Tour of a HomeKit enabled house with dozens of accessories.

[steve knight]

Yeah, I have all Hue bulbs -- a mix of color and white bulbs. I did get some GE Link bulbs initially but then I began hearing reports that these bulbs had frequent drop outs with the Hue bridge.

ya they suck I finally replaced them all with the 15.00 hue bulbs. I had the ge bulbs turn on in the middle of the night on their own. myself I use hue bulbs and never bother with switches anymore. lights on when home off when not it would cost far more in switches then the power saved turning the bulbs off. trying to remember what to tell siri is just too much sometimes you have to rename something for siri to work for it. this is faster and easier

 

[BarryL]

OCDMacGeek-

Great YouTube video. I'm just starting out my home automation setup. So far I have a bunch of Phillips Hue bulbs, LED strips (v2.0), Chamberlain garage door opener, and of course Nest / Protects.

Thinking of getting rid of Nest & Protects in favor of Home Kit, because Nest does not talk to other well. Like what SmartThings has so offer, but it seems to be out of the ecosystem a bit.

Here's my wish list: DIY Home security / cameras / window-door sensors, Lutron light switches, eventually blinds.

Questions for you:

1. What kind of Hub or Hubs are you using? Heard a lot of good things about the Wink Hub, the iPhone app looks awesome... I know you're big on Home, which looks great as well. Any thoughts on Power Houz?
2. Does Ecobee support multiple zones? It supports multiple sensor, which I like.. But would I have to buy two Ecobees? I'm thinking of a secondary A/C unit for bedroom only.

Thanks,

Barry

 

[Infinitewisdom]

OCDMacGeek-

Great YouTube video. I'm just starting out my home automation setup. So far I have a bunch of Phillips Hue bulbs, LED strips (v2.0), Chamberlain garage door opener, and of course Nest / Protects.

Thinking of getting rid of Nest & Protects in favor of Home Kit, because Nest does not talk to other well. Like what SmartThings has so offer, but it seems to be out of the ecosystem a bit.

Here's my wish list: DIY Home security / cameras / window-door sensors, Lutron light switches, eventually blinds.

Questions for you:

1. What kind of Hub or Hubs are you using? Heard a lot of good things about the Wink Hub, the iPhone app looks awesome... I know you're big on Home, which looks great as well. Any thoughts on Power Houz?
2. Does Ecobee support multiple zones? It supports multiple sensor, which I like.. But would I have to buy two Ecobees? I'm thinking of a secondary A/C unit for bedroom only.

Thanks,

Barry

Don't forget about IFTTT recipes. Even though Nest isn't Homekit-compatible, with an IFTTT recipe it really doesn't matter as much.

 

[BarryL]

Don't forget about IFTTT recipes. Even though Nest isn't Homekit-compatible, with an IFTTT recipe it really doesn't matter as much.

Great point, what kind of IFTTT recipes do you use?

 

[OCDMacGeek]

OCDMacGeek-

Great YouTube video. I'm just starting out my home automation setup. So far I have a bunch of Phillips Hue bulbs, LED strips (v2.0), Chamberlain garage door opener, and of course Nest / Protects.

Thinking of getting rid of Nest & Protects in favor of Home Kit, because Nest does not talk to other well. Like what SmartThings has so offer, but it seems to be out of the ecosystem a bit.

Here's my wish list: DIY Home security / cameras / window-door sensors, Lutron light switches, eventually blinds.

Questions for you:

1. What kind of Hub or Hubs are you using? Heard a lot of good things about the Wink Hub, the iPhone app looks awesome... I know you're big on Home, which looks great as well. Any thoughts on Power Houz?
2. Does Ecobee support multiple zones? It supports multiple sensor, which I like.. But would I have to buy two Ecobees? I'm thinking of a secondary A/C unit for bedroom only.

Thanks,

Barry

The Wink hub isn't HomeKit compatible... I'm using two Lutron and two Hue bridges. I need two of each because they each have 50 device limits I hit.

I really disliked the Power Houz app. It made you pay for each HomeKit device you have, each month, which to me was unforgivable. It's a basic Apple system config and I can't agree to pay to access it!

Ecobee can support multiple zones if you just buy one thermostat for each zone. That's my setup. Your zoning panel still controls zoning and the Ecobee functions as your current one does... Most people use Ecobee sensors to average out temperatures instead of zoning. I use both.

 

[Amplelink]

The Wink hub isn't HomeKit compatible... I'm using two Lutron and two Hue bridges. I need two of each because they each have 50 device limits I hit.

I really disliked the Power Houz app. It made you pay for each HomeKit device you have, each month, which to me was unforgivable. It's a basic Apple system config and I can't agree to pay to access it!

Ecobee can support multiple zones if you just buy one thermostat for each zone. That's my setup. Your zoning panel still controls zoning and the Ecobee functions as your current one does... Most people use Ecobee sensors to average out temperatures instead of zoning. I use both.

With your entire house now connected and to some degree reliant on wifi, have you experienced any odd failures or disruptions? In theory what you've done is awesome and any geek's dream. I'm just wondering what the risk of disruptions is.

 

[OCDMacGeek]

With your entire house now connected and to some degree reliant on wifi, have you experienced any odd failures or disruptions? In theory what you've done is awesome and any geek's dream. I'm just wondering what the risk of disruptions is.

I have had some issues from time to time. I think a setup like this is always going to require a little hands on maintenance. But it hasn't been horrible. For instance, my Lutron Smart Bridges on occasion have become "unreachable" to HomeKit (which doesn't affect how they work except through Siri). I have to unplug and replug them in. I have had some issues with the Hue dimmer switches. They sometimes become unresponsive and have to be reset. I think this has to do more with the "channel" being used and the mesh network for those Zigbee devices.

Overall, it's been cool.

 

[adam9c1]

I wonder if you could help.
I purchased two iHome Smart Plugs.
Have one setup using my backup phone running iOS 9 (I use it to test ios9 and apps).
I installed iHome app on my main phone and it does not see the existing setup, wants me to setup new home and does not see the iHome smart plug.

Thoughts?

BTW big thanks to creating this thread.
Would you want to add on, or create a new one with some tips,do this, don't do that, I learned this the hard way, ...

 

[OCDMacGeek]

I wonder if you could help.
I purchased two iHome Smart Plugs.
Have one setup using my backup phone running iOS 9 (I use it to test ios9 and apps).
I installed iHome app on my main phone and it does not see the existing setup, wants me to setup new home and does not see the iHome smart plug.

Thoughts?

BTW big thanks to creating this thread.
Would you want to add on, or create a new one with some tips,do this, don't do that, I learned this the hard way, ...

Are both phones logged into the same iCloud account, is Keychain turned on? And also "Approve with Security Code" should be set up. Then you should even try rebooting the phone that doesn't see the HomeKit config. Hopefully those steps might work...

 

[Peepo]

Great Video...

I have my house with about 40 Insteon Devices.
I am using an ISY994i
I have had issues with keeping switches linked up in the past and ISY solves pretty much for most part
I have some virtual 3-ways in hallways where I have rewired two switchlincs with one being the load and the other the slave. I have them setup in scenes in ISY and the LEDs stay in perfect sync always. I also have keypadlinc keypads which control some other lights in the house with scenes and also remain in sync if turned on/off from the switch.

I have found that it is a problem with lots of home controllers when controlling through the controller interface (even ISY) that if I turn on an individual device instead of using a scene - eg. a hallway load, then the corresponding linked switch (eg. hallway slave, or a button on a keypadlinc) does not also turn on and keep in sync. I have to take is in account with my programs and use scenes in the ISY. It is not a big deal really and the ISY seems to be one of few controllers that really handle this well.

Anyways I got into HomeKit recently by purchasing and EcoBee 3 to replace my Nest and was intrigued about HomeKit. Using a Raspberry Pi, I setup HomeLink and the ISY plugin and can now control my Insteon on my ISY with HomeKit. Have tried several apps iDevices, Eve, and Home.

Besides the fact that I have some similarly named devices which confuse siri (which is solvable), I am impressed that I can say to Siri, "turn on the kitchen chandelier to 30 percent" and it works. But a specific issue I have is that chandelier is also controlled by one button on a keypadlinc which is in a scene with the switchlinc dimmer in wall that is the actual load. When I issue this command with siri/HomeKit it is only controlling the dimmer directly therefore the keypadlinc key for the chandelier does not come on. Therefore what happens is when I want to shut the light off on the keypadlinc, I have to press once so it is on and illuminates, then a second time to turn the light off (the switches are single on/off toggles).

How are you finding HomeKit and devices like lutron etc. handling this? I presume that the hardwired Lutron switches have an on/off indicator. Does this indicator keep in sync when using Siri to control the actual light? I don't think this is an issue with the battery switches in your video because they are just on/off with no LED.

I could solve all this if I spent some time and changed my insteon around a bit but I would give up some of my neat settings. If I was to do it all again based around HomeKit, I would probably take a different approach.

So far I think HomeKit has this limitation where devices cannot respond to each other but maybe I am wrong? I can make Scenes but they seem to be limited to just turning states of things on or off - eg. I can't have one scene that toggles everything to an on/off state for the entire scene. Am I making sense and/or missing something?

If works out my goal is to eventually phase out my Insteon and move towards Hue lighting. I would hardwire the hue's and everything would be controlled by software for on/off.

 

[Peepo]

To follow-up a bit when I got home I was able to make a HomeLink trigger using Home App. If any of my hallway switches are turned on then it runs a scene that turns both the load and the slave on. I have a second trigger and scene that turns them off. What doesn't work is my keypadlincs - I can turn them on in HomeLink but they don't actually come on. It does detect the other way around but that is no use... thinking this is a bug in HomeBridge I discover that it is a limitation of how they work because ISY itself cannot turn on/off the individual switches on a keypadlnc except the main load one and they are meant to be buttons used in scenes only... so I have to make bunch of scenes for a particular key/button and trigger with a program which detects a state of a particular light.

Now I think I could do this easier/better on they ISY using its programs to keep everything in Sync. I am going to experiment a bit now.

I can also exclude certain Insteon Devices (like the slave switches) from being imported into HomeBridge in the first place in order to cut down on confusion. After I figure this out I may start a thread a new thread on it because it will be a bit off-topic.

I still have not got my head around where all this HomeKit logic/triggers are taking place. Does it rely on iCloud and all of the triggers, scenes, etc. are stored there and done in real-time through apple's servers? I guess a way to test is to disable my Internet and try to use HomeKit to turn on/off lights around the house using one of the apps. Would suck if internet was down and I couldn't turn on any lights

 

[OCDMacGeek]

To follow-up a bit when I got home I was able to make a HomeLink trigger using Home App. If any of my hallway switches are turned on then it runs a scene that turns both the load and the slave on. I have a second trigger and scene that turns them off. What doesn't work is my keypadlincs - I can turn them on in HomeLink but they don't actually come on. It does detect the other way around but that is no use... thinking this is a bug in HomeBridge I discover that it is a limitation of how they work because ISY itself cannot turn on/off the individual switches on a keypadlnc except the main load one and they are meant to be buttons used in scenes only... so I have to make bunch of scenes for a particular key/button and trigger with a program which detects a state of a particular light.

Now I think I could do this easier/better on they ISY using its programs to keep everything in Sync. I am going to experiment a bit now.

I can also exclude certain Insteon Devices (like the slave switches) from being imported into HomeBridge in the first place in order to cut down on confusion. After I figure this out I may start a thread a new thread on it because it will be a bit off-topic.

I still have not got my head around where all this HomeKit logic/triggers are taking place. Does it rely on iCloud and all of the triggers, scenes, etc. are stored there and done in real-time through apple's servers? I guess a way to test is to disable my Internet and try to use HomeKit to turn on/off lights around the house using one of the apps. Would suck if internet was down and I couldn't turn on any lights

I have not been able to figure out homebridge, well I haven't really tried but I haven't had the time and it might be a little too complex for me. It would be very interested, and would broaden the devices I can add to my set up. On the other hand I do hear about yours that can only be fixed by resetting your homekit configuration, and I really can't risk that. As you can imagine that would be hours of painful labor.

You described with your chandelier does not come up with the Lutron devices. It is likely that it is a bug or problem with home bridge.

Triggers live on your phone itself, and having the triggers work depends on your phone being locally connected to Wi-Fi.

 

[chuyn]

Peepo, the issue with your chandelier turning on and not updating the light/button on the keypadlinc is because of how Insteon links work. Having Siri turning it on like that is the same as going into the Insteon app and controlling the switchlinc directly instead of using the "chandelier" scene so that both the light turns on and the keypadlinc button lights up. I've tried to remedy this in the past by making the switchlinc button both a responder and controller of the "chandelier" scene, so that works when you physically press the switchlinc to turn on the chandelier, but anytime I control that light using the app, I still get the disconnect. It's a bit frustrating but I'm not sure what else can be done other than Insteon updating how it works on their end. I suspect it's because the Insteon links were from before apps existed, and the links were done manually from switch to switch. They're not really directly linked, but they're both used to control a common "scene" which in this case "turns on chandelier, turns on keypadlinc button". This method hasn't been updated to accommodate controlling the switch directly through the app (and in your case, Siri).

 

[Peepo]

Peepo, the issue with your chandelier turning on and not updating the light/button on the keypadlinc is because of how Insteon links work. Having Siri turning it on like that is the same as going into the Insteon app and controlling the switchlinc directly instead of using the "chandelier" scene so that both the light turns on and the keypadlinc button lights up. I've tried to remedy this in the past by making the switchlinc button both a responder and controller of the "chandelier" scene, so that works when you physically press the switchlinc to turn on the chandelier, but anytime I control that light using the app, I still get the disconnect. It's a bit frustrating but I'm not sure what else can be done other than Insteon updating how it works on their end. I suspect it's because the Insteon links were from before apps existed, and the links were done manually from switch to switch. They're not really directly linked, but they're both used to control a common "scene" which in this case "turns on chandelier, turns on keypadlinc button". This method hasn't been updated to accommodate controlling the switch directly through the app (and in your case, Siri).

I figured out a solution to this last night. I posted more details in UDI forums but basically create a new scene with just the one keypad link button and then make an ISY program that detect light on and turn the scene on or off via ISY program. Let me know if you want more info.

I also think turning on an Insteon switch remotely should be same as physically pressing the button but I fortunately that is not the case.

 

[Peepo]

I have not been able to figure out homebridge, well I haven't really tried but I haven't had the time and it might be a little too complex for me. It would be very interested, and would broaden the devices I can add to my set up. On the other hand I do hear about yours that can only be fixed by resetting your homekit configuration, and I really can't risk that. As you can imagine that would be hours of painful labor.

You described with your chandelier does not come up with the Lutron devices. It is likely that it is a bug or problem with home bridge.

Triggers live on your phone itself, and having the triggers work depends on your phone being locally connected to Wi-Fi.

I don't have to reset homekit while playing with homebridge. I can remove the home bridge device and it doesn't affect anything else in homekit (unless you added scenes or triggers). I have done this several times already while testing.

I have an Insteon Keypadlinc and Insteon Switchlinc dimmer which controls the chandelier. Insteon devices can be linked together in scenes which don't even require any controller after they are programmed. So when I physically press the dimmer switch the corresponding key/button illuminates on the keypadlinc and vice-versa. The issue is that when send an insteon command, using a pc-based controller or ISY for example, instead to turn on a specific device, it doesn't update other devices in its scene. So when I tell Siri to turn on my kitchen chandelier, it doesn't know anything about the keypadlinc button. I was since able to fix/workaround my issue with the status led synchronizing by creating programs on the ISY which keeps them in sync.

For you I would recommend sticking with official homekit only devices. Homebridge is just a way for me to use my existing legacy setup but I wouldn't be surprised if Apple changes something in the future to break Homebridge somehow.

I still don't think the triggers and scenes (or entire homekit for that matter) lives in the phone but instead the phone keeps local copy of database in sync from iCloud. I can set something like a trigger or scene in my iPhone and then go to my iPad and I can see it there. I think it is using iCloud and this information is stored on Apple's servers. I would like to know how the triggers work if all the iDevices are shut-off. Then what is actually controlling devices on the local network? Are the devices that smart to talk back and forth through iCloud?

Getting back to your House, it is nice that nowadays there are better systems for automation in an older house like yours. Insteon would probably be impossible due to lack of required neutral wires most likely missing in your home.

 

[NOITAIDAR]

Inspirational!

How did you get around the physical lightswitch issue? I get that you have your wall dimmers/switches at each door, but do you also have a physical switch that will end up screwing everything up if "someone" switches it off? or have you hard-wired your switches to ON, and hidden then behind the WiFi dimmers?

Do the Hue/Lutron Dimmers work in local mode in case your internet connection goes down?
What's the vampire drain like on the bulbs if your physical switches are "always-on" ?

I managed to get a Hue starter kit in the Amazon Prime day deals... then never really figured out the best way to interface it without having my wife switch them off at the wall all the time (Luddite!). I know that the switch could be hard-wired and hidden, but the main problem with that is the difference in switch size... in the UK, our Patress boxes are square, so a US-style 1-gang dimmer switch wouldn't even cover the hole in the wall. lol

 

[OCDMacGeek]

Inspirational!

How did you get around the physical lightswitch issue? I get that you have your wall dimmers/switches at each door, but do you also have a physical switch that will end up screwing everything up if "someone" switches it off? or have you hard-wired your switches to ON, and hidden then behind the WiFi dimmers?

Do the Hue/Lutron Dimmers work in local mode in case your internet connection goes down?
What's the vampire drain like on the bulbs if your physical switches are "always-on" ?

I managed to get a Hue starter kit in the Amazon Prime day deals... then never really figured out the best way to interface it without having my wife switch them off at the wall all the time (Luddite!). I know that the switch could be hard-wired and hidden, but the main problem with that is the difference in switch size... in the UK, our Patress boxes are square, so a US-style 1-gang dimmer switch wouldn't even cover the hole in the wall. lol

Thank you!

The Lutron switches are hardwired the same as normal switches, so they can never be switched off such that they cannot be controlled by WiFi. For the Hue dimmers, I did exactly what you suspect -- I have placed the switches over the box where there were normal switches, and hard wired them on. My goal was to avoid having anyone switch them off altogether.

I can definitely see the problem with sizing -- even in the U.S. its barely the right size to cover it up. For the Hue dimmers, they have strong sticky tape. You could install a bare faceplate, and then stick the Hue dimmer on top of the bare faceplate.

Both Hue and Lutron, to my knowledge, do continue to work with no Internet -- now, at least. They did not used to, but there was an update to the hubs.

Vampire drain, unfortunately, I am not sure about.

 

[TWO2SEVEN]

Tagging this thread to watch later.

 

[steve knight]

there is a little plastic piece that will screw on one screw of a light switch that prevents the switch from being used. but really it is best to still have access to the switch. a power outage means when the power comes on all the Hue lights some on all at once full brightness in the middle of the night. even a power blink full on.