Hey everybody,
I was wondering if the new Homey Bridge will be able to send commands to local network devices like a LAN device?
Greetings,
Wesley
LAN / WiFi: no
Zigbee, Zwave, BLE, IR, 433MHz: yes
The puck represents the bridge, the
signs represents the Pro
Since launch Iâve been thinking about local access to IP devices being not possible with Homey Bridge. I donât know whether itâs just not implemented or not possible due to hardware issues. I hope just not implemented as I believe not having this will be unacceptable and misunderstood by the target user base and ultimately the Achilles heel for the product.
I understand it becomes a support issue but itâs important for the user experience and sales. I see a lot of posts already about this. Iâm hoping this feature might be possible later in at least a âbasicâ form like device control ??
As a multiple Homey Pro owner it doesnât really impact me so personally Iâm not bleating about being misled - just saying I think itâs a key feature that is missing and will impact the products success.
As said in the AMA YT video, they donât want the target audience have to fiddle with IP addresses, API keys and what not. More a somewhat plug and play style for absolute non-techies.
I know they did and I personally donât think itâs beyond their target audience. At least a lot of them. Discovery of many IP devices is available in much the same way as Zigbee or Z-Wave. My own opinion on a major shortcoming I feel.
I have seen you reply to almost every post on here Peter with an authoritative statement on Athomâs behalf - do you work for them or are connected somehow ?
Thatâs just a load of BS: most devices use autodiscovery nowadays (so no need for IP-addresses) and have âopenâ local access (so no API keys).
I can think of at least 4 reasons why Homey Bridge doesnât support local networked devices:
- the built-in main microcontroller is too limited to be able to handle a decent amount of network traffic;
- because apps run in the cloud, all that local network traffic has to be uploaded to the cloud to be processed in the app there; when the app needs to send commands to local network devices, itâs the other way around: data has to be downloaded and sent to the local device (the Bridge basically has to become a network proxy);
- protocols like mDNS, SSDP, UDP donât proxy very well;
- Athom doesnât like paying for bandwidth, and they canât really control the amount of local network data that has to be sent back and forth to the cloud.
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I quoted Athom, just to be clear 
But youâre right.
They explained / admitted that too.
.
But why do they still sell it like this, thatâs confusing / misleading even
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They donât care.
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Maybe a stupid question, but will the lack of support for local wifi mean that I can´t use things like wifi lightbulbs and switches with Homey bridge?
It depends: if those devices are operated through cloud servers (like a lot of Tuya devices are), then they can be controlled by the Bridge provided that thereâs a Homey Cloud app available for them.
If the devices are controlled locally (over the local LAN) then you wonât be able to use them with the Bridge.
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And how does that work with sonos devices, which seems to work on the beta platform?
Through Sonos cloud servers.
Thank you for the reply.
So, all CLOUD based services can be added (shelly, sonos cloud, tuya cloud) etc
But there cannot run any tcp/udp service on the bridge itself? Thats very sad. Specially when this is the âfutureâ for homey. Cant connect to local devices like modbus tcp or devices using rest. So youâll be depending on more and more different cloud services. I canât really see that as a step forward.
Best regards,
Not sure it was meant to be a step forward in any technological sense of the word. Itâs a âdumbed downâ product (actually a service) that will generate some cash flow for Athom while lowering the entry ticket for users with modest requirements. Athom was pretty clear about this. The Bridge is only an accessory to the Homey service.
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No.
Thank, I missed that. I donât really follow Athom.
The new regarding the hub and the cloud service seemed very promising. I assumed that the lack of communication only meant that it canât work as accesspoint or some like that. Almost every âgatewayâ or bridge is nowadays capable of communication with local Lan at at least 10mbps. What did they put in the puck? A 8050 core with an Ethernet to serial bridge?
Well, then iâll just stick to my openhab instance.
Thanks for the answer.
An ESP32.
Yes, it does.
