Eve (formerly Elgato) is expected to announce a HomeKit-compatible Bluetooth range extender in the next couple of weeks, with the product launch scheduled for September. It will be called Eve Extend, and work with a range of existing Eve devices …
Bluetooth smart home devices have the big advantage of not needing a hub, but their range can be limited. A Bluetooth range extender is a simple way to boost the range. It picks up Eve or HomeKit commands via WiFi, then relays them to the devices via Bluetooth.
It’s the same principle as the range extenders offered by Hunter Douglas with its window blinds.
Macerkopf got an early hands-on with the device, which it says is likely to be particularly useful for the Eve Aqua, the company’s HomeKit-compatible garden irrigation controller, as these are often situated some distance from the home.
Eve Aqua was launched in May of last year as a way of automatically watering gardens on either a timed schedule or via Home app or Siri control.
Back to Eve Extend. The Bluetooth extender can be set up classically via the Eve app. The device is assigned to a room. Eve Extend communicates via WiFi with your router and via Bluetooth with the Eve devices. Overall, you can connect an Eve Extend [to eight devices]. Of course you can connect not only Eve Aqua with Eve Extend, but basically all Bluetooth-connected Eve devices.
To avoid leaving water on indefinitely, Aqua has an unusual method of control, as we found when we tried it.
The hose could be pointed at your garden’s flower bed, or hooked up to your sprinkler system as is common in the US.
Timers are set to a specific duration by default, but you can customize the duration with any five-minute interval between 5 minutes and 4 hours. The max duration was initially up to 1 hour in the Home app, but increased to 4 hours after a firmware update in the Eve app.
