Plug it in and switch it on & off?
** The HomeKit Thread **
- Thread starter Valo
- Start date
Plug it in and switch it on & off?
Good to know the Tradfri range is good. That's some interesting information and potentially an interesting development if Ikea decide to switch to ZLL standard, keeping my fingers crossed they decide to support HomeKit natively as well though.
Elgato Eve Energy Review
When I found out that Elgato had released a UK version of their smart power plug with HomeKit support, I was eager to try it out and see how well the HomeKit ecosystem works.
I originally picked two up and got them as Christmas presents, so I’ve been using them for a few months now. I recently picked up a third and decided to snap a few pictures and write this quick review after setting it up.
What’s in The Box?
1x Elgato Eve Energy Plug
1x Eve Energy Quick Start Guide with HomeKit Code
1x Instruction/Safety Instructions Booklet
Setup
The plug itself is well built and also features a manual on/off switch on the top with green status LED.
Just like with any Apple product, setup is incredibly easy. Once you have downloaded the Eve app from the App Store you simply use that to configure the plug by plugging it in and powering it on and following the instructions within the Eve app, using the camera on your iPhone to scan the HomeKit code either on the side of plug or on the back of the Quick Start Guide in the box.
The App will then ask you to name the plug and where it's located by a creating room. The name you give it will be used when communicating with the device by Siri, by creating a room it allows you to group multiple HomeKit accessories together, making it easier to see and manage multiple HomeKit devices you have on a room by room bases and allows you to create a HomeKit Scenes, a way to trigger multiple devices together within the Eve app and Apple's own Home app.
Any configuration you do within the Eve app passes through to Apple's own Home app and vicsa-versa. As long as iCloud HomeKit syncing is also enabled these changes are then synced across your connected devices.
The Eve app can also give you figures for Consumption, how much power the item plugged in to the plug is using, along with Projected and Actual Costs this is accurate as long as you enter in to the app your cost per KW/H for electricity you are charged. This feature is only available via the Eve app and does not feed through to Apple's Home app.
Conclusion
All in all it is a good product but you do pay a premium for a HomeKit enabled smart plug when compared to other non-HomeKit versions like Belkin WeMo for instance.
Reliability has been great, I've never had a problem either while at home or from outside switching devices on or off with manual or Siri commands being unsucessful. There is a delay of a few seconds between commands been given and results occurring but it's perfectly acceptable in my view.
Elgato have an interesting range of HomeKit enabled accessories which is steadily increasing. Eve Energy is well built product and I'd be interested to see how well their other products work with one and other.
When I found out that Elgato had released a UK version of their smart power plug with HomeKit support, I was eager to try it out and see how well the HomeKit ecosystem works.
I originally picked two up and got them as Christmas presents, so I’ve been using them for a few months now. I recently picked up a third and decided to snap a few pictures and write this quick review after setting it up.
What’s in The Box?
1x Elgato Eve Energy Plug
1x Eve Energy Quick Start Guide with HomeKit Code
1x Instruction/Safety Instructions Booklet
Setup
The plug itself is well built and also features a manual on/off switch on the top with green status LED.
Just like with any Apple product, setup is incredibly easy. Once you have downloaded the Eve app from the App Store you simply use that to configure the plug by plugging it in and powering it on and following the instructions within the Eve app, using the camera on your iPhone to scan the HomeKit code either on the side of plug or on the back of the Quick Start Guide in the box.
The App will then ask you to name the plug and where it's located by a creating room. The name you give it will be used when communicating with the device by Siri, by creating a room it allows you to group multiple HomeKit accessories together, making it easier to see and manage multiple HomeKit devices you have on a room by room bases and allows you to create a HomeKit Scenes, a way to trigger multiple devices together within the Eve app and Apple's own Home app.
Any configuration you do within the Eve app passes through to Apple's own Home app and vicsa-versa. As long as iCloud HomeKit syncing is also enabled these changes are then synced across your connected devices.
The Eve app can also give you figures for Consumption, how much power the item plugged in to the plug is using, along with Projected and Actual Costs this is accurate as long as you enter in to the app your cost per KW/H for electricity you are charged. This feature is only available via the Eve app and does not feed through to Apple's Home app.
Conclusion
All in all it is a good product but you do pay a premium for a HomeKit enabled smart plug when compared to other non-HomeKit versions like Belkin WeMo for instance.
Reliability has been great, I've never had a problem either while at home or from outside switching devices on or off with manual or Siri commands being unsucessful. There is a delay of a few seconds between commands been given and results occurring but it's perfectly acceptable in my view.
Elgato have an interesting range of HomeKit enabled accessories which is steadily increasing. Eve Energy is well built product and I'd be interested to see how well their other products work with one and other.
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Associate
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Anyone been trying out the new Hue Lab beta stuff?
I don't have a motion sensor, are the new actions useful?
I don't have a motion sensor, are the new actions useful?
apparently Tradfri will get homekit support in October (of note Ikea didn't mention which year...)
spotted this on a developers forum in a post about getting access to an open API for it
fingers crossed
That would be great if it's true. Keeping my fingers crossed as well
or £12 from IKEA. The latter is wife-friendly... (just)
Associate
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You can buy a wifi kettle now, which does boil on command
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" LightwaveRF - http://lightwaverf.com Already an established name in the home automation field in the UK. They are actively working on adding HomeKit support to their entire product range."
Don't hold your breath. They have been saying that for over 18 months.
After an initial flurry of activity, announcing that Apple were "helping them work on it" they went very quiet and admitted it was more involved than they had thought. When pushed they refused to give any time estimate, and things like Alexa support (which is very welcome) and completely rewriting their app have all happened since.
At best you will need a new Lightwave hub- More likely they will never add it.
I would love to be proven wrong, especially if Apple do release an Alexa-style solution.
Don't hold your breath. They have been saying that for over 18 months.
After an initial flurry of activity, announcing that Apple were "helping them work on it" they went very quiet and admitted it was more involved than they had thought. When pushed they refused to give any time estimate, and things like Alexa support (which is very welcome) and completely rewriting their app have all happened since.
At best you will need a new Lightwave hub- More likely they will never add it.
I would love to be proven wrong, especially if Apple do release an Alexa-style solution.
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Only minutes after I wrote that, I read in this article http://appleinsider.com/articles/17...new-ecobee-4-thermostat-more-devices-shipping that Apple have removed Lightwave from their compatibility list
"Also stricken from the list is the LightwaveRF Link 2. There is little actual information about the product, but on April 18, the company said on Facebook that HomeKit integration was "currently in development" and it was "contractually obliged not to release any more information" on the the product."
"Also stricken from the list is the LightwaveRF Link 2. There is little actual information about the product, but on April 18, the company said on Facebook that HomeKit integration was "currently in development" and it was "contractually obliged not to release any more information" on the the product."
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I really hope that's not a sign that LightwaveRF aren't going to offer HomeKit support. I've been considering investing in their products, both light switches and plug sockets when the revised Link 2 was available, their products look great and I think are one of the few options in the UK for people to actually create a smart home without buying an adapter plugs like the Elgato Eve above.
Just seen this over on MacRumors: https://www.macrumors.com/2017/04/27/mixtile-hub-wont-support-homekit/
Looks like the Mixtile Hub now won't support HomeKit. Focalcrest are claiming Apple doesn't permit bridge products to compatible with different brand devices, which isn't true as the Philips Hue Bridge works in that very way but granted that is only for a single product. The Mixtile hub would have made every ZigBee and Z-Wave product compatible with HomeKit and with that comes security concerns.
It's a shame but HomeKit is obviously designed from the ground up to be a secure platform so if it was Apple that said no, you can't exactly blame them.
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I love how I can now say 'Hey Siri, turn the lights off' as I'm walking out the door and they all turn off (Philips Hue and Nanoleaf Aurora)
Then when I get home they turn on due to geofencing.
I only need to whip my phone out to change scene. Actually, I could probably do that by voice too, but I forget the scene names and I have 8 on a lock screen widget. I should make a cheat sheet and get in the habit of doing it by voice.
Then when I get home they turn on due to geofencing.
I only need to whip my phone out to change scene. Actually, I could probably do that by voice too, but I forget the scene names and I have 8 on a lock screen widget. I should make a cheat sheet and get in the habit of doing it by voice.
Soldato
So how do you get this to work? I thought the "Hey Siri" only worked when iPhone/iPad was plugged in etc... would be quite interesting if there is a way around this (I have thought about using an old iPad and having it constantly plugged in so I can use "hey siri".
I use my iPhone, looks like you need a 6S or later or an iPad Pro or later to use it untethered
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204389
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204389
Oh, apparently Apple's response to the Amazon Echo should be here soon:
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/05/01/apple-siri-smart-speaker-kgi-wwdc/
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/05/01/apple-siri-smart-speaker-kgi-wwdc/
Will be interested to see how this will perform. In my view Siri will need a major revamp, almost a brain transplant to make it work!
This is something I'm really hoping for in iOS 11 and the next version of macOS....Siri needs to be made smarter or Apple risk being left behind even more so by the competition.