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Add Logitech Harmony 890 Remote to Design...

Last post 04-16-2008 11:50 PM by synergistic. 28 replies.
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  • 12-07-2007 3:34 AM In reply to

    • syner
    • Top 25 Contributor
    • Joined on 06-23-2007
    • Posts 44

    Re: Add Logitech Harmony 890 Remote to Design...

    keep reading down the link to the post from the logitech support specialist... i apologize for any confusion.  other people complain of losing z-wave compatability on the thread with 890's after doing the firmware update.  here is an excerpt:

    bluja000 Support Specialist
    Support Specialist
    Posts: 1297
    Registered: 06-22-2006


    bluja000

    Message 7 of 30

    Viewed 6188 times


    I thought I would add a little bit of updated information to this sticky as well.
     
    1) Z-wave devices appear to have not gotten as big a start as Harmony believed, so the ability to control Z-wave devices has been removed from the 890, 890 pro, and 1000 Harmony remotes via firmware upgrades. If you have old firmware on your remote, you 'may' still be able to control Z-wave devices, but updating your firmware will remove that functionality. It may be reintroduced at a later time, but there is no current information regarding that.
     
    There is one device that can be controlled by RF with the above mentioned remotes. That is only the RF extendor, and it will NOT send RF signals to other devices. It will send IR signals only, but will allow you to place devices in cabinets and other locations that are out of line-of-sight. With the 890 and 890 pro, you receive an extendor along with the remote. It does NOT require that you use that extendor, it is simply provided so that you can use it if you so choose. If you do choose to use it, you will need to tell the software program which devices are to be controlled by the remote, and which are to be controlled by the extendor. You would also need to make sure the extendor is paired with the remote, otherwise you won't get any response.
     
    2) There used to be a 'test drive' feature available through the software and online. That was recently removed when the Logitech website was updated. The test drive used to allow you to access the database and tell you whether there were commands for your devices already. There are no current plans to re-introduce the test drive, but it's not needed anyway.
     
    Someone mentioned that they wished the database was provided by our customers, and I wanted to mention that the information in the database IS provided by you, the consumer, via you telling your remote what model devices you have, and what commands you use with the original remote, everytime you teach our remotes your commands. When you teach your harmony remote a raw command, you provide the remote with the command 'name' you want to use (it could be Mike, just as an off the wall example), and the remote will name that raw command Mike. It could be the power on command, but the remote doesn't know what that is, other than it's called Mike. It sends that information to our database, and is added as Mike for that model of device (TV for example). Someone else enters that model TV into their software, and the database will add the Mike command (and use it as a power on command) to the device list for their TV into their remote.
     
    What that means is, all the different commands that you see in device mode are commands that other people have taught their remotes while in raw mode. You can find commands that never work with your device that are listed, because those devices may be for a totally different model of tv or other device. Just because someone enters in Model Number A1B2C3, doesn't mean they have A1B2C3, they could have abc123 instead. Therefore, when they taught their remote the commands that work on their original remote, the database added the incorrect commands to the A1B2C3 model device list. We understand that can be frustrating, but it's not something we have control over. That's why you have the option to teach your remote, to make sure you are getting the commands actually available for your devices, even if you made a mistake when entering in information.
     
    Btw, I personally have a H880, and have a remote controlled fan, a remote controlled air conditioner, and a few 'standard' devices (tv, cablebox, etc.), all of which are controlled properly by the remote. Of course, I have a roommate that doesn't use the remote all the time, so things get out of sync. Now, if I could find a remote that controlls the roommate, I would have a perfect home life. I hope this helps clear some things up, and allows everyone to feel a little more reassured about the capabilities of what you are getting with a harmony remote. It may require a little tinkering, but you can always call us to do your tinkering for you.
     
    As a recap, you can't control ANY RF, Z-wave or otherwise, device with any of our remotes, except the RF extendor, with any of our remotes. The only exceptions were noted above. The test drive feature was removed, and no current plans are in place to bring it back. However, our database is always growing, and your devices that you are wondering about, as long as they are IR controlled, should work just fine without any problems when using our remotes, even with initial setup.
     
    There are some exceptions to the rule, SimpleSimon being one of them. However, many of our calls that we receive are related to incorrect inputs or delay issues, many of which are simple to resolve.

     


  • 12-07-2007 5:03 AM In reply to

    Re: Add Logitech Harmony 890 Remote to Design...

    Shows how much logitech knows of there own problems. The z-wave software removal was only on the 1000 series, this is also stated in the topic further down. The issues noted above have actually little to do with the issue we are prescribing here. 

  • 12-07-2007 8:25 AM In reply to

    Re: Add Logitech Harmony 890 Remote to Design...

    I don't think it's been removed from the 890 either.  As I stated I'm controlling Z-Wave appliances just fine and I have the latest firmware.  Maybe I'm a fluke?

  • 12-07-2007 8:39 AM In reply to

    Re: Add Logitech Harmony 890 Remote to Design...

    The z-wave removal only occured on the 1000 series, 89x/pro users are unaffected. It was clarified later in the topic from which the above quote was taken. Like i said before syner's post has little or nothing to do with the topic starter problem. The support specialist has obviously no experience with the actual remotes, he's probably an IR code manager or something.

    Latest news: a user reported in my topic on the logitech forum that in december we should see some z-wave improvements in the firmware for the 89x series.Which is long overdue IMHO.

     

     

     

  • 12-08-2007 3:44 AM In reply to

    • syner
    • Top 25 Contributor
    • Joined on 06-23-2007
    • Posts 44

    Re: Add Logitech Harmony 890 Remote to Design...

    sorry all.  i reread the whole post and see that it is a misunderstanding.

    this thread talks about being able to add the logitech remote extender into a leviton remote...maybe that will give you the ID?

    http://forums.logitech.com/logitech/board/message?board.id=general_remotes&message.id=7485&query.id=205877#M7485

     

  • 12-08-2007 5:50 PM In reply to

    Re: Add Logitech Harmony 890 Remote to Design...

    I'm a poster in the logitech forum thread mentioned in the previous post regarding Leviton Vizia / 890 pro compatability...

    As I said there, I can add the Logitech RF Extender to the Z-wave network of my Vizia remote (RZCPG). That remote can't control the extender since it uses proprietary messages but it can add it to the zwave network.  What I can't make happen due to logicech limitations is add the 890 (any variant) as a secondary controller of the Vizia remote. This makes this first ability quite useless.

    The 890 Pro can function as a primary or a secondary zwave controller, but insists on having some 890 pro as the primary controller. The 890 non-pro version functions as primary only and can't be a secondary controller to anything else (Forums indicate this limitation also applies to the 895 used in Europe and the 892 used in Asia).

    The 890 Pro can also have multiple remotes on the same logitech account. Supposedly, this lets you have two remotes with the same programming, one as the zwave primary and the rest as zwave secondary controllers. I only have one logitech remote so I'm not able to check this stuff out.

    Steveg

  • 12-08-2007 7:48 PM In reply to

    Re: Add Logitech Harmony 890 Remote to Design...

    [WARNING: this is not a safe thing to do in production systems, but can help in your own system or if you really know what you're doing.]

    Quick thought: if you want to start your network with the 890/895 and are sure you aren't going to be adding/removing any devices, you can add in ThinkEssentials Professional as a secondary, upgrade it to primary role, and then use the PC to set up the remainder of the network.  The 890/895 wouldn't know anything about the additional devices, but in very specific cases (again, in your own system) this could be useful. 

    Technically, you'd have two primaries though--so you would want to make sure you didn't add/remove anything using the Harmony remote from that point on.  But if you did, you could "remove broken device" for any removed devices with the second remote and "add device" for any new ones.  You may, however, get overlapping Node IDs--so you'd need to remove the old devices at said node IDs and then re-add them with a new ID (and possibly "re-add" the new devices at those node IDs to resync them with the PC).  I can spell out an example if you'd like.  And again, don't try this at home, unless you really need to and understand the consequences.

    Chris

  • 12-09-2007 5:31 AM In reply to

    Re: Add Logitech Harmony 890 Remote to Design...

    That sounds like a good one to try, i'll test it out when my think essentials copy is here. 

  • 12-09-2007 7:32 AM In reply to

    Re: Add Logitech Harmony 890 Remote to Design...

    I am finishing my basement and was going to use the 890 or 890 Pro, but with Logitech's lack of support and sub-standard support for the Z-Wave standard I am leaning toward the monster remote, but I am unsure if that is any better :( Anyone have experience with the Monster AVL-300 Z-Wave remotes? I would try the steps to get the 890 involved into the network as primary, but I need a dependable product with proper support...

  • 12-09-2007 7:37 AM In reply to

    Re: Add Logitech Harmony 890 Remote to Design...

    That's probably the same situation, becuase they use the same software as far as i know. 

  • 12-09-2007 7:56 AM In reply to

    Re: Add Logitech Harmony 890 Remote to Design...

    Just becuase they use similar software for programming do you think that the firmware is the same? Also is the support for Z-Wave leaving any of the Monster remotes?

  • 12-09-2007 8:13 AM In reply to

    Re: Add Logitech Harmony 890 Remote to Design...

    I think the firmware is branded but other than that i don't think that there is much difference, but i love to be proven wrong. 

    I only know one monster z-wave remote, which is hardware spec wise exactly the same as the logitech 890 series. The z-wave support isn't removed on logitech 89x series and won't be either, they only removed it on the 1000 series which is another hardware platform.

  • 04-06-2008 12:41 AM In reply to

    • bobcat
    • Top 500 Contributor
    • Joined on 04-04-2008
    • Posts 1

    Re: Add Logitech Harmony 890 Remote to Design...

    How would that work?  I have the regular version of ThinkEssentials.  When I back it up, it save with my home id.  I would like to add the Harmony 890 rather than having 2 separate systems.

  • 04-16-2008 11:50 PM In reply to

    Re: Add Logitech Harmony 890 Remote to Design...

    you pretty much sol with a regular 890....maybe the pro since another user on here reports adding other secondary's to it besides 890's.  i have heard people saying that the monster remote avl300 supports external secondary's also.

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