Control your Enocean home automation with a Logitech Harmony

A few months ago, the "Google Home" voice assistant found its place in our home to interact with some of our connected objects. The opportunity to come back to my Logitech Harmony Hub that I have been using for several years with an Enocean IR/RF converter... and this time the possibility to interact with my "Google Home" voice assistant.

If I also have an Enocean "WizzBox" home automation gateway, you can of course use the same interactions without necessarily having a home automation box.

Here is what I use for my needs:

A Google Home

A Logitech Harmony Wifi/Infrared Hub

An Enocean Radio/Infrared Converter

To summarize my installation, it is the RF/IR converter that transcodes each infrared signal from my Logitech remote control into an Enocean radio signal. Eltako's FIW65, has 24 EnOcean channels in its memory, is powered directly by 230V, and it is supplied with all the accessories to embed it.

The FIW55 converter proposed by Eltako is really simple to install and quickly becomes the ideal complement to your EnOcean home automation installation to manage a few scenes and direct actions on lighting and shutters...

And when you own a Logitech Harmony Hub, you can add additional connectivity via various IFTTT services....

Also know that if like me, you have a revolutionary Freebox, there is a small USB IR dongle that makes it compatible with your Universal IR remote control or as above with the Logitech Harmony Hub.

How does the Infrared/Enocean converter work?

Whether you have a remote control or a Logitech Harmony Hub, each one has its own application. In my case, I needed to install the Harmony App on my smartphone and add the Eltako lighting console.

This console will allow you to retrieve the channels associated with the FIW55 converter, and to assign buttons and actions to them. For example, turn on the "Lounge Spotlights" with button 1 on my Logitech remote control and turn them off with button 2.

Teaching a button from the remote control to one of your EnOcean Radio actuators becomes very simple, just place your module in association mode and press the button of your choice.

Until then, you don't need anything else to control your Enocean devices, but we will see that the Logitech Hub allows you to go further thanks to its Wifi connectivity, and its IFTTT compatibility.

What is IFTTT?

IFTTT is a free web service that allows users to create simple instruction strings called applets. An applet is triggered by changes in web services such as Gmail, Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest. For example, an applet can send an email if the user tweeted with a given hashtag, or save the photos published on Facebook in a storage service like dropbox, or send an email to each other if it rains tomorrow.

IFTTT is an acronym for IF This Then That That.

This will allow us, for example, to translate an IFTTT condition as follows: If I activate my "Somfy Protect" alarm, then ask the Logitech Hub to send the IR code assigned to the Enocean "Shutter Closing" scenario.

OK Google, close the shutters....

You could see some of the possibilities of IFTTT's power and its multitude of compatible services or Applets. Here is how I can now control my Enocean home automation by voice, by combining the Logitech Hub with my Google Home...

Just create an Applet for each action, as above to "Close the shutters": if (If) I say "Close the shutters" then launch the command associated with my Logitech Hub.

It's up to you to imagine what this Infrared / Enocean converter will do for you, whether it's simply with an IR remote control or even more with Logitech Hub connected in interaction with the power of IFTTT...

Posted November 19, 2018 23:12

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