com.swttt.homekit icon indicating copy to clipboard operation
com.swttt.homekit copied to clipboard

Expose amplifier as dimmable light

Open ChrisBrandhorst opened this issue 6 years ago • 4 comments

This one is a bit off, but I'm very happy with how this works at my home.

This PR ensures that an amplifier is exposed as a dimmable lights, so you can turn it on and off and are able to set the volume.

I can understand if this is a bit too much to be mainstream, but maybe we can discuss other ways of achieving this level of control.

ChrisBrandhorst avatar Jan 16 '19 19:01 ChrisBrandhorst

It seems to me that using the HomeKit Speaker service would make more sense although, sadly, that service doesn't include an on/off characteristic.

I'm in the middle of a rewrite of the entire Homey-to-HomeKit mapping process, which should be much more flexible in terms of characteristics that can be assigned to a device.

The only issue is that the standard iOS Home app simply doesn't show custom characteristics, you need a more advanced app like Eve for that.

I'm reluctant to expose an amplifier as a dimmable light though, that just doesn't feel right :) But I will take it under consideration during my rewrite, because in the end, we want to support as much as possible.

robertklep avatar Jan 16 '19 19:01 robertklep

I agree with your reluctancy. I've also come across the Speaker service, but there is some discussion whether it can actually work or not, since it is somehow connected to video doorbells and / or Airplay 2:

  • https://github.com/nfarina/homebridge/issues/1326
  • https://github.com/ebaauw/homebridge-zp/issues/36
  • https://github.com/ebaauw/homebridge-zp/issues/21
  • https://github.com/maximkulkin/esp-homekit/issues/62
  • https://github.com/Supereg/homebridge-http-speaker

I've tried to implement it, but get the "Accessory not supported" message. I'll see if I can dive into this somewhat further.

Another idea, continuing on your rewrite: can we somehow enable users to write "plugins" / "extensions" for this app? That way they can create there one freaky links without it disrupting the mainstream app.

ChrisBrandhorst avatar Jan 17 '19 07:01 ChrisBrandhorst

I think it's better to show users how they can leverage virtual devices to control devices that might not be directly mappable to HomeKit.

For instance, you can create a virtual light with a "dim" capability, which will get exposed to HomeKit, and add flows on Homey to control the amplifier when that virtual light is being changed.

robertklep avatar Jan 17 '19 07:01 robertklep

Yeah, that sounds cool.

ChrisBrandhorst avatar Jan 17 '19 07:01 ChrisBrandhorst