Receiver switches off when "speak" with homeseer

[Corvl1]

Greetings,

I have serveral Sonos play devices and also the ZP ( the one which has no speaker/receiver in it), connected to a Yamaha receiver , which is connected to my speakers. Harmony is set up to do everything and working as it should.

Now I have set up in Homeseer a "speak" event to speak some TTS and/or play a mp3 file. This works OK on my Sonos devices , but the Harmony hub is switching off the Yamaha receiver when the SPEAK event is triggered. So , although the TTS is being announced on the ZP as well , no sound is heard since the receiver is switched off ( and afterwards not switched on anymore as well.)

Anyone has an idea how to deal with this , when Homeseer "takes over" the sonos devices to play something I don't want the receiver to be switched off.

Many thanks for your help ,
Cor

[randy]

Are you using a Harmony Device control or Activity in your Event? Which ZP are you using, I assume it is a connect. How is it connected to your receiver? I was able to use the Harmony to select the input from the Connect on the Yamaha, then return the Yamaha to its previous input, using Harmony device action to switch inputs.

Now I have switched to Connect:Amps so Sonos no longer goes through my receivers. Instead I have a set of Arduino controlled relays in each room to route the Connect:Amp audio to my front or rear speakers, depending on the Yamaha’s activity.

• If the Yamaha is off, Sonos goes to the front speakers
• If we are watching TV, Sonos is routed to the rear speakers when it is running
• I have control overrides that can force Sonos to the front and/or add it to the rear
• When Sonos is making an announcement, the Yamaha output is reduced by 5db, if it is active

We found this setup to be perfect for us. We always get announcements, but the interruption to TV is minimal. We can run audio from the Sonos to front and/or rear even while watching TV. This is good for watching football games while listening to our local radio play by play. If we are watching TV and the dryer finishes, the TV audio is reduced, the announcement “The Dryer is finished, the washing machine is stopped” is made out of the back speakers, then the TV is restored. We have standalone Sonos all over the house that play announcements as well.

[Corvl1]

rprade : Thanks for thinking along with me.

Yes indeed it is a Sonos connect ( not the AMP), nice idea you have withthe AMP , and using relais to controll all. For the moment I don't want to buy a Sonos AMP , since the connect is doing what I need.


It is now setup like this:

An activity on my Harmony hub (start sequence):
-Power on Yamaha amplifier
-Power on Sonos connect living room
-Power on and group BAthroom Sonos PLay1
-Yamaha Amplifier Audio 1
-Sonos starting channel: kronehit
-set volumes on both Sonos

End sequence of this activity on the Harmony hub:
-Yamaha amplifier power off
-Sonos BAthroom power off
- sonos Livingroom Power off


-An event in Homeseer ( manuel trigger) , to start the activity above.
-An event in Homeseer to "speak". ( manually trigger)


The event in Homeseer has been triggered , so both livingroom and bathroom are playing music with the Yamaha Amplifier on.
Now I trigger the "speak" event on homeseer. I see the "end sequence" of kronehit being triggered (on the Harmony app on my phone).
When the "speak-event" has finished, the music on the sonos is starts again , but the amplifier stays off ( due to the "end sequence of the Harmony hub)

For testing purposes I have disabled the Harmony hub on Homeseer. The "end sequence" is still activated, meaning the Harmony hub "decides" to trigger the "end sequence" . Why does the Harmony hub decides to trigger the "end sequence" when homeseer uses the sonos for a short time.

An more importantly , how do I change this.

Many Thanks,
Cor

[thomauto@aol.com]

rprade : Thanks for thinking along with me.



An more importantly , how do I change this.

Many Thanks,
Cor

Have you tried this? There is a setting in Harmony that is supposed to ignore the power control on a device while changing activities. https://support.myharmony.com/en-us/...wers-on-or-off
I only have one activity now but i think i have used it in the past.

[randy]

I would like to see a screenshot of your speak event. There is no reason sending a Sonos speak event would trigger anything in the Harmony plug-in or hub.

[Corvl1]

thomauto@aol.com : thank you for the link , i think you have something there! Not sure if I want to switch that function off , since on one occasion I have during the night music played for the dogs in the stables on a play 1 , i don't want the Amplifier to be on in that case. I am gonna try that setting tonight .

From the link on the logitec/harmony website:

• Turn off when not in use (default)
  This option will power on a device when starting an Activity that includes it, and power off the device when you stop the Activity. This is most common for televisions or AV receivers that you only want powered on when in use.
• Leave powered on all the time
  This option means that Harmony will never send the power on or power off command. This may be valuable if you have a media center or set top box that you want to leave on all the time.
• Keep this device on when switching Activities
  This option will power on the device the first time it is needed, but keep it turned on when you switch from one Activity to the next. The device will be powered off when you press the Off button on your Harmony remote indicating that you want everything turned off. This is useful for game consoles that you may want to pause and leave on when switching to watch TV, and return to later on without having to stop your game.
• There are no power buttons
  This option should be used for devices that don't have power buttons at all. This is common on older AV equipment that may not have come with a remote control.

rprade :
Here are both events , one which triggers to start the activity to play music with the amplifier , and below that one the speak event.


Many thanks,
Cor

[randy]

I am at a loss how a Sonos plug-in TTS could trigger anything in the Harmony hub. What is in the Event that calls the speak Event? Is it just a motion event, or does it have anything to do with Harmony activities. Have you looked at your log to see what other Events are run at the same time as the speak Event? Have you tried manually running just the speak Event from the Event Management page?

[Corvl1]

rprade : I don't understand it either , the only thing which makes sense is the reply from thomauto@aol.com with the link from logitec. Somehow the Harmony hub "knows" the activity is not active anymore , and switches for that reason off what it is not using. Since HS is using Sonos , that is not switched off.....
That is the only thing what makes sense to me.

Cor

[randy]

rprade : I don't understand it either , the only thing which makes sense is the reply from thomauto@aol.com with the link from logitec. Somehow the Harmony hub "knows" the activity is not active anymore , and switches for that reason off what it is not using. Since HS is using Sonos , that is not switched off.....
That is the only thing what makes sense to me.

Cor

Yes but... Sonos is playing the whole time, it is much the same as changing streaming service by the Sonos app on your phone. My Harmony hub or the MeiHarmonyHub plug-in do not respond to any device controls from HomeSeer, the Harmony remote or the Harmony app, the only thing that changes the hup or HomeSeer devices is an activity. Does the same thing happen when changing services on your Sonos via the app? Also, as I wrote above, does the amp turn off when you run your speak Event manually from the Event Management page. If it does, would you be willing top post a snippet of your HomeSeer log for the period just before you manually run the Event up to the time when the Yamaha turns off?

You should be able to see what is happening through HomeSeer log entries, but there is also debug logging for Sonos (which likely will not show anything). Perhaps the most useful information would be from debug logging from the plug-in which can be sent to a file or added to the HomeSeer log.

[thomauto@aol.com]

I see, now that I look at the TTS event it probably wouldn't trigger an activity change. Not knowing much about sonos is CEC involved? Like is the sonos commanding the amp to shut off through CEC?

[randy]

I see, now that I look at the TTS event it probably wouldn't trigger an activity change. Not knowing much about sonos is CEC involved? Like is the sonos commanding the amp to shut off through CEC?

The Sonos Connect only has RCA analog, digital coaxial and digital optical outputs - none of which support CEC which is done over HDMI.