I have a Hub Pro and a number of dimmer switches installed in my home. I have the Hub Pro interfaced with Homekit, and my Apple TV functions as the Homekit automation controller. It took me multiple attempts to get my Hub Pro interfaced with my Homekit setup, and linking dimmers to the hub required power-cycling the hub in order for those dimmers to show up in Homekit. It was quite a frustrating hours-long ordeal (in contrast, setting up other Homekit-compatible devices took mere moments). The worst part was the fact that the online documentation (user manuals, etc.) is wrong - all of the instructions for navigating settings on each dimmer switch or keypad were flat-out wrong.
Everything works fine if I only trigger scenes or set device levels from Homekit. Everything works fine if I only trigger scenes or set device levels from the physical switches and never use Homekit.
But if I change the state of any device using a physical switch, the state of any responders doesn't get updated to Homekit. This is a problem because Homekit doesn't issue a command if it thinks a given device is already in the desired state.
For example, I have a Homekit automation to set a dimmer at 100% when a given event occurs. Before the automation executes, Homekit thinks the dimmer is at 0%, and the dimmer is indeed set to 0%. When the automation executes, Homekit commands the dimmer to 100%, and the dimmer goes to 100%. Then, when I press the physical off-switch on the dimmer, the dimmer goes to 0%, but Homekit still thinks its at 100%. So the next time the automation trigger event occurs, Homekit does nothing - it thinks the dimmer is already at 100%, so it doesn't issue a command.
Not only does Homekit get out of sync with the actual state of each dimmer, but the Insteon+ app shows the dimmers out of sync as well. So obviously, this is a problem with the Hub Pro not seeing changes triggered by Insteon devices.
In order for Insteon devices to play nicely with Homekit, there has to be a mechanism for relaying device state information to Homekit via the Hub Pro. Clearly, that isn't happening. Either that, or each Insteon dimmer needs to be exposed as two devices (one switch, one dimmer) so that switch events get routed to Homekit, which then commands dimmers. Either way, the Hub Pro needs to be a responder in some capacity.
I have seen conflicting information about this issue on these forums and elsewhere. I've seen people complain of this same issue, but I've also seen people claim it has been resolved by a firmware update. I'm not sure what to believe at this point. I only know that I'm still seeing this issue after running my Hub Pro with this setup for a week.
Apparently, once upon a time, it was possible to trigger firmware updates via the Insteon+ app. But now that feature has disappeared. There is no longer an option to update the firmware from the app. I can check the firmware version on my controller (by finding the Insteon Connect status page), but unfortunately, I have no way to know if my Hub Pro is running the latest firmware, because the latest firmware release version is not published anywhere as far as I can tell. This is, quite frankly, an absurd decision. Even if firmware updates are automatically deployed, it should still be possible to manually trigger a firmware update. How else can I verify that my device - which has been sitting in a sealed box in a warehouse for months or even years - is running the latest firmware when I unpack it and set it up?
So, there are multiple levels of issues here. I have several questions.
Does the Hub Pro act as a responder to relay device state updates to Homekit? (If not, I'll be ripping out all of my Insteon switches and trashing them in favor of truly Homekit compatible switches, such as Eve's dimmer switches - I have no interest in waiting months or years for you to finish implementing this)
If it does relay device state updates to Homekit, then what firmware version was this change released in? How do I ensure that my Hub Pro is running the latest firmware version? If it is not running the latest version, how do I force the installation of the latest version?
Everything works fine if I only trigger scenes or set device levels from Homekit. Everything works fine if I only trigger scenes or set device levels from the physical switches and never use Homekit.
But if I change the state of any device using a physical switch, the state of any responders doesn't get updated to Homekit. This is a problem because Homekit doesn't issue a command if it thinks a given device is already in the desired state.
For example, I have a Homekit automation to set a dimmer at 100% when a given event occurs. Before the automation executes, Homekit thinks the dimmer is at 0%, and the dimmer is indeed set to 0%. When the automation executes, Homekit commands the dimmer to 100%, and the dimmer goes to 100%. Then, when I press the physical off-switch on the dimmer, the dimmer goes to 0%, but Homekit still thinks its at 100%. So the next time the automation trigger event occurs, Homekit does nothing - it thinks the dimmer is already at 100%, so it doesn't issue a command.
Not only does Homekit get out of sync with the actual state of each dimmer, but the Insteon+ app shows the dimmers out of sync as well. So obviously, this is a problem with the Hub Pro not seeing changes triggered by Insteon devices.
In order for Insteon devices to play nicely with Homekit, there has to be a mechanism for relaying device state information to Homekit via the Hub Pro. Clearly, that isn't happening. Either that, or each Insteon dimmer needs to be exposed as two devices (one switch, one dimmer) so that switch events get routed to Homekit, which then commands dimmers. Either way, the Hub Pro needs to be a responder in some capacity.
I have seen conflicting information about this issue on these forums and elsewhere. I've seen people complain of this same issue, but I've also seen people claim it has been resolved by a firmware update. I'm not sure what to believe at this point. I only know that I'm still seeing this issue after running my Hub Pro with this setup for a week.
Apparently, once upon a time, it was possible to trigger firmware updates via the Insteon+ app. But now that feature has disappeared. There is no longer an option to update the firmware from the app. I can check the firmware version on my controller (by finding the Insteon Connect status page), but unfortunately, I have no way to know if my Hub Pro is running the latest firmware, because the latest firmware release version is not published anywhere as far as I can tell. This is, quite frankly, an absurd decision. Even if firmware updates are automatically deployed, it should still be possible to manually trigger a firmware update. How else can I verify that my device - which has been sitting in a sealed box in a warehouse for months or even years - is running the latest firmware when I unpack it and set it up?
So, there are multiple levels of issues here. I have several questions.
Does the Hub Pro act as a responder to relay device state updates to Homekit? (If not, I'll be ripping out all of my Insteon switches and trashing them in favor of truly Homekit compatible switches, such as Eve's dimmer switches - I have no interest in waiting months or years for you to finish implementing this)
If it does relay device state updates to Homekit, then what firmware version was this change released in? How do I ensure that my Hub Pro is running the latest firmware version? If it is not running the latest version, how do I force the installation of the latest version?
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