RM mini 3 or Black Bean

[Dov]

I just bought an Amazon Echo Dot and am pairing it with the RM mini 3 or Black Bean.  The Black Bean is manufactured by Broadlink and is a Smart Home Wifi Remote Control IR Smart Appliances Universal Remote Controller.  Broadlink provides 2 Alexa skills.  I've tried both (Broadlink Remote Control and Broadlink Intelligent Home Center). I am currently using the
Intelligent Home Center and have been able to configure it to  execute many of my voice commands for my TV and Cable Box.  The challenge I am having is that I am only getting the first digit of the channel I am requesting.  For instance, if I ask for HBO (either from the channel by saying "alexa goto HBO" or just by saying "alexa tune to channel 301") Alexa goes to channel 3.  If I ask for channel 711 I get channel 7. 

This is driving me crazy and any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Dov

[jwlv]

On the surface RM mini seems like an easy and inexpensive IR/RF smart control. But having tried 3 different versions, including the black bean, I've found otherwise. It is inconsistent, malfunctions a lot, no backup if you have to reset it (and you have to reset it quite often for various reasons), and all around just a frustrating experience.

My advice is to stay away from it.

[Dov]

Thanks for the reply.  Good advice but already purchased 3 of these and would like to be able to use it.  I'll post if I get it to work.

Dov

[tthoben]

I have been using a RM Pro together with the RM Plugin app for more than a year, no issues as far as reliability is concerned.

The issue could be the limitations of the Broadlink skill which till today I am avoiding as it still looks like a work in progress (i.e. requires workarounds to get some types of devices to work).

Think of how you would change channels your cable box with your remote control, probably you need to press the numerical keys 3,0,1 or 7,1,1 in succession with some delay in between.

You need to map these actions into a macro so that you give 1 voice command to execute a series of IR blasts to your cable box. If the Broadlink skill doesn't support macros then you are out of luck. RM Plugin supports macros and you can set time interval delays between each action in the macro. It's similar to Alexa Routines but that doesn't have support for time interval delays at this moment.

[tthoben]

On the surface RM mini seems like an easy and inexpensive IR/RF smart control. But having tried 3 different versions, including the black bean, I've found otherwise. It is inconsistent, malfunctions a lot, no backup if you have to reset it (and you have to reset it quite often for various reasons), and all around just a frustrating experience.

My advice is to stay away from it.

You used the Broadlink skills to integrate with Alexa? I would call it a beta skill at best...

Have not tried RM mini but I recall there's a function in the Broadlink app to backup/restore the settings to/from the cloud. By the app I mean the e-control app, not the crappy IHC app

[Dov]

Thank you all for taking the time to respond.  I do so appreciate it.  I'm trying to work with IFTT to create multi tasked items.  But that means, unless I only create macros for my favorite channels, I will have a lot of macros.  I will return and post when I have some results.

Thanks again,

Dov

[tthoben]

Thank you all for taking the time to respond.  I do so appreciate it.  I'm trying to work with IFTT to create multi tasked items.  But that means, unless I only create macros for my favorite channels, I will have a lot of macros.  I will return and post when I have some results.

Thanks again,

Dov

Channel surfing with your remote is a great activity which need not be taken over by voice control. I personally would just voice automate to turn on and off my TV setup.

[Dov]

I received an answer to this question from Broadlink:

Dear Customer,
Thanks for your interesting of BroadLink products!
Pls try to use the TV model and learn the nubmer"0" again, and and i checked with the engineer, they feedback to me this is not support to control more 100 nubmer, thanks!