great episode. already had Nest cams, sprinkler, garage door, and thermostats…but didn’t have the lights. Philips Hue starter kit arrived today…a big hit in our household and I strongly suspect we will soon be parting with more $$$ to Phillips.
Only issue I had with Philips Hue setup was trying to force my iPhone to join the 2.4 Ghz version of my internet. Finally with help of Philips customer service (surprisingly helpful and answered phone), I was able to figure out that Eero allows a temporary suspension of 5 Ghz so I could connect the Hue bridge to app on my phone.
After listening, I eagerly set up Homebridge so I could connect my Ring doorbell and alarm and my Nest thermostat to the Home app.
I installed it on a Raspberry Pi running Ubuntu Server that’s always on (it’s both a Plex server and a full desktop environment that I can always have access to, even if all I have with me is my iPad).
Installing Homebridge was really straightforward, as was installing and configuring the Ring plugin. Configuring the Nest plugin was a bit trickier, but took only a couple minutes of Googling.
What drove me bonkers was trying to figure out why the Home app wouldn’t connect to Homebridge. It could see it was there, but it steadfastly refused to talk to it. After a lot of Googling and experimentation, I finally figured it out.
If you’re running a firewall on the machine where you install Homebridge, check the “bridge” section of the config file, and check the “port” entry. Make sure that port is allowed through the firewall. D’oh!
Just listened to this episode and can recommend this handy device for when you are home if you’re worried about someone hacking your smart lock. I had one on all my exterior doors for when I was home. I didn’t worry about people breaking in when I was gone. I was more worried about people breaking in when my wife or kids were home without me.
I’ve had a Hue Lightstrip and extension intended as under-cabinet lighting in my kitchen sitting around for a while now. This episode finally inspired me to install them and set up another Hue switch to control my kitchen lights.
This was a great episode gave me some great ideas to tweak my existing HomeKit automations and add some more devices to my home bridge that I was debating on. Mikah definitely had me dropping some money with the smart plugs in door and out door. Has anyone tried to add ir devices to HomeKit?
