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Siri with C4?

Gene

By Gene
in Push the Envelope

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Gene Community Regular

Gene

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Has anyone seen Home Remote for iOS in app store?  The App can control things with Siri via URL...didn't someone create a driver for controlling C4 through a URL? 

Maybe would make Siri possible with C4 or am I still dreaming?

 

Home Remote:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/home-remote-home-automation/id926193671?mt=8

 

YouTube Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/user/BouncingBallGames/videos

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

cyevans Rookie

cyevans

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I have integrated "Home Remote" with Control4 using the BrightSky HTTP Driver that my dealer installed for me.  You can program up to 99 specific events you want to control, but be careful what you expose ;-)

 

1. The voice control works quite well, but you have to have the app open so that makes it less useful.  

2. I love the Today Screen integration.  It is MUCH faster to swipe down from the top of my phone and push a button to control something than to open the Control4 iOS app, let it connect (especially where the WiFi isn't strong), then get to the right room. 

 

The developer is actively enhancing the app.  The latest release allows you to change the voice recognition prefix, so you can call you house whatever you want "SARAH, I'm home" for you Eureka fans ;-)

 

Great little app!

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Gene Community Regular

Gene

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Can you explain the integration?  You installed the BrightSky http driver (I think there are a few out there) and then downloaded Home Remote on your iphone...set home remote up to communicate with C4 through the driver?  Any special settings etc...?Do I have that correct?

 

Thanks!

 

Yes, Home Remote is cool and they are really pushing this further than anyone has to get voice control for iOS into other devices...

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cyevans Rookie

cyevans

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Pretty straightforward...

Composer:

1. Install the HTTP Driver

2. Select the Driver in Composer / Programming

3. Select the event# (1-99) from the drop list

4. Drag & drop any commands you wish to execute

Home Remote:

1. Add a new action

2. Name it

3. Use the URL for action above

http://IP address:port/#

4. Enable voice recognition and a color if desired

Try it with a light or something simple first and be careful what you expose.

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  • 2 months later...
elbartino Newbie

elbartino

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Pretty straightforward...

Composer:

1. Install the HTTP Driver

2. Select the Driver in Composer / Programming

3. Select the event# (1-99) from the drop list

4. Drag & drop any commands you wish to execute

Home Remote:

1. Add a new action

2. Name it

3. Use the URL for action above

http://IP address:port/#

4. Enable voice recognition and a color if desired

Try it with a light or something simple first and be careful what you expos

Im wanting to try this I'm having a job finding the HTTP driver can any one point me in the correct direction?

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  • 4 months later...
niall Enthusiast

niall

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I spent a couple of hours this morning getting this integrated with my system and now I feel like my apple watch is amazing.

 

Its fairly simple to setup, all you need is a computer of some sort (raspberry pi is perfect) to run a bridge between the HomeKit and Control4.

 

If anyone is interested I documented the whole process here:

 

https://c4drivers.wo...t-for-control4/

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mav3r1ck Apprentice

mav3r1ck

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Thanks!

 

I did spent some time on this as well.

We are running the Homebridge software on a ESXi virtual OSX Yosemite platform and having the accessory added with the Elgato Eve app.

It's a cool thing to speak with Siri and have Control4 follow up the instructions. It's about time ;)

 

Cheers!

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ILoveC4 Grand Master

ILoveC4

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I spent a couple of hours this morning getting this integrated with my system and now I feel like my apple watch is amazing.

Its fairly simple to setup, all you need is a computer of some sort (raspberry pi is perfect) to run a bridge between the HomeKit and Control4.

If anyone is interested I documented the whole process here:

https://c4drivers.wo...t-for-control4/

Thanks for doing that write up. It seems like a fair bit of work. I can't help but wonder if this won't get drastically easier in the near future (ala ShairBridge and the Pandora driver).

I'm guessing this is 3-4 hours of setup when you figure a few iOS devices and starting from scratch with every aspect?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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niall Enthusiast

niall

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Thanks for doing that write up. It seems like a fair bit of work. I can't help but wonder if this won't get drastically easier in the near future (ala ShairBridge and the Pandora driver).

I'm guessing this is 3-4 hours of setup when you figure a few iOS devices and starting from scratch with every aspect?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thats probably a fair assumption.

 

To be honest, it took me 3 hours from scratch not knowing how any of it worked.

Once you have 1 thing working, its just repetition to add each other component.

 

From the iOS side, you only need to do it on one device - they you share it to other devices by inviting people to your HomeKit, all changes then are synced between everyone.

For generic things, like adding a light for a room, you don't need to touch iOS as it automatically gets put in HomeKit by the HomeBridge.

 

It would get infinitely easier if Control4 put HomeBridge on the Director and populated the devices automatically from the database.

 

Not holding my breath though.

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LSDave Enthusiast

LSDave

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It would get infinitely easier if Control4 put HomeBridge on the Director and populated the devices automatically from the database.

 

Not holding my breath though.

Its crazy that Insteon can come out with Homekit implementation, but Control4 is behind the ball.

 

And thanks for your tutorial on this setup. I'm running it on my original raspberry pi and it works great!  I love just saying "Hey Siri........ Goodnight" and the whole house shuts down. I've noticed how Siri has different relies for the same commands.

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  • 2 months later...
AndySV1K Newbie

AndySV1K

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Really appreciate your write up on the homebridge solution.  I've been following through it and it mostly works up to the point of starting homebridge then I get the following error...

 

Homebridge is running on port 51826.

events.js:141

      throw er; // Unhandled 'error' event

      ^

 

Error: listen EADDRINUSE :::51826

    at Object.exports._errnoException (util.js:874:11)

    at exports._exceptionWithHostPort (util.js:897:20)

    at Server._listen2 (net.js:1234:14)

    at listen (net.js:1270:10)

    at Server.listen (net.js:1366:5)

    at EventedHTTPServer.listen (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/homebridge/node_modules/hap-nodejs/lib/util/eventedhttp.js:58:19)

    at HAPServer.listen (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/homebridge/node_modules/hap-nodejs/lib/HAPServer.js:132:20)

    at Bridge.Accessory.publish (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/homebridge/node_modules/hap-nodejs/lib/Accessory.js:347:16)

    at Server._publish (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/homebridge/lib/server.js:50:16)

    at Server.run (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/homebridge/lib/server.js:42:10)

 

Any ideas what this could be?  I'm running on an old pi by the way, could this be an issue?

 

I'm not able to pair with the homebridge, it appears and I can enter the pin code but it refuses it.

 

Thanks

 

Andy.

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niall Enthusiast

niall

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I've had that error before, sometimes after it has been running for a while. Not managed to track down the root cause though.

You may have homebridge already running and are trying to run it again (the old instance will have bound to the port).

If you have done the part to load it on boot up then you should only start it with sudo /etc/init.d/homebridge restart

Or try rebooting the pi and see if it is running (sudo /etc/init.d/homebridge status)

Hope that helps

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zaphod Grand Master

zaphod

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@drivertutorial - I have C4 but I don't have the webEvents driver installed.  But I will get my dealer to install it soon.

If I wanted to get Siri to control things that aren't in C4 but that can be started by a URL then is your method going through C4 the best way to do this?  Or are you aware of another method where you could get Siri to hit a web page without necessarily going through a C4 controller? 

 

I have some Python scripts on my Rpi that can do things, like start my car charging or turn on a TV that doesn't have a C4 controller via a Harmony Hub..  All I have to do is hit the URL http://myserver/cgi-bin/startcharge.py.  Any comment on how to do this?

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  • 1 month later...
Vahn Contributor

Vahn

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I got this working and it's a lot of fun to talk to Siri to run automation/programming in C4.  I hope C4 does this more natively and puts out something that offers good Homekit integration.

I'm doing some real basic things at the moment. Eg.., "Turn off the Office TV." 

Is this faster/more efficient than using the native AP? No. Is it more fun? Yes.

Getting a Raspberry Pi and setting it up correctly are going to be overhead head of a lot of people. I'm Linux rusty and it took me a solid 4 hours to have a basic prototype.

10/10. So glad I stumbled onto this post! Thank you!

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