Is this plugin still active?

[keness521]

Hello!

I wanted to find out if this plugin was still being maintained? I notice there is an issue with the plugin accessory name causing it to be partially unusable, and a pull request which looks like it is meant to address that, but the pull request is from quite a while ago without being incorporated.

If I understand corrected from the readme, this plugin has the ability to, by way of an automation (shortcut, I assume?) make use of ANY HomeKit temperature sensor and treat that as if it is the internal temperature sensor of the AC unit, at least for the purposes of the HomeKit thermostat controller. (I know the AC can't use this, kind of like a DIY iFeel, although that sure would be great.)

I'd really like to try this out, but can't get past the extra space in the accessory name in the config. I can remove it, and the plugin will start up, and even bind to my AC unit like it should, but it doesn't recognize its own config and so it is impossible to set it up as a child bridge as it keeps saying there is no config present.

Thanks very much!

Ken

[petro-kushchak]

Hi,

Correct - this plugin gets temperature from HTTP request which can be automated with shortcut.

Plugin version 1.0.19 have plugin name fix merged (6 month ago). I run this version since release and haven't seen any issues with reading plugin config.

Could you please provide more details on which version of plugin you are running and what are the errors that Homebridge is showing?

Thanks, Petro

[keness521]

Hello! Thank you for your reply!

It was v1.0.19.

I used the standard Homebridge UI install, and after installing it came up with the config screen, at which point I put in one of my units (192.168.1.81) and then restarted.

Upon restarting, I receive the following error:

[17/02/2023, 11:19:42] No plugin was found for the accessory "Cooper&Hunter AC" in your config.json. Please make sure the corresponding plugin is installed correctly.

I opened up the config and find this:

    {
        "name": "Cooper&HunterAC",
        "model": "CH-S09FTXE WIFI",
        "serial": "ch-00-00-01",
        "host": "192.168.1.81",
        "updateInterval": 10000,
        "accessory": "Cooper&Hunter AC"
    }

I note that the "accessory" has a space in it, which seems odd... So I removed the space from "accessory" and change it to "Cooper&HunterAC" and then restart again.

After restarting, there is no error, and I begin seeing updates as expected:

[17/02/2023, 11:23:06] [Cooper&Hunter AC] Status updated: 1ef84808 props: {"Pow":1,"Mod":4,"TemUn":1,"SetTem":20,"TemSen":60,"WdSpd":0,"SwUpDn":6}

So I thought, great, that fixed it! However, the next step I always take is to place ALL plugins into a Child Bridge. Unfortunately, the UI thinks that there is no configuration for the plugin, and says I must create a configuration first, because it is looking for a plugin "accessory" WITH the space, but only a plugin "accessory" WITHOUT the space works. So I'm stuck.

If I put the space back into the "accessory" name, I can turn on Child Bridge, however, I again receive the no plugin error.

So I think, somewhere in the code, there is still a place where the space is in the platform name, so the UI won't recognize it without the space, but yet, it won't run with the space.

I hope that explanation makes sense? I'm afraid I'm not super technical, so I apologize if I've not explained things properly.

Thank you!

[keness521]

I just noticed something, maybe it is important? In the README.md, for the example configuration, it has:

"accessory": "CooperHunterAC",

However in the default config after installing the plugin, it has:

"accessory": "Cooper&HunterAC",

With the ampersand...

Perhaps that is the discrepancy?

[bohdan-prylutskyi]

hey @petro-kushchak. I'm getting this warning in homebridge console, that is why i've sent a PR, because I thought that is an issue.

Also as @keness521 mentioned, after removing space directly in config.json there's no possibility to add a bridge to homekit, because of the error

And after clicking settings all changes for host, name etc. are gone, and in config new invalid accessory is added

[petro-kushchak]

Hi, I think I found/fixed issues with plugin identifier registration - could you please check this beta version: @petro-kushchak/homebridge-ch-ac-eve (1.0.20-beta.2) ?

Use this guide for installing alpha/beta versions: https://github.com/homebridge/homebridge/wiki/How-to-Install-Alternate-Plugin-Versions

Thanks!

[keness521]

That worked! The plugin now installs correctly, no errors, and can be placed into a child bridge. Thanks!

One other thing I'm noticing now that I play with it is that it is impossible to set the mode to Heat or Cool... If I select Heat or Cool, it always bounces back to Auto, no matter what I do.

If I set to Heat to 68, for example, after about 1 second it will switch to AUTO with "Keep Between" 68-68.

[petro-kushchak]

Great - I've published this fix as stable release version 1.0.20

Regarding Heat/Cool mode - I've noticed the same behaviour... Plugin just pass Heat/Cool mode to AC unit which for some reason responds back with AUTO, same with incorrect temperature range which comes from AC unit - will investigate this when get more time.