Smart home stupidity: Part 3
OK, I promise I've stopped ranting about how Hive is forcing me to buy a hub that I already have. I now bought a new hub and two light bulbs for less than list price on Amazon. Trying to then have the existing Hive devices in the house recognise the new hub was another exercise in patience.
First you have to plug in the hub and wait five minutes. Then you have to switch the boiler off and on. Then you have to hold a button on the Hive receiver for 10 seconds. Then you have to release it and hold it again for 10 seconds. Then you have to hold two buttons on the thermostat for twenty seconds to reset it. Then you try to re-pair everything and wonder why it's not working. Then it suddenly starts working without you changing anything.
Of course Hive doesn't work with Apple's HomeKit, which I already use with an Eve plug. And there's no way I'm buying an Alexa. Open-source to the rescue: There's a project called homebridge which allows you to link other smart home systems, like Hive, to HomeKit. I set it up on a CHIP, the now discontinued $9 single board computer I had lying around in a drawer, and it works pretty well. At least I can now use HomeKit's automation functions, for example turning off the heating automatically when we all leave the house.
Which part is the most fun? Using Siri or my watch to turn the lights on and off of course!