Hi All
Is the Harmony remote the best for integration into OpenHab? The Control4 remote is nice, im looking for something to take control of everything, if needed from turning on lights, playing music etc.
Can scenes be programmed in like they can on devices such as the zwave wallmote?
I wonder what else is out there?
Sometimes you just want a remote!
Appreciate your feedback. Thanks
Hereās a curve ballā¦
You ācouldā get yourself an IR to UDP dongle, that pushes the raw IR packets into openHAB2.
Which a rule can map IR packets to items / triggers ???
This is the kit I use
https://www.keene.co.uk/keene-ir-anywhere-ir-over-ip-module-single.html
Which can be hidden, if you use an external sensor, of which Keene do a wide range.
It can also be configured as a UDP to IR blaster, which I use to send IR packets from OH to any kit that canāt be directly connected to OH.
(Like my Humax PVR)
Then you can use any dumb remote control you wish 
Maybe even this generic one ?
https://www.keene.co.uk/infrared/keene-ir-receiver-adaptor-module.html
Iāll add information on how Iāve achieved this IR to UDP to openHAB2
Starting with creating a UDP listener with the UDP binding
udp_listener.items
String UDP_Listener "UDP Listener[%s]" { udp="<[*:3000:'REGEX((.*))']" }
Then setup the Keene Electronics IR_Anywhere unit in Transmitter mode and activate the āSend to PCā option.
Sending every packet to the IP address of your OH machine and port 3000
Images and passwords etc to follow
I have a harmony as I love the RF link the remote has back to the hub, no need to point the remote at the IR receiver and it works in another roomā¦
There is another product which is similar and cheaper which also has a binding (?) and thats the broadlink rm pro. Never used it myself and they did some nasty stuff locking out abilities just like Logitech tried recently doing. Couple something like this with Habpanel and you may be able to setup something like Control 4 on a tablet.
I use the RM mini, it was a bit of a hack to get it working but it works quite well. The harmony I like because its polished.
Can the harmony turn on/off anything IR and how easy is it to setup a scene to turn on a TV, select the NETFLIX button once its on etc?
Yes programming scenes (they called Activities in Harmony) is really easy, you can make any sequence to run at turning one Activity on or off (changing inputs, turning on the devices for that Activity). So in general it is really great.
However if you have some older devices (I used to have an old AV receiver) they might not work properly with Harmony, althought they say it is compatible. For example for me this old receiver couldnāt change to all input sources. Contacting the support, they fixed it, however it took several days to get it working.
After you created your own Activities (like Watch TV, Watch Movie, etcā¦ whatever you want). You can trigger these Activities from openHAB and also you can send any keystroke to any device (Volume Up, Next channel, etcā¦). However you canāt really use this device to trigger events in openHAB. For instance you canāt really do an Activity which sends a command to openHAB to roll up all blinds. This can only be done via creating a proxy Activity in Harmony (which also needs to create proxy devices, because you canāt make an Activity without devices in Harmony) and watch for that Activity to start in openHAB. But this is really tricky and it is not what its meant to do.
So if you just want to control your TV/Movie station in one of your rooms, this can be a great and reliable device, but not for more in my opinion.
Thanks for the feedback Kristof
Hi,
Iām looking around for an Broadlink RM2 Pro+ alternative for RF. The Broadlink works great for IR but not so great with RF (limited frequency range and no rolling code - garage door remotes and ceiling fan remotes often works with 304 MHz and/or with rolling codes).
While searching, Iāve found a WiFi remote with RF rolling code and extended frequency support. The product is called āRF Converter 2.0ā, āWi-Fi To Remoteā. Here is an excerpt from the description:
ā1.Multi Auto-San frequency YET6956 RF converter supports a variety of remote control frequenc: 240MHZ~930MHZ. 2.Strong European Brand compatibility Support fixed code/learning code(such as the remote control chip models PT2260, PT2262, PT2264, EV1527 etc.) and most brands rolling code remote control ( such as BFT,Nice, Beninica, CAME, Doorhan, FAAC, KEYā¦) 3.Remote TESTing Press the test button and then remote control button to test wheter you device can work or not ( all within 30s): if OK, 3 beep-beep-beep ; if not ,1 long beep. 4.Quick Learning After adding RF converter to IOS/Android Add, you can learning 240-930MHz Rf remote control to the YET6956 RF converter on App quickly. 5.Wider Control Range To control the RF device with RF remote control, you have to stay indoors.YET6956 RF converter helps to switch the signal, allowing you to control the RF devices from anywhere at any time. 6.Easy Management You may have many pcs of RF remotes, you have to find them every time, they looks so much alike, which is which ? Now one YET6956 RF converter supports 50 brands remotes and 20 buttons 240-930Mhz other Rf remotes, you can control all of your RF device on App. You can name for each remote control, just take out our Phone, click to control.ā
On one link itās also noted to be intranet or extranet which makes me hope that it could be used locally without cloud accessā¦
Here are some links:
https://www.aliexpress.com/i/4000153924490.html
Does someone has experience with this device?
Thanks,
Frank
