The Harmony 1100 Owner's Thread... - Page 56

I should have been more clear.

When folks buy the extra base station, it is to place the remote in to it with no power adapter plugged into it. Simply holds the remote so you can keep it stationery while using it, perhaps on a coffee table or night stand.

You do bring up a good point m-heat. My 1100 is for my dedicated HT which is not used everyday. I will usually charge my unit and then take it off the base for 3-5 days at a time to help long term battery.

I've had a couple of 880's for about 5 years now and they go on the base nightly because they see daily use. I haven't had any ill effects.

I'm not sure I understand why keeping the remote on the charger would harm battery life... Can someone explain?

I keep my 1100 on the charger when it is not in use - it does not see daily use, so my thought is to keep it charged so it isn't dead when I need it. My 880 has been on the charger when not in use since 2005 and it still works fine...

Not affiliated with this auction in any way - but if anyone is looking for a spare base station I just found this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Logitech-Har...item53eaf53883
$16 - and has multiple available.

The Harmony line has had some issues with swollen batteries and some believe this is caused by having it continuosly charging on the base station. I've never had this issue with my units including the 880's that I have and like I said they go on the charger nightly.

I know some folks have had issues with the battery going bad and not being able to hold a charge. This has happened to a couple of laptop batteries that I have had to replace. The laptop was constantly plugged even though it was charged, over the long term the battery held less and less of a charge when it was finally unplugged. Just replaced my second one a week ago. Now I charge the laptop and unplug when it's done. We'll see how it holds up over the long term.

This issue has been debated a couple of times and I'm not sure of the effects of constantly charging the Li-on batteries without regular use and what it will do over the long term, but I prefer not to continuosly charge knowing that I won't be using it for a few days at a time. I haven't had a problem with it not being charged enough unless I went a couple of weeks or more without charging.

I know that always having my laptop plugged in killed that battery. Always heard it's best to let batteries completely discharge before recharging, especially with cell phones. So, I only charge my remote when it gets low and have had no problems.

the people at harmony tell me that the 1100 outputs rf and ir at the same time. i need to control:



lutron lights (sensor in room);

sony projector (in room);

curtains (in room);

marantz pre pro (in closet);

oppo 95 dvd player (in closet);

direct tv hr21 hi def dvr sat receiver.



the marantz and oppo have i/r inputs (mini plugs) which i assume are a better connection that an i/r blaster dongle set up (as is going straight into the device). the directtv sat box does not (so consequently will have to do a dongle blaster ir) attached to the front window of the device.



do they produce the rf receiver that has both mini plug and ir blasters (in the same unit) or am i going to have to choose between the two?

You would buy the RF extender which typically comes with 4 IR emitters. Then you get 3.5 to 3.5 cable from your local electronics store or online. The 4 inputs on the extender are simply 3.5mm jacks.

With the RF extender: Can you split the IR emitters up and add more, or is each of the 4 emitters "assigned" to a specific piece of equipment?

I'm considering picking this up and re-arranging my room to put the equipment in a hidden area just so I can put my sub where the equipment currently is

I suggest Ebay for a fair price and be sure that the auction includes the emitters. They are typically the dual emitter variety so you will have eight things you can control.

The four Ports are assignable a-d but I believe you can only assign "a" twice "b" twice and so forth. Or it may be that you can only add 8 devices to be controlled by the extender. I need to tweak something so I'll try to double check.

The extender itself is also an IR Blaster so you have that option as well.

Sorry for the double post in the Harmoy tips thread, but I just found this 1100 specific discussion.

Can someone help with the following:

Just added 2 Lutron Maestro IR dimmers to my room. I have an RF extender as well. Can someone explain to me, "specifically" what I need to do to accomplish the following:

Dims and/or shuts down lighting

What I did first was create two new devices called "rope lights" and "main room lighting" with the model number of the dimmer. Am I on the right track? What do I need to do next?

For instance I want a "Scene 1: Shut off lighting, Dim Rope lights" + Start movie type of activity. What customization do I need to do? Am I screwed because the harmony doesn't support advanced sequences like this? Also when I have my device list pulled up, do I want every device to be controlled by my RF extender, including the lighting?

Lastly, I'm running the latest version of the remote software, but I'm a bit worried about checking/flashing the firmware. It's not going to brick on me is it?

Thanks in advance!

Test that the commands to control these devices work correctly from the device mode.


1. Change the two devices to "I want to leave this device on all the time".
2. Add the two devices to your Watch Movie activity
3. Include the required startup sequence commands to this activity for "power off lighting" and "dim rope lights".

Are the lighting and rope lights turned on manually? If not, the required commands should be added to power on or power off startup or shutdown sequence of activities. This should get you started, and there are other tricks that can be used to help control these devices.


Just do it if the latest version provide some function that you need or fixes a problem that you have.

You won't be able to control the maestro switches individually... But you can have a "saved setting" for each switch - then when you hit that button on the remote both will go to their saved level.
Also if you go into advanced settings on the maestro switches (http://classic.lutron.com/CMS400/Wor....aspx?id=17987) you can choose the level the switches start at when you push "power on" - so with both of those functions you can set up 2 "scenes" ... that is what I am doing with mine anyway...

As far as the lights dimming when you hit play - you would need a macro for that and the 1100 doesn't do them

You can still teach a macro to one button press with a little effort. See this link for some guidance, I and others have been able to accomplish it. Just knew of one person who couldn't get the dim and play with a DirectTV box.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...&postcount=770

I tried this and couldn't get it to work in the past, I'll have to try it again

Ya it's a bit of a process and a pain. If you use the extender, you need to update both the extender and remote when making the slightest change.

I recently needed to redo my lighting and movie commands so I can attest that the learning multi commands into on button press still works.

I have a 1100. My AVR and stuff is in a closet with an IR emitter. The AVR is a Marantz AV7005. The TV is a Sharp Elite. The IR receiver is plugged into the AVR directly.

Sometimes the TV does not turn on. Sometimes the AVR does not turn on. Sometimes the AVR does not switch inputs.

Is there settings to make it work more consistently? My system is more complex than that, and I can run it fine. But .... spouse has problems.

You may need more of a delay until the receiver is ready to respond to an input switch request.

The power up issues may also be a delay that needs adjusting. You should be able to get to the settings thru "more options" in those particular devices.

Also are you using IR from the remote to the Sharp or do you have an emitter ran to it? If it's IR it may be pointing issue by the user??

Here are the setting descriptions from the help section to play around with:

I don't know which speed setting to modify. What do I choose?

Power On Delay. When a device receives a PowerOn command, it takes a certain amount of time to "warm up" the device and resume normal operation. For most devices this happens very quickly, but for some devices, such as televisions and receivers, it can take up to 3000 milliseconds (three seconds).

Inter-key Delay. When a device receives an infrared command the device is considered"busy" while it processes the command. The amount of time required before the device will respond to another command is known as the inter-key delay, and normally ranges from zero to 300 milliseconds. Devices with long inter-key delays take longer to respond to multiple infrared commands (e.g., when changing television channels).

Input Delay. When a device switches inputs (e.g. goes from Video 1 to Video 2) the device is considered "busy" while it processes the command. The amount of time required before the device will respond to another switch input command is known as the input delay, and normally ranges from 500 to 3000 milliseconds. Devices with long input delays take longer to change inputs.

Inter-Device Delay. When an infrared command is sent for a particular device, each device in your system will receive the command, but only one will respond to it. The other devices will ignore the infrared command. Sometimes, when this happens, a device will ignore the infrared signal and then stop accepting infrared commands for a period of time. This period of time is known as the inter-device delay. During this time no infrared signals are generated by the remote. In rare cases this delay can be several seconds.

^^^

The Elite TV is direct with no repeater, but it is at the end of the list.

Perhaps if I reorder them and change the delays as you suggest. My spouse finds the "help" button difficult. So my next step is to tell her to hit the "star" and then number some new buttons. " go 1,2,3" since the buttons (except the tv power) are discrete.

Ya, I would set the tv to power on first. Usually you see some sort of indicator (Led turn on or off) to show it's coming out of standby. Once you see the tv power on, you can put the remote down and not need to worry about the line of site. With proper delays you should be able to resolve the other issues hopefully. No reason you can't add power commands to one of the screens either. I always have a cable power button available to me in case of hiccups with the DVR.

Ok, I have a Harmony 1000 my son dropped and now it wont turn on anymore. Putting in the battery just lights up the activity button for a few seconds and that's it. This caused me to purchase a 1100 which out of the box had a button issue. Logitech replaced the unit and deactivated the original 1100 unit. Now I am out of warranty and of course my wife drops the 1100 and it is exhibiting the same problem as the 1000 where the activity button lights up for a second when the battery is plugged in and that is it. Nothing else comes on.

None of the LCD screens are broken and the units seem intact.

So is there a way I can swap parts with the deactivated 1100 to get my recently dropped 1100 working? Am I really in a position I need to shell out another $350 for a new 1100?

Your sharp elite doesn't have discreet on/off buy default. There is a beta firmware that can address this for you.

Be sure your Marantz is set up for discreet on/off commands.

That said. It sounds like you need to adjust down your input and power on/off delays for the Marantz. As for the TV since it requires line of site make sure the TV on/off and input commands are the first things the remote does.

Have you attempted to connect it to the software? Any different response or connection indicator?

No, not yet. I will try that tonight and report back...

I am on a bit of time crunch and have not had a lot of time to research remotes, but what is the general consensus on reliability of the 1100? I was reading some of the reviews on Amazon and they were far from flattering. I am sure it has been discussed at length in this thread, but I am hoping someone can chime in with the Cliff Notes.

Thanks in advance!

What many people have done with "out of warranty" issues is to talk to the Harmony support people at Logitech. Tell them that your remote is not working and that you need to know where to send it for repair. For others in the past, and in my case, Logitech offered a new remote for 50% off retail. I don't think Logitech or anyone else repairs the Harmony remotes.

Our 1100 has been very reliable, but you need to know how it works to get the most out of it. Also, you need to spend time getting it set up the way you want it to work during the first 90 days when you can get free setup help. I had a timing issue that required three attempts at progressively higher support levels. The people at the third level can customize your remote in ways that aren't available to the average owner.

After 90 days, there may be a fee for help on non-warranty issues.

I did that tonight and although I hear Windows make the chime when I connect or disconnect the remote with the USB cable, the software does not detect the remote. I tried removing and reconnecting the battery and one time it gave me a solid white screen, the other times just a black screen. I did notice when I have the USB cable connected and take the battery out, the 'activity' button lights up and stays lit.

So is it a dead duck?

If so, is there any way I can salvage parts from my Logitech warranty replacement unit and put them into the broken unit to make one functioning unit? I am pretty good with circuit boards, etc. I have built circuits in the past. I just don't want to trash the other unit for no reason.

It's worth a shot. Before you take it apart see if you can activate an activity. I wonder if its just your screen that's out. Try shining a flashlight on to the screen at an angle to see if you see anything. What struck me as odd was that you did get a white screen at one point.

Could be something as simple as a loose connection. Good luck.

Definitely has been reliable for me as well. It takes some tweaking to get things the way you want them, but mine has performed solidly since I got it properly programmed.
I didn't get the benefit of harmony's tech support since I got mine on eBay - but it was not difficult to use by any stretch of the imagination.

I am looking at the 1100 to replace the multiple remotes we have and since all of my devices are in the Logitech database, I'm pretty sure it will work OK. BUT...the one question I have is whether it will let me change the output connection and resolution put out by my Sony BDP-S360 BD player.

My system includes a CRT TV w/S-video and composite inputs (no component or HDMI), so I would need to change the output and resolution from the BD player when my wife wants to watch a DVD or BD on the TV. This now requires diving into the onscreen menu system of the BD player.

I usually have it setup for my projector via HDMI and 1080P output.

Will the 1100 let me do this?

Any help would be appreciated as I don't want to drop this kind of money for something that won't do what I need it to...

Thanks!
NCDaveD