Linking a universal remote
STRAP A SMART REMOTE SYSTEM TO YOUR HOME TO CONTROL LITERALLY EVERYTHING.
IN MANY WAYS universal remotes compete with smart speakers to be the unifying force in a smart home. They can work well in conjunction as well, playing off each other’s strengths. These remotes are designed to work with your existing technology by mimicking the infrared signal used by regular dumb remotes in order to control non-Wi-Fi connected devices. The benefit of these smart universal remote systems is that they’ll sync with your non-smart devices, then connect each to your home Wi-Fi network to bring everything into the smart home ecosystem. It’s worth doing a bit of research to see if your current devices will sync with the universal remote you’re thinking of getting.
LOGITECH HARMONY
Logitech’s Harmony universal remote series ( logitech.com/en-au) is one of the most well known systems for binding your home entertainment devices to the one remote to rule them all, but it also has a few home automation partners that’ll allow you to connect smart home devices. While the Harmony Hub will connect to LIFX and Philips Hue lighting systems, it’s behind when it comes to smart home connectivity, missing out on connections for TP-Link’s Kasa connected units, Belkin’s WiMo range and D-Link’s local plugs. If you do have a Hue or LIFX lighting setup, the Harmony hub will be able to sync your lights and TV to an activity that’ll change the lighting and play your favourite channel.
Harmony plays nice with Alexa and you can twist its arm with IFTTT to run Google Home commands so all these configured actions can be initiated using your voice. If you want to take its functionality further, simply set up an activity in the Harmony app by navigating to the ‘Edit activities’ section. Select the devices you want to include in the activity and then customise the action you want for each device (ie. change input or open Blu Ray tray). Next, sync your Stringify account with Harmony and you can create a Flow with the Harmony action as an outcome and combine it with other lights, smart plugs and speakers you want to use.
B.ONE HUB
While the Logitech Harmony will allow you to connect certain remote controlled home appliances, you can only access this by manually pushing through the ‘Add a new home enterainment device’ portal, however, the number of devices automatically recognised is limited. At the polar opposite end of this spectrum is the B.One Hub ( b1hub.com.au) which will recognise basically anything with a remote in your house. This skateboard shaped IR blaster isn’t the most straightforward device to get going, but it won’t disappoint when it comes to the number of devices it’s compatible with. Currently you can connect all the devices connected to your B.One hub to Alexa, and control an extensive array of home appliances with vocal commands.