HomeKit bridge with Z-Wave

Updated 2021-05-21 !

These devices are available for Apples HomeKit. The devices are Bluetooth, BLE, or WiFi connected so it could be a limited range in Your house.

The Z-Wave solution have a smarter setup running on a type of network called a "mesh network". One Z-Wave product will pass the signal along to another (“hop”) until the final destination is reached. Every device, not battery charged, acts as a messenger; the more devices you have, the more powerful and strong your network is.

Raspberry USB SSD boot made simple ? Check link 

I like the Apple solution where You for example can switch on the light using Siri. So how to combine them ? 

Prerequisites
The software and installation assumes that You have a Z-Wave controller, V3, up and running on a Raspberry Pi(RPi) and have updated your RPi with 

$ sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade -y && sudo apt clean

Install
The fast way
The fastest, 3 minutes ??, and the simplest !! way to be up and running is using the Z-way plugin Apple HomeKit Gate.

The flexible way
The most flexible/more complicated way, with many add ons for other devices than Z-wave, is the Homebridge(HB) application.

Please ! read Remark below !

So after the HB installation go on and install the Hombridge-Zwave plugin via the UX interface and then go to Checking below. 

Doing it manually  go on with command

$ sudo npm install -g homebridge-zway

If its the first plugin in the HB server copy the config file to the .homebridge/ folder, rename it to config.json and edit it so it matches the requirements for the plugin. Something like this ???

{                                        

    "bridge": {                          

        "name": "Homebridge",            

        "username": "CC:22:3D:E3:CE:30", 

        "port": 51826,                   

        "pin": "031-45-154"              

    },                                   

    "description": "Z-Wave controller",  

    "platforms": [                       

      {                                  

        "platform": "ZWayServer",        

        "url": "http://localhost:8083/", 

        "login": "admin",                

        "password": "admin"              

      }                                  

    ]                                    

} 

If You don't have the Z-Way server at the same RPi change localhost to the actual IP-adress

Start homebridge

$ homebridge

 and if everything goes right it will show

[2018-8-16 11:41:26] Loaded config.json with 0 accessories and 1 platforms.

[2018-8-16 11:41:26] ---

[2018-8-16 11:41:27] Loaded plugin: homebridge-zway

[2018-8-16 11:41:28] Registering accessory 'homebridge-zway.ZWayServer'

[2018-8-16 11:41:28] Registering platform 'homebridge-zway.ZWayServer'

[2018-8-16 11:41:28] ---

[2018-8-16 11:41:28] Loading 1 platforms...

[2018-8-16 11:41:28] [ZWayServer] Initializing ZWayServer platform...

[2018-8-16 11:41:28] Initializing platform accessory 'Switch (2.0)'...

Setup Payload:
X-HM://0023ISYWYGKAF
Scan this code with your HomeKit App on your iOS device to pair with Homebridge:

Or enter this code with your HomeKit app on your iOS device to pair with Homebridge:

                       

    ┌────────────┐     

    │ 031-45-154 │     

    └────────────┘     

                       

[2018-8-16 11:41:29] Homebridge is running on port 51826.

Checking
Run Your iOS App and check that Homebridge and, in this case, the "Switch(2.0)", appears

There is a nice way to force a special behavior in the Homebridge-Zway plugin using Tags. For example using "Homebridge.Skip" on a device will make it not visible in Your Homekit app. In my case i have a Fibaro device with double switch function but I am just using one. Don't wanting to see the other switch in the HomeKit app I just register "Homebridge.Skip" in the Z-Way UI, se picture

If You also use Telldus Live here is a congfig.json for several plugins together.

If not using the UX

• HB autostart at power on and failure, installed with a script !! , is found here.
• Instructions updating the installation is found here

A post for connecting temperature sensors direct to RPi and show in Homekit.

Remark

The used plugin has not been maintained for a long time and have a memory leak, but it works. I have solutions below... 

Solution 1

Restarting the server once a week with a cron job. In a terminal/ssh session issue the command  

$ crontab -e

and add, at the end

0 2 * * 1 sudo reboot

and the server will reboot every Monday morning at 2 o'clock.

Solution 2

There are many forks but checking and testing I found that this one have no memory leak and have updated dependencies. 

With the HB UX installed, and the ordinary z-way plugin, go to ”Plugins” and on the ”Homebridge Zway” box click on the "wrench" and then "Uninstall", DON’T mark the ”Remove Plugin Config ?”, and then click on "UNINSTALL".

In a terminal/ssh session issue the command 

sudo hb-service stop

which will stop the Homebridge service and then install git

sudo apt install git

Manually install the alternative HB

sudo npm install -g wired/homebridge-zway

and start HB again with 

sudo hb-service start

If you don't have the ordinary z-way installed from the beginning. Install, via git, the "wired" plugin, configure the plugin and then restart the server.

Solution 3

There is a new z-way and updated plugin available. Not tested.....