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Basic concept

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Sam Turner edited this page Apr 7, 2017 · 3 revisions

ha-bridge explained

This explanation was written to help people understand the basic concept in simple terms what ha-bridge does.

ha-bridge can do lots of different things in lots of different ways, but what does it do?

Confusing to new (and experienced) users who get distracted by the many technologies mentioned or lost in an issue board, where every question seems to be asking something different.

The basic concept of ha-bridge is very simple and once it clicks you will see it is also very powerful.

A typical Philips Hue use case:

You purchase a Philips Hue Starter Kit (3 bulbs and a bridge) and install it in your home.

Now you can turn the lights on and off with your phone.

There is so much more Hue can do but for now let assume you only ever use the lights through the app on your phone.

Alexa meet Philip(s)

Then you buy an Amazon Echo, which straight out of the box will be able to detect and control the same bulbs you already control with the app.

It is important to understand that the ability for your Echo to see your Hue lights is built in to the Echo directly. You do not need to install the Philips Hue Skill for basic control.

Now you are able to impress your friends by saying:

"Alexa, turn off the living room lights"

"Alexa, dim the living room lights to 40%"

and she does. Super!

Alexa needs glasses

Using ha-bridge you can create software based "fake Hue bulbs"

The fake bulbs get treated exactly the same as if they were physical Hue bulbs.

Like the physical Hue bulbs you can send three types of command to them.

ON, OFF and DIM

Alexa might think they are bulbs, but to us they are virtual switches you can use for whatever you want

Using ha-bridge you decide what happens when the fake bulb receives e.g.

  • Receive ON command: do this thing
  • Receive OFF command: do this other different thing
  • Receive DIM command: do this other thing and send the value (number or percentage) as well

What it does is entirely up to you

  • you can fire a script
  • make a http request
  • press a Harmony button
  • link with your smart home system
  • ..etc etc

The possibilities are endless.

It doesn't matter what the fake bulb does. As far as Alexa is concerned she has just turned a light on.

This means you can create a voice controlled switch that can control anything (as long as you can do it with a computer)

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