How do you connect the aeon minimote to smartthings?

How? I can’t for the life in me figure it out.

Put SmartThings Hub into “Add a Device” mode…
(The “+” sign off the Dashboard, and then the “+ Connect New Device”.

The press, ummm…, I think the “Join” button on the controller for about 1 second. (I’ll double check in a bit if this doesn’t work for you).

Try to do this with the Minimote close to your SmartThings Hub.

The red LED will start flashing … if it flashes rapidly, then join is in progress.
If it flashes slowly, then join has failed.

There are other steps in case the remote is already joined and needs to be “excluded” first, etc., but not too hard, IF these steps are needed … catch me here anytime – we can chat via Skype etc.; and/or I can add pictures to this post.

…CP / Terry.

Yeah, welcome to the world of no documentation! It took me about a week to figure it out.

There are three phases to setting up the minimote.

  1. get the device physically ready, including charging to full power. There should be instructions in the box for this.

  2. once it’s physically ready, pair it with the ST hub. This link should help.

https://support.smartthings.com/hc/en-us/articles/202360304-My-Aeon-Labs-Z-Wave-Minimote-Won-t-connect-to-my-hub-

  1. once it’s paired to the hub, you’re ready to configure each button. This will be done in the Settings for the device. I don’t use a laptop so I don’t know how to do it there.

In the iOS app,
A) Open the ST app

B) Get to the Dashboard.

C) There should be a category called Convenience. Tap it. This will display any button controllers your hub knows about.

D) tap on the gear icon on the minimote tile. This will show you the Settings for the device and start a configuration wizard.

E) first select the minimote (yes, again, but this time from the configuration screen). This displays a list of devices and a Shop Now icon.

F) tap the circle to the right of the minimote you are configuring. It will turn green. (If the circle is already green, leave it that way.)

G) tap DONE at the top of the screen. This returns you to the configuration wizard screen.

H) the configuration screen looks almost the same as it did the first time you saw it, but the trick is there is now a NEXT button in the top right. Tap it and it will take you to the button configuration screen. (I swear it took me a week to notice that NEXT button!)

Do not tap the green arrow! Tap the NEXT button itself. This will take you to the first button controller screen.

(Oh, the MORE OPTIONS in the middle of this screen lets you set time restrictions on when the minimote works, but you can skip that part for now.)

I) Now we’re ready to start associating specific actions with the minimote, button by button. The first button controller screen lets you associate action requests with the first button. Pick a category that has stuff you want to control with button 1 and tap the arrow to the right of that name. This will take you to the Push/Hold Control screen for stuff in that category.

Before we go anywhere, though, a little more information on the Button control screen.

The minimote allows you to use each button two different ways: “push” or “hold.” So you can set different options for each button. For now let’s just say Push.

The stuff you can control is divided into categories. There are devices, like Lights, Locks, and Sonos. There are Hello Home Actions. There are Modes. There are Notifications.

The minimote is a toggle switch. Which means the odds are good that lights will work fine, door locks probably won’t work the way you expect, and Hello Home Actions (which are limited option scenes) may or may not work the way you expect the second time you hit the button. And if you associate the same device to the same button two different ways, like as an individual device and as part of a Hello Home Action, things get really unpredictable.

You will be allowed to associate multiple devices to one button, but only one Hello Home Action and only one Mode.

For now let’s pick two lights, Lamp A and Lamp B. Click on the arrow to the right of Pushed in the category Lights.

J) you will see a Shop Now icon and all the Light device names your hub is paired with. This time instead of a circle to the right of the device name, there will be a square because you are allowed to pick more than one item in this category. Same idea as before, though. Tap the square to the right of any light you want to control with button 1 to change from white to green to select it. Continue until you’ve selected all the lights you want associated with a push of button 1.

K) tap DONE at the top right of the screen to return to the Button Control Screen.

L) Now any category that has stuff you have associated with button 1 has a green arrow on the far right instead of a grey arrow. And the names of the individual items you associated are listed.

M) you could continue associating stuff from other categories to button 1 now if you wanted, but for this example we’ll assume you’re done. 2 lamps to be controlled with one push on button one as a toggle switch.

N) once you’re back on the Button Control screen for the first button and have finished all the associations you wanted for button 1, tap NEXT at the top right of the screen to display the Button Control screen for the second button.

You get the same list of stuff, just make the associations you want for button 2.

O) you can continue on through buttons 3 and 4.

When you get to the Button Control page for the fourth button, the top right of the page will have a DONE button instead of a NEXT button. Once you tap DONE all your associations will be saved and you will be taken back to the CONVENIENCE category page of the Dashboard.

If you want to change any associations, tap the gear icon on the minimote tile again to open Settings and you will be back to E) above.

Note that if you try to leave the Button Control page for the first, second, or third button by tapping the all too convenient left arrow in the top left corner you will lose all the settings you just did! You must instead tap the NEXT button in the top right corner of each button control page until you get to the button control page for the fourth button, then tap the DONE in the top right corner to save your associations, even if you only did settings for the first button.

So you can work on just one button at a time, but you have to click through to the last button page every time to save your work.

I strongly recommend not trying to combine individual devices and Hello Home Actions on the same button.

Also, if non toggle devices like door locks don’t work the way you want, use one button and associate it with a Hello Home Action that does handle the device as you want. Triggering a Hello Home Action will let you bring in multiple inputs if needed, so the minimote just starts the scene rather than just trying to toggle the device directly.

Anyway, hope all that helps!

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One more warning: if you associate a Mode change and a Hello Home Action that changes mode to the same minimote button, results will be unpredictable. Better to put them on different buttons.

Also, if you have guests or kids using the remote, you can pretty reliably assume that they will get confused about Push vs Hold on the same button. You might want to reserve Hold associations for a minimote you use but they don’t. :blush:

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https://support.smartthings.com/hc/en-us/articles/202360304-My-Aeon-Labs-Z-Wave-Minimote-Won-t-connect-to-my-hub-

These instructions are for the other mini mote. I have this one: DSA03202 v1

The same instructions will work … but you must first update the firmware.

…CP / Terry.

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I have the same one you do (the older model with the + sign) . I spoke with ST support at the time and they said that once you flash the firmware the only difference was the wording on the labels.

“+” is the same as Include (to have minimote add another device)
“-” is the same as remove (to have minimote remove another device)
Join is the same as Connect Now (to have minimote join the network)
There’s no Learn button.
The blank button is only used if you want to reset the minimote.

http://www.zwaveproducts.com/layout/manuals/AeonLabs_DSA03202-v1-manual.pdf

If I recall correctly, I did the following:
Fully charged the minimote.
I did not have to update the firmware because I bought mine from ST directly and they said it was already up to date.

Put the minimote close to the hub.

Opened the ST app and used the + (on the app, not the minimote), selected Remotes, then selected Aeon minimote to start searching for the minimote

Pressed the Join button on the minimote.

After that, everything worked fine, and I have been able to use the minimote to control devices, Hello Home Actions, and change Modes as I described previously.

p.s. If that method doesn’t work, you may have to update the firmware and reset the minimote before doing the Join.

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And… once you get the Minimote working for basic functions, consider giving my free SmartApp a try!
(I’m working on a variation that makes let’s you turn the Minimote into “Dial-An-Action” … i.e., turn the 4 key into “Enter”, and then use any number of digit sequences for to control an infinite number of devices, actions, or modes!).

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I was thinking about buying two MiniMotes but the firmware update is not possible as I only have Mac computers and all my friends have Mac computers. So buying one would be a waste of money as I was told it needs the latest firmware.

I have 2 of these, both about a year old and I’m in a Mac only house as well… So I have never updated the firmware… And I have never had an issue with them. So buy them from amazon and if they just work, keep’em and if not return’em. Simple :wink:

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Thanks. My problem is this I use Smart Alarm and I have zones with 30 second delays, but no matter what presence is in stay or away the alarm siren goes off when delay times out. Once I am in the house on stay it should not allow siren to go off. But I was told by Geko that is the way it should work. I can’t have the alarm working like that as I wake the whole neighborhood. So the MiniMote was one answer and I am searching now to see if the IRIS Keyfob can change a mode to disarm as another choice. My ideal was to use the IRIS keypad but that I am not sure would also set off the alarm after the 30 second timeout unless I disable the alarm.

30 seconds is cutting pretty close, considering SmartThings is not particularly time accurate these days. So first it is worth increasing the safe time.

You can also consider installing a connected keypad based lock (eg, Schlage Connect) which can trigger alarm disable when a valid entry code is used.

Or even set a small table lamp (on a smart outlet) near the front door and just turn it on to trigger alarm off. A burglar is unlikely to turn on extra lights…

I decided to go with these Securifi Key Fob AL-KFB01 - Programmable buttons to Arm/Disarm your Home Security System

And I am using Chip Rosenthal smart app Smart App

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Yup… these are essentially “portable” Minimotes.

As I mention in my Minimote PIN SmartApp discussion, idea security is 2-factor: i.e., something you have + something you know. Just “having” multiple things is, like, 1.x-factor security (e.g., if you have two deadbolts on your door, or if you have a disarm button on your car keys).

In the case of the Securifi Key Fob, well, that matches my latter example precisely. If you keep these are attached to your house keys, then you’re no more protected than if you carry just plain-old-keys … with the slight difference that physical locks can be bypassed by force, lock picking, etc…

In other words, you have “1.x Factor” security. If you want 2-Factor security, then your system must require “something you know” in order to disarm. This means you need a PIN entry device, or at least a secret lamp switch, or the command to tell the dog to stand down :wolf:!!!

I just ordered two Securifi keyfobs and was just thinking about once I have them installed should I turn off the presence sensors on Life 360. I don’t want the presence sensors to override the keyfob. But since they are getting here today I am not sure that would happen. I installed Kevin’s device type already and Chip’s smartapp for the flashing light as visual alarm or disarm notification. I am not sure I need both, I asked the question in the forum twice if I need both the device type and smart app but have not received an answer.

I can get lights or fans to with with the group mode I suspect. But not in scene mode… The lights won’t dim. Somehow I added a switch once that would dim but it was then removed from smartthings. Holding the scene button down and pressing the switch isn’t doing anything. Can anyone help?

Hi Guys,

I just bought one of these of Amazon but I get an error when trying to connect this to my PC to update the firmware.

When I download the latest firmware and select Update it says “Can’t find Minimote”.

So I looked in hardware and it is showing with an error mark with “Descriptor failed.”

Does anyone know if it’s corrupt or I need to do something differently.

I tried connecting to Smartthings but it connects and does nothing…

Thanks,
Sanushan

Have you tried plugging it into a different USB port? Sounds silly, but with mine plugged into a hub port, it didn’t work. Plugging it into a port on my PC itself solved the problem.

Hi Sanu,

Did you get a resiolution to this?

I’m having a very similar situation.

Thanks