Having purchased a Harmony Elite & hub on Amazon Black Friday deals, I was disappointed to find out that it was not easy to control Homeseer directly from the remote and the only option (I found) was to use the HA-Bridge software and emulating Philips Hue lamps. This was limiting and wanted the option to be able to progressive dim/brighten lights from the remote and be able to trigger different Homeseer events etc depending on the device/activity being used.
EDIT: If you already have a Windows PC which is connected as a Harmony device on your hub, a FLIRC is NOT required, however you will be limited to the number of Homeseer triggers that can be achieved.
Having thought about this, I came up with an idea of using a FLIRC USB Dongle (Available from Amazon USA & Amazon UK) which allows control of any Media Centre or PC with any IR remote. Plugging this into my Media PC, one of the FLIRC profiles is to emulate a full Windows Keyboard.
My design was to continually monitor my Media PC for certain key combinations (shortcuts) using a new remote Homeseer plugin. I would then program up the FLIRC to send these keyboard shortcuts via the Harmony using IR codes by adding a new device to the Harmony profile. Therefore (for example) programming the FLIRC to send ALT+SHIFT+1 when pressing keypad '1' from this new device would be picked up by my plugin and trigger Homeseer events etc.
I selected a Sony AV Amplifier as my new device (as it has lots of buttons) and renamed it ‘Homeseer Control’. This was then added to all my activities which allowed allocation to unused Harmony Normal/Home Automation buttons and activity macros.
Using keys such as volume up and down on the Sony AV Amplifier profile (which sends repetitive IR commands) would also allow the capability in the plugin to ramp devices such as dimming lights. This effectively would replicate pressing the same Windows key combination for as long as the IR codes were received.
Whilst I had a specific application for this plugin, you can also use it on its own to trigger Homeseer events etc from Windows shortcuts on any PC on your home network.
If you do not have a PC near the equipment which you use to operate via IR, the FLIRC USB dongle works well using a USB to Ethernet server which could be linked to your Homeseer Server. The plugin must be installed on a Windows PC (tested on Win7 & Win10 only).
Also compatible with Elgato Stream Deck.
As always, it can be downloaded from my site (click on my banner below).
(No Banner seen?- check your Forum Settings - User Settings, Account, Tick 'Show Signature')
Please post any issues etc here.
EDIT: If you already have a Windows PC which is connected as a Harmony device on your hub, a FLIRC is NOT required, however you will be limited to the number of Homeseer triggers that can be achieved.
Having thought about this, I came up with an idea of using a FLIRC USB Dongle (Available from Amazon USA & Amazon UK) which allows control of any Media Centre or PC with any IR remote. Plugging this into my Media PC, one of the FLIRC profiles is to emulate a full Windows Keyboard.
My design was to continually monitor my Media PC for certain key combinations (shortcuts) using a new remote Homeseer plugin. I would then program up the FLIRC to send these keyboard shortcuts via the Harmony using IR codes by adding a new device to the Harmony profile. Therefore (for example) programming the FLIRC to send ALT+SHIFT+1 when pressing keypad '1' from this new device would be picked up by my plugin and trigger Homeseer events etc.
I selected a Sony AV Amplifier as my new device (as it has lots of buttons) and renamed it ‘Homeseer Control’. This was then added to all my activities which allowed allocation to unused Harmony Normal/Home Automation buttons and activity macros.
Using keys such as volume up and down on the Sony AV Amplifier profile (which sends repetitive IR commands) would also allow the capability in the plugin to ramp devices such as dimming lights. This effectively would replicate pressing the same Windows key combination for as long as the IR codes were received.
Whilst I had a specific application for this plugin, you can also use it on its own to trigger Homeseer events etc from Windows shortcuts on any PC on your home network.
If you do not have a PC near the equipment which you use to operate via IR, the FLIRC USB dongle works well using a USB to Ethernet server which could be linked to your Homeseer Server. The plugin must be installed on a Windows PC (tested on Win7 & Win10 only).
Also compatible with Elgato Stream Deck.
As always, it can be downloaded from my site (click on my banner below).
(No Banner seen?- check your Forum Settings - User Settings, Account, Tick 'Show Signature')
Please post any issues etc here.
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