Hubitat & Broadlink Motor Control for Blinds & Skylights

This article is about connecting the BroadLink^® RF/IR emitter to your Wifi router for controlling blind motors, skylight/window openers, drapery motors, and many other devices, using the Hubitat home automation controller.

One of the most important features is its ability to "learn" RF radio commands, which means it can directly control 315 MHz and 433 MHz digital radio motors. It is also an excellent IR code learner for controlling all your TV and audio systems.

For more background information, please see the previous article for an introduction to the Hubitat hub and the Broadlink emitter.

Understanding Your WiFi Router

This article assumes that you have some understanding of how your router works, and that you can login to the administration of your router to affix the IP address.

We will use the Android app (or IOS) to connect the Broadlink RM Pro emitter to your wifi network. Once the connection has been established, it will use the automatic DHCP system in your router to assign an IP address, which is how your system communicates with the Broadlink unit.

This IP address can change when the router or Broadlink emitter is rebooted, so it is very important to login to the administration of your router and permanently assign the IP address, so that it cannot change. The Broadlink emitter will no longer work if the IP address changes, so this is a very important step.

Please Note: The Android (or IOS) app will only be used to create the wifi connection; all other functions will be carried out by the Hubitat gateway hub. The pictures on these pages show the Broadlink RM Pro model, but we have also tested the newer RM4 Pro model, which behaves in the same way.

Powering Up The Smart Hub

Referring to the picture, the very first step is to power up the Broadlink emitter by plugging the USB cable into the micro-USB port on the hub.

The standard USB connector on the other end of the power cable is plugged into the power adapter (which plugs into an AC wall outlet).

Please take note of the re-set button that is recessed inside a hole, on the same side and just to the left of the micro-USB port.

There are two LED indicators on an adjacent side: a blue one for WiFi, and a yellow one that indicates it is in "learning" mode (The yellow LED also flashes breiefly when a stored IR or RF code is transmitted).

When you apply power the blue LED should start rapidly flashing, about 5 times per second; this indicates that the hub is in "factory reset" mode (NOT connected to your WiFi router), which is where we start from. If you need to perform a factory re-set, please hold the re-set button down for 10 seconds.

Download the App for WiFi Config

Broadlink^® App in Google Play Store

BroadLink^® Hub Software: Direct Android Download Link (APK file)

BroadLink^® Hub Software: Download Link for IOS (iTunes store)

Connecting to Your Router With SmartConfig™

The Broadlink unit uses SmartConfig™ to connect to your WiFi router. Once you have downloaded and installed the software app, the program will detect that you are a first time user. Please select 'Add Device' from the menu, as shown in the picture (the 'device' is the RM Pro emitter).

When you press the "Add Device" menu item, it will take you to a screen where you can enter your WiFi ID/password credentials (the password is case sensitive) and it will connect automatically.

You should get a "successful connection" message, but if you get a time-out connection error, it could be caused by memory corruption in your router. Our Asus bench router was almost brand new and basically state-of-the-art, yet the SmartConfig™ would not work.

We found that router memory can get corrupted, even though it is still working, and this can prevent the router from connecting to the hub.

If you get a connection failure, please reboot your router by logging into your router administration, before you try anything else. Also, it is important to note that these devices only support the standard 2.4 GHz frequency, and not 5 GHz.

Please Note: Once your hub has been paired with your Wi-Fi router, the blue LED light will blink slowly for a brief period, then it will stay OFF, indicating a good connection (there should also be a screen message in the app, indicating success). If you know how to login to your WiFi router, it will show up on the client list as something like "Broadlink_RMPROPLUS-ee-e7-bf".

At this point, you should also assign a permanent IP address, as described previously.

After the Broadlink emitter is successfully connected to your WiFi network (with a permanent IP address), you can close the app as it will not be used past this point; all further adjustments will be made in the Hubitat web interface console.

----------------------------------------------

We sincerely hope you enjoy our advanced technology products; if you have any questions, please contact us at any time!

Articles in this series:

Part 1: Hubitat + Broadlink Motor Control: Introduction

Part 2: Connecting the Broadlink unit to your WiFi router (You are here)

Part 3: Connecting the Hubitat Automation Controller

Part 4: Downloading and Installing the Broadlink drivers and App

Part 5: Learning RF and IR codes & Testing Same

Part 6: Creating a Dashboard & Assigning Motor & TV Commands

Part 7: Implementing Voice Control of Motor & TV Commands