This is the forum archive of Homey. For more information about Homey, visit the Official Homey website.
The Homey Community has been moved to https://community.athom.com.
This forum is now read-only for archive purposes.
The Homey Community has been moved to https://community.athom.com.
This forum is now read-only for archive purposes.
Logitech Harmony Hub & BellMan Visit 868 System
BasvanS
Member
Hello Athom,
First of all I want to congratulate you guys with this brilliant product! Watched the video on Tweakers and I'm impressed!
Now before I Pre-Order one I would like to know what would be needed for my Homey to work with equipment I already have.
Ofcourse HUE, KAKU etc will all be supported, but I Could not find much information on two other products I'm using.
First of all the Harmony Hub; A stand-alone product that works perfectly, but Homey could improve its functionality by adding Speech commands. Now i have to use my iPhone/ipad (Wifi) or Remote to give commands to the Hub, for example to start Watching TV, Radio or use Apple TV (scenes). It would be great if Homey could send the same signals as the remote or iphone/ipad(using the wifi network) by using speech command. The Harmony hub will then adjust the settings to all devices just as is does when remote or iphone/ipad are used to give commands.
I also use a Bellman visit system that uses 868 mhz communication, to notify when someone calls me or when the bell rings (I can not hear High frequency sounds). Normally it only starts flashing or vibrating, but homey could add functionality by pausing programs/music and tell me someone is @ the door, sending me e-mail, or buzz my iphone. Is that anything I can expect or (as a non IT guy) can program myself with the homey?
I hope you have some of the answers! Thanks in advance!
Bas van Santen
First of all I want to congratulate you guys with this brilliant product! Watched the video on Tweakers and I'm impressed!
Now before I Pre-Order one I would like to know what would be needed for my Homey to work with equipment I already have.
Ofcourse HUE, KAKU etc will all be supported, but I Could not find much information on two other products I'm using.
First of all the Harmony Hub; A stand-alone product that works perfectly, but Homey could improve its functionality by adding Speech commands. Now i have to use my iPhone/ipad (Wifi) or Remote to give commands to the Hub, for example to start Watching TV, Radio or use Apple TV (scenes). It would be great if Homey could send the same signals as the remote or iphone/ipad(using the wifi network) by using speech command. The Harmony hub will then adjust the settings to all devices just as is does when remote or iphone/ipad are used to give commands.
I also use a Bellman visit system that uses 868 mhz communication, to notify when someone calls me or when the bell rings (I can not hear High frequency sounds). Normally it only starts flashing or vibrating, but homey could add functionality by pausing programs/music and tell me someone is @ the door, sending me e-mail, or buzz my iphone. Is that anything I can expect or (as a non IT guy) can program myself with the homey?
I hope you have some of the answers! Thanks in advance!
Bas van Santen
Comments
About the Bellman, it depends on how they communicate. The easiest solution for you would be to get the Geek Edition, hook it up with an Arduino with a LDR (light sensitive) and let the Arduino emit a signal to Homey when it flashes, which you'll then use in the Flow editor
So IR will only work for the television, not for the Apple TV, Logitech speakers, KPN Box etc. The Homey and harmony can communicate via WIFI/Bluetooth but then ofcourse has to be supported. If the Homey van give the same commands as my iphone or remote, it will be able to send all signals via the Harmony.
About the Bellman, I use a sound receiver near my doorbell, when the bell rings it wills end a signal (868 mhz) to my Alarm that buzzes a disk placed below my matrass and an extra buzzing device i can put in my pocket.
The disk is also used waking me in the morning, so I will still need the equipment. It would however be lovely if the Homey recognizes the signal as well and can perform actions after it. My Smoke detectors and Phone plug in will send a similar signal that could be used by the homey as well, to pause music, television etc.
The Homey will be the center connection all devices and allows me to use speech commands, it will use other equipment already in use instead of replacing them. I think for a lot of people that is more interesting.
Working with voice commands to witch programs on your television is nice, but people tend to use Remote more often i think. They will never replace it.
Well, Emile, I've read the complete forums for last days and many times is requested for support of the Logitech Harmony Hub. In my case, I've got young kids and they are very used to use the Harmony Smart Remote (without the display)
I think the best case scenario, is to let Homey work together with de Logitech Harmony Hub. It is always nice to have and use a remote!
There is no way I can hide all my devices and still control them with the homey? And i don't want to use the Homey alone, the simple remote is still needed and wanted.
I totally agree!
I want to use the both of best worlds!
So I can start watching a movie in the evening by just saying: "Hey Homey, I want to watch the latest episode of Game of Thrones".
So Homey sends the request to the Harmony hub to start the Harmony activity "Watch Plex"
Now I can use my Harmony Remote to adjust volume, pause, stop, play, etc... So I don't have to shout to Homey for these actions during the episode or movie. All of my appliances are in a closed cabinet, Homey can't reach those appliances. That's one reason for using the Harmony Hub. Why re-inventing the wheel all over again?
When Homey starts the flow, it can do other things as well, close the blinds, dim the lights etc...
But I am well aware this is more a Harmony/my issue than a Homey issue!
Not missing, just not seeing the problem or understanding the way the hub behaves. I have a normal harmony (one) remote. On this remote i should be able to create a scene that works along side of the Homey. Simply by not switching what the homey already switched.
An example is watching a movie. If u use the remote now it turns on the TV, HTPC and reciever and sets the appropriate channels and lets me control the appliances in an correct way. If a add a second scene where i skip the first to steps i should not be having issues. Just the need to press a second button from time to time.
In an open cabinet it should be able to work. But hey, this looks like the api sourceforge.net/projects/harmonyhubcontrol/?source=navbar Someone might me able to get it working.
And if you reverse the idea, let the Homey use the Harmony Hub as an extension for sending IR and blue-tooth signals to devices that are in different rooms where the homey can't reach those devices.
Logitech has released an API, so it should be possible.
I fully agree with the comments of both 'Bas-en' and would like to have support for the Harmony hub
Yeah. Please add harmony smart hub support. All my devices (except off course TV and beamer ;-) are in closed cabinets en will not react to Homey IR. So I would not be able to control any of them. That would be a shame.
And besides the need to control ir devices in closed cabinets I still find a physical remote the most practical way to control "zapping".
Also, Harmony already has the ir-codes for thousands of devices.
Homey won't, so we'll have to re-learn it almost every device we own.
That's kind of stupid :-P
Well, I think thats a nice community task.
If I learn Homey how to controll my TV I should be able to post that information to the community so that someone else with the same TV doesn't need to redo it.
Yeah, nut like someone already said in this topic, why reinvent the wheel...
We'll never be able to support as many devices as already available through logitech.
@PeterGroeneweg If you create a driver you can upload it to the Homey app store after which other users are able to download and 'upgrade' their Homey to support that device.
So the question is, is there a developer out there that also things it would be easier if Homey could control the Harmony Hub? Especially for the people with closed cabinets where Homey cant reach the devices with it's IR.
And am I missing something about the out of sync issue of the remote. When I use the app on my phone to control my devices straight through the hub the remote is synced with it. So when controlling the hub through Homey would also mean the remote would stay in sync with whatever activity you have started.
Like many others already said, it would be a same not to be able to control devices in a closed cabinet using the ease of Homey.
Regarding the out of sync, that is no problem!
I'm using Domoticz on a Raspberry Pi and added the Harmony Hub as a hardware device with only my Harmony username and password. When you go to devices after adding the Harmony Hub as hardware, you can add the activities as switches.
These are perfect in sync! When you activate a activity on a harmony remote/keyboard/app the switch toggles and vice versa, when you activate a activity switch in Domoticz, the Harmony Hub is in sync.
This is working perfectly for me!
The out-of-sync would be a problem when you have an older Harmony without a hub
Yup, but that would be with every domotica controller.
Time to upgrade ;-)
Good to hear my conclusion on the out-of-sync is correct and it isnt an issue when using the Harmony Hub. If any developer is ever gonna jump on this my request would be an option in the app to select the way the Homey communicates with the Harmony Hub (either through the local area network of through IR).
It looks like no developer has already jumed on this though, so I guess we will have to be patient until someone does.
I'm going to try to make an Harmony Homey app with the avaible Harmony Hub API, just the way like Domoticz works with the Harmony Hub.
But first I need to wait when I'm invited for the shared virtual Homey.
I have to read all info of the SDK and API's