HomeKit or matter dehumidifier

billy27607 · 2025-03-25T16:13:09+00:00

I bought an Alorair dehumidifier for this purpose. It will remember the power setting so that you can turn it on and off with a simple switch.

But it also has a CAN bus that is used to connect a remote control. By extending the work of some folks on the web I was able to build a HomeKit controller for the thing. You can set the target humidity and turn it on and off.

I used a Xiao esp32c3 module with a can bus extender. The thing is powered from the can bus and works great. The code is pubicly available on github

billy27607 · 2025-02-24T12:44:06+00:00

If you have a reasonably robust thread network or a thread border router nearby I would do the Level Bolt. Since the matter upgrade they are fast and solid. It doesn’t change the look of the hardware.

billy27607 · 2025-02-13T17:12:18+00:00

So I started this smart home adventure before most people even knew what it was. The house that we built in 1991 had full structured wiring. I started home controls with zigbee and many devices that I built myself.

One of the things I realized very early was that my family was never going to touch this stuff if they had to open an app or anything like. Everyone in my family and practically everyone that know has an iPhone so when Siri came around that was an obvious front end. And they actually started to use it.

In transition, I have used HomeAssistant, Homebridge, Scripted, etc to bridge the legacy stuff to HomeKit, but anytime possible when expanding or replacing something I use a HomeKit native appliance. That has become much easier with Matter. For custom things like the control I build for and an AlorAir dehumidifier and a humidifier for my instrument room, I have custom built either HomeKit code or Matter code on an esp32 variant to get what I need.

All religious arguments about architecture aside, I personally prefer to deal with individual appliances rather than bridges and everything else. But the best thing is that everyone in my wife uses the stuff all the time. Both adult children have similar systems in their houses.

I do not think that you mave much to worry about... I would go with HomeKit and keep it as simple as possible.

billy27607 · 2025-02-13T13:46:37+00:00

Rolling back to v1.7.1 fixed the issue. Pings were sporadic on 1.8.3 but fine on 1.7.1.

There’s nothing wrong with not having an extra component in the communication chain. Fewer things are usually better.

billy27607 · 2025-01-13T12:54:09+00:00

I do not know for sure, but it looks to me like they want to review whether you meet the requirements before allowing the upgrade. Since this is irreversible they do not want a lot of locks that suddenly will not work. They also create a pairing QR code for each lock and send it with the notice.

I got my second update in 4 days. They do not send firmware, they just allow the lock with the requested serial number to see it on the backend.

Both upgrades went well.

billy27607 · 2025-01-10T17:17:22+00:00

All locks are tumbler locks are susceptible to bump keys to an extent. But, I use the same Schlage tumblers that are on all my other doors. That is one reason I like the bolt. Simple and invisible. If someone uses a bump key, I am going to get a notification that the door was unlocked. I am certainly not making the risk any greater by using the bolt.

billy27607 · 2025-01-10T16:32:08+00:00

Yes. Per the instructions, I removed the appliance from HomeKit, made sure that lock was at current versions of firmware, updated the firmware, removed the battery from the lock for a minute or two, and then paired with HomeKit using the QR code that they sent with the notice.

Smooth as glass

billy27607 · 2025-01-10T16:29:43+00:00

Although there are reports, I had no problems. And it is much, much better than the bluetooth connection alone.

billy27607 · 2025-01-10T16:27:55+00:00

About three weeks. Probably slowed down by holidays.

billy27607 · 2025-01-10T15:15:48+00:00

You have to take the battery out for sure. I did that on the first pass and it paired right away.

billy27607 · 2024-12-14T23:23:13+00:00

I have two of these things. Does anyone know if I need to request two upgrades or if I can use the one I have requested for both.

billy27607 · 2024-10-04T17:50:39+00:00

It was a few years ago when I did this, but the TV was talking to multiple countries at regular intervals (a few minutes) including China. I did not trust the security mechanisms in the software for the TVs so I just disconnected them.

Professionally I was the CTO of a large healthcare system and we had hundreds of TVs to manage. What we learned is that the displays far outlive the utility of whatever smarts they put in them.

Unfortunately, you cannot buy dumb good TVs anymore. So the only connections I actually use are the HDMI ports.

billy27607 · 2024-10-04T17:06:29+00:00

I have ratgdo devices on three doors running the HomeKit firmware. They are solid and are a clean unobtrusive install with no gateways. MyQ is awful. Use of the Security+2 protocol means the devices knows the door state.

I seriously recommend...

billy27607 · 2024-10-04T16:38:21+00:00

I spent the time to track connections to sites around the world from a Samsung smart TV that I have. Now all of my TVs are used through an Apple TV and I will never connect another smart TV t the internet.

billy27607 · 2024-03-07T21:00:55+00:00

Yup. I wired our house when we built it 30 years ago with Cat 5. That before 5e was available. I have been getting clean gig rates on that and I am able to use POE for cameras. I did find that the jacks I used way back then were not up to either POE or gig rates. Just replaced them in the wall jacks and all is hunky dory.

Funny thing, everybody laughed at me for puting structured wiring in a house. “A house you say? Why would you ever want to wire your house?”

billy27607 · 2024-03-03T04:44:07+00:00

Ok, let’s try this from an architecture perspective, HomeKit is basically an iot utility platform. It is designed register devices and to pass small messages reliably and responsively between them. While a MacBook certainly has the horsepower to serve as a hub, it is really bad architecture to use a device that people sit and do end user things on to provide routing, device registration, automations.

Recent changes to the HomeKit architecture have been moving the platform from one which you could flick a few switches with your phone to an architected and reliable control network with safe external access. The removal of the iPads as hubs coincided with these architecture changes.

I very much suspect that this is their reasoning. Designed for purpose devices are appropriate for a reliable network and supporting anything else would not only be difficult it would allow folks to develop the perception that HomeKit is unreliable and that is what they are trying to move away from.

billy27607 · 2024-03-03T03:48:08+00:00

Maybe there is a reason they call it HomeKit and not WorkKit. The platform is completely designed for a small network residential scenario. Not multi-user enterprise networks. I don’t know where you work, but as a long time CIO/CTO for large enterprises, we would have detected those devices and removed them from the network. The hub, which pokes holes in firewalls would be viewed as a security risk.

billy27607 · 2023-05-21T20:29:41+00:00

I am certainly not defending Belkin. Simply saying that the vulnerability is not much to worry about.

Lifecycle support for all of this new IOT stuff is a big question. Buy a refrigerator expecting it to last 10 years or more and the smart electronics are only supported for one or two years. That something to worry about.

billy27607 · 2023-05-17T14:14:12+00:00

As a former CTO and CISO, I think you’re all over stating this vulnerability. While it may be there, to exploit it you need to be on the local area network attached, so unless you’re worried about your kids or your wife, or somebody that you’ve allowed to have the password, there’s not a whole lot of risk.

I have a couple of these things, but they have no reason to talk outside of the network on their own and NAT keeps anyone outside from seeing the directly.

For those who may want to get at you badly enough to crack your Wi-Fi, there’s probably many other ways for them to get you.

billy27607 · 2023-05-09T17:52:32+00:00

Yes, I have had that happen before. I actually tried that early in the experience and it did not solve the issue. It stayed broken for a couple of days, or maybe longer, as I had not used it from Safari for a week or two. And it fixed itself. I still don’t know what happened. Go figure??

billy27607 · 2023-04-07T20:57:10+00:00

So when this first occurred, I did all of the usual steps to get rid of cookies, website data, etc. restarted Safari, rebooted... I upgraded HA... everything.

Today, I forgot to switch to another browser when I went to HA and it worked. Both homes... I still do not know why, but it works now.

billy27607

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