Homebridge, retrieve accessories information & status

Having Homebridge(HB) up and running it's simple to retrieve and visualize status or measurements from accessories.

For example I'm using the Aeotec MultiSensor 6,(AM6), via the z-way plugin, where I'm sensing the light level. Since Im living in northern Europe it's not very accurate to switch the indoor lightning by sun-rise/set. So instead I'm using the AM6 together with the EVE app to switch the lightning. 

To visualize the measured values over time I'm using NodeRed(NR) and a HomeBridge plugin

Free Gmail mail merge with Sheets

There are several mail merges applications where you can merge information from Google:s "Sheets"(GS), but not so may free ones that are good.

The point using mail merge is that you can personalize your outgoing mails and you will fore sure get a better response rate.  

There should also be said that if you are having a free Gmail account you are limited to 100 outgoing mails per 24 hours.

The first application, free !, handles the merge via a GS with a built in JavaScript macro and in the second application, 25 free mails per 24 hours(limit in app), the merge is done via an installed GS add-on with many nice functions.

Eniro charts using SignalK & Freeboard

Do you know about the SignalK workspace at Slack ? It's a really nice space where you could meet the developers and also get support.

If you don't are active there you can get an invite filling in your e-mail adress at

http://slack-invite.signalk.org

I'm following the dialog on Slack and for some weeks ago I stumbled over a post from @chris saying that you could get, with internet connection, the online charts from Eniro displayed in Freeboard. As you see in the picture it's just for the Nordic countries.

Another post installing offline charts.

WeatherLink weather template

Updated 2022-02-21 !

If You are interested in building Your own weathersite with information from Davis Weatherlink(DWL), and don't are a skilled programmer I can really recommend Node-Red(NR). In this post I give an example how to start with the NR dashboard GUI and DWL V1 API.

!! Please note new version with the latest v2 API !!

If You want a more advanced weather site/template this is a very nice one coded in PHP.

Raspberry and external storage/disk

There is a post, link will follow below, from the Raspberry Org site which is very informativ and handles how to connect your external hard disk, SSD, or USB stick to any of the USB ports on the Raspberry Pi(RPi), and "mount" the file system to access the data stored on it. 

So there is no need for a rewrite and this post will therefore continue with how to connect to a Windows server, (Other SMB or Samba servers will also work), both temporary and automagically at boot. 

Check this post RPi booting from an USB drive !

Kamado gasket glue

The gasket on our Kamado Joe was falling off after a very hot pizza cooking project. After some Googling, search link here, I found several post where people, to my surprise, used 3M™ Super 77™ Multipurpose Spray Adhesive.

I'm surprised due to it's just specified to handle up to 65 °C, 150 °Fahrenheit. 

It was also not available in the nearest shops so searching a bit further I found ...

Speedtest vs ISP and at home

Updated 2020-11-30 !

Sometimes you are doubtful about the performance of your home network, or versus the ISP, and wonder, where is the bottleneck ?

After some Googling I found some favorite applications, implemented on a cable connected Raspberry PI(RPi), which do the job so You can start measure and stop guessing.

A speedtest, 

• checking Your ISP, with just a bash script
• for Your home network

SignalK, stream data changes

Are You searching for a solution where You want to create graphs and gauges from SignalK(SK) data ?

Use NodeRed(NR), installed as a SK plugin, with the standard dashboard and it's easy to create info as seen in the picture. And this is without a database as InfluxDB and tools like Grafana.

You use the WebSocket interface and subscribe to any change of data from the SK server. 

Homebridge, autostart with systemd

Updated 2020-07-10 !

systemd is service manger which autostart jobs and it will even restart the Homebridge(HB) job if it fails !  

Keep it simple !! New post with a script which handles the setup automagically !! or use the latest HB install where this is included.

Other HomeKit posts on this Blogg

VHF antenna splitter, receive

During my AIS project with SDR:s as receivers I built my own antenna for use at home, a standard DIY dipol antenna. 

I connected the dipol, to SDR antenna input, with an a female SMA extension cable which I cut it in two pieces and soldered to the dipol. 

For the boat I didn't want an extra VHF antenna so....

SignalK, measuring temperature II

An introduction to the SignalK(SK), Marine application, is given here.

A very easy way to measure temperatures with SK is to use one wire (1W) DS18B20 (DS)temperature sensors. 

In a former post the DS:s where connected direkt to the RPi GPIO:s, but in this post they are WiFi enabled via the Shelly 1(S1). Alarms are also sent when the temperature exceeds a set value.

If humidity is of interest You can use a  DHT22 sensor instead of a DS sensor.

HomeKit, Z-Wave, Telldus Live, and...

Updated 2023-10-10 !

You can use one  Raspberry Pi to

• Make Your home automation devices appear in the Apple Home App
• Being the Z-Wave controller
• HomeKit enable Your Z-Wave devices
• HomeKit enable Your devices registered at Telldus Live
• HomeKit enable IKEA Trådfri devices 
• Homekit enable temperature with sensor  DS18B20
• HomeKit enable Broadband speed

If You have other products there are more than 4200 plugins available

A new simple install  !! is found here so skip the below info if you aren't interested of the old way!

HomeKit showing Humidity & Internetspeed

From AppleWatch

Strange mixture ? Humidity & Internetspeed ? 

With HomeKit You can't show Your measured Internet speed in a proper way,  X Mbit/s. So why not show it in % ? the measured speed compared to the one You purchased from Your ISP(Internet Service Provider) ? 

So now You see the point..... Humidity is also in % and can be displayed in the Home app. The only "if" is that the speed is displayed along with a "water drop"..... but maybe You can live with that ? 

HomeKit with "ANY" temperature source

From AppleWatch

As long as it's possible to retrieve information, in some way, from a sensor OR a website/webserver, with temperature information, it's possible to show it in HomeKit with HomeBridge(HB).

In this post NodeRed(NR) is retrieving the temperature from Your selected source and is also acting as the WEB endpoint for the HB  "homebridge-http-temperature" plugin.

In my case I wanted an outside temperature so used the measurements from our Davis Weather station and their JSON REST API but it could for example be Your Raspberry CPU temp or showing the speed of Your Internet connection.

Underfloor heating hack

I have tried to find some basics how a standard underfloor control system is regulating the heating, but haven't, so started with checking up our own temperature control system from LK(TCS).

I used Node-Red, with Raspberry Pi(RPi), sensing when the TCS applied voltage to the actuator. Since the actuator is running on 24 VAC and the input on a GPIO PIN is maximum 3,3 VDC I used a optocoupler to level shift. Schematics below

Please find another post here where I realized, using Shelly 1 and NodeRed, the regulating of the underfloor !!

Raspberry LCD displays

There are many displays for Raspberry Pi and following some of the manufacturers instructions isn't always so easy.

But there are scripts available which will make it very simple.

As an example, in this post, I will install the LCD touch display from Joy-IT RB-TFT3.2-V2. The size is 3,2" with a resolution of 320 x 240, has a touch display and comes with 3 buttons.

Homebridge update installation on RPi

Updated 2023-10-27 !

! The latest information on Homebridge update is found here ! 

Start updating the Homebridge(HB) installation, after You logged on to the RPi, with;

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

If You are using HOOBS or Homebridge with UX their updates can be done via respective GUI interface. HB also have a function to update Node.js. In other words, the info below is more like "nice to know".

Battery cables for cars & boats, DIY

At higher outputs, current, from the batteries I had detected an increasing voltage drop. So I decided to change and update the supply cables from the batteries, see picture, to a more correct solution. 

The solution was

• Cable lugs on all cables
• The lug is crimped and soldered to the cable
• Heat shrink tubes, with glue, to cover the transition between the lug and cable
• Battery terminals with M10 distributer

OpenPlotter V2, NMEA or SignalK data TO file

A newer post on the same subject !!

If You want to capture Your data from a sailing trip there are several ways. Here I will check out these

• SignalK delta, via plugin signalk-data-logger 
• NMEA 0183(N1), via netcat
• NMEA 2000(N2), via actisense-serial

If you then want to use these files as input for OpenPlotter, OpenCPN or SignalK check out this post.

OpenPlotter V2, NMEA or SignalK data FROM file

A newer post on the same subject !!

The easiest way to test Your OpenPlotter, OpenCPN or SignalK(SK) applications is to use the supplied sample files in SK.

Another way is to capture Your own data from a sailing trip, which is described here. Then You can use them instead of the supplied sample files.

Node-Red & Mosquitto quick install

A fantastic way to distribute data between devices is using MQTT. In this post I will do a quick and simple setup with Node-Red(NR) and the Mosquitto(MQ) broker on a Raspberry Pi.

Very short, the Broker, installed on a server, handles incoming Publishing and Subscriptions from clients. Every published Message is "linked" to a Topic. All Subscribers use a Topic to "link" to the right Message.

How to install Node-Red(NR) is found here and the MQ manual here.

Homebridge, autostart made simple

There have been some questions about how to handle Homebridge, (HB), autostart at power on and restart at failure using Raspberry Pi OS systemd. 

Please note that, in the later versions, the HB installation handles this !!

I have written a post how to manually set it up but now in this post I will present a script which handles it automagically !! 

Despite this simple set up I recommend using the app " hb-service", which is installed together with "homebridge-config-ui-x"

How to install HB is found here !