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HS4 and Broadlink (RM Pro+) using Node-RED - Local control

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    HS4 and Broadlink (RM Pro+) using Node-RED - Local control

    HS4 and Broadlink (RM Pro+) - using Node-RED - Local control

    I just got my RM Pro+ from Broadlink working locally with HS4 and it is awesome. This gives me IR and RF control (without cloud/internet). It is more setup work then just using the broadlink apps, but it is super reliable now. The combination of instructions is already spread out online, but I've combined it here for HS4 people

    The main node red components are
    https://flows.nodered.org/node/node-...ntrib-homeseer
    https://flows.nodered.org/node/node-...adlink-control


    Step 1

    Install Node Red and Setup with HS4
    https://forums.homeseer.com/forum/ho...pported-by-hs4
    https://docs.homeseer.com/display/HS...r+use+with+HS4

    Step 2

    If you are using the new broadlink apps already (Broadlink app, or IHC app) you are going to want to delete any association to the RM pro. Those apps use cloud, not local.
    Log into the app and delete all remotes, all devices etc.

    If you are using an older broadlink device and the e-control app, there are ways to keep IR and RF codes from the app (I didn't do this)

    Do everything mentioned on this website starting from "Factory reset Broadlink RM4 pro". Skip everything directly related to Home Assistant, we are using HS4.You can stop reading when it says "Note about RF Codes" (Because I have RF working)
    https://peyanski.com/broadlink-rm4-p...-and-node-red/

    You should have the e-control broadlink app at this point on your android/iOS

    **To get RF codes working (with RM Pro+ anyways) you need to initiate the RF sweep in the e-control app first (don't do/start RF sweep in nodered)
    In node red just pretend the RF code is an IR code (after you initiate RF sweep in the econtrol broadlink app try to learn the RF button press like it was an IR. Don't attempt to learn button in android/ios app)

    you only need one learn sequence in node red, reuse it to learn buttons. Create multiple send sequences for each button learned once you capture the data value to put in the msg.payload (using debug window in node red)

    Step 3

    Create a virtual device in Homeseer
    • If you are controlling an on/off device (and you can retrieve status) then use a simple on/off virtual device
    • If you are controlling a Tv remote, create a virtual device with many buttons. Using Edit status/control on hs4 device page
      By default a virtual device has off (0) and on (100). You can change, or add to these values.
      add new buttons associated to a number for all the buttons on your remote Example: play (1), stop (2), pause (3), rewind (4) ... etc (I also made an "Idle" button. I have an event which always returns the status to idle after a button push)
    • If you are controlling something that dims up and down, create a virtual device with 4 buttons off (0), on(100), up (5), down (10) or something similar

    Step 4 (attached image)

    Set Node red to trigger based on the Virtual device status. Using the node red send button examples created in step 2, follow these steps...

    1) add a node for your homeseer virtual device
    2) add a "switch" node to determine what send button to run based on what the homeseer button value is
    3) connect the virtual device output to the "switch" input
    4) edit the "switch" to have one output for every button msg.payload.value (settings in attached image)
    5) connect each switch output to the associated function node

    Now when you click the homeseer button, it will trigger the node-red to broadlink button send


    Step 5 (only if you want google home integration)

    a) If you have a simple on/off, you can just use the virtual device in google home
    b) If not a simple on/off (example: tv remote), you can create a manual event for every button. The event will press the button on the virtual device. You can call these events from google home. Best way is to create a routine so when you say "ok google, play satellite" it will run the homeseer event



    With this setup the only functionality I lost is the easy ability to tell google "ok google play channel YYYY on satellite". Only way I can think to do this is create an event/routine for every channel. But that is pretty simple for me since I don't have many favorite channels

    #2
    Thank you for posting this! Getting the Broadlink RM devices to work with HS4 has been the holy grail for me. I want to be able to inexpensively control the Fujitsu split A/C head units in my various rooms, without having to rely on a cloud connection (or paying $100 per room for an A/C IR device).

    Now i just need to tackle this before Summer

    Comment


      #3
      What do the function nodes do? You can export the entire flow or individual nodes and paste it inside Code tags here.
      Karl S
      HS4Pro on Windows 10
      1070 Devices
      56 Z-Wave Nodes
      104 Events
      HSTouch Clients: 3 Android, 1 iOS
      Google Home: 3 Mini units, 1 Pair Audios, 2 Displays

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by ksum View Post
        What do the function nodes do? You can export the entire flow or individual nodes and paste it inside Code tags here.
        99% of the broadlink stuff is copied from the broadlink send example. You can get that in the node red hamburger menu (top right), Import-> examples -> node-red-contrib-broadlink-control -> learn and send data

        all you need to do is change the data value in the example send function.

        I didn't think it was worth posting an example flow because of this.

        Comment


          #5
          Okay. Just followed the links and I see the sample function at the bottom. Pretty sad that they are using a function node for something that can be done with a change node since it is just setting values. I would actually use two. The first would set the data for the command as that is unique to each. The second to set all the common items and thread everything into that. It seems the home automation, and especially home assistant groups overuse the function node.
          Karl S
          HS4Pro on Windows 10
          1070 Devices
          56 Z-Wave Nodes
          104 Events
          HSTouch Clients: 3 Android, 1 iOS
          Google Home: 3 Mini units, 1 Pair Audios, 2 Displays

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by ksum View Post
            Okay. Just followed the links and I see the sample function at the bottom. Pretty sad that they are using a function node for something that can be done with a change node since it is just setting values. I would actually use two. The first would set the data for the command as that is unique to each. The second to set all the common items and thread everything into that. It seems the home automation, and especially home assistant groups overuse the function node.
            feel free to modify the design as you want. I just started using node-red yesterday specifically to get broadlink working, so I just pieced instructions together

            Comment


              #7
              I had my BroadLink RM4 pro configured to work with Alexa using the IOS broadlink app. I decided to take the dive into getting it to work with HS4 and Red node. I followed the instructions above and all work just fine, until I got to the step to connect via the e-control app. I can not get the app to configure the RM4. One thing I did during the initial reset (following the instructions on the HA page) was to update the firmware of the RM4. Does anyone know if the firmware update prevents you from using e-control? Or any other reason why I can't connect via e-control?

              Comment


                #8
                the instructions I linked to use an RM4, but is is possible the latest firmware broke something. I am on the latest firmware (I think) for the RMpro+ but I don't have an RM4 to try with, sorry

                from quick googling I dont think you are the only one

                Comment

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