Hubspace Support

[TexJWC]

Home Depot is now selling a line of plugs and switches by Commercial Electric that rely on the Hubspace phone app. Both plugs on an outlet can be named and controlled individually, which is nice.. Could someone please write an intergration (Plugin) to interface these with HS4. I have had to replace failing X10 plugs with these. i now have over 40 in my home. I had purchased the HS deisigner and all and would like to be able to see and access these through HS. Don't know if API is public or not, I do have support phone. These devices are reliable so I am sure more and more folks will be using them in the future. Thanks for your time and consideration. Let me know if I can provide further information.

[Michael McSharry]

There is a Python integration at https://pypi.org/project/hubspace/#description. I took a quick look and it appears it is a reverse engineering of the Android smartphone App. Looks to be oAuth2 on the login using username and password for the Hubspace account. I doubt if anybody has tried to reverse engineer the integration of the device, but only of the communications with the cloud server that the device has been setup via the smartphone App.

This is a cloud-based integration so it is likely not the direction you want to go if replacing X10 that has no internet dependency. There are many options for non-cloud replacements for X10 with different users having strong opinions of one vs. another.

[TexJWC]

Well the ship has kind of already sailed on replacing X10. I have already bought and installed over 40 outlets, 1 switch and some smart bulbs that work with it. Also have learned the hard way about the internet dependence, but it is what is it is. That being said it would still be nice to integrate these devices with HS.They are intergrated with Alexa which is great, but I had bought HS and Designer, and would still like be able at least access these devices through HS. Would be will to pay for a plugin if one was available.

[kenm]

Since it's based on the Afero platform there is some public info available: https://developer.afero.io/

Looks like their cloud has a REST API.

[Kevb]

Can the devices start an Alexa routine? If so, you could have a routine where if Alexa sees the outlet turn on, then turn on a virtual switch in HS. You could monitor the virtual switch. You could also use Node-red to run an Alexa Smart Home routine to turn on the hubspace device when the virtual device is turned on. Basically use Alexa to bridge the two systems. If they can't start a routine, you'll need a different plan.

[TexJWC]

I would think that an Alexa routine could start or turn on a device such as an outlet, but not sure if it works the other way around, device triggering Alexa. That would have to initiated in the Hubspace app I assume?? I have not seen an option to do that within the app. I will play with it some more and see what I can find. That would be good idea if that could work. Is there a way that you know of to see the devices you have in Alexa in the HS4 server web interface, even if just a virtual representation? Sounds promising that there is an API, I am not a programmer, so not real familiar with the Afero platform, etc.How would one turn on a virtual HS switch from with Alexa? Is Node-Red a scrpting language for Alexa?

[ksum]

Home Depot is very good about taking things back even if used. My brother use to work there and they even let someone return a cut Christmas tree after Christmas for a refund. Turning brown and complete with straggling tinsel.

Node-RED is a visual flow-based scripting which has many "contribs" which are like an add-on library to do various tasks. There is no Hubspace contrib, nor one for the above mentioned Afero. There are Alexa contribs and they can be powerful but the "best" is an ever changing thing. I do not use Alexa so I can help SOME with integration. While I have an inexpensive echo plugin unit, I do not have anything associated with it nor have I ever taken the time to try. The idea would be to keep things simple. Apparently trying to get different rooms controlled when multiple Alexa devices can hear the request has proven difficult.

[Kevb]

The routine is done in the Alexa app. Open the Alexa app, and click More on the bottom right. Select Routines. Click on the +. Click on "When this happens", then Smart Home. See if your outlets appear there. If so, then you could control any other device that Alexa sees, including virtual devices in Homeseer. Node-red is a program can connect many different devices. I'm not a programmer either, but following instructions on the forum has helped me use Node-red.

[Michael McSharry]

I picked up a outlet from HD and was able to control it with the Python link I showed in post 2. This means I should be able to integrate it with HS using mcsMQTT plugin.

[TexJWC]

So are you saying that I should be able use this mcsMQTT plugin as is to interface with the devices, or that this is what you would need to write a plugin for HS?
I did look into the suggestion above of the Alexa routine, and it appear that will not work because under the section "When this Happens", does not contain the plugs and switches only my alarm sensors and cameras, so that would not work. So even if we are able to interface with HS, I will still always have to reliant on the cloud, I could not ever be able to control them locally in HS like x10?? Alexa which is a key part too for the verbal command part is cloud based, so I have kind of figuring that during a communication outage, I will not be able to much. Would still be of great benefit to be able to interface these devices with HS and the designer, and would work well when all networks are up and running. I have found these devices very reliable though out my home to date, and like the fact that you can name and control both outlets. Thank you for time, help and research on this.
UPDATE: I looked at the link and have downloaded the plug in. The code does look pretty simple and straight forward. I know enough now that I would need your help to bridge the gap ; ) Looks like it can be done which is awesome!

[kenm]

So are you saying that I should be able use this mcsMQTT plugin as is to interface with the devices, or that this is what you would need to write a plugin for HS?

EDIT: To directly answer your question, Michael needs to add Hubspace support before it will work with this plugin.

I like to think of mcsMQTT as the "Swiss army knife" of plugins and Michael keeps adding more and more blades to it. Basically, when he adds technology support to the plugin, in this case Hubspace, the data is presented tthrough a common data path of psuedo-MQTT topics that can then be associated to HS devices.

Hopefully this makes sense.

[Michael McSharry]

I am having good results with the integration of hubspace using an outlet as my test device. I can create HS devices, monitor and control them. When I finish with my testing in a day or two I will make available version 6.2.x.x. I also obtained a hubspace color bulb that I have not yet powered. I suspect I will make available the hubspace integration with outlets only initially and then expand with the bulb as my next device.

What I have learned is that the ability to control and monitor status is not obvious from the data provided from the hubspace cloud server. As an example, there are perhaps 20 aspects of the plug that can be controlled via the cloud interface, but only two or three are of interest to the end user. The others are of interest to the manufacture. Hubspace cloud was designed to allow manufactures to add their devices in a generic manner.

As another example, the action is the parameter that is used to change something or look at the status of something. Action is just a number where the device manufacturer decides to use. For the outlet I have empirically determined that action id of 1 and 2 control the two sides of the outlet. I suspect action 3 controls both sides simultaneously and provides status of both sides as a 16 bit hex value vs. the 8 bit hex that is used for each individual plug outlet. I did not confirm since I do not expect to provide that capability to control both simultaneously in the plugin. There are many other actions for the simple outlet that I did not attempt to understand.

All the other cloud integrations have provided a intuitive ways of getting status and providing control such as turning an outlet on or off as specific endpoints. This is because the cloud server is hosted by the manufacturer with has specific devices being supported. In the hubspace case, the cloud server is by a 3rd party and has setup a structure that is agnostic to the specific device. I saw a lock, fan, and some other devices at higher price points at HD that I did not acquire for testing. My thought is that the bulb will provide sufficient guidance that if users have the others then I will be able to work with them to assess the specific needs of these others.

[TexJWC]

Thank you again. That is Awesome! In their software APP, you can turn the whole plug off or on (both outlets) by addressing it by device name. One item of interest that I have not found, that would be really useful is an "Hot Always" option, so that one could name and use a individual outlet on a plug, but it never go off based on any commands. Once set to "Hot Always" it would not off under any circumstances other than you turning "Hot Always" back off in the software. Could simply be a checkbox. This would be for an outlet, that say you have your computer, or router plugged into, or your entertainment center. Maybe that capability is there just not exposed to the end user. I have mentioned this to their support but nothing to date has been updated in that regard. Just thought I would mention that after what you have said above about possible additional capabilities. It would then allow HS to do more than its own native APP. Cool! Thanks so much, I am excited about it, look forward to your release...

[Michael McSharry]

I did add the color bulb for evaluation and that showed me a more generalized way to support Hubspace than just the outlet. It is nice that Hubspace cloud provides meta characteristics of the client's products. This allows the implementation to by dynamic based upon what is supported by Hubspace rather than a a specific implementation based upon the data a this point in time. I have everything generalized now, albeit, each type of product will need specific code for integration into HS since HS does not have a generalized method for defining various types of products. The first release will be for outlet and color bulb. Additional products should be easy to add not that I have a more generalized method to deal with them based upon the meta data. I should be done with the testing tomorrow.

I will also consider the dual outlet and always-on provisions. The dual outlet should be straight-forward. I had assume the an action of 3 (vs. 1 and 2) would control both outlets together, but this may not be the case since the meta data defines this to be a toggle. I need to play with it to see what works. There is also the native HS capability to link device features so if one changes the linked one also change.

For power-always there are issues of robustness to be considered. For instance consider a outlet port is intended to be always on and a power outage occurs. Since there is polling implemented it should be possible to check for this and restore it to the ON state if necessary. A similar scenario exists for a normally controlled outlet following power cycle. Should HS be updated to the current state of the outlet or should the outlet be commanded to the state that HS believes is the current state. In general HS does not know if a power cycle occurs so the mantra is for HS to follow the outlet-reported status.

[Michael McSharry]

I have started a thread at https://forums.homeseer.com/forum/hs...ce-integration to continue the discussion of the mcsMQTT plugin implementation of the integration of Hubspace into HS.