Rogue's Gallery - the most useless home integrations I've done, tried to do, or got working despite the manufacturer.

This is going to be an ongoing post. As I get updates or news, I'll modify the post.

The Good.

Rachio 3 <Retiring from the rogues gallery>

It seems kind of funny to put something into the Rogue's Gallery and call it good.

The Rachio 3 is a Smart Sprinkler controller and it is supposed to be HomeKit compatible... but for a great deal of people, including me, it didn't seem to work. It also seems to be tied to being an issue with a Mesh network.

However, as of January 2021, Rachio have started a beta of a new firmware update and it works again! 

To be honest, I've actually been impressed with how they have handled the entire issue. The communication with the end user base has been superb.

So, why is it good?

Well it's because:

1. you can still use the Sprinkler from the Rachio App and do everything you need to from there
2. What you actually get from the HomeKit integration isn't that great anyway. Essentially you get to treat each sprinkler as a switch. Turn it on/off at Random.

Nanoleaf Smart Remote

There's actually nothing really wrong with this device at all, per se.

It's a dodecahedron (12 sides) and each side can be programmed to take a different action. It even has a different colour depending on which side you put it.

It's weird, and thus it's kind of cool.

I got mine in a sale and I have some gift cards, so why not?

Why's it here? It's practically useless. You try remembering what 12 different sides do. This means you nee dto put labels on each side, which then destroys the purity of the design.

So, Nanoleaf, I love your inventiveness and how quirky you are... but this is bloody useless!

The Bad.

Belkin/Linksys/Wemo

Belkin is the parent company. I've put them in there because of their terrible customer service and lack of interest in customer feedback around specific use cases. It seems to be a corporate culture issue as I had the same problem with both Wemo and Linksys.

Linksys:

My Linksys Velop network does work. And it works well.... now I know how to get the info I need, which is by using an obscure command that takes. a few minutes to do a dump! My issue was that my signal was not quite strong enough between the various nodes. Now, considering their literature said that I had more than enough for the size of my home and that there was never any notification that there was an issue, how was I to know? Eero, for example, actually has a graphic representation of the signal strength between the nodes. Linksys does not. as I said, the info is in some obscure command you send, and then you have to parse the output.... of which there is a lot.

Also, when I had an issue with HomeKit Secure Router where I couldn't switch on "Auto" mode for Hue, they had zero interest in helping. Just threw their hands up in the air and said it was not their problem. I have subsequently got Hue and Apple involved, and both of them had different reactions and, to be fair, we now know it is actually a Hue problem.

Wemo:

I bought 2 of their Smart Plugs. Good price, good size. Others have complained about set up but, for me, it was easy. However, when they lose power they always return to a power off state. I logged it as a call and was informed that this was for safety reasons. OK, I can see why it would default to Off, but as a user I should be able to change the default. Once more, not interested in further engagement even though I offered to describe the use case.

The Ugly.

KOHLER Konnect <Updated 21st Jan 2021>

As good as Rachio are at managing customer expectations, KOHLER are the complete opposite.

I bought a Kohler Graze. Their advertising material at the time talked about being able to dispense a certain amount of water by voice, and lots of other cool things you could do. 

Whilst the waving the hand makes the water go on/off and the hardware is lovely... the reality of the integration with HomeKit is much different.

First of all, they have updated the web page since I bought this faucet/tap. At the time it did not say that HomeKit is limited to on/off only... that was buried in some other web pages.

It also did not say that you needed a 2.4ghz WiFi network.

It certainly still does not say that if your network goes down that you have to power down the faucet/tap and power it back up... otherwise it will not reconnect to the network. When I lodged that as a bug, the response I got from Kohler was that that was normal and they closed the call.

As for the 2.4Ghz network, it did work. However, since implementing HomeKit Secure Router (HKSR), I've had to combine my SSID's and now it will no longer connect. The only device I have in my entire network of 80 connected devices that would not work. Their response? That it requires a 2.4Ghz network and close the call. 

Thanks to Shane Whatley reviewing this on his HomeKit channel, I contacted him to see if he had the same issues. He had managed to get it to work on his combined 2.4Ghz/5Ghz network... so I gave it another go. Just like Shane, if I added it straight into HomeKit it would not stay in HomeKit and I'd quickly get "No Response". However, if I added it via their app, it did stay available in HomeKit... however, in my case, it would not add the product inside their own app.... so whilst it "works" in HK I can't get the app functionality.

Therefore, considering the terrible set up experience, the initial lack of info on what you can actually do with HK, and the terrible customer support I would not recommend this company to anyone. They obviously do not understand how to get products to work in a smart home. They certainly also need to revisit their Customer Service response.

Dishonourable Mention

August

I had an August Doorbell and 3 August Smart Lock Pro's with WiFi extenders.

I bought them because they promised HomeKit for the doorbell. It never materialised and they never published any info to enable to work, such as an API. As far as HomeKit support, they just slunk off into the night and dropped the claim.... no reimbursement for failing to deliver.

The Doorlocks, to an extent, I liked. Physically they used existing hardware but they had a huge lump on the back of the door and they consumed Duracell batteries to quickly I should have bought shares! They've fixed the size thing, but it still is not invisible and does not compare to the Level Bolt I replaced them all with.

Biggest issue though? Their terrible integration with HomeKit. It would work for me, but we could never get it to work for my partner. Just absolutely awful! I was pleased to see all the August product go.