Homey is a great linking bit, the master of glueing (smart?) things together. There is one important weakness: it cannot update the firmware of the devices it masters.
What is this feature about?
- A functionality to re-bind or re-pair a device
Who is it for?
- For cases when the device needs to be paired with a native hub (i.e. Hue Bridge/ Somfy IO Bridge/ Fibaro Home Center) in order to update its firmware
- A defective device can easily be replaced with one of the same kind without having to touch any flow
- For cases when the previous pairing was incomplete (some attributes were not recognized)
How does it work?
Re-Pair works exactly like the normal pairing process. However, it is accessible only from the device itself (i.e. the ‘advanced menu’). When the re-pair is called, the pairing starts as normal. When the pairing however completes, then all existing flows and potentially settings are assigned again to the device.
As a low-hangning fruit, re-pair could be initially limited to a device of the same kind, i.e. same manifacturer, same device (different firmware/ revision).
A premium implementation would allow to replace a device of the same classification/ (used) flow cards with another one, i.e replace a Hue Smart Button with an Ikea smart button.
What value does it add?
- Removes administrative overhead when a device needs to be replaced (defective device)
- Removes administrative overhead when devices need to receive firmware updates (through ad hoc bridges)
- Removes administrative overhead when a device needs to be re-paired for some reason
- Completes the idea of Homey being the central without dozens of brand-bridges required (for security reasons)
Examples:
Say, there is a smart switch is included into 5 flows, you have 5 devices of this kind installed.
a) One switch breaks or requires a firmware update: in the current setting, a new switch needs to be added to Homey and properly integrated into all flows after replacement.
b) A firmware update is required to let the device work properly: in the current setting, the entire flow-set needs to be reworked after removal/ readding the 5 devices. This is time consuming and error prone.
