- Mi Home GatewayThe Mi Home line of products from Xiaomi has become one of the most popularly used smart home gadgets, simply due to its affordability and how readily they are available online. We are delighted to inform that Home-A-Genius recognises most of the devices and sensors from Mi Home just by adding the Mi Home Gateway.Pre-requisite: Pair all Mi Home devices or sensors to the gateway via the Mi Home mobile app.
Adding Mi Home Gateway to Home-A-Genius
1. From Trigger, go to Mi Home Section, select Setup.
The following instructions will be shown in the pop up window.
To begin setup:
- Open your Mi Home mobile app and go to Gateway > Enter device
- Tap the More (3 dots) icon and tap About
- Tap the bottom of the screen repeatedly until you see extra options that are in Chinese
- Tap the third option and you should see a toggle switch and password
- Turn on the toggle switch and enter the password to the text field below
- Select "Save"
Step 1: From you Mi Home App, Select Default Gateway (as shown on Image 2).
Sometimes a popup will appear (as shown in Image 1).
If not, you be directed to the page in Image 2.
Image 1
Image 2
Step 2: Select the 3 dots on the top right corner > Select About
Step 3: Tap the bottom of the screen repeatedly. You may tap anywhere in the area that is boxed up in red.
Step 4: The following screen (as shown below) will pop up.
Select the 3rd option (as highlighted in the red box below)
Step 5: Turn on the toggle button labelled as B in the image below. After which, you will see a series of numbers (labeled as A) and a toggle that is turned on (labelled as B).
Finally: Enter the password (indicated as A in the Mi Home App) into the text field below. Select "Save"
Note that the password, like any other password, is case-sensitive. If you have entered the wrong password, a pop up at the bottom right corner will appear:
If you are successful, all your Mi Home devices will magically appear.
All the best and good luck!
- Adding an IP Camera (VStarcam)In today's market for home monitoring, there is a massive range of IP cameras you can choose from, which can be confusing at times. For Home-A-Genius, we have decided to focus on 2 brands of IP cameras; VStarcam and Edimax, mainly due to their affordability and robust features.In this section, we will provide step-by-step instructions on how to add your VStarcam IP camera to Home-A-Genius. Once added to Home-A-Genius, all IP cameras will only start recording when motion is detected; i.e. saving energy as only the required scenes are recorded.Prerequisite: IP Camera should be plugged, powered on and paired with your home network (same as Home-A-Genius) via the Eye4 mobile app.
From Triggers, go to IP Camera.
Select the '+' sign at the bottom right of the section.
In the Add IP Camera section, select VStarcam, and name the camera.
Next, enter the IP Address by selecting the option from the dropdown based on the MAC Address of the VStarcam.
How to find out what is the MAC address of your VStarcam?
From your Eye4 app, select 'More' (3 dots) on the top right corner of the camera of interest > Select Settings > you will see the MAC address on the top section of the app.
Once the IP Address has been selected, a pop up will appear below the IP Address.
Select Learn More
A popup will appear, showing you "How to assign a static IP address and port number 88 to your IP Camera?"
Instructions for VStarcam is listed in the 2nd section:
- Click Sign In according to the browser you are using
- Click the Settings icon (see image below) and go to Network Settings > Basic Network Settings
- Uncheck Obtain IP from DHCP Server, and set Http Port to 88
- Click "Submit" and wait a while to allow the camera to reboot
Enter Username & Password of the camera >
Select Face or motion detection > Set Sensitivity of motion (we recommend 70% for medium-sized objects; e.g. a cat.
Select Save.
Your VStarcam IP camera will now appear as one of the triggers in the IP Camera section.
- Adding an IP Camera (Edimax Door Camera)The Edimax door camera is battery-powered (from our testing, it lasts for approx 3 months with rechargeable battery*) without any need for wires. This makes it ideal for placement at the main door as no messy drilling or additional power point is required. You also simply hook the camera over the door without needing to modify your beautiful door in any way.Like the VStarcam, once added to Home-A-Genius, the camera will only start recording after motion is detected; i.e. saving energy as only the required scenes are recorded.Pre-requisite: IP Camera should be powered on and paired with your home network (same as Home-A-Genius) via the EdiLife mobile app.
From triggers, go to IP Camera.
Select the + sign at the bottom right of the section.
In the Add IP Camera section, select Edimax.
Name the camera
Next, select the IP Address based on the MAC address of your Edimax.
Note: The MAC Address of the Edimax camera can be found at the bottom of the plugged-in receiver (with an antenna) that comes with every camera.
Once the IP Address has been selected, a pop up will appear below the IP Address.
Select Learn More
A popup will appear, showing "How to assign a static IP address and port number 88 to your IP Camera?"
Once the loading complete, open the camera's website (as shown on the first red box below) Home-A-Genius has found for you.
Follow the instructions for Edimax (as shown on the second red box below).
Once done, head back to the Home-A-Genius local page. Enter your camera's login and password.
A pop-up will appear. Follow the instructions on the pop-up. For ease of use, you may copy and paste the links provided by Home-A-Genius.
Note that you will see a black screen on the Edimax camera as the camera will only be activated when movement has been detected. To view the camera, you have to add it to a room/scene. For more information on creating rooms/scene, please refer to here.
- Adding a Voice Controller (Amazon Echo)Amazon Echo was the first thing that came to our mind when it comes to voice controllers. We have painstakingly built two skills in the Alexa App that complements Home-A-Genius. You will need to work on a web browser for this to work.
In the Voice Controller section, select "Login with Amazon".
Sign in to your Amazon account. Once signed in, your Voice Controller will now need to discover Home-A-Genius to sync your rooms and scenes.
Visit the Alexa web page to begin installing Home-A-Genius Skills for Alexa.Next, sign in with your Amazon account again at the Alexa web page.
Select the menu bar on the top left corner of the page (boxed up in red).
Click on skill.
Search for Home-A-Genius.
Select "Home-A-Genius Assistant"
Select Enable > Select Allow
You should only view this after the Alexa skill has been added.
Continue doing the same for the other Alexa skill.
What can you do with the Home-A-Genius Assistant Skill?
Similar to the AI smart home assistant in the iOS Home-A-Genius app, you can use Alexa to "ask Home Genius" questions like "Alexa, ask Home Genius, how is my home", "Alexa, ask Home Genius, who is home?", "Alexa, ask Home Genius, what rooms are on?".
These commands will come in handy when you're lazing back on your favourite couch and are too tired to move.
Read more about Home-A-Genius Assistant from here.
What can you do with the Home-A-Genius skill?
By integrating Home-A-Genius skill into Alexa, you can effectively command Alexa as a trigger to "Turn on <Room Name>" as what you have set up in our Automation page (Rooms/Scenes/Routines).
This allows for commands to be triggered without saying "Ask HomeGenius bla bla bla", allowing for a more natural interaction with Alexa.
Confused with which commands to use?
Home-A-Genius will dynamically populate a list of commands for you based on what you have automated.
Select the book icon on the bottom left corner of your Voice Controller section in the Trigger page.
A list of commands will be populated. You can print the commands via the print button.
What happens if you accidentally unlink your Amazon Account from Home-A-Genius?
Note: It is advised to not unlink the Amazon account from the Home-A-Genius account. Doing so will make Amazon Echo disappear from the trigger; i.e. if you want to re-instate Amazon Echo to your Home-A-Genius account, there are two ways to get your settings back:
1. Add the voice controller option back to every automation that used to have the voice controller.
2. Restore Home-A-Genius setting completely. Go to Settings > Backup/Restore Data > Restore.
- Adding a Voice Controller (Google Home)Google Home is a popular newcomer for Voice Controllers. To meet the demand, we have recently built a Google Assistant Smart Home App that works with Home-A-Genius.Download the Google Home App from your mobile app store to get started.
If you don't currently have an account with Google Home, ensure that you're in your home's Wifi network and just follow the on-screen steps provided by the app to create a profile for your family's smart home.
You should then arrive at this page once you're done (pictured left).
From here, click on 'Get Started' to start adding your Google Voice Controller, or the '+' icon at the top left corner of the screen (if you have already paired a device once).
> Set up new devices > Select your home (Create one if unavailable).
The app will then search for your the available devices in your home (please ensure that the Google device is powered on).
Follow through the on-screen instructions until you have successfully paired your device in Google Home (it should go through a short three-to-four minutes installation).
It should bring you back to the main page of the Google Home app.
PS: Note that if you have already successfully paired your first device, you do not need to repeat the steps below for any additional Google Home devices.
Now, press the settings icon from the main page. Scroll down all the way until you find the 'Google Assistant services' and go to 'More Settings'. You should arrive at this page below.
From 'Your info' tab, go to 'Assistant' (pictured below).
You need an amazon account to ensure that Home-A-Genius is able to connect with Google Assistant.>>
Once you've successfully logged in, you should see a notification saying that 'Home-A-Genius in successfully linked'. From here, go back to the main page, and ensure that you refresh the app. If you've already paired/automated any scenes with your Home-A-Genius, you should be able to see the various scenes pop up.
With this, the voice controller is now enabled.
<< Once you're at the 'Assistant' tab, go to 'Home control'.
It should bring you to the page below. From the 'devices' tab, press the '+' icon at the bottom right corner to link Home-A-Genius with Google Assistant. >>
<< It will then bring you to this screen (pictured left). Press the 'Search' icon at the top right corner and search for "Home-A-Genius" (please ensure that the word is hyphenated).
Press on it. Then, it will bring you to this page below.
Ensure that you 'Login with Amazon' and not directly into the embedded email address and password field. >>
