DIY Home Automation with Apple Homekit

[lilmira]

Removed the lock from my phone. Paired it again fine. Read the Homekit code again and that went fine, the lock is added to the Home app automatically. Works fine via Bluetooth with the Home app or Sense. Tried to get through remotely via my cell network, nothing. How do I know if remote access is on or off for homekit? I couldn't find the toggle switch. I'll have to ask Schlage WTH is going on.

[lilmira]

Ok fixed it now. Went to check my iCloud account on my Apple tv and my home is not shown there for some reason. Signed out and signed back in, my home popped up and the lock worked remotely. Yay I can unlock my door remotely now, so useful lol. It was more frustrating that I couldn't see the status of my lock remotely.

edit: spoke too soon, signed out my AppleTV accidentally, signed back in and my home is gone.
Now I know it's an Apple problem.

[rage2]

Mines been working fine all night. Funny enough it stopped working after the firmware update too. Had to reset it from scratch.

[cet]

I’ve just installed a bunch of Caseta switches and dimmers in my place so I thought I’d update the thread with some more information and thoughts. Some of this may be repeated from what Rage and Killramos have said

Starting with the bridge you have the option of the Smart Bridge and the Smart Bridge PRO. The two main differences are that the PRO version can control a couple of other shades (Sivoia QS Triathlon and select Sivoia QS) and can integrate with select A/V and security systems.

The PRO kit, from Gescan is $223.44 and comes with the Smart Bridge PRO, a dimmer (non PRO), Pico Remote and a wall plate.
The Smart Bridge, from Lowes is $219.95 and comes with the Smart Bridge, two dimmers (non PRO), two Pico Remotes, and two wall plates.
I opted for the Pro kit for the added versatility.

Next up, dimmers and switches.

There are three, well now four, different options for dimmers and switches with Caseta.

Dimmer PD-6WCL regularly $82.10 on sale now for $59.97 or at Lowes for $64.99

This is the regular dimmer. It doesn’t need a neutral wire and works with compatible dimmable LED’s up to a maximum of 150W and incandescent and halogen bulbs up to a maximum of 600W. If you want to use it in a 3way situation you pair it with a Pico remote.

Dimer Pro PD-10NXD regularly $105.95 on sale now for $75.97

The PRO dimmer works with most types of lights and increases the maximum wattage. MLV up to 1000VA, compatible dimmable LED’s up to a maximum of 250W and incandescent and halogen bulbs up to a maximum of 1000W. One of the things I like about the PRO dimmer is the extra option you have to deal with a 3way location. As with the regular dimmer you can pair it with a Pico remote, however, you also have the option of pairing it with a regular toggle switch. I wasn’t excited about having a bunch of Pico’s mounted in the wall plates that would run out of battery and force me to take off the plate each time. So this was a perfect solution for me. That second location has to be an on/off toggle switch, you can’t use a dimmer. Since I plan to use my phone or voice to control the lights, this isn’t an issue for me.

Switch PRO PD-5WS regularly $87.29 on sale now for $69.97
Switch PD-6ANS

The two switches seem pretty similar. Both can use toggle switches in 3way stations and both can control fans. I installed one on my master bathroom fan.

The new one is the PD-5NE. This one looks like a Pico Remote but is a hardwired switch. Works with all load types, has a favourite button, but no option for a toggle switch in 3way.

A note about the maximum wattages. I just learned this whilst reading the instructions AFTER installing everything. All of the switches and dimmers have tabs on the side of them which make them wider than a normal switch. In the instructions they show removing those tabs when installing in a multi-gang box. What I didn’t read until after is that the more of those tabs you remove, the lower the maximum wattage becomes. For example, if you have one PRO dimmer by itself with the tabs intact you have a maximum wattage for halogen and incandescent bulbs of 1000W. Now let’s say you have three of those dimmers grouped together in the same box. You remove the tabs on one side for two of the dimmers and on both sides for the middle dimmer. Your maximum wattage for the outside dimmers has dropped to 800W and for the middle dimmer has dropped to 600W. Just something to keep in mind before removing a bunch of the side tabs if you don’t need to.

Overall I’m pretty happy with the system. I like that it will turn lights on for me when I return home so I don’t enter a dark house, or how I can set it to turn on and off lights when I’m away. I like that I can control it with Siri but have also looked at getting an Amazon Dot so I don’t have to pull my phone out.

I do wish I could control it a bit more though. This could be me not fully learning it yet but I can’t figure out how to get lights to turn off at a certain time. I can see where to schedule them to turn on but it doesn’t give you an option for turning them off. I would like to be able to do things like turn my Christmas Lights on at sunset and off at midnight or have a shower scene where when turning it on it turns on my bathroom lights and fan and then automatically turns off after 30 mins. Maybe that is something I can do with Home Kit.

[rage2]

Originally posted by cet
I do wish I could control it a bit more though. This could be me not fully learning it yet but I can’t figure out how to get lights to turn off at a certain time. I can see where to schedule them to turn on but it doesn’t give you an option for turning them off. I would like to be able to do things like turn my Christmas Lights on at sunset and off at midnight or have a shower scene where when turning it on it turns on my bathroom lights and fan and then automatically turns off after 30 mins. Maybe that is something I can do with Home Kit.

You can do it from the Lutron app or Homekit.

In the Lutron app on the main page, Press + under scenes, select Schedules, + again to add a schedule, name it, set the schedule and time, then select the lights you want to turn off and choose the off setting for that light.

On the Homekit side of things, you create a scene first, so press + on the main page and add scene. Add your accessories, then force touch (or hold down if you don't have force touch) to choose what you want to do (turn off) for each accessory. Once that's done, go to Automation, set up a schedule and choose that scene.

The advantage of doing it on the Homekit side is that the scene can use devices from different manufactures that's on your homekit. For example, my 11pm scene turns off outside lights, closes all my blinds, and locks my doors.

There is no automation (currently) that can turn something on for a set duration of time, then turn off. The closest is using the upcoming Hue motion sensor, but I'm not even sure if motion sensor can work under Homekit rules, or if it only works under Hue's rules for control. The motion sensor can turn on lights in certain time windows (ie only between sunset and sunrise) and turn off after no motion for a set period of time.

[phreezee]

Originally posted by phreezee

Originally posted by killramos
I'm confused, with the kits it comes with 2 pieces that the instructions say go near the opener?

There is the big puck ( hub ) which talks to opener and connects to wifi. Then smaller puck which is the door sensor?

Can the big puck really be in my house across the yard and still work?

This is what I am talking about: http://www.chamberlain.com/smartphon...odel-myq-g0201

I have this one.
The hub goes on the garage ceiling and needs to be within wifi-range. The door sensor has to be in line of sight of the hub for it to sense if it's closed or open. So no, the hub cannot be in your house.

You can add lamp switches using the MyQ hub also... not sure if you can do that with the $119 one.

Update on this one.
New house has 2 MyQ compatible Liftmasters and I was able to use the Chamberlain MyGarage hub from the old house without the door sensors! So technically the hub could be in the house.

I've got 2 garage doors, a lamp and the front exterior lights working on MyQ now.

[cet]

Originally posted by rage2

You can do it from the Lutron app or Homekit.

In the Lutron app on the main page, Press + under scenes, select Schedules, + again to add a schedule, name it, set the schedule and time, then select the lights you want to turn off and choose the off setting for that light.

On the Homekit side of things, you create a scene first, so press + on the main page and add scene. Add your accessories, then force touch (or hold down if you don't have force touch) to choose what you want to do (turn off) for each accessory. Once that's done, go to Automation, set up a schedule and choose that scene.

The advantage of doing it on the Homekit side is that the scene can use devices from different manufactures that's on your homekit. For example, my 11pm scene turns off outside lights, closes all my blinds, and locks my doors.

So in the Lutron app I essentially have to set two schedules then. One for turning the lights on and one for turning them off. That seems a bit cumbersome but I guess will work no problem.

I haven't tried playing around with the Homekit scheduling yet because I don't have an Apple TV. My iPad is at home most of the time so I think I'll try setting that up as the hub for now.

I'm assuming when controlling everything through the Homekit you don't add any scenes to Lutron? That would help getting around the duplicate naming.

[rage2]

You can mix and match. Right now all my scenes and triggers are in HomeKit for simplicity sake but there are use cases to mix and match. For example, if you want a schedule to happen x minutes before or after sunset, HomeKit doesn't support this while Lutron does. A schedule like that would make sense sitting on the Lutron side.

[cet]

got it - thanks for clearing up some of the scheduling quirks.

[rage2]

No probs. Eventually HomeKit would incorporate more complexity in its allowable rules. We didn't even get sunset based triggers till iOS 10. In iOS 9 it only had sunset based time qualifiers (i.e. Enable scene when I arrive home between sunset and sunrise).

Edit - another interesting thing to note is scene naming for different manufacturers. While Lutron scenes do not export out to HomeKit scenes because of features such as sunset offsets, that may change in the future. Hue scenes all export to HomeKit. So as a general rule of thumb you should use unique names to not cause problems with future updates.

[cet]

Hopefully we will see more products and things will become more robust as more companies and consumers jump in to DIY home automation

[rage2]

Ya HomeKit and other iot/automation platforms are still in its infancy. HomeKit is not terrible where we're at today and it's gotten to the point where setup is a little convuluted but once it's setup the usability is simple enough that even kids can handle using it without help and reliable enough where there's very little maintenance after it's running. Probably the most mature single platform solution today with the exception of hardware support because of Apple being anal with security.

[ZeroGravity]

Setup the hue white ambiance kit as wake up lights in the kids' room as a test last weekend. Now I've ordered a Caseta kit. Thanks to you folks who've detailed how to "by pass" 3 / 4-way switches. More money gone

Looking at the available kits / models in the Caseta line, I imagine I will have an excess of pico remotes in the future when I expand my setup. Bare in-wall dimmer for 65 or in-wall dimmer + remote for 70

[Xtrema]

So with all these people with Hue systems, when are they going to be all bricked by someone doing Zigbee war flying or driving?



http://www.techhive.com/article/3138...m-the-sky.html

[rage2]

The fix came out a month ago, I'm good to go. Until the next exploit.

[cet]

Anyone having issues with apps not connecting to things at the moment?

It started yesterday in the afternoon; I'm having issues with three apps.

Telus Optik TV remote app and the app for my amplifier both won't connect to their respective boxes from my phone. However, both work fine when used on my iPad.

HomeKit takes forever to communicate with Lutron. It takes over a minute to update on the status of any lights or change the settings. Siri now just says that she hasn't had a response when trying to use voice commands to turn lights on and off. The Lutron app works fine from my phone.

I have tried rebooting the router, reconnecting to wifi, turning off my phone and starting it up again and nothing has worked.

[ZeroGravity]

Originally posted by cet
Anyone having issues with apps not connecting to things at the moment?

It started yesterday in the afternoon; I'm having issues with three apps.

Telus Optik TV remote app and the app for my amplifier both won't connect to their respective boxes from my phone. However, both work fine when used on my iPad.

HomeKit takes forever to communicate with Lutron. It takes over a minute to update on the status of any lights or change the settings. Siri now just says that she hasn't had a response when trying to use voice commands to turn lights on and off. The Lutron app works fine from my phone.

I have tried rebooting the router, reconnecting to wifi, turning off my phone and starting it up again and nothing has worked.

Probably unrelated, but for the past couple of days, my reprogrammed (using iConnect Hue) Philips Hue dimmer remote seems to be slow / unresponsive to trigger the Hue lights / strips. Hue app itself still seems to be fine most of the time, even though sometimes light status show unreachable. My lutron lights seems fine. Haven't checked homekit connection for either set.

[rage2]

No Homekit issues yesterday. Was actually demo'ing it to a neighbor. Worked fine both locally and remotely.

The Hue problem, I get this once every 3 or 4 months. I unplug and re plug in the Hue hub and it fixes it. Really annoying when it happens because the switches are all useless.

[ZeroGravity]

Originally posted by rage2

The Hue problem, I get this once every 3 or 4 months. I unplug and re plug in the Hue hub and it fixes it. Really annoying when it happens because the switches are all useless.

Good to know. Doing the light fade manually on the hue app while waiting for my son to fall asleep two nights on a row Will unplug the hue hub tonight.

[cet]

So whatever that issue was that I was having yesterday seems to have cleared itself up. When I got home yesterday everything was working as it should.