USBUIRT on HS4/Pi

[ebreider]

Dear all... when I transitioned to HS4 on Pi4 I had never expected that my USBUIRT would not be supported (BLUSBUIRT plugin).
After a lot of roaming the forums etc I think I've discovered that there is no BLUSBUIRT plugin for HS4 and that the hope giving IR PLUGIN does not support USBUIRT devices. I am really sad about that... but who knows: can the IR PLUGIN be made to support USBUIRT as well? It's not exactly an obscure device, or is it?

Can anyone enlighten me there?

Thank you all! Take care...

[drule]

I just had a quick google around and it seems that adding support for the USBUIRT might be reasonably straightforward. I need to get access to the .NET wrapper, so I'll email the developer to ask.

However, this won't be quick. Most of my setup is in storage at the moment as I am in the middle of moving home. I *think* I have a USBUIRT in one of the boxes but won't be able to check for a few weeks at least.

-David

[ebreider]

Thanks for your response David... good luck with moving house! (Nightmare!)

I had hoped it would be as easy as making the BLUSBUIRT plugin available for HS4/linux... after some more googling I found out that all the devices that are supported by the free IR Plugin that IS available... are rather expensive (and not quite USB either I think... so more hassle for me with the Pi I think).

Anyway... thanks for any effort. Much appreciated!

Mind your back with these heavy boxes!

Eric

[drule]

Have you tried reaching out to the author of the BLUSBUIRT plugin to find out if he has any plans for HS4?

[ebreider]

Not exactly I suppose... but I came as far as this:

- On the shop.homeseer.com site, where the plugin BLUSBUIRT is advertised/sold (it's free though) it says the following:

HS4 users: This plugin was created for HS3 and should run on your HS4 system. However, the setup/config pages are not optimized for use on mobile devices.



However, the HS4 I am using does not give access to this plugin. Perhaps it does run on Windows HS4?


- I went to the forum USBUIRT department and saw someone else had posted a similar question some time ago and there was no response. I got the impression that this part of the forum isn't frequented much (anymore)...

So yes, I guess a next step could be to find out who's behind the plugin and take it from there.

Thanks for the suggestion!

[Guest]

ebreider did you get feedback on this and/or try Blusbuirt on HS4? This is a must have for me before migrating to HS4. or drule, did you have a chance to add USBUIRT support? Thx

[ebreider]

Sadly not 123qweasd... I left a message on his (I assume) message board but it feels like the guy has disappeared. What I think so far is that the plugin works, or may work, on a Windows platform running HS4 but not on the Raspberry. I am very disappointed about that but I don't get the impression many people care. Glad to know there is at least someone out there with the same interest.
I do think however that HS4 is a huge step forward, and in my case also having migrated (migrained!) to Raspberry (from virtual WIndows10 on an Mac mini). So there is that too.

Anyway... if you have any more news (or anyone else!) please let me/us know!
Thanks so much.

[Guest]

Blade is still active on the board but he seems to have abandoned some plugins like BLUSBUIRT; posted a few questions but never got answers back.

Agreed this is disappointing; the USB-UIRT is really a great device; I modified mine and hardwired the 3 zones, including the onboard blaster so I could control hard to reach devices like my A/C; and despite some feedback that it wouldn't work I have more than a dozen "recycled" emitters in parallel from various sources (unsoldered from cheap/old remotes, etc.) and it works flawlessly.

Will eventually migrate to HS4 , will let you know if it works or not.

or, hopefully, drule will eventually dig in his box of old devices and add support to his plugin

cheers,

Yann

[Michael McSharry]

The broadlink mini is a WiFi to IR with learning capability that sell for around $20. mcsMQTT supports it in both HS3 and HS4. Can learn with a remote or can use Pronto hex codes for a more expanded discrete capability. If you want 433 MHz and 315 MHz RF also then get the Pro version.

[Guest]

Thanks Michael,

I've considered other options, including Broadlink and am also testing a Wifi GlobalCache but I'm concerned about losing some USBUIRT benefits:

- Power : ability to put multiple emitters in parallel on a significantly long cable
- Zones : 3 zones or more

- At least one "blaster" type zone with enough power to transmit long distance (vs "stick on" only)

- Compatibility : ability to use non proprietary IR emitters
USB-UIRT fulfills these requirements so I'm not inclined to change until I can confirm another unit does the same.

On the other hand BLUSBUIRT doesn't offer direct Pronto hex input so I'll definitely consider the MCSMQTT interface benefits.

[drule]

The broadlink mini is a WiFi to IR with learning capability that sell for around $20. mcsMQTT supports it in both HS3 and HS4. Can learn with a remote or can use Pronto hex codes for a more expanded discrete capability. If you want 433 MHz and 315 MHz RF also then get the Pro version.

For $20 I might get one as a "just because!"

[drule]

ebreider did you get feedback on this and/or try Blusbuirt on HS4? This is a must have for me before migrating to HS4. or drule, did you have a chance to add USBUIRT support? Thx

My life is still in a storage container. House move is taking for ever! :-(

I reached out to Jon at USBUIRT at the end of December and he sent me some API info which looks straight forward but is all Windows. I haven't done any testing yet but the first question will be can his driver DLL run in mono for linux/raspberry pi users? Jon did offer to send me a device which I didn't take him up on because I thought I'd be moving in to my new place soon. If I'd known then that I'd still be waiting over 3 months later, I'd have taken him up on this offer. Still might have to!

[drule]

Thanks Michael,

I've considered other options, including Broadlink and am also testing a Wifi GlobalCache but I'm concerned about losing some USBUIRT benefits:

- Power : ability to put multiple emitters in parallel on a significantly long cable
- Zones : 3 zones or more

- At least one "blaster" type zone with enough power to transmit long distance (vs "stick on" only)

- Compatibility : ability to use non proprietary IR emitters
USB-UIRT fulfills these requirements so I'm not inclined to change until I can confirm another unit does the same.

On the other hand BLUSBUIRT doesn't offer direct Pronto hex input so I'll definitely consider the MCSMQTT interface benefits.

The Wifi Global Cache is a great device. I'm working on some tweaks and improvements for Global Cache support which are 99% ready. I don't seem to have much luck with getting stuff into the HomeSeer Updater in a timely manner, so if you want to grab the latest version, look for it in this forum. There's one significant bug I fixed to do with device and code edits showing up in existing events. It worked in an earlier version of HS4 but something changed (not exactly sure when) which broke things and I had to make a change to accommodate.

[Guest]

Thanks for the feedback,

I will do further testing and keep you posted.

However I feel like the Globalcache will require multiple units and proprietary emitters to reproduce my current setup and they are quite expensive $$$.

at 20$, will probably give the Broadlink a try.

This being said, if you have a chance to look into the USBUIRT API and integration, I'll be more than glad to offer testing assistance.

Thank you

Yann

[ebreider]

Am I right in understanding that a Broadlink unit (also the Broadlink Mini 4?) will connect to the raspberry/HS4 by using the MCSMQTT plugin?