Hello to all openHAB2 users, coders and contributors, from Jarrod in Australia. ( and G’day to all the Aussie habbers’)
Firstly, Im an Electrical Engineer, with a very long and experience hardware career to date… Secondly, I’m an avid HA enthusiast, and have been tinkering with HA using re-purposed PLC’s and telemetry hardware for quite some time.
To that end: I have 5 independent ControlByWeb X-310 web enable IP switches https://www.controlbyweb.com/x310/ currently set up to control numerous lights, gates, gate open status and roller doors. The iOS app is very user friendly ( wife can use it) and the whole system has been solid as a rock.
In parallel, I had a surveillance platform (iSpy) https://www.ispyconnect.com/features.aspx running on a VM, with an ANPR plugin that white listed car registration plates. - On detection of a white listed plate, the iSpy ANPR plugin would generate a HTTP URL string / command? and this would pulse the corresponding relay in the gate controller and the gate would open.
String that iSpy would send:
The solution worked quite well, and family and friends could drive up our driveway and the gate opened. Cars or other objects not on the white list had to use the intercom.
Other visitors would also drop by occasionally:)
OK, so fast forward to iOS, apple homekit and Siri. - Here comes the functional concept, for you valuable feedback:
I’d like to now utilise openHAB2 to communicate with the X-310’s following voice command from Siri, via homekit.
Example: Wife is driving home in the dark - nearing home, she issues the command “hey siri, turn on the driveway lights” or “hey siri Donna is arriving home in the dark” which turns on driveway lights, opens driveway gate, turns on porch and front floodlights, opens garage roller door and turns on barn inside lights… ( the golden dream!!) All of those devices exist and are currently remotely switchable today using the ControlByWeb APP.
Im starting to research the requirements for OpenHAB, and the requirements of setup and config, and intend on teaching myself as much as possible to implement, but I’d like some feedback on whether the above scenario can be achieved.
some questions I think may be relevant:
Can the URL in the above iSpy example be sent by OpenHAB2?
Does OpebHAB need a response from th X-310 to inform Homekit of status? - i.e. of I were enquire " hey siri is the gate open, or front floodlight on?"
The X-310 from what Ive tested - if I type the following into the browser:
http://10.1.1.33:10330/state.xml?relay1State=2
changes the relay state accordingly and responds with:
Is this response sufficient to extract the variables that openHAB / homekit would need, in ordere to inform ‘siri’ of the status?
I have also seen somewhere that individual outputs / inputs can be interrogated for status, by a similar command.
If you are starting to realise - Yes - I have very limited coding / linux /. command line experience ( read nearly none!)
Hence why I’m very keen to understand if this concept is achievable before I begin to commit hours / days /weeks learning the skills to implement such a capability ( I certainly plan to learn this skills, if this can work!)
I’m also very cautious of configuring and attempting to set things up, only to have a very experienced and educated peer to offer some valuable advice which may be completely opposite to the way in which I have done things (if that makes sense?)
On my path so far I have successfully:
Installed OpenHAB2 on a W7 machine and set for auto start on machine startup
added the Network Binding app;
added two X-310 as things;
Joined the OH community;
researched and begun to learn OH framework
written this post ( had two beers doing so 
)
Look forward to any questions about my proposed mad plan, feedback on how easy this is going to be, and any other possible suggestion to guide me on paths to take and things to consider.
Thanks again, and I’m looking forward to this journey.
Jarrod.
Even the best of us will head down a path and reach a point where we learn something new or encounter an untenable problem that will force a backtrack and rebuild. But that is how we learn and that is how we make our systems better. I’ve probably rebuilt my rules at least three times now.
