Home Assistant beginners

Bluecube said:
If you keep your Hue Hub then I'm 99% certain you can have your lights in HomeKit and so controllable by Siri whilst also having them in HA through the Hue integration.
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But surely the Hue Bridge can only connect to one or the other? If I move it from HomeKit to HA, won't all the HomeKit automations and controls then fail?
 
Feek said:
But surely the Hue Bridge can only connect to one or the other? If I move it from HomeKit to HA, won't all the HomeKit automations and controls then fail?
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My understanding is that HA and HomeKit simply send commands to the Hue Hub. They don’t have any exclusive use of the hub. Certainly HA connects to the Hue Hub via the cloud and just sends commands that’s way

EDIT: also, HA automations are exclusive to HA and stay on HA. HomeKit automations reside on HomeKit. As neither have exclusive use of the hub, all automations and controls on both set ups should work. I say “should” because you know how it can go…
 
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Feek said:
But surely the Hue Bridge can only connect to one or the other?
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I don't think so.

I use the Hue app and HA to control the same bulbs/devices. They work independently but synchronous i.e. no issues turning a bulb off and it showing off state in the other app.

I also have Hue connected to Alexa and the same situation. I have automations in Alexa and Hue. Nothing is locked down.
 
Looking to get my Hikvision to show in Apple home through ha as I find the dashboard easier for family, anyone done this?
 
Bluecube said:
My understanding is that HA and HomeKit simply send commands to the Hue Hub. They don’t have any exclusive use of the hub. Certainly HA connects to the Hue Hub via the cloud and just sends commands that’s way

EDIT: also, HA automations are exclusive to HA and stay on HA. HomeKit automations reside on HomeKit. As neither have exclusive use of the hub, all automations and controls on both set ups should work. I say “should” because you know how it can go…
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I'd agree with this, I had hue integrated into HA for years whilst my OH preferred to just use the Hue App, no problems coexisting so I can't see why home kit would be any different.

After years of use I've actually started moving my hue bulbs and sensors over to ZHA as I feel like my bridge is starting to play up (had a few instances where it became wedged). Not to mention it's getting on for probably 8 years old now. My new SMLight coordinator can be powered by PoE (so doesn't take up an extra plug) it also has significantly better range and I believe device limits have a significant upgrade too.
 
This might overlap with some of the recent discussions ITT, so I'm sorry if that's the case, but I'm just starting my home automation journey, and some of it is going over my head.

I've just got a couple of Hue bulbs, a Hue Bridge, and a Hue dimmer switch for my kitchen. My plan is to upgrade all the bulbs throughout the house slowly, but that's a long-term project.

I have a more immediate need for a smart plug or two — I saw the four-gang Tapo strip that @Feek put in the 'Images of items I have purchased' thread, and they look perfect for what I'm after.

However, I would like to be able to turn the whole strip on/off with a single button like the Tapo S200B. I know I can do it from the phone, but I also want to make this wife-proof.

Am I right in thinking that I would also need a Tapo Bridge to go with my Hue Bridge?

It starts to get a bit overkill, so I was thinking I could just get a Hue smart plug and plug a dumb 4-gang extension into it. I'd miss out on the energy usage data and the ability to control each gang separately, but it would be considerably cheaper. Although once I've got the Tapo plug(s), switch(es) and bridge, I would be future-proofing for future additions.

Is that all correct? What would you do?

Is there a 'universal bridge' that could replace the current Hue bridge and the Tapo bridge (and any other devices further down the line?

I'm Mac-based, so any solution that's Mac-friendly would be appreciated.

Thanks all.
 
Irish_Tom said:
This might overlap with some of the recent discussions ITT, so I'm sorry if that's the case, but I'm just starting my home automation journey, and some of it is going over my head.

I've just got a couple of Hue bulbs, a Hue Bridge, and a Hue dimmer switch for my kitchen. My plan is to upgrade all the bulbs throughout the house slowly, but that's a long-term project.

I have a more immediate need for a smart plug or two — I saw the four-gang Tapo strip that @Feek put in the 'Images of items I have purchased' thread, and they look perfect for what I'm after.

However, I would like to be able to turn the whole strip on/off with a single button like the Tapo S200B. I know I can do it from the phone, but I also want to make this wife-proof.

Am I right in thinking that I would also need a Tapo Bridge to go with my Hue Bridge?

It starts to get a bit overkill, so I was thinking I could just get a Hue smart plug and plug a dumb 4-gang extension into it. I'd miss out on the energy usage data and the ability to control each gang separately, but it would be considerably cheaper. Although once I've got the Tapo plug(s), switch(es) and bridge, I would be future-proofing for future additions.

Is that all correct? What would you do?

Is there a 'universal bridge' that could replace the current Hue bridge and the Tapo bridge (and any other devices further down the line?

I'm Mac-based, so any solution that's Mac-friendly would be appreciated.

Thanks all.
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Everything you've said is correct. The overkill aspect would be introducing Home Assistant for a relatively small project. You mention you've got a Mac so I'll just say now to avoid confusion that that's not relevant unless you plan on installing Home Assistant as a VM which is opening up a whole new can of worms...

To control your Hue and Tapo devices without HA, you need hubs for both brands and the corresponding apps on your phone/ tablet. The universal bridge you mention would be a Zigbee co-ordinator that you'd plug into your Home Assistant set up. This would communicate with your Hue and Tapo devices (I'm assuming the Tapo stuff is Zigbee as it needs a hub) and allow HA to control them. Looking forward, any Zigbee devices from other brands would be connected via the co-ordinator without the need for hubs - very useful! In my own case, I have devices from six different manufacturers connected to just one co-ordinator.
 
Bluecube said:
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Thanks, Bluecube, that's really helpful.

You're right; it's definitely overkill for one small project. However, if I go big on it now, it's something I can build on, like slowly adding Hue bulbs everywhere.

I'll have a look into the options and weigh up whether it's worth the up-front cost.

Appreciate the detailed reply. :)
 
I don't have any zigbee stuff at all on my HA and I don't have a Tapo hub.

All my Tapo stuff is Matter. First I scanned the barcodes and added them to HomeKit. Then I opened the Tapo app, the sockets/strips were detected and I added them in there.

Then I go to Home Assistant and to the TP-Link Smart Home integration and they're all detected. I just needed to log on with my TP-Link account details and they all show up in HA.
 
Very interesting to hear about Matter devices working so smoothly without a hub. I’ve never seen any Matter devices that I need so I’ve not tried them yet.
 
Feek said:
I don't have any zigbee stuff at all on my HA and I don't have a Tapo hub.

All my Tapo stuff is Matter. First I scanned the barcodes and added them to HomeKit. Then I opened the Tapo app, the sockets/strips were detected and I added them in there.

Then I go to Home Assistant and to the TP-Link Smart Home integration and they're all detected. I just needed to log on with my TP-Link account details and they all show up in HA.
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Feek, do you have any accessories to control your Tapo stuff? Like the Tapo S200B smart button? Or do you do it all through your phone?

It says a Tapo Hub is required to use it (although I assume any Zigbee Coordinator would work), so interested to know if there's another way.
 
I think the HomePods act as matter hubs but I've never done any configuration. The Tapo sockets and extension leads do connect to the WiFi though.
 
LuckyBenski said:
I believe they just work over WiFi (or ethernet).
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Matter is a protocol and can run over Thread, WiFi, Ethernet or Bluetooth.

Thread runs in the same frequency range as 2.4Ghz WiFi and Zigbee but is different to both. Like Zigbee its a mesh network so benefits from that and like Zigbee is a low power system which avoids the excess latency which low power WiFi devices often do.
 
LuckyBenski said:
I believe they just work over WiFi (or ethernet).
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Or Thread. Thread is the interesting "new" connection protocol. I don't know any details but it's supposedly much better than other wifi protocols for connecting IoT devices. Matter over Thread has been promised for years now and I'm still waiting to see mainstream devices using it.
 
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