin itself, the Indigo database. Please open an issue on Git and post your HB log and config file.

I migrated just this weekend so fairly certain I’m up to date (unless your working really hard on updates

Two updates this weekend and a third that will release in the next day or so. So, yea . The only thing you won't have until the 3rd update is complete SenseMe integration for fans and lights.

I control my 4 SenseMe's via two Indigo virtual devices (with triggers and variables etc) for separate control over the light and fan. Works fine.

What will this plugin do to change that?

Thanks

I control my 4 SenseMe's via two Indigo virtual devices (with triggers and variables etc) for separate control over the light and fan. Works fine.

What will this plugin do to change that?

It's built into the plugin, if your virtual are good then awesome, but this supports the SenseMe within the plugin without the need for virtual devices.

Question on use of multiple plugin server instances:

I understand each plugin instance is limited to 99 devices, so obviously must create more instances if you need more device support, but I also read in the docs a suggestion to perhaps group certain devices into their own plugin instance. (Like putting all cameras together).

I'm wondering what the "best practices" advice is here. With the inherent fragility/flakiness of HomeKit (Apple side of things) detecting and working with the bridge, I'm thinking about having multiple instances.

I would put stable/simple devices (lights and dimmers) into one instance, cameras into another, and maybe more advanced devices that need TLC or tweaks (sensors, specialty devices) into a third instance.

My thinking is then I could completely delete and re-create the instance if I am having trouble with HomeKit or want to start "clean" but wouldn't be blowing away the other instances with stable sets of devices that are working.

Am I correct that each plugin instance essentially spawns another copy of a node.js server (mapped to a unique tcp port), so there is some performance overhead, but I am wondering if that is minimal enough to not be a consideration?

Is this approach ok or am I overlooking something other than a little more complexity than a single instance "k.i.s.s" configuration?

With the inherent fragility/flakiness of HomeKit (Apple side of things) detecting and working with the bridge

I don't think I would say that at all, I think that it works pretty well together. Considering this is the 3rd iteration of Indigo to HomeKit integration I've been very pleased with how well it works. I would estimate that there is perhaps a 3-5% downtime I've experienced - much of it due to issues that were resolved via the script or plugin rather than HomeKit. The longer I use it the more I realize that HomeKit isn't nearly as flakey as it seems.

Am I correct that each plugin instance essentially spawns another copy of a node.js server (mapped to a unique tcp port), so there is some performance overhead, but I am wondering if that is minimal enough to not be a consideration?

Yes, that is correct, and each server will take between 25-75MB so it's pretty nominal.

I'm wondering what the "best practices" advice is here.

So far I cannot say there is a "best practices" with multiple servers right now. With the last few builds the performance of the communication between HomeKit and Indigo has improved significantly, that would have been my reason for segmenting my devices because my one server with 99 devices would take much longer to respond but that is not the case any longer as I changed that to be an instant response. I have 8 servers and I could just as easily have one. This is still being evaluated but I cannot find any particular reason, aside from the 99 device limit - or perhaps to keep all cameras on their own server just in case something happens - to segment.

It may be that I am still tainted by my previous experience trying to use the Insteon Hub Pro (the one designed for HomeKit) which has been, and still is a "hot mess" having never been upgraded much since initial release and they dropped their own setup so now you have to push the button in the back of the hub and run around and press the button on your device - no way to input the hex device id. Gee thanks, how do I re-add the fan controller in the ceiling?

Although I dumped that, I also see flakiness with some Wi-Fi HomeKit power outlets, so I'm not ready to declare HomeKit, even on it's own, a stable/reliable setup. I still see it as an adjunct/toy compared to rock-solid Indigo.

Working with the previous "Buddy", and now the HomeKit Bridge, I'm still deleting and re-creating configurations too many times. Granted this is beta, so no judgement, but I've never had to do that with Indigo itself and I blame HomeKit as it sees devices and bridges when it feels like it and on its own time schedule.

I swear that I think HomeKit is schizophrenic and in therapy given the way it appears to work! YMMV as course.

With the inherent fragility/flakiness of HomeKit (Apple side of things) detecting and working with the bridge

I don't think I would say that at all, I think that it works pretty well together. Considering this is the 3rd iteration of Indigo to HomeKit integration I've been very pleased with how well it works. I would estimate that there is perhaps a 3-5% downtime I've experienced - much of it due to issues that were resolved via the script or plugin rather than HomeKit. The longer I use it the more I realize that HomeKit isn't nearly as flakey as it seems.

Corrupt folders on restart

Every time I reboot my Mac (which is running Indigo and SecuritySpy) HomeKit Bridge fails to start with the error about manually rebuilding the folders.

I rebuild them and then the HomeKit Bridge servers start.

Cleaning/rebuilding the folders seems to be a quick operation. I don't know about the internals; I wonder if rebuilding the folders shouldn't just be a part of the startup of the plugin and servers every time if their contents is always generated and there is no harm in rebuilding on ever reboot?

As it stands now, I cannot assume when my Mac is rebooted that Indigo and the bridges will all start up automatically on their own without "babysitting" and checking on whether any manual corrective actions are needed.

As it stands now, I cannot assume when my Mac is rebooted that Indigo and the bridges will all start up automatically on their own without "babysitting"

As far as I know you are the only one experiencing this problem. I've restarted my mac many times over the course of HKB and I'm sure others have as well and this is not required. I would like to know the errors that the plugin reports, the contents of the Homebridge log and the Homebridge config. It's very suspicious that every single Homebridge server folder has to rebuilt on a reboot.

First let me say that I'm really enjoying HKB and appreciate all the effort that was put into developing it. Really, really well done!

But (you knew that was coming, didn't you) I'm encountering a very odd situation. I've set up 7 different HKB servers so that I can group similar accessories together. Everything works fine when accessing the home app on my iPad pro. Yay. But on my iPhone X, I get a notice that 32 accessories aren't responding. They appear to be from one particular server. Not sure how this happens only on the iPhone but not on the iPad.

I've tried complete shut-down, restart of my Indigo server, my iPhone and my iPad. Same results. I've turned off that particular HKB server and then back on. I've used the Advanced Plugin Action to rebuild the HKB folder. All to no effect. Anything else I should try?