Hi all, I’ve seen several threads and conversations about having ST trigger a Harmony activity. I would like to actually setup the reverse. I’m looking for a way so that when someone using the Harmony remote triggers a “Watch Movie” activity then ST runs a routine to turn off certain lights and sets the appropriate dim level on others.
So the question really is how do I trigger a ST Routine to run when someone selects the activity on the Harmony remote to “Watch Movie”?
Cheers.
Create a virtual switch in smartThings and use the switch Activates Home Phrase smart App. Configure the app to activate the routine when the virtual switch you’ve just created is turned on.
Go into the Harmony remote software and setup your Activity to turn the same virtual switch on when you select the activity.
The result should be that the Harmony activity turns on / off the routine.
If you are using a Harmony Hub or Harmony Home Hub product, this can be done within the mobile Harmony app. You just add Home Automation Device functionality to the activity that you already have setup for watching movies.
I don’t know why you can not do this via the MyHarmony PC application, but here is an Example:
In MyHarmony create a “Watch Movie” activity which turns on your TV, Receiver, and BD player, and assign it to the Movie activity button…
Then open the Harmony app on your mobile device and sync. After the hub has synced you will see your new activity.
Edit the Watch Movie activity and you will see a button for Edit Home Automation (or something like that). From there you can control any of the devices that Harmony supports from SmartThings.
Before you do this, you will need to go into MyHarmony and add SmartThings as a Home Automation device, if you have not done so already.
Thx all. I already had Harmony integrated with ST but just wasn’t sure how to trigger a routine. I’ve setup a virtual switch per Keo’s recommendation and I’m now able to add it to my Harmony “Watch Movie” activity. I installed the “Switch Activates Home Phrase” app and it seems to work now. I just need to play with it a little more to make sure it works flawlessly. I just need to figure out how to add a time-of-day logic so that the routine doesn’t run during the day, only after sunset.
Is there an alternative to the “Switch Activates Home Phrase” app that also has a time-of-day logic? This one is very basic and there would be no point in turning lights on during the day.
Yes, there is this app, Button Runs Routine. It has the standard restrictions available.
I had this ( dimming lights in movie mode) done before I even tried setting up st/echo to control Harmony. When I set up the watch movie activity in harmony I set it to turn the lights down to 10% . So far it has worked flawlessly . I can’t say the same for trying to use the HA buttons on the Harmony remote to change dim level.
I’m working on having a movie routine / mode but within Harmony I see this:
I cannot select my virtual switch and can’t figure out why. I’ve verified that the switch functions as intended to run the routine and set mode.
Any ideas…I’m missing something. I set up the switch to be momentary. Should it be on/off?
The other question is because I would always want the routine to run instead of only after sunset, do I make a separate event in Harmony altogether?
I feel like I need a flow chart so I can visualize this lol
Once you have you ST linked to Harmony, you don’t need ST to set up movie routine. You should see all of your authorized ST devices listed in your Harmony remote app. So you can have lights turn off/dim , doors lock etc completely through Harmony app when setting up an activity. I am assuming the “Movie” in your screenshots it your virtual momentary ST switch. Which since it is virtual is not connected to anything.
The virtual momentary switches we talked about was for using voice commands of Echo to control Harmony activities through IFTT.
Yes, I was working on having the virtual switch change a routine and mode but decided on a different route. Thank you for your reply 
Did you try using that switch in ST? I found that if you trigger it in ST, it activates it in Harmony.
I did…
By the time I got it all working it really wasn’t worth the trouble considering why I was creating a new mode / routine; therefore, in need of a virtual switch.
I decided to go with simplicity…but it was a good exercise for learning how the 2 platforms work together.
Once I’m done with the bulb to light switch boogie I may undertake voice control and virtual switches.
For now simplicity = reliability
Yes, I’ve learned that making the best out of ST, is to follow the KISS rule. Basically, you need to be able to recreate everything on the fly, in case something goes south and you find yourself at ground 0 (I took time this weekend to ‘poltergeist’ foolproofing my set up)…
