The new Homey Pro — Ask Me Anything

What I would like to know is how the homey bridge as a satellite works.
Is it connected through wifi with the pro 2023? Completely local, So it will keep working if no internet?
When adding a device can you choose if it needs to connect to the satellite or the pro 2023?
If it just acts as a repeater, I don’t see the advantage.
If it really acts as an extra set of antennas, then it will be a good usable option…
Then I would consider buying a homey bridge and set it in satellite mode in the garage or something, where wifi is still working perfect, but zigbee and zwave isn’t…

So……how does it work?

Perhaps Athom will release a firmware that make it capable of localy connecting to a Homey Pro 2023.

Please don’t post assumptions as facts, let Athom answer the questions.

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I’m free to write what I like, that is not up to you.
I didn’t make an assumption, I’m trusting
Robert’s knowledge, Danee.

But you’re right about Athom should answer this (I didn’t look at the subject when replying), so I deleted my reply

Oh yes, you’re absolutely free to write what you like, but have to take into consideration that information you post can start a live of their own.
You know very well you’ve been corrected for faulty/incomplete information in the past frequently.

And while I consider @robertklep as very knowledgeable, he’s no Athom employee and thus does not know what Athom has planned. Reposting personal opinions from others as facts is exactly why I ask you to let Athom answer the questions.

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Just to be clear: I’m not saying it’s impossible. In fact, since Homey Bridge is already sending local Zigbee/Z-Wave/BLE/RF data to a cloud server, it could just as well send that data to a local Homey Pro instead.

But it’s not very suitable as a device that should act as a go-between between LAN devices (usually speaking HTTP) and a cloud service (or Homey Pro) because it only supports a limited amount of concurrent TCP connections, and there are about as many LAN protocols as there are brands, making it difficult to create a generic solution.

Probably:

But not sure how much Athom Cloud services it needs to connect to your Homey Pro (Early 2023)

BTW: It is still something they didn’t finish, maybe even not started yet. A Promise may not always resolve as expected :wink: { Promise.all () }

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Q A Migrate tool from previous Early 2019 to the new PRO i definitely a MUST as soon as possible?
I got loads of devices of all kinds but Z-Wave and ZigBee is most important to migrate over as i otherwise will have to dismatle my entire home to get to all devices :grimacing:
And Advanced flows ofcourse i got many “pretty advanced” advanced flows :grin:

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Q Will Settings finally be available in the WEB-app?

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I just hope the satellite mode changes the functionality of the bridge.
Normal mode: it functions as a bridge between your local devices and “the cloud”
Satellite mode: it functions as a set of antennas that extend the range of the onboard antennas of the pro 2023 and communicates through wifi with the pro 2023. (Not using cloud-services)

I assume the bridge has all the hardware needed on board and with a rewrite of the firmware this should be possible.

But let Athom tell us what the idea of the satellite mode exactly is…

Both Zigbee and Z-Wave only support one controller per network, which would make the “set of antennas” idea not likely. It could act as a regular Zigbee/Z-Wave router device though, but you could also use a cheap LIDL or IKEA device for that.

As @robertklep says, it probably acts as a Homey Bridge connecting to your Local Homey Pro (Early 2023).
Transmitting based in Devices / Flows from your Homey Pro or from a Cloud-Homey.
Only in RF it could send out the same Signal. but the Developer should make it possible to choose between sending (IR or RF signals) from the Base Homey Pro or from one of the Homey “Satellite” Bridges.

Probably same for the Zigbee / Z-Wave devices but…

Hello,
Would it be possible that you add MQTT protocol to Homey ??
That would be a really great improvement for metering data management !

Bruno

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Q: I have read conflicting things about the LED ring. In one place I saw that it would not be controllable by apps but would be by flows. Then in this topic there are a few people saying they use LED ring to be notified about stuff in their system and will miss this. But if it will still be possible to control LED ring by flows, surely this will still be possible in the 2023 Pro? Please clarify.

This is wat Emile said:

(For the non-Dutch: That is not entirely true. You can show LED Ring effects via a flow, but we changed it so it can no longer be controlled by apps)

Thank you!

Not 100% sure. There was a “dreamers about new Homey thread” - and smells, they red that one, BUT as there, in thread was only wishes about something new (memory, Ethernet…) and nothing about what must be carry over from old… then :wink:

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I saw in the presentation that there is mention of community apps also being welcomed, even if there is already an official app available. Does that mean that HCS will no longer be needed and that these apps will be able to move to the official store?

According to Athoms presentation the Bridge will extend the zigbee, but not as a router but as a controler. And when placing your units you need to statically decide which controler it should connect through. So you you will end up with 2 zigbee networks not meshing each other.
Which is fine as they will anyway cover different parts of your home.

All devices will then of course be handled by the Pro.

I think it is good to re-listen to their presentation to understand more. It was much new, hard to remember all.

That’s the point. When you are talking about what you’re dreaming about, its not the same as asking what you couldn’t miss. And then again; a speaker is so mainstream, there is a big chance you will forget to mention it. It’s like dreaming about a new car, and you get one without a radio in it.

Is there not a way at the beginning that all of the SDK2 apps will also work on the new homey pro ?

So all the users with the new homey pro can use homey pro and not have to wait for updates ?