ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
I had been wanting a more attractive wall switch to control my Philips Hue lights instead of the round plastic white switch that Philips Hue offers. I was excited to see in the BeoSound Essence FAQ on the B&O website that the Essence Remote can be reprogrammed to control other B&O products. The FAQ shows 4 IR modes, including a "light" mode that is intended for a home automation system. This sounds perfect. I thought there might be an option on the MLGW to select the essence remote as a trigger for a macro. However, I could not find such an option. Does anyone know more about this? The online manual for the essence remote does not offer any details. Does this mean that the essence remote could be purchased and used WITHOUT the full Essence control box?
"You think we can slap some oak on this thing?"
mjmedlo:That would be awesome. However, since the essence is not connectable to mlgw I doubt it would work. I'm all ears if you figure it out.
However, since the essence is not connectable to mlgw I doubt it would work.
I'm all ears if you figure it out.
I think I see what you mean. It seems that the Essence remote is not capable of wifi. Just bluetooth. That's a shame since even the $60 plastic Philips Hue can connect with wifi. I wonder if the "light" setting on the Essence remote just emits a B&O LIGHT command via IR that must by within sight of another B&O IR sensor.
Leosgonewild:Glue an iPad to the wall, and you will get full control of the Hue ;)
Intelligent resposes are welcome.
No one really knows - or tells us, if he knows - what the ir-modes of the wheely is for
MM
There is a tv - and there is a BV
Millemissen: No one really knows - or tells us, if he knows - what the ir-modes of the wheely is for MM
There are also a few modes saved "for future use." I don't suppose that the wheely might have an unused wifi feature that just hasn't been activated yet. I know -- wishful thinking. I just thought it would be great to have one next to the door to press one button to shutdown everything including the lights and to have another button to activate one of my Philips Hue light settings when entering my home. This would be an ideal wall switch "trigger" to the MLGW or BeoLink Gateway. A wall switch that would work directly with the MLGW as a physical trigger and not be proprietary with a specific home automation system.
beojeff:Intelligent resposes are welcome.
hi,
and which light commands? there are 4 buttons and a wheel.
beoandy
BS Ouverture, BS 9000, AV 9000, Avant 32 DVD, BV9, BV6-22, BS 5, BS 4500, BS 7000, BC 9500, Beo6, BL Penta, F1000, BLGW, etc....
That's a good/intelligent question
@mjmedio
Seems that 'your couple of contacts at B&O' know a thing or two about the Essence/the possibilities of the wheely.
Could they - maybe - reveal more?
for example would be great to dimm the light with the wheel
maybe there is a other mode (future use?) to send b&O CONTROL ir commands for the mlgw.
Concidering that you want to control the Philips Hue which offer multio-room setup with different colors, timers and so on, I think my suggestion with "glueing" an ipad to the wall is your best option.
I think you would be better of with a BossDim or LC2.
(If this is intelligent enough for you)
Philips Hue uses it's own hub that runs off the home wii-fi. I tried it and it went back to shop. Happier with a colour lamp by Mathmos.
Beo Century ,Beoplay V1, Beocenter 6, Ex-Beolit 12, Beotime , A8. Beolit 15 , Form 2i , Beolab 2000, Beoplay A3.Beosound 1
mjmedlo:I use both the iPad inwall and Lutron radioes 2 system for home control. The essence remote would be interesting to work in. I just don't see how it would work without sending the ir signal to a b&o product that would then carry that signal to a gateway. Of course, b & o products recognize the ir command from any b&o product to trigger a master link or beolink command. I know that Phillips hue is now 'built in' as a source in the blgw. Does hue make a multi button light switch? Forgive me I don't know anything about the product.
The essence remote would be interesting to work in.
I just don't see how it would work without sending the ir signal to a b&o product that would then carry that signal to a gateway.
Of course, b & o products recognize the ir command from any b&o product to trigger a master link or beolink command.
I know that Phillips hue is now 'built in' as a source in the blgw. Does hue make a multi button light switch? Forgive me I don't know anything about the product.
The Hue does have a simple wall switch now. It's called the "Hue Tap." It has 4 buttons that can be assigned to specific scenes or to an "all off" command. The assignment of buttons is done via the iOS or Android app. Something rather unique about the wall switch is that it runs entirely on the kinetic energy produced from pressing the button. The downsides are that it takes a very firm press to generate enough kinetic energy and that it's a cheap white plastic. The Hue Tap connects via wifi. It's conceivable that the command strings of each button could be discovered and detected by the MLGW to serve as triggers for MLGW macros - just like with any home automation wall switch.
My point in starting this thread was the interest in the Essence Remote being able to serve as a physical trigger to work with the MLGW (or Beolink Gateway). This could be quite useful in building any conceivable macro for the physical buttons of the Essence Remote. For example, one button could turn on the lights (and also music if so desired) and another button could serve to put all audio and video into standby as well as turning off the lights when leaving the house. This could be useful for any home automation systems - not just the Philips Hue.
Even if the Essence Remote merely sends out B&O LIGHT commands, those commands would be sent to the MLGW via the masterink and could be used to build macros. However, that approach would require a B&O product with an IR sensor to be within the IR range of the emitting Essence Control. However, if the Essence Remote had wifi built in, a separate IR receiver would not be necessary. It's conceivable that someday the main Essence box could serve as a wifi bridge. I was just hoping that the Essence Remote could be purchased without the main Essence box to work on wifi.
Simonbeo: Philips Hue uses it's own hub that runs off the home wii-fi. I tried it and it went back to shop. Happier with a colour lamp by Mathmos.
There are actually benefits to the use of the hub. Once scenes are created, they are stored on the hub. This makes the lights respond much faster to scene selections. When you first create a scene, however, it will seem like the lights are very slow to respond. This sluggishness is only while the data about the scene is being sent to the hub and stored. After the initial data transmission and storage, the sluggishness goes away and the lights respond very smoothly.
Once you get into the API debug tool on your computer, you can see everything that is going on and have amazing control over the lights. I've been able to program some great macros into the MLGW with this. For example, I have over two dozen light scenes programmed on my Beo6 with the images of the light scenes. I also have buttons to turn on specific lamps to reading level brightness and have macros that will dim or turn off certain lights when going into CINEMA mode with a projector. This takes a little work, but gives much more control than you could achieve with other lighting systems such as Lutron or Control4 -- which also require a professional installer to make any changes.
mjmedlo:@beojeff I think the answer to your question again is yes, The essence wheel/remote would work perfectly for what you're wanting. You would need an MLGw or4 bLGW to monitor what like commands are sent so as you can tell the mlgw Or blgw what response to give when receiving what specific commands the essence remote is sending out as I do not know what remote commands the essence wheell sends. However, as you know by programming the MLGW or blgw we can ask for any response we want from any trigger that we want. Such as, you could have whatever the wheel does turn on any light or scene in the home that was controlled by the automation system connected to the MLGW or blGW. And, the wheels are available for purchase individually as far as I know as you can add them to essence system. Are you located in the US?
I think the answer to your question again is yes,
The essence wheel/remote would work perfectly for what you're wanting. You would need an MLGw or4 bLGW to monitor what like commands are sent so as you can tell the mlgw Or blgw what response to give when receiving what specific commands the essence remote is sending out as I do not know what remote commands the essence wheell sends. However, as you know by programming the MLGW or blgw we can ask for any response we want from any trigger that we want. Such as, you could have whatever the wheel does turn on any light or scene in the home that was controlled by the automation system connected to the MLGW or blGW. And, the wheels are available for purchase individually as far as I know as you can add them to essence system. Are you located in the US?
Thanks for your response. Yes, I'm in the U.S. Are you saying that the wheel is capable of wifi by itself? There doesn't seem to be anyway to pair it to a wifi system as it is right now. This could always be done in the future with an update to the BeoSetup app -- if, in fact, the wheel has the tech for wifi built into it. B&O has been known to hold back a few surprises for us, such as the 3rd party IR control via Beo5, the wifi feature of the Beo6, and the "SUNRISE" feature of the BeoTime.
hi mjmedio!
double...
I didn't test the light commands;
only the IR audio;
if you have an MLGW or a BLGW you could select the monitor feature and see what
light commands are received?
I gave the remote to my parents to use with besound 4 and bv4-65 set up i installed for them;
i don't have access to it anymore
I'm currently using an Lintronic equivelent to control coco / klikaanklikuit devices with my beo4. My main lighting uses regular wall switches but as i read correctly, i can built-in wireless receivers and use an essence remote to control the lighting? This would make my lighting easy to use with a beo4 and a wall switch.
Essence Remote > Lintronic box > RF455 > Lighting Receiver?
This would be perfect. I'll program the next/previous buttons as scene switch!
@all:
- Beosound Essence remote: Bluetooth & Ir, NO WIFI- Philips Hue Tap: Zigbee, NO WIFI!
The entire HUE system communication is based on Zigbee! Wifi is only installed inside the bridge to use external control devices like Smartphones, Tablets etc.@Beojeff: Would you like to share in another thread for all of us how you programmed macros into the Beo 5 / 6 and how you control the HUE system via MLGW? I guess, beside me, there are a few people more that are interested in how to achieve that. :)
@all
the beosound essence used the enclosed codes:
merry christmas!