HomeKit Bridge - Scene but with Time?

Posted on
Tue Jun 05, 2018 8:20 pm
eightball offline
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Joined: Oct 17, 2011

HomeKit Bridge - Scene but with Time?

Okay, loving HomeKit Bridge!

Here's my question - can I set up a timed scene from Homekit?

Right now I have a couple of different scenes set up for my kitchen (e.g. cooking, dinner, etc). They work great via Siri but the trouble is the shifts happen instantly. For simplicity let's say we have a single light on a dimmer that's set at 100% for "cooking" and 50% for "dinner" - when I shift the scenes via siri they happen instantly INSTEAD - I'd like the dimming to happen say over 10 seconds.

Is there a way to do this via homekit?

Or alternately is there a way to trigger an indigo scene from siri?

Thanks for the help!

Posted on
Wed Jun 06, 2018 7:27 am
Different Computers offline
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Re: HomeKit Bridge - Scene but with Time?

You can expose any device, virtual or real, to Siri in HKB. And also Action Groups, of course. I would go the latter route, unless you want HomeKit to do something that isn't connected to Indigo too.

I mention that latter because it's typical to create a virtual switch that Indigo can control, expose it to HomeKit, then use its state to trigger actions for non-Inidgo devices that HomeKit controls.

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
Wed Jun 06, 2018 7:34 am
Colorado4Wheeler offline
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Re: HomeKit Bridge - Scene but with Time?

I'll echo what Different said because that's how I would approach it as well. But I'll add that HKB was built around the idea that Indigo is in control of everything and that HomeKit is only the means to get there. That being said I have dozens of HomeKit scenes and almost every one of them are either a virtual device in Indigo or an Action Group so I can achieve what I want to achieve. Some of my scenes are highly complicated and I do them as, say, an Action Group because the same thing cannot be accomplished in HomeKit or if it can and it's 20 steps and something happens to HomeKit where that scene gets deleted (HomeKit can hiccup) then I have to program it all over again.

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 Jun 07, 2018 8:52 pm
eightball offline
Posts: 49
Joined: Oct 17, 2011

Re: HomeKit Bridge - Scene but with Time?

Okay, thanks for the guidance!

Here's my new question - what's the trick for dealing with multiple virtual devices (and their states) for a single room?

For instance, I want to set up 3 different "scenes" for my kitchen/dining room:
1. Cooking
2. Dining
3. After Dinner
and I suppose
4. All off.

If I'm following how you guys handle this you set up the scene in Indigo and then link that scene to a virtual switch which you trigger with Homekit, yes?

So I did this, works like a charm but then what do I do about the multiple virtual switches that stay "on" after I trigger them. How do you clear or toggle those virtual switches? (just to make this trickier - I'm using insteon Scenes)

Thanks for any and all tips!!

Posted on
Fri Jun 08, 2018 6:15 am
Colorado4Wheeler offline
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Location: Colorado

Re: HomeKit Bridge - Scene but with Time?

So, a virtual switch in Indigo needs a variable to let it know if it is on or off, are you setting and changing that variable?

One of my scenes is called "watch TV", which is an action group that includes virtual devices. Since my TV doesn't support queries I use some Python coding to say "if the variable is True (on) then set it to False (off)" or vice versa. This works 95% of the time, but every once in a while it was still on the next day so I set a schedule each night at 12am to reset that to off regardless of what is going on (I'm not watching TV at midnight hardly ever and if I am then it's not a big deal if the device shows as off and it's not really because it'll be off soon enough). Since then I've found other creative ways to manage this state because the TV is a smart TV so if it pings then it's on and if it doesn't then it's not so it's made that particular issue 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

Posted on
Fri Jun 08, 2018 7:02 am
Different Computers offline
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Location: East Coast

Re: HomeKit Bridge - Scene but with Time?

@eightball, I'm going to try again because I think you're missing what I suggest, and the way you're doing it is harder.

Create an Action Group called Cooking and have it do whatever you want Cooking to do.
In HomeKit Buddy, include that Action Group. It may look like a device in Home, but it's really a scene. (Hey C4W, there's an improvement idea!)
For any automations to make Cooking happen, do them in Indigo. It's much more full featured and easier to make work the way you want than a HomeKit automation.

No Virtual Device needed, no variable needed. Easier to troubleshoot. You don't even have to have added all the things that Cooking does to Home if you don't want to!

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.

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