MQTT DIY garage door opener

So I am using a DIY MQTT set up for my garage door openers. I have it working great in Indigo just using the virtual on/off device (on, off, toggle, and status request commands run a python script that sends MQTT messages to opener). The return MQTT status messages are picked up by Node Red which updates an Indigo status variable via the RESTAPI. I tried adding my virtual on/off devices to homekit bridge as garage doors. The button in homekit actually works, but the status never updates, it always says the door is open. The status variable I am using is populated with "open", "closed", or "offline". I guess my first question would be, is it possible for a virtual on/off device in Indigo to be configured as a garage door opener in homekit? If so, do I need to change the status states I am using in my variables? FYI, if I configure the doors as "switches" in homekit bridge it works fine, I just want the cool garage door icon in homekit

Respectfully,

-Eric

Sorry, I didn't see this when you posted a couple days ago.

There should be no reason you can't use a virtual on/off device for your garage door but I think why you are seeing that it is always open is because you are using 'open/closed/offline' for your variable that the virtual device is looking to, I'm pretty sure it needs to be true/false for the virtual device to register it as on or off. That being said, I do have an 'extended' version of virtual devices coming out in Device Extensions when I finish this update that supports that kind of variable state but it's not here yet.

[jay (support)]

If you're using a Virtual On/Off Device from the Virtual Devices interface, then a status variable that contains "open" will make the device go ON, "closed" will make it OFF, and "offline" will put it into the error state.

Just for clarity, everything works great in Indigo. The virtual switch works fine and the status update variable with open/closed/offline work as expected. The only issue I am having is when I add the garage door device (virtual on/off device) from Indigo into homekit bridge as a garage door opener type, its shows up in homekit fine, but the status is always open regardless of what the status variable is set to in Indigo.

Thanks for the help!

-Eric

Because that is a standard on/off device it should reflect the status in HomeKit as it does in Indigo. Can you confirm that the device's on/off state changes properly with the garage door being opened or closed? You can also turn on a couple different levels of debugging in the HKB server device to see if that shines light on anything, it should be calling up Homebridge when you open or close it which in turn should be updating HomeKit.

I haven't written specific support for virtual devices for garage doors so there could be a disconnect in there somewhere but, generally, on/off devices of any kind should work. That being said, garage doors are treated a bit differently in HomeKit than other on/off type devices such as outlets and switches so it could be a bug.

Because that is a standard on/off device it should reflect the status in HomeKit as it does in Indigo. Can you confirm that the device's on/off state changes properly with the garage door being opened or closed? You can also turn on a couple different levels of debugging in the HKB server device to see if that shines light on anything, it should be calling up Homebridge when you open or close it which in turn should be updating HomeKit.

I haven't written specific support for virtual devices for garage doors so there could be a disconnect in there somewhere but, generally, on/off devices of any kind should work. That being said, garage doors are treated a bit differently in HomeKit than other on/off type devices such as outlets and switches so it could be a bug.

Ok, so removed the homekit bridge plugin, rebooted, then re-installed the plugin. This time around when I add the garage door opener, the Homekit status is updating when the state changes, its just reporting the opposite status (ie when the status variable is set to "open" Homekit reports closed and vice versa). I tried the "invert on/off" option but I assume that inverts the action, not the status as it did not make a difference for the state. If I change the type to switch instead of garage door opener, the status is fine.

-Eric

Please open a ticket on GitHub for this and be sure to follow the instructions you will be presented with so I can look at what might be happening.

For the simulation, please pull a simulation for when the doors is OPEN and when it is CLOSED - so I need two.

ok, I added the ticket. Let me know if you need anything. Thanks for taking a look!

-Eric

Just to close this topic out, the solution to use a virtual on/off device with HomeKit as a garage door opener you will likely need to invert your on/off states (unless you set up your virtual device backwards) because HomeKit treats on and off a bit differently for garage doors.

That being said, there was never a problem with this solution it was just not fully implemented from the user. You can see the full details of how this ticket was resolved via the GitHub ticket submission that was worked on.