After experiencing frequent Ecobee cloud outages, I decided it was time to transition to a more reliable local control solution. My setup includes two Ecobee thermostats with remote sensors, integrated into Home Assistant (HA) via the cloud-based Ecobee integration. While I already had Siri integration through HA’s HomeKit Bridge, I was intrigued by the possibility of adding local HomeKit Controller (HC) capabilities without disrupting my existing setup.
The process was surprisingly straightforward. First, I ensured all devices were on the same network, as HomeKit Controller relies on ZeroConf discovery. I temporarily moved my thermostats to the main network and let HA discover them. The setup wizard in HA then guided me through the pairing process, displaying a HomeKit code on the thermostat’s screen. Entering this code on my phone completed the setup.
One thing to note is the difference in preset modes. HomeKit Controller supports ‘Home,’ ‘Away,’ and ‘Sleep,’ which are accessed via a dropdown menu instead of the usual climate.set_preset_mode service. This required some adjustments to my automations, but the HC integration proved flexible enough to coexist with my existing cloud-based Ecobee setup.
I renamed my HC entities to match my existing ones, prefixing the cloud-based ones with ‘ecobee_’ for clarity. This allowed me to gradually transition functions to HC without overhauling my entire system. For instance, I still use the cloud integration for custom comfort settings and weather data while relying on HC for local control.
The migration was a seamless process, and I’m thrilled with the improved reliability. If you’re considering a similar move, I highly recommend exploring HomeKit Controller—it offers a robust, local alternative without the need for immediate re-architecting.
HomeAutomation #ecobee Homekit #localcontrol