I’ve just started using HomeKit and learned how severely limited the Home app is. I found Eve which is much better, but still pretty simplistic. What are some better ways to build complex automations? I wouldn’t mind writing it manually in JSON or whatever, I just don’t know much about how this system works. My only hub so far is a HomePod.
For example I have an idea for a small humidifier. Connected to a smart outlet. When the Ecobee humidity sensor drops below X%, turn on the humidifier, as long as the tank is not empty. It drains water at a fairly constant rate, so I want to run a timer every time it’s on. After X hours of use, the timer condition should disable this automation and send an alert to refill (push notification, etc.).
I would love for this to all run locally without relying on internet. I don’t mind running some kind of local server if necessary.
Are you aware of it, that this is the SmartThings Community Forum and not the HomeKit one?! Anyhow…
You can do this and might be better. Your humidifier consumes more power when it is running and it consumes far more less when the tank is empty. (I am assuming that it detects when the tank is empty and switches off the circuit to evaporate the water from the tank.)
If you do have a metering socket, then you can define rules inside SmartThings to send a notification when the power consumption drops, to tell you the tank is empty.
I am not aware that the Ecobee would have a local running DH, but someone will correct me if I am wrong.
So, you would rely on the internet for that, and for the push notification too.
If you have a device measuring humidity and has a local running DH and you choose a metering pocket socket the same way with locally running DH, then you might be able to define some rules in the Automations of the new app what would execute locally, but it is not fully supported yet as I am aware. For push notification you would need internet for sure.
Oh, and I forgot to mention. You need a humidifier what starts to work when power is restored and it hasn’t got a stand by circuit.
You might want to look at the shortly coming tuya integration and some Tuya based smart humidifiers. They might be a better choice for this task. But we are still talking about SmartThings and NOT HomeKit.
Okay, sorry, I thought this forum was open for all kinds of automation and IoT. I haven’t found a nice HomeKit specific forum and I really like the Discourse platform.
Thank you for the ideas, that’s a clever alternative. But this is a “cool humidifier” so I believe it uses the same amount of power at all times. Any ideas for a persistent timer?
The Ecobee does work offline with HomeKit, but apparently not with any other service.
