Anyone tried the app? I looks pretty slick.
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I just bought the globalcache ip to ir product last night and started using iRule. its awesome. It apparently has great integration with Vera and it has really made me consider ditching the ST hub and moving to Vera so I can have one app that controls Foscam, Sonos, Nest, Zwave, all of my AV gear, and ELK.
Any plans to see how to integrate with iRule?
I will love to see ST integration whit iRule. Is this possible?
Has anyone heard if there are plans for this? I’ve been posting on the iRule forums asking for this as well.
I’ve been using iRule for a while now to control my home entertainment devices. It’s a great app that allows for a custom interface, is positioned well for DIY enthusiasts and has a pretty strong community. They continue to actively enhance their capabilities. I would love to see an official way to send commands and/or feedback between iRule and SmartThings. I would then use iRule as my main interface with SmartThings as the backend controller.
Currently you can send commands from iRule to SmartThings using endpoints, but there is no way to send from SmartThings to iRule. In my setup, SmartThings sends commands to HAM Bridge running on a Mac Mini, which in turn sends commands to my iTachs, the Mac itself, and other APIs including Philips Hue and Venstar thermostats. Having scripts that execute entire scenes involving lights and audio/video gear is much simpler this way.
It is possible to send commands from SmartThings directly to an iTach, but setting up a device-type to do everything seems like overkill as it is not a very good remote control.
Hey Scott, I am really intrigued by the irule route as I think it would be easier for the family to control and can take the automation even further with integration of IR devices. What has been your experience recently? Also how easy is it to set up using the ham bridge, is it something a newbie can achieve? How well does it all integrate with AV and home together. Sorry for all the questions but there isn’t a ton of documentation available.
iRule, HAM Bridge, and my iTach have been rock solid for over a year. I control three rooms of A/V gear with them. I love being able to design my screens any way I want. Here is one I created for TiVos…
http://solutionsetcetera.com/stuff/Screenshot_2014-12-19-04-11-51.png
It is very simple to set up HAM Bridge commands in iRule as they are a simple HTTP GET. Commands to SmartThings is done pretty much the same way using oauth endpoints.
Sending to iTach from HAM Bridge requires a python script, and is documented here. I have a number of scripts that setup complex home theater scenes, which I trigger from iRule, SmartThings, Tasker, and even browser bookmarks.
Thanks Scott, it gives me somewhere to go. Any chance you have tried and or use the sonos module?
Nope; don’t use sonos.
Do you have any videos of your setup? What you say above sounds pretty cool, I’d like to see it in action!
I could put one together. What is it exactly that you like to see?
Is it just me that cannot associate ‘iRule’ with anything else other than F5 Big-IP load balancers?
An example of how you integrate iRule with HAM with ST, a real world scenario where you use it and how you set up HTTP Gets and python scripts. Also, you should get Sonos.
Here is the first one covering setup and integration… hopefully I’ll find time tomorrow for some real world examples.
really cool stuff, I’m 5 minutes in and if I had one suggestion I would lose the african music in the background :). Thanks for taking the time to upload!!!
and there is about 5 extra minutes of dead air at the end.
At the end, I’m confused about what telling your mac to announce a message does for you? I can definitely see the IR gear integration being useful but still missing the link on how this all works together (Mac, ST, IR Gear, etc) maybe I just need to keep watching further videos and researching but you’ve definitely introduced a whole new world to me. Hopefully others will gain some insight from your videos.
Hmmm… not sure about the dead air, but have YouTube working on it.
I didn’t want to obfuscate the setup and integration with a bunch of scripting tutorials. This video demonstrates how to trigger a HAM Bridge command using various methods. Later videos will detail what kinds of things are doable by the scripts that HAM Bridge commands would execute.
For now, going to the page linked at the end of the video will give you a bit more detail on that… but in a nut shell that would be any series of IR, serial, or relay based commands to an iTach, scene commands to Hue lamps with full API access (transition times, effects, etc.), network TiVo commands… or any commands to anything on your network that provides a local network API, or a internet based access point.
I am working on another vid regarding Phillips Hue and will hopefully post tomorrow.
That makes sense, since ST has no way to relay IP based commands, seems like that’s the end goal for ST to have full control of the house. Looking forward to iTach video. So I guess you use iRule instead of the ST app?
Yes. Having to fumble through the SmartThings app just to turn something on would make everyone here very unhappy iRule allows for much more customization, contextually. But I also have icons on home screens, or in folders in the taskbar that are one touch shortcuts (created with Tasker) that send GETs to HAM Bridge. Things like pausing the TiVo, driveway lights, shutting down the downstairs, firing up the main system and playing the latest local news broadcast (that one also fires automatically when I get home - if it’s after 5pm - fires up the garage/back yard system too - so I am listening to it as soon as I get out of my truck). Just things I often use that I want instant access to. A tablet, in a dock on the nightstand, has many of these on its home screen.
The Philips Hue instructional…