Home - jvmahon/Homebridge-HomeSeer4 GitHub Wiki

Welcome to the homebridge-homeseer wiki!

Homebridge-HomeSeer4 is a Homebridge plugin for the HomeSeer 3 and 4 home control systems (www.homeseer.com)

If you're looking for help, please also review the entire ReadMe page at https://www.npmjs.com/package/homebridge-homeseer4-plugin. There's a lot of information there that isn't repeated in the wiki pages.

Index Of Wiki Pages

1. Installation of HomeBridge and Plugin

I've deleted most of my old instructions from this page. Homebridge has updated their instructions and they are now the ones to follow. See https://www.npmjs.com/package/homebridge

Simply install the plugin from the config-ui-x by search for homebridge-homeseer4!

After the plugin installs, choose the tools icon (1) then "Bridge Settings" to set up the plugin as a child bridge (highly recommended to do this). Restart Homebridge, and go back to the Bridge settings to pair the child bridge with your iOS device. Finally, go to the settings tab (2) to start configuring devices.

** Recommendation - I recommend you install HomeBridge and the plugin on the same computer that you use for running HomeSeer. You'll get better performance that way. Homebridge and the plugin use extremely little processing power and you'll likely find that the delay and processing power of communicating over a network to a separate Homebridge box is likely greater than if you just have it all on one system. That being said, its a difference of fractions of a second -- I've done both and you'll get good performance either way.

2. Configuring HomeSeer - Enable the HomeSeer ASCII Commands Interface Port! Use a Static IP Address!

2.1 Turn on ASCII Interface

The plugin requires that you enable the HomeSeer ASCII Port interface. To do so, the "Enable control using ASCII commands" box must be selected on the HomeSeer "Network" settings page. From the "Tools" menu on the HomeSeer web page, select the "Setup" sub-menu and then the "Network" tab on the web page that appears. After making this change, You must re-start HomeSeer or the interface won't enable. Be sure to also keep the JSON interface enabled.

2.2 Use a Static IP Address

It is strongly recommended that your HomeSeer system use a static IP address. If you don't do this, there's a chance that if HomeSeer reboots, it could be assigned a different IP address invalidating the IP address you put in your config.json.

3. Setting Up Your Config.json file

First, consider whether you will need to run a single instance of Homebridge, or multiple. See Running Multiple Instances of Homebridge for guidance on this issue.

Setting Up Your Config.json file

And for reference, take a look at the sample configuration file config.sample.json located here: Sample Configuration Files, but note that the sample configuration file has what looks like comments in the file (lines beginning //). Your actual config.json file must delete all comments - they aren't allowed!

Supported Device Types which can be identified in Config.json include:

Category
Lights and Switches	Lightbulb	Switch	Outlet
Doors, Windows, Locks and Security Types:	Lock	Door	GarageDoorOpener
	Window	WindowCovering	SecuritySystem (HomeKit Alarm Type)
SensorTypes:	CarbonMonoxideSensor	CarbonDioxideSensor	ContactSensor
	HumiditySensor	LeakSensor	LightSensor
	MotionSensor	OccupancySensor	SmokeSensor
	TemperatureSensor
Heating and Cooling	Thermostat	Fan
Miscellaneous	Valve

Notes on specific types:

Easy Configuration of ZWave Dimmers and Light Switches
Setting Up the SecuritySystem Type
Thermostats
Garage Door Openers
Contact Sensor Icon Type (Door, Window, etc.)
Water Valves
Energy Meters - How to "fake" an energy / watts meter type.

For those interested, a listing of all config.json device parameters (on a per-device-type basis is provided here: Listing of all Device Configuration Parameters . At present, its not well documented.

Pay Close Attention During First Run Startup: Be sure to pay attention to the screen messages displayed during HomeBridge startup -- particularly watch for messages displayed in red (which I've usually used when I stop further processing) or yellow(which I usually use for warnings).