BroadLink RM4 Pro IR and RF Universal Remote, WiFi Remote Control, Compatible with Alexa

Worked for RF blinds, even with Alexa!
So I bought a cheaper product first – Sonoff RF bridge. I should have read other people’s reviews more closely. The Sonoff is only really suitable for their own devices, it is not trying to be a universal remote.I have 2 sets of battery powered Hillary’s blinds, and I really wanted to automate them and have them work on timers for when we are away (although not much of an issue during a pandemic…) – so I thought I would have a last go with the Broadlink RM Pro+. It was a bit fiddly to setup, but it is now working perfectly to control my Radio Frequency blinds, and I eventually got it working with Alexa as well. I haven’t used it for IR so can’t comment on that. I can now issue commands to Alexa to open and shut the blinds, use the app to do it and have them on timers.It is a bit of a hassle to setup, the timers don’t link to sunrise or sunset (like Phillips Hue will) so I guess I’ll have to keep adjusting them, but other than that, it does exactly what I wanted. Oh, I suppose the range for RF isn’t that great, it works fine in the same room, but only about 50:50 when I put it in the hallway to work blinds in 2 separate rooms.Some tips for people in the UK who want to use to automate RF as of Mar2020:As of Mar2020 use the Intelligent Home Centre for EU (not the Intelligent Home Centre, it does work, but not with Alexa as I found out). Don’t link to Alexa yet!Link the app to the Broadlink RM Pro+, then add a remote under that device. Select the closest type of remote (e.g. I had to choose curtain as there was no remote for blinds) then self learn the buttons by following the instructions. That is a bit hit and miss, but don’t give up, it did eventually work to learn everything I wanted!At this point you can control your blinds from the app and setup timers (just find the timer setting in the app).If you don’t want to use with Alexa, you are done!If you want to use with Alexa then a bit more to do…First I setup ‘scenes’ in the app for everything I would want to do with Alexa, basically for me opening and shutting each blind. The scenes are easy to setup in the app.Only once you have everything done in the IHC for EU app should you link to Alexa. When you are done with everything in the IHC for EU app, link in the IHC for EU skill in the Alexa app (you’ll need your IHC for EU app username and password). Then (it is a bit buggy as this point) it says it can’t find any devices and do you want to discover devices. You say yes and the Alexa app pulls in all the remotes you setup, plus routines from the IHC for EU app (it won’t pull them from the IHC app…). It is a special one time discover. If you add something to the IHC for EU app later a normal Alexa ‘discover devices’ won’t find anything new. At that point you have to disable the skill in Alexa and then enable it again. Aaaarrrggghhhh… Not really a big hassle, but gets a bit annoying.Almost there… Now in the Alexa app you can setup routines like ‘Alexa, open sesame’ (sorry, but the kids love it…) and link to the IHC for EU scene you setup earlier! Done!!!!So, at this point it is working perfectly. As I said before, apart from the fiddly setup (see above…) the only real downside it that it seems you really can only reliably use it on devices in the same room. At £40 for the Pro+ that is going to start adding up if you have lots of rooms.Anyway, to be fair, it does now do exactly what I was hoping for AND works with Alexa, and given how well it worked for this one type of device I assume it would work well for other RF devices (check the frequency is compatible first) and I guess IR devices to.So, if you are a bit of a nerd and don’t mind the fiddly setup (and are pretty patient) I definitely recommend it. ‘Alexa, open sesame’ (look at those Hillary’s blinds go!)

Working app for Alexa UK
This would be prefect if I could get the UK app in my Alexa skills. It has the EU one which never works. Other than that the product is brilliant.

Brilliant Bit Of Kit
This is, without doubt, the best IoT device – in fact, probably one of the best tech devices – I’ve ever purchased.I have spent many, many, many hours of my life attempting to set up and configure various ‘Smart’ devices over the years. This is often an infuriating process that makes me question whether it’s really worth all the effort.My experience with the Broadlink RM4 Pro was the exact opposite.I’ve kitted my home out with electric roller blinds in four different rooms. These can be linked to a (really terrible) app, or you can buy remote controls for the blinds. The blinds are great, the remotes work well, but the app really lets the whole system down. It’s terrible.After doing some research on the internet, I found out that the remotes that I use with the blinds are RF remotes that transmit on a 433.92 mhz frequency.I decided to give the Broadlink RM4 Pro a try, and I was blown away by how easy it was to set up. In less than an hour, I have all four blinds working seamlessly via the Broadlink app, scenes created to control all four blinds at once, automations set up so that I can set the blinds to open at sunrise and close at sunset when I’m away from home, and full Siri Voice Control.I really can’t fault this device. I’m incredibly impressed that it all works so seamlessly. Highly recommended!

Easy to use app, but didn’t work with electric blinds
We purchased this device to add automation to our remote control blinds.Setup was a challenge using a BT Smart Hub 2 and a Pixel 3 phone, but managed to get it to connect in the end after several failed attempts to connect the device.Once connected it was easy to pair with our remote controlled blind using the app.Unfortunately our blinds require a 1 second long press of the remote control in order to perform a complete close command; the Broadlink is unable to do this, meaning the blind just moves a mm or so before stopping.Broadlink support were quick to confirm this, so no fault in the service – although their suggestion to set an action to repeat the command several 100 times to eventually close the blind wasn’t viable.

La parte Ir funciona bien, la app un desastre, el fabricante tiene 3 diferentes apps q funcionan con el producto, la ihc es la mejor pero si abres las otras apps es probable que algunos dispositivos se desconfiguren, yo he intentado personalizar los iconos de la app al principio funciono pero luego desaparecieron lo vuelvo a hacer y desaparecen otra vez, al igual q la foto de fondo, en fin como no uso la app mas que para añadir los dispositivos y luego creo atajos para iphone usando tambien ifttt para que funcione con siri no hecho en falta una mejor app, atencion crear los atajos es un fastidio y bastante laborioso pero funciona, pero solo con siri mediante frases pregrabadas, hay que configurar cada iphone independientemente, si tienes una familia de 5 es una verdadera tortura, los atajos de iphone se pueden compartir pero no los comandos de siri que cada usuario se tiene que configurar las frases que quiera usar, luego lo que es el control por RF a veces funciona, a veces no, me he dado cuenta que es por las interferencias de otros dispositivos pero eso hace que desde fuera de casa no te puedas fiar de haber encendido algo o no.

Edito:Encantadísima con el aparato. He descubierto cómo solucionar la única pega que encontraba, que con el control por voz no fuese capaz de controlar otras funciones que no fuesen encender y apagar y que sí se pueden configurar en la aplicación móvil. Resulta que hay que crear “escenas” que asocien la orden de voz con la función del mando que quieras activar. En mi caso, no podía controlar las velocidades y temporizadores de un ventilador de techo con luz, sólo encender o apagar. La solución es crear una “escena” para cada velocidad y temporizador que se llame “velocidad 1” (o 2 o lo que sea) en la aplicación de Broadlink y asociar a cada nombre el botón deseado. Alexa importa cada escena automáticamente y ya puedes decirle que active la velocidad que sea sin problema. Es entretenido, pero funciona a la perfección. Si pudiera le daría 6 estrellas 😂.Opinión original:Lo he comprado para poder utilizar con Alexa dispositivos antiguos con mando a distancia: dos ventiladores con luz de techo, que van por radiofrecuencia, un amplificador y una tele con mando por infrarrojos. El único mando que ha detectado en su base de datos es el de la tele, los demás he tenido que ir configurándolos botón a botón (pulsas el del mando original y él los copia). Es una maravilla. Desde su aplicación lo puedo controlar todo y funciona siempre. Lo que no funciona tan bien es el asistente de voz, tanto Google como Alexa. Google unas veces hace lo que le digo y otras no, y Alexa sólo puede encender y apagar, me dice que otras funciones no son compatibles, cuando pulsando los iconos desde su app sí funcionan. En cualquier caso, el aparato va genial y clona cualquier mando a distancia de código fijo (los de algunas puertas de garaje no son fijos y no creo que ahí funcione).