Formal Logitech Harmony Hub support

While the plugin is great, it does not allow a single button press from the Harmony remote to trigger to Vera (ie, pressing pause also raises the lights) (yes, I know I can buy their extender). Is Vera working or going to integrate with Logitech on this?

Thanks,
Roy

There was a thread about this on the harmony forums.

Logitech were keen and supposedly contracted micasaverde but nothing happened after that

[quote=“rwalker, post:1, topic:190873”]While the plugin is great, it does not allow a single button press from the Harmony remote to trigger to Vera (ie, pressing pause also raises the lights) (yes, I know I can buy their extender). Is Vera working or going to integrate with Logitech on this?

Thanks,
Roy[/quote]

I doubt it. And why would Logitech help vera (work with them) on a way around their (Logitech’s) solution (the extender)? Does that make sense? Logitech has a solution and it’s for you to spend more money with Logitech. If Logitech helps vera find a work around without using the extender that wastes their R&D and sales of the new product and causes them to loose money.

Vera doesn’t make the plugin and if you have noticed doesn’t do alot of direct collaborations with outside devices.

If you don’t want to buy an extender then your other option is to use the “Bridge” and run it on either a “pi” or a computer that is always on. It’s cheaper then the extender and allows for more options. We use it for both the Amazon ECHO and or the Harmony Hub. a Pi can be half price of the extender.

Well Logitech has integration with both Wink and Smartthings, so don’t think locking people to the Hub extender is their primary goal. It seems that Vera doesn’t want, or can’t work with these web enabled partners. It is the ONLY thing Smartthings and Wink have over Vera right now.

Can we get any official response from Vera on this?!

Sounds similar to the whole IFTTT situation

EXACTLY! Someone from Vera needs to let us know, are they going to start integrating these or are we going to keep looking for a better platform.

hasn’t happened in the past so I would’t plan your future around it happening. If there is a better platform then I think you should let all of us know. We are always looking for something better. I have even tested a few out while I thought I was going to leave. So far I’m able to accomplish more with VERA.

Same with this Harmony. I have my Harmony home remote controlling lights in the house and I have vera controlling the harmony devices so there is not much more we need besides putting an official Vera brand name on it. You have atleast 3 ways to make the connection with vera and a Harmony hub.

What are the 3 ways, only way I’ve seen to control lights from Harmony remote is with a IR receiver that triggers Vera (Zwave I guess) or using a PI running some code…

That’s two, the third is the plugin.

To turn on and off lights from my harmony remote I use the free java Bridge. This does alot more then just that tho.
You can run the java file on a computer or a PI. Pi’s cost 30.00ish if you don’t already have a computer running (I run PLEX and BlueIris). Pi doesn’t have much power draw or need anything but a usb power adaptor, and an Ethernet cord plugged into it.

The other of the 3 options I was talking about were the Harmony Extender and the Vera Plugin (limited use and can’t turn on lights from remote).

They all have different levels of use so I don;t mean all 3 do the exact same thing, just that there are 3 ways to bring vera and Harmony together.

I recommend the PI personally. And for me it allows ECHO intergration, Nest and some other things also. Cheap and easy to use and has be upgraded weekly adding new features and functions.

EDIT: The IR way I wasn’t even thinking about. Put that down on low level of options with the plugin I guess or make it a 4th.

What’s the free java bridge?

Forum Thread:
http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,31920.1395.html

Files and information:

Current java file you need to run as of today (version 1.3.7):
https://github.com/bwssytems/ha-bridge/releases/download/v1.3.7/ha-bridge-1.3.7.jar

Fantastic buddy thanks for that.

Can I just run that on my pc?

Will it allow me to create devices on the harmony which see actually vera devices?

[quote=“Chrisfraser05, post:13, topic:190873”]Fantastic buddy thanks for that.

Can I just run that on my pc?

Will it allow me to create devices on the harmony which see actually vera devices?[/quote]

You can run it on a PC but the java needs to be running when you want to use it (so always on computer) Running on a windows computer is common, but I personally had conflicting issues with doing this even tho I have a computer always on for other tasks. My issues were Port conflicting issues and terminal window open during running.
These issues can be fixed by more experienced users, but for my case it ended up being better for me to spend a few bucks and play (for the first time) with a pi.

The bridge has a full ui witch you will access from any computer in the house via the IP of the java server on port 8080.

The UI will allow you grab devices from, VERA (it reads vera’s device and scene list) and Harmony ( it reads the harmony, device, and scene list). You can then add these by clicking the add button to your Bridge. When a Vera device or scene is added to the Bridge you can run the Harmony Home Automation/Philips hue discovery and it will find the devices or scenes you added from vera. You can then assign the buttons on the Home Remote to which device or group for which button.

This Bridge does not create vera devices in the UI from the Harmony hub. That’s what the Harmony hub plugin already does.

Basically If you only have a Harmony HUB, the only thing you will really gain from this bridge is that it will allow you to control Vera devices or scenes from your Harmony app on your phone or from the Harmony remote control. For me the Phone app doesn’t matter. So now the outlet buttons and light buttons on a home remote or the touch screen on the Ultimate’s can be used to control your vera devices with this bridge.

This is absolutely prefect for what I’m wanting to do.

Thanks for the info.

I might invest in a pi at some point but I’ll try it on my plex server pc first

[quote=“Chrisfraser05, post:15, topic:190873”]This is absolutely prefect for what I’m wanting to do.

Thanks for the info.

I might invest in a pi at some point but I’ll try it on my plex server pc first[/quote]

Yeah I run PLEX and Blueiris on a computer that’s always on too.

Really don’t want to run another platform, just because Vera won’t do what EVERYONE else is doing. The silence is deafening at this point…

Sucks “EVERYONE” is not the same. You have 3 options and you want the one that doesn’t exist just to be like “everyone else”.
Unfortunately even If I agree with you there is nothing I can do for you.

Few pointers:

The forum are not seen much by vera and your posts don’t get taken as a request. So your barking requests/complaints up the wrong tree.
The forums are moderated by end users like me and you that don’t work for VERA.
The forums are to try and help you find a solution to your problem, which has been done.

I would suggest you call in to vera and request a ticket for adding your request. I can’t say if they will ever happen but atleast you logged it and pushed it not to the end users but VERA themselves. In the mean time if you need help getting one of the other 3 solutions created by the users and Logitech to work let us know.

Just to clarify… by EVERYONE I mean Wink, Smartthings, IFTTT, Nest, etc.

Didn’t understand that Vera doesn’t read their own forums (really find that hard to believe)… good to know.

Boom. I’m running the Ha bridge now and can control all Vera items from Harmony :relaxed: