Logitech Harmony Elite + Broadlink RM Pro + SmartThings + RF device integration

Hi all,

Apologies if this might have been covered before but I’ve searched a lot of forums and would really appreciate some help :slight_smile:

I have a Logitech Harmony Elite remote and would like to control my Projector Screen which is an RF device. I’ve setup a Broadlink RM Pro and I’ve been able to learn the commands to control the Projector Screen. In turn, I’ve linked it to Alexa and setup routines there and then I’ve created virtual switches in SmartThings. However, because the devices are classed as sensors I can’t seem to be able to assign the routines to any of the Home Control buttons. So my questions are as follows:

  1. Am I missing something straightforward to enable this? If there’s a way that my virtual switches could be changed to feature in my Harmony Elite remote that would be great.

  2. If I got a Sonoff RF bridge and added my Projector Screen that way, would it be recognised on the Harmony Elite remote?

  3. If I can’t use the Home Control buttons to perform the action can I do it via any of the other buttons?

I’ve been trying to get this working since the weekend and I feel like I’m so close!

Thanks in advance for your help.

Ajay

If I understand what you’re asking, when most people are creating an integration to allow smartthings to trigger an Alexa routine, they use a virtual device which is BOTH A switch and a sensor. If you turn on the switch, the sensor looks like it opens. Turn off the switch, and the sensor looks like it closes.

Since at the time of this writing, Alexa routines could not be triggered by a switch, the sensor piece allows you to trigger the Alexa routine. But you can still turn the switch piece on and off by voice, with a smartthings routine, or with another integration.

So it sounds like you may be trying to assign the Harmony home control to the sensor piece, but you should be able to assign it to the switch piece, depending on the exact integration that you are using.

What exactly did you use to create the sensor? And what exactly are you using for the Harmony integration?

Reason I ask this is that custom Groovy Devices and smartapps will stop being supported in just a few weeks. So in the new platform it’s edge Drivers and then various alternatives for a smart app. so I just want to make sure that you’re using something for the new platform, otherwise, it will stop working in a few weeks anyway. :thinking:

Hiya,

Thanks so much for the quick response. I am using a a virtual device that I found on these forums called Simulated Alexa Switch by bjpierron so I guess there’s no point in trying to get it work in that case. Do you think the Sonoff Bridge will do what I want?

The one by @bjpierron should work for the next couple of weeks if you want to try it and see if the issue is just that there’s a switch piece that you weren’t selecting on the Harmony side.

Do you have a smartthings hub? And if so which model? If you do have either a V3 smart things hub or Aeotec hub, there is a custom edge driver that works with the new architecture and can generate devices with both switch and sensor capabilities.

[ST Edge] vEdge Creator: a virtual device generator for end users

As for using just a Sonoff, I’m not sure I understand the question. :thinking:

Hiya,

I do have a SmartThings hub but it’s V2, so would that still be compatible?

So within SmartThings the switches do work and the screen goes up and down but within Harmony it comes up on the remote as a sensor rather than a switch (I have SmartThings plugs and Hue devices that work fine).

Here’s what shows up on the remote:

With regards to the Sonoff bridge, if I get that and programme the codes onto its software (it seems to show that it’s compatible with SmartThings) would it show up on my Harmony Remote as as device I can programme onto the Home Control buttons like I’ve been able to do with my Hue and SmartThings plugs?

its coming up that way on the Harmony BECAUSE the device is both a sensor and a switch. Harmony defaults to seeing the sensor side - no tthe switch side. THat would NORMALLY take a change in the harmony Groovy code that drives the Harmony integration - buuuuut. THeres a significant hitch here -

The Harmony Groovy intrgration dies with Groovy. So you wont be able to pull the devices into your remote that way anymore. Also Harmony support ahs already released notes to customers who asked that they do not intend to build an API / Edge integration.

There is an Alpha implementation of an Edge driver for Harmony here: [EDGE DEVICE] Simple Harmony Bridge **Alpha Testing**

Have no idea where the developer intends to go with it, but as they appear to be using dev mode on the hub and direct comms (Same way HomeAssistant does it) they theoretically could do just about anything.

I’d strongly suggest you switch your planning around that because everything else you have may go away when Groovy is decommissioned.

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I’m the developer of that driver, I just want to temper the expectation that the driver ‘could do just about anything’

*Edge drivers are not smartapps - this will limit the possibilities of what can be achieved on the smartthings side because the driver can only interact with it’s own devices, and not wider within the smartthings eco system

*Control of st devices directly from harmony will not be possible using this driver, as this will require harmony to upgrade their integration to the newer smartthings APIs. (We have a work around in the edge driver that will mean you can trigger st routines on the start or end of a harmony activity - but it’s not the same). In another thread I suggested some approaches that could be used to achieve this ( with a smart app that emulates a hue hub to harmony, or integration into another home automation platform and use their existing hue emulators)

I’m open to ideas and suggestions for where to take the harmony bridge edge driver next, and any features to add - but can’t promise I will build them in any speedy manner.

Thanks

Louis

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Great work Louis!

What I meant by ‘anything’ is that if you really wanted to yes you could target individual device commands like Kuku Harmony used to (its absolutely possible based on the capabilities exposed by the Harmony hub in dev mode)

But make no mistake, Logitech has NO INTENTION to upgrade thier integration to the new API. Multiple people have asked thier support desk and it’s a very clear. “Sorry, no.” Logitech is only supporting existing scenarios but they are not building anything new for Harmony. And the includes integration to ST.

So what you’re building is going to be the defacto standard for how to get Harmony into ST

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There Are a lot of ways into the Harmony APIs, including MQTT and a hue simulator.

One of my favorites conceptually is to use nodered and “fake Roku“ which will allow you to use the buttons on a harmony remote to get into node red.

This gives you 11 buttons to play with in your integration activity.

This is just one example of this approach, and I don’t know if this specific one still works, but I think it’s a very interesting idea and makes more sense than a simulated hue bridge does. Because it’s literally just capturing the button presses.

It’s not very intuitive for the wider household, but it’s really fun for tinkerers. :wink:

FWIW

@Automated_House @TAustin

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Ah ok, I understand

Fyi - my driver already supports individual device commands via automations and scenes. E.g you can write an automation in st that will mute your TV, or change the channel without the need for a harmony activity.

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Thank you all for replies. I got hold of a Sonoff RF bridge and it does exactly what I want it to do :slightly_smiling_face:

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Hi Ajay,

So you have finally succeed to control an RF device with your Harmony Elite, using the Sonoff RF bridge acting as a gateway between the Harmony Hub and you RF device ? Amazing, as Logitech remotes DONT control RF devices… Can you explain how did you achieve this goal ? (or maybe i can PM you…)