New Hue hub 2.0

[jlrichar]

HomeKit is coming to the hue hub. Wonder what this will mean for this plugin?

http://m.imore.com/philips-officiall...g-new-bridge-2

[Chuck Lawson]

I wonder how painful the upgrade process will be; moving lights from one hub to another on the existing hubs isn't a lot of fun.

[w.vuyk]

Chuck,

Philips is mentioning the new software version for the bridge, not a physical new bridge as far I understand

@jlrichar,

I do not think it will change the plugin as Homekit is just another home automation system. the plugin will continue to depend on HS3?

If HS3 is controlling homekit at somepoint, the hue system might be addressable through multiple paths, which is no different I think to the current situation with apps aside from hs3.

Thanks,

Wim

[Chuck Lawson]

Chuck,

Philips is mentioning the new software version for the bridge, not a physical new bridge as far I understand

Hmm... I thought it was the new "2.0" bridge that had the Homekit compatibility - I see they'll be offering an upgrade program for existing bridge owners, so I'm guessing Homekit won't be coming to the original bridge.

Actually, I don't care much about Homekit (I don't need one more thing for Siri to do badly, and it's more annoying than useful on my Ecobee thermostats), but I'd really like an updated bridge that actually has a way to migrate to it -- I've got a very early version of the first bridge, and even though I've kept the software updated, I've never gotten it to recognize a Tap switch.

[jlrichar]

This is a new bridge. To get homekit/siri you will need to physically replace your bridge with the new one. The new one costs $60, but they are offering a $20 trade-in on your old hub.

Also, the new iOS hue client has a feature to transfer lights from one hub to the other. Evidently you plug both into your network, and hit a magic button in the app to move your lights.

While having homekit for hue will be kind of cool, I am more interested in homekit for all my HS devices. This clearly is not going to do that. It does seem that with the new Hub phillips is gearing up to control more devices than just their lights. Perhaps it will control all homekit compatible devices. It that is the case than this plugin could become a homekit gateway of sorts.

At any rate, hopefully the new bridge does not break the plugin. Wim, are you planning on testing during the upgrade period?

[LeoS]

I've also heard/read that HomeKit connectivity will be available to existing Hue user via a firmware upgrade... maybe I read it wrong or they've changed their plans.

I don't really care about Home Kit (I'm an ex-Apple fan nowadays) but I really hope they do away with 'turn on after poweroutage' behavior or make that optional in the new firmware.

[w.vuyk]

When I read about the new bridge version a week or two ago, I read it twice and could not make anything other out of it then it being a new software version.

I have checked again , and indeed it will be a new physical device. The new part for this device is going to be the HomeKit Siri support.
Philips states that the 'old' bridges willl keep getting software updates, so I presume that the API changes will stay the same for both bridges at least for a while. The only reason for moving to the new bridge seems to be the Homekit functionality.

If you want this, Philips has prepared a process with their Hue App to move the old bridges data to the new bridge, so all scenes, sensors, groups and lights are moved to the new bridge. On the API there are no changes as of now.
So the plugin as is can control the new bridge normally, according to the documentation. Adding this bridge should not pose issues on API level. So if you start using the plugin and have the new bridge, or are adding a new bridge, you should be able to use it.

But if you want to transfer your existing lights to the new bridge, I expect the plugin will create new devices will as if it are new lights! This is not tested yet of course, but I would expect this will happen.
In fact this would mean that after the transfer, you will have to correct events to see if they are pointing to the correct lights and groups (these doubled in name) and correct your defined scenes.
After that you can remove the stale lights and groups from the device list.

Will I test the new bridge? Yes, but in due time. I want to release a new version this week first with some very needed corrections to the plugin. After that I will try to get this bridge and the new switch Philips is releasing as well.

LOL, Philips could hold back for a bit, so I can finish all the catching up on them


Hope this helps a bit on the expectations?

Wim

[jlrichar]

Sounds like an excellent plan. Thank you for updating us with it! I look forward to the new revision. Not looking forward to re-building all my events after I switch hubs--but it is understandable.

While there is nothing wrong with my current hub, $40 seems like a fair price to pay to get a little more future proof. I might wait to see if the new hub has any surprises before going all in though.