Dinboise Posted January 17, 2019 Posted January 17, 2019 My ISY994(i) does not have the IR receiver in it. With many products talking to one another through interfaces, I am hoping there is a universal remote (like the Harmony Elite) that could communicate to the ISY for light controls. The manual says the Harmony will work with Insteon through the "Insteon Hub" which is too bad cause the Insteon Hub sucks. That's why I have the ISY after all. So any thoughts out there? I am willing to look at URC or other brands of universal remotes. David
carealtor Posted January 17, 2019 Posted January 17, 2019 It CAN be done with the Harmony Elite. I do it. But not directly. I have to use a SmartThings hub and some IFTTT as go-betweens, but my setup does work.
jec6613 Posted January 17, 2019 Posted January 17, 2019 I use a Polyglot node server for the Harmony Hub, but I can't expose a device to the Harmony with it, just read from it and set existing settings. Of course, you could create dummy commands and have Polyglot respond to those - or just add the IR module if it's physically there with the Harmony already anyway.
rccoleman Posted January 17, 2019 Posted January 17, 2019 It would be awesome if it were possible to trigger on button presses using the Harmony Hub node server. Right now, the only hooks are commands to the hub or triggering on starting or ending an activity.
Dinboise Posted January 17, 2019 Author Posted January 17, 2019 19 hours ago, carealtor said: It CAN be done with the Harmony Elite. I do it. But not directly. I have to use a SmartThings hub and some IFTTT as go-betweens, but my setup does work. OK this might be where I am headed. Forget Alexa/echo and I don't want to buy a new ISY with the IR receiver. Is there a lag time when trying to use the IFTTT via the Smart Thing Hub. And did you need to write any code? The ISY interface is challenging enough. David
carealtor Posted January 17, 2019 Posted January 17, 2019 Yes, there is a lag because of the IFTTT component. Typically 1-2 seconds for me. For what do with it, it is acceptable to me. I'm going Harmony Hub -> SmartThings Hub (virtual switch) -> IFTTT -> ISY Portal -> ISY. The other way, to keep things synced, it goes ISY (network resources) -> IFTTT -> SmartThings Hub -> Harmony Hub. I have no doubt that IFTTT could be eliminated, but I'm not smart enough to figure it out. On the plus side, there is no IR involved. It's all over the network. This works for me, but it's not perfect, at least my setup isn't. I only have on/off control of lights from the Harmony, no dimming. I also have some looping issues because of the IFTTT delay if I toggle a physical light switch on and off too fast.
oberkc Posted January 18, 2019 Posted January 18, 2019 6 hours ago, Dinboise said: I don't want to buy a new ISY with the IR receiver The IR capability can be added to an existing ISY.
paulbates Posted January 18, 2019 Posted January 18, 2019 (edited) To order an IR sensor for your ISY Browse here: https://www.universal-devices.com/sales/ Scroll down under Accessories for IR Input Module - $5 You might have to go to your Admin Console - Help / Add Modules to add the IR module. I couldn't find that in my list and I added it to mine.. But it was 4 years ago so I don't remember. Paul Edited January 18, 2019 by paulbates
Dinboise Posted January 18, 2019 Author Posted January 18, 2019 Paul - that's mind blowing. So, I open ISY, plug in IR module, update ISY admin consul and Bam, it will receive the IR from a universal remote (like a cheaper universal remote - Harmony One for ex)... Do you think I could place actions in the ISY admin consul for certain IR codes? If so I would not need to learn how to write commands to a node. Cool. Thank you
paulbates Posted January 18, 2019 Posted January 18, 2019 (edited) Yes There's now tab under the configuration tab that has learning mode, sounds like you found that. Learn the codes that have functional value that the ISY can help with. Then, in a program: I made this one up, but you get the idea. You can rename them in the IR tab, so they make more sense... instead of IR_001... "Accessory Button long press", "Family Room Lamps"... what ever helps make your programs more readable and a year from now you'll remember what you were doing Paul Edited January 18, 2019 by paulbates 1
Dinboise Posted January 18, 2019 Author Posted January 18, 2019 Hmm. Thanks for the responses everyone. Paul, I am all in on this solution. Got the IR module ordered (a bit high in the shipping but much cheaper than an upgraded ISY). And a older Harmony (like the “One”). And some quality time with the admin console. Wish me luck.
Jimbo.Automates Posted January 18, 2019 Posted January 18, 2019 You can use the HueEmulator Polyglot nodeserver to control ISY devices from a harmony remote. It works with all hubs, but works best with the Elite which had some dedicated home control buttons in the remote.Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk
Dinboise Posted January 18, 2019 Author Posted January 18, 2019 With the IR module the Harmony would signal the ISY directly, right? The assumption here is that the Harmony has separate codes (hex?) to actually send. David
Dinboise Posted January 18, 2019 Author Posted January 18, 2019 Having looked through the Harmony documents, I am going to guess that I simply ask the Harmony to download a fake TV (one that I do not own). And use those codes (which will do nothing to my actual components) but the ISY will be primed to act. Does that sound right? David
oberkc Posted January 18, 2019 Posted January 18, 2019 That is one option. I think harmony has codes for the he ISY also, but I assume that you would have to teach the ISY Oir somehow dowblaod those codes into the ISY. Some harmony remotes have dedicated "smart home" buttons. These buttons, I believe, work independently of an activity. Given this, I suspect it is best to load a dummy device that falls under the smart home category. Otherwise, harmony will only use that device as art of an activity.
rccoleman Posted January 18, 2019 Posted January 18, 2019 4 hours ago, Jimbo said: You can use the HueEmulator Polyglot nodeserver to control ISY devices from a harmony remote. It works with all hubs, but works best with the Elite which had some dedicated home control buttons in the remote. Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk This is interesting. So without any IR hardware, I could just create fake Hue bulbs and use a Hue device on the Harmony to control them? And then trigger programs based on state transitions?
Jimbo.Automates Posted January 19, 2019 Posted January 19, 2019 This is interesting. So without any IR hardware, I could just create fake Hue bulbs and use a Hue device on the Harmony to control them? And then trigger programs based on state transitions? Yes and know what state the Harmony hub activities are active, and control all devices added to the Harmony.Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk
Dinboise Posted January 25, 2019 Author Posted January 25, 2019 Follow up for those interested: I installed the IR receiver (might have been nice to know about the hidden screw under label on back of ISY). The Harmony Elite will automatically set up 40 IR codes when you tell it the "device" is an ISY994 IR-Pro. I want the remote to have the option to control the lights in all "activities", so I have to add the Light Controller into all activities. With the controller in the activities it is a matter of using the "buttons" feature in the desktop software to pull in the controller buttons into the activity one at a time and rename them to the proper name (from IR001) to "Movie Lights" or whatever. I have not tried this, but I believe I can tag onto the end of one my activity processes a "sequence" that presses the button that activates the movie light program. This is a reasonable solution for our family though the touch sensitive screen is very sensitive and I think it may get on my nerve. Thanks again guys. David 1
oberkc Posted January 25, 2019 Posted January 25, 2019 6 hours ago, Dinboise said: I have not tried this, but I believe I can tag onto the end of one my activity processes a "sequence" that presses the button that activates the movie light program Yes, I believe this is under “power” options. One can modify the power-on and power-off sequences to include additional commands.
JTsao Posted February 20, 2020 Posted February 20, 2020 On 1/19/2019 at 12:14 AM, Jimbo said: On 1/18/2019 at 3:41 PM, rccoleman said: This is interesting. So without any IR hardware, I could just create fake Hue bulbs and use a Hue device on the Harmony to control them? And then trigger programs based on state transitions? Can someone elaborate on how to create fake Hue bulbs? I want to be able to run a program when the dedicated harmony companion home control buttons are pressed. I can do this right now using a real physical light (scene). Basically the button (via the hue emulator) will turn on/off a scene where a light is set to 10%. When the light is set to 10% brightness, a program gets triggered - but it would be better to not have to modify a real scene, rather a fake bulb or something. So, can someone explain how to create a virtual/fake hue bulb?
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