Turn off "Fan" without turning off "Roku" in Harmony

Devices & Integrations
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1

I use Alexa to voice control these activities. I have an activity that start my “fan”. I also have an activity that “Roku” that turns on my TV, Soundbar and goes directly to the input it needs to be able to watch Roku. I can turn on “Roku” but I tend to get hot so I tell Alexa to turn on “Fan” Everything works fine. But the problem arises when I want to turn off “Fan”. It turns off the whole system. Is there a way to just turn off my fan without turning off my “Roku” activity?

2

nope, this is just the way that harmony works unfortunately

3

Take a look at this thread if you’re interested in doing a little DIY project: Make a “dumb” fan “smart” using cheapo ESP8266 board controllable via ST (universal IR remote) I’ve been running it since May when Casper posted it and it’s been working great.

4

What happens if you tell Alexa to start the Roku again while you’re in the fan activity?

Wouldn’t the harmony stop the fan activity, so it could start the Roku activity. Which is already active so nothing should change.

I’m new to the Harmony / Alexa connection. So just thinking out loud.

1 Like
5

that’s not cool

6

yeah…i’m not that much of a DIY person

7

Turning on activities isn’t the problem. It’s when you want to turn off an activity while still using another activity that’s a negative Ghostrider…it turns off everything

8

The only other workaround is to have 2 copies of your activities with and without fan. “Roku” and “Roku with fan”

9

Okay, I just thought you could only have 1 activity as “active” at any given moment. I was just under the assumption of when you started a different activity it stopped the previous activity (turned off the devices) unless you adjust the power options.

I need to read the forums and most importantly tinker with it to learn what I can and can’t do.

Thanks for clarifying.

10

The other thing to check is how you have the ‘fan’ set up. Try to set it up as a home device vs an activity. Pretty sure the harmony will control them differently. I had a similar issue with some LED candles that I was using the harmony IR blasters to turn on/off. Initially set them as an activity and had same issue with turning off.

11

It is set up as a device. In order for me to use Alexa to turn it on though, I have to have the device in an activity. I can turn it off and on using the harmony app under the device section. I guess I’m just spoiled in wanting to do everything by voice. Now if Alexa can see harmony devices and not just activities, now we’re talking. That would solve my problem…I think

12

I think this is basically right.

Harmony distinguishes between entertainment and smart home devices. My harmony hub has my living room window a/c in its database but only as an entertainment device.

Entertainment devices can only be controlled as activities. And generally with harmony when one activity starts, the other ends. There may be some more complicated way to try to edit combinations of activities and power settings, but for the most part it’s a basic flaw.

It would be nice if Logitech eventually upgraded the harmony firmware to better individually control all connected devices.

1 Like
13

Thanks everyone for the help but I guess there is no way to accomplish what I want to do. This guy sent me this and I guess it confirms what I can’t do…bummer. https://community.logitech.com/s/question/0D531000066rbvE/harmony-hub-activities-switches-off-every-device?t=1481077975033

14

You should be able to do this with CoRE and virtual switches. It is a lot of setup but should work. Copy the Roku activity and add turning on the fan.

Be sure to control the Harmony hub through SmartThings only (not direct integration with Alexa)

Names of Activities (not directly called through Alexa):
Harmony Fan
Harmony Roku
Harmony Roku and Fan

Names of Virtual Switches (Called through Alexa):
Roku
Fan

Create CoRE pistons:
CoRE Piston #1
IF
Fan changes to on
AND
Harmony Roku is on
THEN
Turn on Harmony Roku and Fan
Else IF
Fan changes to on
THEN
Turn on Harmony Fan

CoRE Piston #2
IF
Fan changes to off
AND
Harmony Roku and Fan is on
THEN
Turn on Harmony Roku
ELSE IF
Fan changes to off
THEN
Turn off Harmony Fan

CoRE Piston #3
IF
Roku changes to on
AND
Harmony Fan is on
THEN
Turn on Harmony Roku and Fan
ELSE IF
Roku changes to on
THEN
Turn on Harmony Roku

CoRE Piston #4
IF
Roku changes to off
AND
Harmony Roku and Fan is on
THEN
Turn on Harmony Fan
ELSE IF
Roku changes to off
THEN
Turn off Harmony Roku

CoRE Piston #5
IF
Either Harmony Roku OR Harmony Roku and Fan changes to on
AND
Roku is off
THEN
Turn on Roku
ELSE IF
All of Harmony Roku AND Harmony Roku and Fan change to off
AND
Roku is on
THEN
Turn off Roku

CoRE Piston #6
IF
Either Harmony Fan OR Harmony Roku and Fan changes to on
AND
Fan is off
THEN
Turn on Fan
ELSE IF
All Harmony Fan AND Harmony Roku and Fan change to off
THEN
Turn off Fan

15

oh my lol… I’m not familiar with CoRE so we’ll see

16

CoRE:

Creating Virtual Switches: