Homebridge Buddy Wish List

Posted on
Wed Aug 23, 2017 1:01 pm
Colorado4Wheeler offline
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Location: Colorado

Homebridge Buddy Wish List

I don't know how many of you are using HBB but I've begun writing an update - mostly around making it compatible with IOS 11, which the current version is not. I wanted to get some input as to what you would like to see in the next release of the plugin. Here's what I'm planning at the minimum:

  • IOS 11 compatible
  • Node.js 8.4.0
  • Add support for new HB-Indigo devices (such as Fans that was added just this week)
  • TRY to incorporate iTunes and Camera again (this failed every time it's been attempted thus far)
  • TRY to incorporate Nest support
  • Fix the menu option for Homebridge Software Update (from Londonmark)

What else would you like to see?

UPDATE - 24-JUN-17

  • IOS 11 compatible {DONE}
  • Node.js 8.4.0 {DONE}
  • Add support for new HB-Indigo devices (such as Fans that was added just this week)
  • TRY to incorporate iTunes and Camera again (this failed every time it's been attempted thus far) {DONE iTunes}
  • TRY to incorporate Nest support

My Modest Contributions to Indigo:

HomeKit Bridge | Device Extensions | Security Manager | LCD Creator | Room-O-Matic | Smart Dimmer | Scene Toggle | Powermiser | Homebridge Buddy

Check Them Out Here

Posted on
Thu Aug 24, 2017 12:04 pm
Londonmark offline
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Joined: Feb 29, 2012

Re: Homebridge Buddy Wish List

Definitely keen for a stable update.

Two possible requests which may or may not be possible and may go well beyond the scope of HBB. First, the frustration I have with HB (not currently using HBB) is that 25% of the time Siri times out (both at home and away from home). Do others find this? Is it fixable? Second is there any way to get info back from non Indigo HomeKit devices (specifically thermostats)?

I fear these may be very stupid questions...

Posted on
Thu Aug 24, 2017 12:13 pm
Different Computers offline
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Location: East Coast

Re: Homebridge Buddy Wish List

Though it hasn't happened to me yet on this install, a way to preserve rooms, room assignments and even the background pics associated with the Home App setup would be amazing.

I think the text explanation in HBB's Config window for devices to include (or whatever it's called) could be rewritten to be clearer. Something about the verbiage there confused me enough that for a while, I was stumped because I thought anything included there would NOT show up in other lists. The reverse is true.

SmartThings refugee, so happy to be on Indigo. Monterey on a base M1 Mini w/Harmony Hub, Hue, DomoPad, Dynamic URL, Device Extensions, HomeKitLink, Grafana, Plex, uniFAP, Fantastic Weather, Nanoleaf, LED Simple Effects, Bond Home, Camect.

Posted on
Thu Aug 24, 2017 1:10 pm
Colorado4Wheeler offline
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Location: Colorado

Re: Homebridge Buddy Wish List

Different Computers wrote:
Though it hasn't happened to me yet on this install, a way to preserve rooms, room assignments and even the background pics associated with the Home App setup would be amazing.


I agree, but there's nothing I can really do about that. I understand that Homebridge is working on that.

Different Computers wrote:
I think the text explanation in HBB's Config window for devices to include (or whatever it's called) could be rewritten to be clearer.


Can you give me an example? I'm not sure I'm following you.

Londonmark wrote:
Definitely keen for a stable update.


So HBB isn't working for you at all?

Londonmark wrote:
25% of the time Siri times out (both at home and away from home). Do others find this? Is it fixable?


I don't really have that problem, it may be that your Mac is overtaxed or something. For me Siri is pretty speedy, faster than my Alexa on the Hue Bridge.

Londonmark wrote:
Second is there any way to get info back from non Indigo HomeKit devices (specifically thermostats)?


How do you mean?

My Modest Contributions to Indigo:

HomeKit Bridge | Device Extensions | Security Manager | LCD Creator | Room-O-Matic | Smart Dimmer | Scene Toggle | Powermiser | Homebridge Buddy

Check Them Out Here

Posted on
Thu Aug 24, 2017 4:45 pm
Different Computers offline
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Re: Homebridge Buddy Wish List

I admit I'm a little embarrassed by this, but I know I read this several times and came to the wrong conclusion until I had been hung up with HBB not having devices for weeks.

Screen Shot 2017-08-24 at 6.42.35 PM.png
Screen Shot 2017-08-24 at 6.42.35 PM.png (41.91 KiB) Viewed 2609 times


I read that the first 2-3 times as "if you put something here, it CAN'T appear in other lists.

SmartThings refugee, so happy to be on Indigo. Monterey on a base M1 Mini w/Harmony Hub, Hue, DomoPad, Dynamic URL, Device Extensions, HomeKitLink, Grafana, Plex, uniFAP, Fantastic Weather, Nanoleaf, LED Simple Effects, Bond Home, Camect.

Posted on
Thu Aug 24, 2017 4:55 pm
Colorado4Wheeler offline
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Re: Homebridge Buddy Wish List

Gotcha, I'll see what I can do to make it easier to comprehend.

My Modest Contributions to Indigo:

HomeKit Bridge | Device Extensions | Security Manager | LCD Creator | Room-O-Matic | Smart Dimmer | Scene Toggle | Powermiser | Homebridge Buddy

Check Them Out Here

Posted on
Thu Aug 24, 2017 5:00 pm
durosity offline
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Location: Newcastle Upon Tyne, Ye Ol' England.

Re: Homebridge Buddy Wish List

A backup option to export the configuration of HBB would be nice. I’ve managed to knack it when fiddling before and had to start frommscratch!

Computer says no.

Posted on
Thu Aug 24, 2017 5:06 pm
Colorado4Wheeler offline
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Location: Colorado

Re: Homebridge Buddy Wish List

durosity wrote:
A backup option to export the configuration of HBB would be nice. I’ve managed to knack it when fiddling before and had to start frommscratch!


That would be the backup you have of Indigo then. Either that or back up the plugin folder. Or are you talking about HomeKit losing rooms and scenes? If it's that then see request response #1 :)

My Modest Contributions to Indigo:

HomeKit Bridge | Device Extensions | Security Manager | LCD Creator | Room-O-Matic | Smart Dimmer | Scene Toggle | Powermiser | Homebridge Buddy

Check Them Out Here

Posted on
Fri Aug 25, 2017 1:57 am
Coolcaper offline
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Location: Australia

Re: Homebridge Buddy Wish List

HBB is working perfectly for me so far on El Capitan. I haven't updated to Sierra seeing as (in my logic) the common denominator for people facing issues with HB & HBB seems to be Sierra. In saying that I would want to update to Sierra or High Sierra once available and still have HBB chugging away happily as it is doing at the moment.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Posted on
Fri Aug 25, 2017 3:01 am
Londonmark offline
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Joined: Feb 29, 2012

Re: Homebridge Buddy Wish List

Colorado4Wheeler wrote:
Londonmark wrote:
Definitely keen for a stable update.


So HBB isn't working for you at all?


I'm struggling to recall exactly what happened as it's many months ago. I tried installing it and for some reason gave up. I already had Homebridge working and I suspect I was struggling to get HBB working. Sorry - not very helpful I know.

Colorado4Wheeler wrote:
Londonmark wrote:
25% of the time Siri times out (both at home and away from home). Do others find this? Is it fixable?


I don't really have that problem, it may be that your Mac is overtaxed or something. For me Siri is pretty speedy, faster than my Alexa on the Hue Bridge.

The Mac shouldn't be very taxed - it's an i7 iMac from a couple of years ago. Siri response times range from near instantaneous to a few seconds to timing out completely.

Colorado4Wheeler wrote:
Londonmark wrote:
Second is there any way to get info back from non Indigo HomeKit devices (specifically thermostats)?


How do you mean?


This links to the Tado discussion elsewhere. HB currently makes HomeKit think that Indigo devices are HomeKit compatible. Increasingly there are HomeKit devices that don't talk so readily to Indigo. If we could get a bridge working in the other direction, we could potentially avoid a range of other plug-ins. In the case I had in mind, we would be able to grab the status and temps from thermostats, and instruct them to change temp from Indigo. This would also mean that all automation could be done in Indigo rather than HomeKit - pretty important given HomeKIt's ability to lose configuration every now and then.

Posted on
Fri Aug 25, 2017 3:11 am
durosity offline
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Re: Homebridge Buddy Wish List

Colorado4Wheeler wrote:
durosity wrote:
A backup option to export the configuration of HBB would be nice. I’ve managed to knack it when fiddling before and had to start frommscratch!


That would be the backup you have of Indigo then. Either that or back up the plugin folder. Or are you talking about HomeKit losing rooms and scenes? If it's that then see request response #1 :)


Fortunately I’ve never had the issue with HomeKit losing rooms or scenes! But I have had issues where if I change a device in indigo (eg replace a faulty relay) it’ll sometimes get lost in HBB. Then when trying to reconfigure it it’ll lose another device. It’s not common but I’ve had it a couple of times. Good idea about the copy of the plugins folder though.. Although I wonder if the same thing would happen when I reloaded it. I’ll try it next time I have something to replace.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Computer says no.

Posted on
Fri Aug 25, 2017 9:42 am
Londonmark offline
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Joined: Feb 29, 2012

Re: Homebridge Buddy Wish List

Am now embarrassed by my previous post saying I wasn't using HBB because in fact I was - albeit version 0.13. It has been sufficiently stable for me to have completely forgotten about it. When I talked about "stability" I guess I meant more responsiveness as I said elsewhere in my post. I have now had a chance to update to v 0.20 and redone all my HomeKit devices. I was wondering about using the homebridge-zp plugin (for Sonos). To do that, am I write in thinking that I put everything I need for that plugin into a config.json in ~/.homebridge but exclude everything to do with Indigo from that config.json?

One other issue I have is that if I try to use the "Homebridge Software Update" I get an error saying that plugin does not define method menuUpdate. Any thoughts? It looks as if the zp plugin wants a more up-to-date version of homebridge than I am currently running. Is it safe to copy the homebridge files from /usr/local/ etc into the relevant bit of the plugin?
Last edited by Londonmark on Fri Aug 25, 2017 9:47 am, edited 1 time in total.

Posted on
Fri Aug 25, 2017 9:46 am
Colorado4Wheeler offline
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Posts: 2794
Joined: Jul 20, 2009
Location: Colorado

Re: Homebridge Buddy Wish List

Different Computers wrote:
I admit I'm a little embarrassed by this, but I know I read this several times and came to the wrong conclusion until I had been hung up with HBB not having devices for weeks.


Is this better?

Screen Shot 2017-08-25 at 9.41.45 AM.png
Revised explanation
Screen Shot 2017-08-25 at 9.41.45 AM.png (40.14 KiB) Viewed 2443 times


durosity wrote:
But I have had issues where if I change a device in indigo (eg replace a faulty relay) it’ll sometimes get lost in HBB.


That may be partly due to your configuration. The plugin can regenerate your config.json when you change a device but it can also DELETE an alias or wrapper if you delete the parent device. Otherwise I don't know how it would delete.

Screen Shot 2017-08-25 at 9.44.15 AM.png
Plugin configuration
Screen Shot 2017-08-25 at 9.44.15 AM.png (42.15 KiB) Viewed 2443 times


Londonmark wrote:
One other issue I have is that if I try to use the "Homebridge Software Update" I get an error saying that plugin does not define method menuUpdate. Any thoughts? It looks as if the zp plugin wants a more up-to-date version of homebridge than I am currently running.


The next release will be FULLY up-to-date, probably even more than needed for the ZP. The update feature may not have been fully implemented but I'll look at that to see if it can be resolved.

My Modest Contributions to Indigo:

HomeKit Bridge | Device Extensions | Security Manager | LCD Creator | Room-O-Matic | Smart Dimmer | Scene Toggle | Powermiser | Homebridge Buddy

Check Them Out Here

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