I am currently making a mantle piece that hides my soundbar within it. Having now figured out the correct way to physically build and hinge the box (mantle), i have decided to further complicate things by trying to integrate the ability for this top open / close with automation.
I believe the right idea would be to use a linear actuator open and close the door / hatch, however i am unsure about how to correctly power this actuator to allow zigbee control via automation setup within the Philips hub. The goal being to change to “movie mode” and have my lights dim, switch on the ambilight+hue function for the lighting, and also have the mantle door raise to show the sound bar.
I am looking on advice for the correct electronics and hardware to make this a reality.
I have found mini linear actuators that look to be what i need. These are : 12v DC Linear Actuator, 50mm Miniature Linear Actuator Mini Electric Linear Actuator Motor for Automotive Industry (Stroke 50mm-4mm/S-150n) as found on Amazon.
If these would be ok, then i would need a way of controlling this to allow an open and close function via Zigbee / Philips Hub.
So question is, what can i use to achieve this result?
Apologise as this is all new to me, so i am very much trying to learn. I did find a few posts that were helpful but nothing i could see that was directly applicable.
Thanks alot for any information pointing me in the right direction!
It’s unlikely to work using only the Phillips hub as that product is only designed for controlling devices within the approved ecosystem, and that’s mostly lighting plus their new security features.
Also, this forum was set up a number of years ago so that people using the Samsung SmartThings home automation system could help each other with ideas and troubleshooting so all of the questions and answers are assumed to be in that context. There is a Phillips hue integration with smartthings, but for the kind of Zigbee linear actuators you are describing you would use the ST platform’s Zigbee hub instead. Again, the Philips hue controller just isn’t really designed for projects of this type.
So I’m not sure what your next steps would be. I guess to decide what Zigbee controller you do want to use. Most of the ones available off the shelf do have integrations with the Phillips system so you would be able to combine your light changes along with the sound bar door opening, it’s just that it would take two controllers. And the coordination between them would be done with the second platform, not Hue.
If that’s something you’re interested in and you want to work within the SmartThings ecosystem, we can continue here.
Otherwise, you should probably move to a brand-agnostic forum, like the Reddit home automation sub. Or one of the AV forums.
I foolishly assumed that the philips hub would have the ability to control any zigbee device! This now leads me to concern over automated blinds i had planned to install, but thats a seperate problem!
Looks like i need to look into the purchase of a smart things hub, and the how toos of integrated the automation between the 2!
Having not setup my hub properly yet im unsure of how it all works in terms of the user interface, so although this product states it could work, what control options Philips Hub would have.
I appreciate this is a Philips question rather than a Smart Things question so apolgies for that. I did try to gain some support on Reddit but i didnt seem to get any responses!
To clarify my previous post, if you can set up your project so that the actuator just looks like a simple on/off switch you might be able to add it to a Phillips hue hub and have it look essentially like a smart plug. The communications would need to be via Zigbee 3.0 so this method would only work with some specific devices.
You wouldn’t be able to do anything else with the device, though, like changing the timing settings.
Looks like ill just have to give it a go to properly understand the possible limitations. I think its possible to set it up as youve mentioned above, then perhaps playing with the control options to see how i can get it to behave. And worst comes to worst, integrate a smart things hub alongside the hue hub to control, which then opens up another whole world of potential automations to annoy the misses with
Il do my best to update when i finally get every together to test. Got to try and make this bloody box first!
home automation system could help each other with ideas and troubleshooting so all of the questions and answers are assumed to be in that context. There is a Phillips hue integration with smartthings, but for the kind of Zigbee linear actuators you are describing you would use the ST platform’s Zigbee hub instead. Again, the Philips hue controller just isn’t really designed for projects of this type.
I guess to decide what Zigbee controller you do want to use. Most of the ones available off the shelf do have integrations with the Phillips system so you would be able to combine your light changes along with the sound bar door opening, it’s just that it would take two controllers. And the coordination between them would be done with the second platform, not Hue.