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!

Works incredible without a usb dongle!

My original review has been edited because the company who makes this product got back to me and provided me with some information. There was a critical bug that prevented an update, and because it was required to use the device, it meant the product couldn’t be used and was a useless brick. The company has fixed this issue apparently, and I’ll be updating the firmware today to try it out.The reason I am editing this review now without testing the product (I plan on editing again after testing) is I just wanted to get my original review down off of Amazon. Usually I wouldn’t bother, I’d make the company have a negative review as a reminder not to release bugged updates without testing them, however in an email to the company I had shot my mouth off, said some very inappropriate things, and definitely didn’t deserve a response, but instead I got a pretty well written email from a company rep who actually took the time to respond to me being nasty.I’m not going to make excuses on why at this point in life I’m pretty much done with the establishment. I’m not one of these people who expects everything, however when I buy something and spend what little money I have (believe me I’m very poor and was working 60+ hours a week before Covid, despite a college education) I expect it to work as advertised. This isn’t an excuse for some of the things that I said, I went overboard and was out of line; I apologize to the rep who read that email and will do so in a reply later.I’m going to hold judgment on whether this is a solution or not until after I get everything set up. I’ve had the device for a few days and haven’t been able to use it (due to that bug). I had already started a return and was about to return it today in fact and I already purchased a Logitech Harmony hub for three times as much (no joke it’s been nice not eating for a few days to save the extra money; I even lost a few lbs.)Anyway, will be attempting to set this up with Home Assistant completely offline today. I‘ve read I’m probably going to run into issues because these latest models are designed not to allow people to use them without the Broadlink servers, however I’m going to give it a shot anyway.Several things I will say about Broadlink over harmony:Harmony has a artificiality enforced limit of eight devices per hub, which can be increased to 15 if you buy an additional $200 remote. There’s absolutely no reason for this because when you add a remote to get the extra 7 devices, the hub is storing all that extra information not the remote. It’s basically a marketing scam logitech is doing to get you to spend $300 on an IR blaster ($100) & ($200) remote despite the fact that again, the same hub is storing all the information not the remote so there is no reason the hub alone can’t do at least $15 devices. Broadlink however allows far more devices, in fact I’m not sure there’s even a limit it may be unlimited.The humidity sensor and alexa is a no-go, it won’t report to alexa, apparently that’s an Amazon thing not a broadlink thing. Keep it in mind if you are buying this for the humidity part. That does explain why none of the humidity sensors seem to be reporting correctly to Alex that I tried. I commend the broadlink for at least adding the option to read humidity even if you can’t use it through Alexa; you will be able to use it through other home automation if you know how to set it up correctly. I was unaware that the problem was Alexa and not third-party developers. It’s ironic because Amazon mentions humidity sensors as something compatible the Alexa app, something which was reported differently by Amazon. Based on the representatives email I tend to believe Broadlink; again none of the humidity sensors I’ve used with Alexa have reported correctly.As I said I was out of line with the email that I sent them and they could have just ignored it, there was no reason for them to lie at this point or even respond. If anything they can be faulted for not putting some of this it in the product description, but they are not alone in this regard, In fact more times than not the various product descriptions here don’t include proper technical information.After hearing a little bit more about the company, seeing a reply to an email that should’ve never even gotten a reply, I’ve decided that I’m going to give them another shot. At the very least I’d like to use this in the bedroom where it wouldn’t be worth spending another $80 on a Harmony box. Truthfully I’d like to bring the harmony box back as it’s insane that Logitech is charging $100 (I got it on sale for $80) for a box with eight device limit, but unfortunately this broad link device doesn’t also do you Bluetooth remotes so no Apple TV, fire TV, or anything else that uses Bluetooth. While the Apple TV box has an IR receiver I couldn’t get it working correctly (using other IR blasters) with anything but the volume, and assume that the IR receiver with the fourth generation Apple TV is only used to receive signals from other television remotes to change the volume.I will leave it on this last note, the product seems like it’s well-made. I just got in a keyboard from Amazon, from a different manufacturer, and it was instantly noticeable that it was a total piece of garbage in fact the battery that came with it was 1mm too small so it wouldn’t even power on until I put a piece of cardboard to hold it down under the battery compartment. I did not have that same feeling when I picked up this IR blaster, by Broadlink, it actually felt well-made. better made than the other ($17) IR blaster by a different company, which I got, set up, and it worked, but feels like junk.Hopefully this one works I’m going to work on the project now. Will update this review.Hopefully this one works I’m going to work on the project now. Will update this review.PS: I apologize for the voice typing auto correct errors in the updated review. I’ve updated it a third time as it was unreadable. You would think a close to $1 trillion company would be able to get voice typing correct after being business years for about 25 years, but it appears Apple has a long way to go. My bad; I should have checked before hitting submit.

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.