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Fibaro HomeKit bridge


jelockwood

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Currently Fibaro only produce a limited number of HomeKit devices, furthermore these devices are then HomeKit only devices and do not support integrating with other systems like Amazon Alexa. Clearly this is limiting both on the choice of products available from Fibaro with HomeKit support and if you do chose those few models with HomeKit support you are then locked in to only having HomeKit support.

 

An alternative approach used by many manufacturers  is to use a bridge between devices that themselves do not have HomeKit support thereby 'bridging' them to your network and then also providing HomeKit support. This is the approach used by many Zigbee device manufacturers e.g. Philips Hue and now also recently Belkin Wemo along with a number of others, it is also the approach used by manufacturers of various proprietary systems like Lutron, Insteon, Knx and many others.

 

It would therefore seem a better solution if Fibaro produced a bridge between their existing Z-Wave products and HomeKit, it is possible the recentish relaxation by Apple of the requirements to support HomeKit might make this easier. It could also be sadly not possible still under the current Apple rules. Whilst as detailed there are now numerous Zigbee to HomeKit bridges I have yet to see a single Z-Wave to HomeKit bridge.

 

Certainly if Fibaro produced such a bridge for their Z-Wave devices not only would I buy said bridge but this would also enable me to buy many, many Fibaro Z-Wave switches etc. not only am I wanting to buy Fibaro dimmers which are not available in HomeKit form but I do want to support both HomeKit and therefore Siri and also Amazon Alexa.

 

PS. I am aware of the possibility of using the HomeBridge software to unofficially achieve this and may eventually end up doing this but I would much prefer an officially supported solution to avoid the possibility that Apple might block HomeBridge at some point in the future. Based on past Apple behaviour this is a highly likely scenario. Looking at the Skaro Automation Bridge, this looks like a Raspberry Pi with presumably HomeBridge built-in and configured and a prettier front-end.

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hi!

 

short.

as I know FIBARO can't integrate bridge cuz HomeKit is proprietary software and (c) by Apple.

alas

 

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I think any developer could make such bridge, if he/she/it is in MFI (Made for iPod/iPhone/iPad) program, if i'm not mistaken. Since Fibaro manufactures Homekit devices, they most likely are in MFI.

Edited by jakub.jezek
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@jakub.jezek not sure. as far as I remember FIBARO develop LILI for lack of Apple's EULA for developers... with implementing HomeKit protocol the similar situation...

IMHO

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  • Fibaro are indeed one can safely assume a member of the MFI program for HomeKit since their HomeKit (only) devices are listed by Apple themselves in their list of HomeKit products and Fibaro are using the official

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     logo. 

     

    The issue is whether Apple allow a bridge for Z-Wave devices - bridges exist for Zigbee and various proprietary systems like Lutron (Clear Path), LightwaveRF, Insteon, io-HomeControl and KNX, and whether Fibaro have considered doing this. Since this has been done unofficially by HomeBridge etc. I think we can also safely assume it is technically possible. Apple have an entire section for just listing HomeKit bridges - 

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    I don't regard the possibility of such a bridge also being able to support other makes of Z-Wave product an obstacle since the Philips Hue bridge supports not only Philips Hue devices but also other makes of Zigbee device.

     

    Homee is currently beta testing an

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    for their smart home hub to add HomeKit support alongside existing Z-Wave and Zigbee support but it is not clear whether this will be any more of an officially Apple blessed solution than all the previous unofficial ones.

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    @jelockwood Thank you for a detailed response.... Just FYI... we are asking FIBARO more than 2yrs implement posting 

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     (Operations about refresh states) response to MQTT server... no luck

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    • 2 months later...

    HCL is not working properly since over one year: I would be delighted to see   Fibaro offering an home kit Hub allowing existing users (like me),  who invested significantly to install in the house  a lot of Fibaro Devices , to use them properly and integrate with other home kit compatible devices . 

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    • 3 months later...

    I am confident, that if FIBAR Group would get the Home Center certified as bridge for HomeKit it would have much more business. This would mean, that similar to Philips hue, FIBAR Group would enable Z-Wave technology to integrate into the Apple environment. Also it would reduce the need to develop duplicate products for Z-Wave and HomeKit - a cost reduction as such. 

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    23 minutes ago, Fabian.nokia said:

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    I have it ... simply perfect ...

     

     

     

    for non-developers

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    for developers: 

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    5х monetary gain. OMG!

     

    Hey  @petergebruers

    I can propose to create "Peter and O. LTD", I think we will have a pretty nice profit. :D 

     

    nice business

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  •  

    Quote

     

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    I have it ... simply perfect ...

     

    @Fabian.nokia

    This is clearly a standard Raspberry Pi almost certainly running the standard HomeBridge software. As such one could build this ones self at a fraction of the cost.

     

    This therefore is almost certainly not an Apple certified solution meaning it could at any point be blocked by an Apple update.

     

    It should be noted there is already a plugin for the Fibaro HomeCentre 2 which also implements the same free HomeBridge software. See - 

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    Again being unofficial free open source software the risk is Apple will at some point kill it.

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    everything you said is true but ..

     

    you have to know how to assemble a rasberry pi correctly, install it and configure it and not everyone is up to it.

     

    Even painting a house alone costs much less than paying a professional but you have to know how to do it.

     

    for the moment what I can say is that the ”box” works well, I would say that it works better the application of the Apple house compared to the application of the fibaro to recall the scenarios.

     

    if then one day the Apple updates will block all... the patience, for the moment I will have enjoyed it.

     

    :)

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    Unfortunately it doesnt look like Fibaro themselves will update the HC with Homekit functionality :(

    But, Just install 

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     Homebridge on a RPI, Synology NAS or other device in your home and then add the Fibaro module: 

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    Works like a charm, all Fibaro HC/HC2 Z-wave devices become Homekit compatible.

     

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    • 2 months later...
    On 1/20/2019 at 10:02 PM, tcviper said:

    Unfortunately it doesnt look like Fibaro themselves will update the HC with Homekit functionality :(

    But, Just install 

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     Homebridge on a RPI, Synology NAS or other device in your home and then add the Fibaro module: 

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    Works like a charm, all Fibaro HC/HC2 Z-wave devices become Homekit compatible.

     

    I wonder how that plugin compares with the automation bridge.

    I am using this. It has its pros and cons 

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    • 1 month later...

    I resolved ( almost everything ) with this 

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     that is actually working fine for me.

    This is not a final solution, still hoping to have an HC2 with native homekit integration to could benefit of all possible integration.

     

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  • @FilippoFabbrini

    I also am leaning towards getting an Athom Homey.

     

    However be aware that the HomeBridge software, the app for Homey, the Skaro and the solution for HomeCentre2 all use unofficial solutions meaning they could at any point be blocked by Apple.

     

    This is why I would like an official Apple approved solution although in the absence of one we have no choice unless you count getting HomeKit compatible devices as opposed to HomeKit compatible hubs.

     

    In case your interested the Home-Assistant software (alto to run on a Raspberry Pi) not only can convert non-HomeKit devices to HomeKit like the HomeBridge software but uniquely so far can also act as HomeKit client to convert HomeKit devices to be used within Home-Assistant.

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    Also on Homey here now (Pro version), love the Homekit/Google integration and amount of plugins and protocols available.

    Fibaro takes way to long and still does not support simple things like Nest, I switched.

     

    Also Apple is not gonna block Homebridge, ;) absolutely no reason to for them.

     

    *> Home Assistant is way to complicated to setup plus creating flows (scenes) is way to difficult imo. Homey FTW! :)

    Edited by tcviper
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    First approach to homey is not the easiest thing on earth but as said from

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     what I fear is that apple could CUT everything from one update to another. 

    I have a very big home and a big garden, with 2 access gates and a lot of lights and services.

    Actually I have 12 double relay interacting with and old domotic system from CAME. I just put the relay in communication with domotic module so that I can bring the old domotic into homekit ( my focus is to use SIRI ).

    I'm also going to instal around 30 connected devices from Bticino that natively are homekit compatible ( they could be from FIBARO but there is no homekit solutions there for large houses).

    At the end of this story I will have 3 domotic system completely different but all connected to homekit; SAY GOOD LUCK to me.... 

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