BroadLink RM4mini Smart Remote Hub with Sensor Cable -WiFi IR Blaster for TV Remote, Smart AC Controller, Works with Alexa/Google Home/IFTTT

BroadLink RM4 mini Universal RemoteFirst of all I had trouble setting it up when my Router is set to “Smart Connect” which allows devices to automatically connect to either the 2.4 Ghz or 5 Ghz Wi-Fi bands. To work around this I temporarily disabled “Smart Connect” feature on the router so I could to complete the initial setup of the BroadLink RM4. Once the RM4 was successfully connected to my network after its initial setup - I was able to re-enable “Smart Connect” feature on my Router and then after a router reboot all of my devices were able to automatically connect as before… even the BroadLink RM4.I’ve only experienced this configuration setup issue with 3 smart home “2.4 Ghz Only” devices: 2 BroadLink devices and the other one was Sanoff RF Hub. All my many other devices (Wemo, Wink, August, Amazon – to name a few) that only use the 2.4 Ghz Band worked great with “Smart Connect” enabled on my router so I believe the issue is with the setup software of the two manufacture’s that don’t work - in this case the BroadLink App.I bought this device to issue IR commands with my Amazon Echo voice – Specifically my TCL Roku TV which I can normally control from my Echo via the network commands - except when the TV is set to Energy Saving mode with Fast Start disabled and the TV has been powered off for more than 12 minutes. Then I must first use the IR Remote to power it on.Which is where the BroadLink RM4 comes in. At first I added the remote for my “ROKU TV – IR”– as a TV Remote which is available for my Amazon Echo. The remotes they had on file were flaky on the power button so I created my own and used the Learn Feature to assign to the power button. Next, I added the command to my Amazon Alexa App’s “TV” Routine that I previously created. I just added the device “ROKU TV – IR” to Power On at the top of the TV Routine since it takes a couple seconds longer to power on the TV when fast start is disabled. I left the original power command that is sent via network control in the routine which is further down in the routine after all of the lighting controls.This Alexa “TV” routine worked perfectly when I say, “Computer TV” – it first sends the power button IR Code to the TV then processes the rest of the routine normally.NEXT, I added the eROD Motorized Drapery Rod’s remote to the BroadLink RM4’s App. This time I selected User Defined Remote. I added the three buttons: OPEN, CLOSE, & STOP and it easily learned their IR commands. I was able to control the curtains perfectly with the remote. THEN I added a Scene in the BroadLink App. I chose the General Scene type so that I could control the IR eROD Remote I had just created. I named it “Curtains OPEN” and set it to activate the Open Button on the eROD remote I made. I then created Scenes for both the Close and Stop commands as well.Next I created an Alexa Routine, “Open Curtains” and then added Smart Home activity which controls the Scene “Curtains Open” I created with in the BroadLink App and is published in the Alexa scenes. I also created Alexa Routines, “Close Curtains” & “Stop Curtains” which control there corresponding scenes.I also added the Smart Home activity which controls the Scene “Curtains Close” scene to the Alexa “TV” Routine I talked about earlier.Everything worked as expected.Later on I removed the ROKU TV “TV type remote” and recreated it as a User Defined Remote instead. Then I added & learned the POWER button. Next I added a Scene in the BroadLink app that activates that button. Once that was complete I then added the Smart Home activity which controls the “ROKU TV POWER - IR” scene to the Alexa “TV” Routine I talked about earlier.This method works better for me since when I originally created the “ROKU TV” remote I selected the “TV Remote” type and only assigned IR commands to the power button and that left a remote inside the BroadLink App with only the power button working… the rest of the buttons did not work because I didn’t assign them IR commands.Besides the BroadLink App discovered my TCL ROKU TV via the network and is available if the TV is powered on and so I wanted to get rid of the original “TV Remote” type I created with mostly non-working remote and create one using the “User Defined” type with only one button instead.All in all - I am extremely happy with the BroadLink RM4 IR control capabilities. It’s much better than using Harmony Hub to control devices like the Curtains or other devices that would automatically end activities running when you start another.I have already ordered a second BroadLink RM4 Mini with sensor cable to migrate some devices away from my Harmony Hub that interfere with its primary activities. I think Harmony Hub is stupid to end the active “Watch Movie” activity (Which turns off the Projector and surround sound when the automated sunset closing of the curtains is kicked off. A major issue with Harmony Hub.FYI: Sensor cable – with built in temp & humidity sensors. So far only the current temp is available with Amazon Echo – which is seen as a temperature sensor to the Amazon Echo. Alexa does not currently support the humidity function. However, hourly temp & humidity data readings are available inside the BroadLink App.I named my temperature sensor, “Living Room” inside the BroadLink App. So now I can say, “Computer, What is the Living Room Temperature?” Alexa responds, “The Living Room Temperature is 75.1 degrees!” I also created a Group in the Alexa App named, “Inside” and added the Living Room temperature sensor to that group. So I can also ask, “Computer, What is the Inside Temperature?”I know this review was rather long, but I wanted to add some “how to” information and issue work arounds I did that other users have reported as issues while setting up their BroadLink RM4 Mini to help fill in the gaps for the somewhat lacking instructions on how to setup and configure the device and BroadLink app.Happy Automating and thanks for reading!

Linksys dropped support for the Harmony Hub so I was thinking about a replacement. When I was “upgraded” to Alexa+, my Harmony routines stopped working. This device works with Alexa+ and allows a single voice command to turn on or off a satellite box, receiver, and TV. It’s a reasonable replacement for the Harmony hub and it’s supported.

I bought this to control my air conditioner, and monitor the air temperature in my apartment while I was away for a week. My cat stayed home, and I wanted her to be comfortable, since it was supposed to be hot.Setup worked, but it took several tries to get it done. Since my primary 2.4 and 5GHz WiFi networks share the same SSID and password, I had to set up a third network that was only 2.4GHz. once I did that, made my phone forget my primary network, then joined my phone to the newly created 2.4GHz network, setup was much smoother. I've had to do this WiFi dance with two cameras and a different IR emitter from another company. A lot of appliances like these operate on 2.4GHz only.My air conditioner was not in the official device library. At the time, I glossed over the message in the app which told me I could search the user submitted library if I couldn't find my air conditioner in the official library. Instead, I ended up having the IR emitter learn functions by pointing my air conditioner remote at it, and pressing buttons. Once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy, if a bit tedious. After I programmed the functions I wanted, it worked great.I couldn't find my standing fan in the official libraries either. I was able to find a working fan profile in the user submitted libraries though. Works great.The official and user submitted libraries are expensive. It's likely you'll be able to find a profile for your device.Adding my TV was easy, as was one of my Rokus. However, it simply won't add my other Roku, even though they're in the same subnet. The Roku it will as is wireless, on the same network as the IR emitter. My other Roku is wired. I have a flat network in a single subnet, so I figured that would work, but it doesn't. I haven't taken the time to do network captures to see what's actually happening.The temperature and humidity sensor works surprisingly well. It seemed to be about as accurate as my thermostat's thermometer. Naturally, you need to be careful with placement, in other words, place it on a neutral surface, not on top of your laptop or whatever. The only problem with it is how the app handles displaying temperature over time. Instead of graphing points over time, it seems to average temperatures over time, which is inaccurate. Not a huge problem since you don't usually see sharp temperature spikes indoors.The app has some rough edges, like you have to exit and launch the app again to get a fresh temperature reading. Not a huge deal.This setup was critical to monitoring my apartment temperatures, and controlling my air conditioner. It gave me peace of mind while I was away, and kept my cat cool.This product gets a pretty solid B+/A-. If the setup instructions were more clear, the temperature sensor cable were longer, and the temperature graphing issues were resolved, this would be a five star device, especially for the price.

I wanted to be able to control an IR device with my automation system and z-wave remotes. Once I set this up in the Broadlink app I was able to link it to Home Assistant and used HA to learn the IR codes from the original remote. The device is smaller than I expected, but that's a good thing and makes it less obvious in my living room. The range seems to be about 10-15 feet so keep that in mind when picking a location. I did have some problems connecting it to my wifi due to the length of the password, but I set up a separate 2.4 ghz wireless network for it (something I needed to do anyway) and it connected right away. I'm not using the Broadlink app so I can't comment on how well that works.