Experimental
Updated March 12, 2022 by Shaquu and crxporterDuring development, we add new features that are marked as experimental.
They can be marked that way for few reasons:
- Early adopting and testing, allows us to phase new features.
- Discovering better ways to solve problems.
- Easier to test new designs without releasing to public.
Important Notice, any experimental feature is subject to change and might be not bug free.
Getting started
In order to be able to use experimental features you have to start Node-RED with NRCHKB_EXPERIMENTAL=true environment variable.
Examples
Terminal
NRCHKB_EXPERIMENTAL=true node-red or with DEBUG you can use NRCHKB_EXPERIMENTAL=true DEBUG=NRCHKB* node-red
System Service (Raspberry Pi)
If you run Node-RED using the provided system service after installing with their Raspberry Pi script, then you will need to modify the system service file.
The file should be located at /lib/systemd/system/nodered.service
Find a line starting with Environment and add one (or both) of the following lines.
Environment="NRCHKB_EXPERIMENTAL=true"
Environment="DEBUG=NRCHKB*"
Watching these logs after enabling the logging can be done using the journalctl -f command. Specifically on Raspberry Pi, run this command:
sudo journalctl -u nodered.service -f
Docker
Edit your docker-compose file like this:
version: '3.8'
services:
node-red-homekit:
image: nrchkb/node-red-homekit:latest-12
environment:
NRCHKB_EXPERIMENTAL: 'true'
network_mode: host
volumes:
- './data/node-red-homekit:/data'
container_name: node-red-homekit
restart: always
Experimental features
Custom Characteristics
NRCHKB/node-red-contrib-homekit-bridged#52
Using nrchkb node
you can define new Characteristics.
After you add them you need to also enable them on Service node.
Important Notice, currently, Home.app (default Apple app for managing smart home) is not displaying Custom Characteristics. To see them in action you have to use alternative app like Eve.app
Example Eve Characteristics
Sumary
| name | UUID | format | description | minValue | maxValue | minStep |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Volt | E863F10A-079E-48FF-8F27-9C2605A29F52 | uint16 | Eve Volt | 0 | 400 | 3 |
| Ampere | E863F126-079E-48FF-8F27-9C2605A29F52 | float | Eve Ampere | 0 | 16 | 0.01 |
| Watt | E863F10D-079E-48FF-8F27-9C2605A29F52 | uint16 | Eve Watt | 0 | 3500 | |
| Kilowatt-Hour | E863F10C-079E-48FF-8F27-9C2605A29F52 | float | Eve Kilowatt-Hour | 0 | 4294967295 | 0.01 |
| Volt-Ampere | E863F110-079E-48FF-8F27-9C2605A29F52 | float | Eve Volt-Ampere | 0 | 4000 | 0.01 |
~/.node-red/nrchkb/35b973f1696b4cd60b78ca5f719b83ca
{"key":"customCharacteristics","value":[{"name":"Volt","UUID":"E863F10A-079E-48FF-8F27-9C2605A29F52","format":"uint16","unit":"","perms":["pr","pw","ev","tw","wr"],"ev":"true","description":"Eve Volt","minValue":"0","maxValue":"400","minStep":"3","maxLen":"","maxDataLen":"","validValues":"","adminOnlyAccess":["0","1","2"]},{"name":"Ampere","UUID":"E863F126-079E-48FF-8F27-9C2605A29F52","format":"float","unit":"","perms":["pr","pw","ev","tw","wr"],"ev":"true","description":"Eve Ampere","minValue":"0","maxValue":"16","minStep":"0.01","maxLen":"","maxDataLen":"","validValues":"","adminOnlyAccess":["0","1","2"]},{"name":"Watt","UUID":"E863F10D-079E-48FF-8F27-9C2605A29F52","format":"uint16","unit":"","perms":["pr","pw","ev","tw","wr"],"ev":"true","description":"Eve Watt","minValue":"0","maxValue":"3500","minStep":"","maxLen":"","maxDataLen":"","validValues":"","adminOnlyAccess":["0","1","2"]},{"name":"Kilowatt-Hour","UUID":"E863F10C-079E-48FF-8F27-9C2605A29F52","format":"float","unit":"","perms":["pr","pw","ev","tw","wr"],"ev":"true","description":"Eve Kilowatt-Hour","minValue":"0","maxValue":"4294967295","minStep":"0.01","maxLen":"","maxDataLen":"","validValues":"","adminOnlyAccess":["0","1","2"]},{"name":"Volt-Ampere","UUID":"E863F110-079E-48FF-8F27-9C2605A29F52","format":"float","unit":"","perms":["pr","pw","ev","tw","wr"],"ev":"true","description":"Eve Volt-Ampere","minValue":"0","maxValue":"4000","minStep":"0.01","maxLen":"","maxDataLen":"","validValues":"","adminOnlyAccess":["0","1","2"]}]}