Plugin: Harmony Hub Control

cw-kid · December 6, 2016, 6:03pm

Just read this, so sounds good!

“You can easily launch activities from scenes since the Harmony app creates a device in Vera that you can customize with buttons to trigger activities or even directly control devices. You can just use it in a scene like any other device”

Hutchca · December 6, 2016, 6:05pm

Did you see this sticky post?
http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,36513.0.html

Supported Harmony Hub types by this plug in.

Harmony Hub
Harmony Ultimate Hub
Harmony Smart Hub

This are some of the (older) hub products that are not working with this plugin.
Link Hub

Hutchca · December 6, 2016, 6:12pm

[quote=“cw-kid, post:460, topic:184450”]So you can only control Z-Wave devices with the Harmony Hub and not run Vera scenes?

You said “But the HA bridge also allows the Harmony hub to control Vera without needing the Z-wave add on device from Harmony/Logitech.”

What is the Z-Wave add on device from Logitech?

Thanks for the info btw.[/quote]Harmony makes a Z-Wave “Hub Extender” https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TA4HV7M/
I was prepared to buy it but found I don’t need it since the HA Bridge works well for me.

You can run scenes. You configure the HA bridge to create virtual devices that link to Vera scenes or devices.
The HA bridge emulates a Phillips Hue light with a custom name and when Alexa or Harmony turn that virtual light on or off it can trigger a Vera scene or device.
An ON command can run one scene and OFF can run a different scene.

cw-kid · December 6, 2016, 6:42pm

I see, so you’d need a Harmony Hub and then also buy their Hub Extender if you wanted to use their Z-Wave solution.

Logitech have never done Z-Wave well, least not with their Harmony 890 Pro (US) and 895 (Euro) remotes it never worked properly as they hosed up the Z-Wave implementation.

Think I need to look at using the HA Bridge then.

cw-kid · December 6, 2016, 8:24pm

The Logitech Harmony product offerings seem quite confusing.

So is the Elite remote handset RF? Does it use RF to send signals to the hub so no line of sight is needed. I believe you can also assign a device to be IR controlled directly from the remote as well if you want.

Obviously the hub needs line of sight to control the IR devices using its inbuilt IR blasters. Or you can use the IR emitters ports / cables that stick on the front of your AV equipment.

How about the cheaper Harmony Ultimate One is that RF to the hub? Product page says IR based remote. So then you’d have to be pointing it at the hub.

And they also have a Harmony 950 remote listed but it doesnt even say if that works with a hub or not?

Think I will call them tomorrow as their product pages are not clear at all with the specs.

Hutchca · December 6, 2016, 9:08pm

The Harmony Elite handset uses RF to send commands to the Hub. So does the Harmony 900 that I had before. No line of sight is needed.
The Hub has an IR emitter to send IR control signals and it has connections for two additional IR blasters you can remote to other cabinets or areas but they only have about 10ft cords.

I have my hub and one blaster in the closet with my AV equipment and one goes through the wall to the living room where my TV is.

You can assign a device to be controlled directly from the remote instead of the IR blaster but I would not recommend it.
If a device control is routed through the remote, it won’t work when the remote is in standby mode. The remote goes to standby after 30 seconds even when it’s on the charger.
So anything routed through the remote won’t be controllable from the phone app or from Vera or Alexa. It will only work if you’re using the handheld remote.
That’s why I had to route a blaster out to the living room near the TV.

ramae · December 21, 2016, 4:00am

Hi,

I have a vera 3 system with ui7. I just bought a harmony elite plus alexa dot. I really thought i could use the elite out of the box with vera, but now i see i cant, i need the frikin zwave hub and im not ready to shell another 100. preffer to return the 300 combo i got in amazon. But i just found this plugin but not sure if this will do the trick for me… I have some questions… (my remote is on the way…)

I use homewave app to control vera, fast and reliable…

im looking to having only ONE app… preffer homewave. could i map the devices on my vera? for example the toggle on/off of my tv. without the need of buying the zwave hub extra?
what is this HA bridge? Any links about info and diy? I understand with this i can map the light bottons on the control to turn on.off and dim my jasco dimmers? this would be a saver!
smarthings is compatible out of the box why not vera! is smarthings any good?

reneboer · December 22, 2016, 10:26am

[quote=“ramae, post:467, topic:184450”]Hi,

I have a vera 3 system with ui7. I just bought a harmony elite plus alexa dot. I really thought i could use the elite out of the box with vera, but now i see i cant, i need the frikin zwave hub and im not ready to shell another 100. preffer to return the 300 combo i got in amazon. But i just found this plugin but not sure if this will do the trick for me… I have some questions… (my remote is on the way…)

I use homewave app to control vera, fast and reliable…

im looking to having only ONE app… preffer homewave. could i map the devices on my vera? for example the toggle on/off of my tv. without the need of buying the zwave hub extra?[/quote]
With this Harmony Hub Control plugin on your Vera you can include all IR devices controlled by your remote in Vera Scenes and you can trigger a Vera scene based on the current Hub Activity. You will also have buttons on the Vera Web GUI to press.
Sadly there is no support on third party apps like Homewave. The app developer would need to build that into their app. Nothing I can do on that bit.

The HA bridge is using a other device, most seem to use a Raspberry Pi, that acts like a Philips Hue hub. This makes it possible to control lights and some other Vera devices to be controlled via the Harmony remote or via the Amazon Echo or Dot. I have no experience with this, but lots of info can be found in other articles.

No idea, but opinions vary on Smartthings. Like on Vera.

Welcome to the club and have fun spending quality time on home automation

Cheers Rene

Scoutmedic · January 1, 2017, 9:55pm

Picked up a new Ultimate remote and hub, set up my AV devices, and installed the plugin. All is great. Thanks so much.

Now trying to set up conditions in scenes to prevent the lights from coming on while I’m watching TV. Sometimes, this is great. Most times, frustrating to set up.

cw-kid · January 11, 2017, 12:09pm

Hi

Thanks for the nice plugin.

I am using the Yatse app on my Android tablet to control Kodi media center.

In Yatse you can add your own custom http commands. I added one to run a Vera scene to control some lights and that works OK.

But also it would be great to add buttons into Yatse app to control the volume up / down for the IR controlled Denon AVR amp.

Can Vera / this plugin be used to send http commands to the Harmony Hub to control specific device functions? Or maybe some way to control he Harmony hub directly via http commands?

Thanks

reneboer · January 11, 2017, 12:46pm

Hi cw-kid,

In the Harmony Hub plugin you can enable the HTTP handler and then you can relay any IR command via your Vera with an http request. In the user guide you find examples.

Cheers Rene

cw-kid · January 11, 2017, 12:49pm

[quote=“reneboer, post:471, topic:184450”]Hi cw-kid,

In the Harmony Hub plugin you can enable the HTTP handler and then you can relay any IR command via your Vera with an http request. In the user guide you find examples.

Cheers Rene[/quote]

Hi Rene

That sounds perfect ! Sorry where can I see the user manual for the plug-in ?

Regards

EDIT:

https://github.com/reneboer/vera-Harmony-Hub/blob/master/UserGuide%20v2.7.pdf

cw-kid · January 11, 2017, 2:06pm

Does the AV device i.e. my AVR amp have to be added into Vera as a device for the HTTP Request Handler to work? Seems not.

I am assuming it does, but I’ve not currently got it added in to Vera as I didn’t really want or need to control it from the UI7 web GUI etc.

I can’t see this user manual, however these commands are working to query the Harmony Hub.

Device ID:184 is the main Harmony device in Vera etc.

List Activities:

http://192.168.1.100/port_3480/data_request?id=lr_Harmony184&cmd=list_activities

List Devices:

http://192.168.1.100/port_3480/data_request?id=lr_Harmony184&cmd=list_devices

List Commands of a Device:

http://192.168.1.100:3480/data_request?id=lr_Harmony184&cmd=list_device_commands&cmdp1=41309507

ID:41309507 Being my Denon AVR amp.

The volume commands for it are listed as:

Function : Volume Commands : [ Action : Mute Name : Mute Label : Mute , Action : VolumeDown Name : VolumeDown Label : Volume Down , Action : VolumeUp Name : VolumeUp Label : Volume Up

So now I just need to work out what the Http URL is to control those volume commands ?

Something along the lines of:

luup.call_action("urn:rboer-com:serviceId:HarmonyDevice1", "SendDeviceCommand",{Command="VolumeUp",Duration="0"},184)

But how would I send the device command as a HTTP URL / request ?

Thanks

EDIT:

From the user manual

To issue a device command for device holding button for five seconds;

http://192.168.1.100/port_3480/data_request?id=lr_Harmony184&cmd=issue_device_command&cmdP1=41309507&cmdP2=VolumeUp&cmdP3=5

EDIT 2: Nice the above http command works to increase the volume even if you have not added that device in to the Vera web GUI !

cw-kid · January 11, 2017, 5:42pm

This is great I now have commands entered in to the Yatse mobile app to control the Denon AVR volume, mute and audio modes.

I also added some additional commands to control Vera Z-Wave devices and run some Vera scenes.

Yatse just got a lot more interesting for controlling my Kodi HTPC.

cw-kid · January 11, 2017, 6:34pm

It gets even better!

In the Imperihome mobile app you can add buttons for “Execute a HTTP Request”.

So now I have icons in Imperihome as well for controlling the AVR’s volume and audio modes.

The icons are a bit naff in Imerpihome might be able to change these but as Imperihome does not support the Vera Harmony plug-in, this is one way to get extra functionality over the native support for the Harmony activities that does exist in Imperihome.

reneboer · January 11, 2017, 11:18pm

Nice work

wezley69 · January 11, 2017, 11:31pm

When I try this my volume only increases by .5 each time it’s executed. What can me changed? Changing the last digit to 10 makes no difference.

http://192.168.1.114/port_3480/data_request?id=lr_Harmony196&cmd=issue_device_command&cmdP1=34913655&cmdP2=VolumeUp&cmdP3=5

cw-kid · January 12, 2017, 2:40pm

[quote=“wezley69, post:477, topic:184450”]When I try this my volume only increases by .5 each time it’s executed. What can me changed? Changing the last digit to 10 makes no difference.

http://192.168.1.114/port_3480/data_request?id=lr_Harmony196&cmd=issue_device_command&cmdP1=34913655&cmdP2=VolumeUp&cmdP3=5[/quote]

Same here changing the time to 30 secs makes no difference either. But pressing the button in the 3rd party app repeatedly works for increasing the volume for example.

reneboer · January 12, 2017, 5:46pm

Hi,

I have to look. Have you tried configuring a duration in in the plugin device and see if that still works?

Cheers Rene

cw-kid · January 12, 2017, 6:37pm

[quote=“reneboer, post:479, topic:184450”]Hi,

I have to look. Have you tried configuring a duration in in the plugin device and see if that still works?

Cheers Rene[/quote]

Actually for my Denon AVR I have not created a plug-in child device for it in the UI7 GUI. So maybe that is why?

I found that the send command HTTP URL works and controlled the AVR even though that device was not added to Vera etc.