Homebridge / Siri

Posted on
Sat Feb 10, 2018 11:23 am
MountainEars offline
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Location: Georgetown, CA

Homebridge / Siri

Sorry, this may be in the wrong forum, hopefully I can be redirected.

I'm interested in getting a Siri interface going with my Indigo setup. I'm having difficulty finding a summary of options that are currently available. I saw some stuff on doing an iMessage interface, then I see stuff on some HomeBridge stuff, and a HomeBridge Kit, etc. I'm not sure if the HomeBridge stuff is just software or hardware or a combo of them, or if it is even available right now.,

Is someone able to give me a summary of options I have as well as what effort is involved in getting it setup? I don't write code, I have been successful in navigating through some scripted stuff from this site, so I can do some things, but if there is some good reference that someone to point me to I'll take a peek and see if it meets my skills.

Just confused as to what is the best current way to do this sort of thing and how well it works. Especially because I'm considering a HomePod and it would be a nice addition to be able to control lights around the house with it.

Posted on
Sat Feb 10, 2018 11:43 am
Colorado4Wheeler offline
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Re: Homebridge / Siri

There are currently two options (third being actively developed) to incorporate Indigo with HomeKit. One is not a plugin and requires a lot of MacOS terminal work (not for the feint of heart) and the other two are plugins that do the job for you.

The current plugin is Homebridge Buddy and is an all-in-one plugin that gets you online to HomeKit pretty fast. It's successor (which I currently have in closed beta, should be up in a few more weeks) is HomeKit Bridge. The new HomeKit Bridge will be a much simpler interface and opens up a lot more capability with HomeKit. You can start with Homebridge Buddy and upgrade to HomeKit Bridge when it comes out.

If you want to do the terminal work then take a look at Webdeck's Homebridge-Indigo.

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
Sat Feb 10, 2018 1:14 pm
MountainEars offline
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Location: Georgetown, CA

Re: Homebridge / Siri

Very helpful, thanks.

It seems to cover in there that this latest plugin installs the Homebridge server for you, but the doc with the plugin that I downloaded for the HBB says otherwise. And once I loaded the plugin, there is no HB server to start up.

Still digging around, but it looks like I have to do the manual HB install to get this version to work, is that correct?

Posted on
Sat Feb 10, 2018 3:37 pm
Colorado4Wheeler offline
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Re: Homebridge / Siri

No, you simply have to create a HBB server just like you create any device for Indigo except choose the Homebridge Buddy from the dropdown and server from the next dropdown.

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
Sat Feb 10, 2018 5:19 pm
MountainEars offline
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Location: Georgetown, CA

Re: Homebridge / Siri

I'm getting closer, thanks :-) And I'm trying to read the docs in the zip file and it is giving me tidbits but not quite enough it seems

I think I added and configured a Homebridge Indigo Server. I went through the various dialogs in that config setup, only included a few devices to keep it simple. In the plugin menu, should I be able to start a Homebridge server up? Cause when I do, it doesn't show a server in the list.

Do I have to setup a wrapper? What are the minimum things I need to configure just so I can see how this works, from there I may be in better shape.

And do I need to get an Apple TV involved, or once this is done if my phone is on the same network I should be able to interface with it? How does it know :-)

Posted on
Sat Feb 10, 2018 5:31 pm
Colorado4Wheeler offline
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Re: Homebridge / Siri

MountainEars wrote:
And I'm trying to read the docs in the zip file and it is giving me tidbits but not quite enough it seems

Read it on Git, it was designed for that with the screenshots and will likely be more informative.

MountainEars wrote:
should I be able to start a Homebridge server up? Cause when I do, it doesn't show a server in the list.

I'm not sure where to direct you on this, it doesn't appear on the list when you start it, it appears on the list when you create it - which you would have had to do in order to include the few devices you included. Try looking at all devices and sort by Model and find the Homebridge Buddy server, that should get you in the right direction. Once you do it should show as ON if running.

MountainEars wrote:
And do I need to get an Apple TV involved, or once this is done if my phone is on the same network I should be able to interface with it? How does it know

Everything will work out of the gate, you will need to add the server to your HomeKit app (Home app on iPhone but any will work such as Eve, etc). It will only work so long as your iPhone/iPad/HomePod are in the same network but if you have an Apple TV or iPad then it should then allow you to access everything from anywhere so long as you have two factor authentication turned on for your iCloud account - I'm pretty sure that's required as of a few iOS updates ago.

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
Sat Feb 10, 2018 6:08 pm
MountainEars offline
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Location: Georgetown, CA

Re: Homebridge / Siri

Git version is better, thanks.

Still stuck, I'm usually better than this, sorry :-)

So the first thing I configured was Add Device
- Device Type EPS - Homebridge Buddy
- Model HomeBridge Indigo Server

I then went through the list of things to configure
HomeBridge Configuration it is checked to Enable iTunes HomeKit control for this server and to automatically start and stop.
I selected just a few devices in Homebridge Friendly Devices to include

Didn't really do anything else.

I am able to turn it on in the device listing so it has ON next to it in my device list.

If I create a wrapper (I don't know why I created a wrapper or if I needed to, but wanted to let you know I did :-), similar to how I did the above, I do see the "server" I created above.

If I go back into the Homebridge Indigo Server device and hit refresh at the top I see 1 wrapper device, 12 Indigo Devices/Actions and a total count of 13. So I think it is running.

When Igo on my phone to Home, it is not showing any devices (I'm on the same network. I choose add accessory and it doesn't show me anything . I can scan a code or I can manually enter an 8 digit code.

I'm going to go upstairs and look at my APple TV to see if it shows anything.

Posted on
Sat Feb 10, 2018 6:55 pm
Colorado4Wheeler offline
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Re: Homebridge / Siri

MountainEars wrote:
When Igo on my phone to Home, it is not showing any devices (I'm on the same network. I choose add accessory and it doesn't show me anything . I can scan a code or I can manually enter an 8 digit code.


It won't show anything unless you scan a code or enter one. You have to tell HomeKit that you have the code and then you will see the server, then enter 031-45-154 (unless you somehow changed it).

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
Sat Feb 10, 2018 7:11 pm
MountainEars offline
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Location: Georgetown, CA

Re: Homebridge / Siri

I don't recall changing any code like that, but it is not finding it on my phone so maybe its not running. Strange....

Seems like from what you're saying, based on what I described in how I set things up, just setting up the server and turning it on should do it. I'll keep messing with it.

Posted on
Sat Feb 10, 2018 7:18 pm
MountainEars offline
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Location: Georgetown, CA

Re: Homebridge / Siri

I am seeing this in the log when I turn it on in the device list:

EPS - Homebridge Buddy Starting the Homebridge server 'Home', do not try to use Siri until you get a message that the server has started
EPS - Homebridge Buddy sent "Home" on

I never see anything after that though.

Posted on
Sat Feb 10, 2018 7:19 pm
Colorado4Wheeler offline
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Re: Homebridge / Siri

Try rebooting your Indigo Mac, perhaps your playing with it put into an unreadable state. If that doesn't work then go into the config of the server, go to Homebridge Configuration and change the user by 1 character (I don't recall if the version you have allows user changes) or change the port to something else, this may prime the server for HomeKit again if the HomeKit database is messed up. That's another option, remove your HomeKit home and create a new one.

And it's ok you don't see any further messages, if it shows as on then it's running.

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
Sat Feb 10, 2018 7:30 pm
MountainEars offline
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Joined: Oct 19, 2010
Location: Georgetown, CA

Re: Homebridge / Siri

REBOOT! That did it!

Now I see how it looks and behaves.... I can now play with it more and get things configured properly.

Thanks for your patience!

Posted on
Sat Feb 10, 2018 8:36 pm
Colorado4Wheeler offline
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Re: Homebridge / Siri

Glad it worked out :D

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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