Broadlink binding for RMx, A1, SPx and MP. Any interest?

posted by

evansnpNigel Evans

Found a great application fro capturing IR codes, that doesn’t require an Android ‘bridge’. You’ll find it here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/broadlink-manager/
It runs on win7/10.

Hi @backer

looks like a great broadlink bridge!
However, I’m not able to install it following your instructions in the README
when trying to use the manual approach it will end up with the following error

pi@raspberrypi:/work/broadlink-mqtt-bridge $ sudo npm install
(node:24300) [DEP0022] DeprecationWarning: os.tmpDir() is deprecated. Use os.tmpdir() instead.
npm WARN package.json broadlink-mqtt-bridge@1.0.0 No repository field.
npm ERR! Error: Method Not Allowed
npm ERR!     at errorResponse (/usr/share/npm/lib/cache/add-named.js:260:10)
npm ERR!     at /usr/share/npm/lib/cache/add-named.js:203:12
npm ERR!     at saved (/usr/share/npm/node_modules/npm-registry-client/lib/get.js:167:7)
npm ERR!     at FSReqWrap.oncomplete (fs.js:135:15)
npm ERR! If you need help, you may report this *entire* log,
npm ERR! including the npm and node versions, at:
npm ERR!     <http://github.com/npm/npm/issues>

npm ERR! System Linux 4.14.71-v7+
npm ERR! command "/usr/bin/node" "/usr/bin/npm" "install"
npm ERR! cwd /work/broadlink-mqtt-bridge
npm ERR! node -v v8.11.1
npm ERR! npm -v 1.4.21
npm ERR! code E405
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Additional logging details can be found in:
npm ERR!     /work/broadlink-mqtt-bridge/npm-debug.log
npm ERR! not ok code 0

any idea what’s wrong?

thanks, Oliver

Thank you! This app works perfect! :sunglasses:

@Oliverk looks like you are running sudo ‘npm install’ and not ‘npm install’. If running RPI with OpenHAB the auto install script should work now. It also setup to be runned at boot and helping to check that required node is installed.

If still having problem, please start an issue at github.

Hi All

Has anyone had issues with the raw codes? ive tried time and time again with Temp up and Temp Down on my Aircon remote (LG model) it it just fails.

Turn on/off, swing and mode are fine.

Im using the RM Plugin API Server Android App. Its worked for ALL other codes…

Any suggestions?

Hi everyone,
I’m the guy mentioned halfway down this thread that “picked up” the great work that @Cato Sognen did with this binding quite some time ago. Unfortunately other things took me away from this binding in recent months but I’ve been able to make some good progress in the last week.

If you want the full story on the development of this binding (or perhaps redevelopment is a better word - there was no source code to work from, only the result of decompiling Cato’s original JAR file!), it’s over on my blog at http://blog.themillhousegroup.com/search/label/broadlink, but in short:

  • The source code is on Github (see link from my blog or earlier in this thread) for all to see/review/fork/improve
  • I fully intend for this to be merged into the OpenHAB codebase ASAP

My test setup: I’m running OpenHAB 2.3.0 on a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ (running Raspbian) and have an A1 environmental sensor and an RM3 Mini IR blaster, and after a LOT of testing and rewriting, with the current latest version of the binding (2.4.0-BETA-4) have had no problems with discovery, stability, or recovery from different types of outage.

I’d encourage everyone here to give it a try - if you’ve been using previous versions of this binding your Things/Items/mapping files shouldn’t have to change, but you can perform a discovery if you like. The process for setting up map files etc is as per Cato’s original instructions.

Download from: https://dl.bintray.com/themillhousegroup/generic/org.openhab.binding.broadlink-2.4.0-BETA-4.jar

7 Likes

Thanks John,

What tool are you using to learn the RF codes from the various devices?

I’m using the “RM Bridge” app with the site at http://rm-bridge.fun2code.de/rm_manage/code_learning.html - it’s the method as described by Cato early on in this thread, but I’ll summarise it here, for example turning on my air conditioner:

  • Power on my RM3 Mini
  • Turn on the RM Bridge app on my phone (running on the same Wifi network)
  • Visit the above site, and enter the URL that the phone displays
  • Hit Load Devices => my RM3 comes up (check the MAC address to be certain)
  • Hit Learn Code and press the desired button on my aircon remote control, while pointing it at both the aircon unit and the RM3
  • The aircon unit beeps, so I know the IR command was sent
  • A couple of seconds later, the website pops open the code area
  • I select the “code” section of the text and copy it to the clipboard
  • I switch to my terminal window where I have a vim session open, editing broadlink.map
  • I enter AIRCON_ON = and then paste the code in

Repeat for each command. The only real trick is making sure you copy the code completely into the broadlink.map file. If you miss a character, the Broadlink binding won’t be able to send it and you’ll see an error in the logs.

3 Likes

Thanks John. Ive been using an app on my phone, its a http bridge and its worked fine for a number of devices but has been failing for my aircon unit. Ill try this method and see if that fixes it!

Hi,
what if you have a Broadlink RM pro plus? RM2 doesn’t work on rm-bridge nether RM1 RM3

Ive tried this app and the web link supplied by John, but it doesnt find my RM Minis at all :confused:

Hi dastrix80,

i finally found out how to get it working.

My RM Mini 3 isn’t found too, but you can add it manually!

I just needed to put in a Name, the Mac Address of my RMMini and as Type i wrote RM2. Et voilla. I can learn codes now.

Hope it works for you too.

Greetz Jens

Hi @themillhousegroup

Thx for building a new version for broadlink. I am starting to use it. I have two RM3 which are connected to openhab.

Question: Do I still need the IP of the device? (In the blog it is written that only MAC is required).

Thx

At the moment the “discovery-time” IP of each Broadlink Thing is used a lot - every time we try to talk to it in fact. This is not ideal because in many networks, the IP address that the device was given when we discovered it is not guaranteed to be the same forever.
This was something I was aiming to fix as many people cannot assign a static IP to their devices, but it turns out to be quite a minefield. I may need to concentrate on getting the binding accepted into the OpenHAB repository first, and then look at this issue as the first priority after that.

Hi All,

I am new to OH but owning an RM PRO for years.
I have the RF code what I would like to send via the RM staff, but actually I don’t know where to start.

Is there any topic or documentation which explains how to do that?
Is it possible to import my scenes from the Broadlink android app to OH somehow, to add timers for them for further automation?

Thanks,
B

@themillhousegroup

I have 2 RM3. It seems that after some time I lost the connection to one of them. From broadlink app (e-Control) the RM3 is working. Do u have any idea what can cause this issue?

Thx

@smhgit is it possible that one of your RM3s is getting given a new IP address after its DHCP lease expires? If it’s not that, I’d like to work with you a little bit more to figure out what is happening, because long-term stability of multiple devices is definitely a top priority! If you can reproduce it fairly easily, let me know and if we increase the logging level for the Broadlink binding we should be able to figure it out.

@Balazs_Bucsi there’s no official documentation but in this thread both Cato and myself have tried to explain the process we use to learn RF codes, which uses the RM Bridge mobile application and an associated website.

I doubt the Broadlink binding will support scenes in the near future but if there are enough requests to do so then maybe it could be added as a new feature. If you have a lot of RF devices being controlled by Broadlink RMs, it’s probably more flexible to just expose all of them as Items in the normal OpenHAB way. Then you can add individual timers, group them for scene automation, add specific rules, etc etc

Thanks,

Actually I am using RF wall switches and shutters which are not Broadlink branded but I will try to add them as items into OH.
The reason Why I am saying will try, is because I am really beginner in coding and in OpenHAB anyways.

One more bit off-topic question:
Do you know if RM PRO accepts and executes command what i’m sending to it like string via TCP/IP protocol?
(I am interested in LabView and it could be a good alternative form me for a long time to communicate with IoT things.)

Thanks a lot,
B

@themillhousegroup

I use names, and in this case I also confirmed that the IP hasn’t change. I am not sure where is the issue. If you have a debug version, let me know, I can run it.

Is there a way to add an event to the binding that will alert if connection to device has been lost (channel event?). This way it will be easy to be notified on this situation.