IR emitters?

I’m looking for an IR emitter, not an extender that will necessitate an IR blast cable.
My goal is to set up the home theater remotely – e.g., lowering the screen and turning on the overhead projector by IR.
I can see some Remotec products, but they all appear to be IR extenders, which is not ideal for the purpose I’m envisaging.
Any suggestions?

Under $50 simple no coding solution to power on most brands of smart TVS (Switchbot)

1 Like

What @JDRoberts said.

You want the Switchbot Mini. It comes with a MicroSD cable, but you need to supply the USB power wart, which most people have quite a few lying around unused.

1 Like

Is this a Z-wave product though?

No, it’s Wifi with it’s own app. Connection to Alexa via a skill.

No, but if you read the thread I linked you’ll see it has an official smartthings integration provided by the manufacturer and it works straight out of the box with the new V3 smartthings app. :sunglasses:

As @bry said, it’s a Wi-Fi device, and the integration is cloud to cloud, so if you were looking for something local this isn’t it.

But you aren’t going to find any local options that do work with smartthings since all custom code runs in the cloud. There might be some devices you could make work with Hubitat Or one of the other hubs which operates primarily locally.

I’m a little confused. So, Smartthings can control devices that uses neither Z-wave nor Zigbee? Since Smartthings Hub is cloud-based, it’s not really unthinkable, but that means I’ll lose automation (like scene) if the internet is lost. Right?

Yes, SmartThings works with many different WiFi devices via cloud to cloud. Some of the most popular are the Philips Hue bridge, Ecobee thermostat, Ring doorbell, Arlo camera, LIFX bulbs and Logitech Harmony, but there are dozens more. It even has official integrations with some other systems which use their own proprietary frequencies, but also have a Wi-Fi connector, such as Lutron Caseta light switches. And of course Samsung has its own Wi-Fi devices, including its smart appliances, smart televisions, and a recently introduced Wi-Fi plug-in pocket socket and camera.

The Samsung smartthings home automation platform is a hub optional platform: If you only have Wi-Fi devices, such as a Samsung brand smart television and a couple of the ones mentioned above, you don’t need the hub at all. Same app, same account whether you have a hub or not. :sunglasses:

The hub itself is certified as both a Z wave controller and a zigbee coordinator, so devices of those protocols can be joined directly to it. However, SmartThings Is still mostly a cloud-based system, and very few commands run solely locally. For example, you can’t control anything just with the app unless the Internet is also available so you can access the SmartThings cloud. (They didn’t have to design it that way, but they did.) You cannot arm/disarm the security features unless the cloud is available. And you can’t run any custom code except in the cloud, even for Z wave and Zigbee devices. Also, you can’t change the location mode from home to away or back again unless the cloud is available.

All of which means if your Internet goes out, you probably will lose most of your scenes even if they only have Z wave and Zigbee devices. :scream:

1 Like