Official Logitech Harmony 650/600 remote thread - Page 2

Yeah. You want the business end of the next gen transmitter as close to the business end of the IR LED driver circuit as possible. So one side / orientation may be better than another. It's also possible that every position is just too far away from that circuit to work well. Usually the processor in a remote is centrally located and is therefore close enough to the batteries for the next gen to work. I have no idea where the processor is in a 700.

I wouldn't expect the battery type to make any difference. But I suppose it's possible the higher voltage in alkaline batteries could make the signal a little stronger. You just have to be careful to remember never to attempt to recharge the 700 if you put regular batteries in it.

Do you know if the 650's processor is close to the circuit?

Like I said, I have no idea, but I do expect the 650 and 700 to work exactly the same with the next gen.

Thanks.

Although some have reported at least 2 months battery life on the 650, NiMH batteries last about a month between charges in my 700. I expected the 600 and 650 to be about the same (if you use NiMH in them of course). The 600 may be even better since it has a different screen. I use the 15 sec backlight setting and about 4-6 hrs of moderate use per day. So you'll spend around a buck per month on alkaline batteries. If you get NiMH, they should theoretically last around 1500 cycles, or about 10 years in a harmony, for a savings of about $100 over the life a set. By comparison, my non-backlit one-for-all remotes go about a year on one set of batteries, backlit ones 3-6 months.

However, during that first month, I did a lot of programming updates which may have drained the batteries a lot more than normal use would have. So we'll see how the next few months go.

My new 650 just up and died the other day! New batteries don't help, I pulled the batteries out for a few days, that didn't help either!

Plugging it into a USB port on the computer does nothing at all. No physical or water damage that I can tell. The battery terminals look to be in-tact.

I'm not going to waste another $100 on a remote that only works for 2 months! Any ideas on what could be wrong?

Ahhhh. So I currently have the next generation in my Cox remote. I went and bought the 650 and the ps3 adaptor and now I can't get the rf extenders to work. Do I have to add the rf extenders as a device?

Contact Logitech's Customer Support, they'll try to help you troubleshoot it and will replace it if they can't get it working. I recently had a refurbished 670 that started acting up after 8 months. Short story, they sent me a brand new one at no cost and told me to just dispose of the old one. Good luck.

Water damage?? What have you been doing to that poor, defenseless remote?? LOL J/K

Awesome thanks so much for the tip! Logitech's customer support was great. I think a new remote will be on the way shortly. I had no idea I had a 3 month manufacturer's warranty!

Anyone have luck yet with the next gen rf an the 650?

THIS review says it works with the 700. So it should work with the 650 since they're nearly identical. Have you tried the battery in both places?

Tried both spots. Tried a fresh battery. Something in setup possibly? When I point it directly at the reciever it works (bypassing the next gen).

Hmm... There's nothing to set up. I guess it's not going to work.

Rcajun-Have you tried regular batteries as opposed to rechargeable batteries?

I have been trying to find info on the 650's and the 700's when coupled with the next gen ir to rf extender. I have found little info.

One member on this site told me he couldn't get the 700 to work, gave up and got an older harmony remote that worked with the next gen.

I found this thread (about 6 total posts) (where I thought they said the 700 worked great, but then they said it didn't)http://forums.logitech.com/t5/Harmon.../451870#M48181

At the Next Gen site under the FAQ section I found this Q and A (but I'm not sure what they are telling me, exactly)

"What is the difference between the 433 and the 418 frequency?

There is no difference other than the frequency itself. The reason for the two frequencies is to allow you to be able to have the RF extender on two of the exact same brand devices without having interference. They both work great!! If you wish to control an XM radio then you will need the 418. If you wish to control a Harmony remote then you will need the 433."

Here's their FAQ page linkhttp://www.nextgen.us/Articles.asp?ID=136
Some of the faq's there may help your situation though.

Having said all of that, I ordered the harmony 650 and the 433 next gen extender (but I'm not sure if it is the the next generation extender plus or just the next generation extender?? This is the one I got http://www.amazon.com/Next-Generatio...6682533&sr=8-1). So I will be able to give my first hand experience in a few days.

Looks like the same one I have. Hopefully one of us can get it to work.

So you have the 433? Have you tried both kinds of batteries?

Yes. When you say both kinds of batteries? I have tried regular alkaline but without the transmitter it wouldn't work right?

Ok so here is the troubleshooting so far today. If I point the remote at the dome it flashes, and will change the channel via the eye transmitter. If I dont point it at the dome it does not sense it so RF is not working. Tried the different settings on the dome. No luck.

Yeah, I meant the next gen battery combined with either regular non rechargeable batteries and the next gen battery combined with rechargeable batteries. Sorry I must have got confused and thought you had the rechargeable harmony 700.

Maybe Harmony has designed these so they will not to work with the next gen.

I will let you know in a couple days what I come up with. Good luck.

No problem. Hopefully we can get them to work if not I am going back to get the 900.

I had the harmony 890 and the recharging station was horrible. When the remote actually worked it worked great, but lately it's been horrible. So instead of shelling out a couple hundred more on the same remote, I tried the cheaper approach of the 650 with the rf extenders.

I've noticed that it is very finicky. I have multiple componentsr and required the 3 eye wire. They don't seem to work though. My best option was to just have the disk point to the devices. This was working great for about 30 minutes this morning, then without changing anything it decided to not work anymore.

So they can work together... It just takes some patience and playing around with it...currently I'm still trying to get it to work again.

Any tips or advice appreciated.

I found that out last night also. It was very finicky with the dome. Did you try the a,b,c settings?

Success!!!!! Tranmitter battery
placed facing forwards the bottom of the remote and reciever placed on "b". It's intermitent but it's recieving rf. Like every 3 or 4 th time I press a button it works. Little more troubleshooting to do. Forgive my typing I am on an iPhone.

Nice!!! I have been having the same issue with my 650 and nex gen extender 433 but I haven't done much troubleshooting. I will definitely try your scenario and see if I get the same response. I will also post back to inform on what I found that did and didn't work. Hopefully we can figure a solution to this.

I had better success with the dome pointed at the reciever. I am going to fiddle with the eye tonight.

Just sync'd up the ps3 adaptor. I love this thing!!!!

Had a few minutes last night where I couldn't get it to work. Will wifi interfere. Also can I add icons like the H one?

I've been using the Next Gen RF/IR blasters (2 sets actually) in a Harmony 620 for about 8 months now without problem. I'm not sure about the 650, but the 620 uses 4 AAA's. The RX tx likes to be in one of the bottom slots, and I use NIMH rechargables for the rest. Mine gives a strong enough signal that it is easily received through my floor to the 2nd unit upstairs to control my cable box from my media room. I also use the Logitech PS3 adapter and between the Harmony, Next Gen, and PS3 adapter, I can control everything I have (Lutron IR dimmers, Denon AVR (2 zones of speakers hooked up), VS Pro8100 pj, PS3, Sony DVD, Motorola DVR, and a cd changer. The typical charge lasts right around a month with moderate use.

This may be old news to some, but the 600 seems to finally be widely available in the states. My local Target has several. It's $20 less (MSRP) than the 650 and has a grey-scale display.