So you’ve purchased a Logitech Harmony Elite. Now it’s time to put it to the test and move beyond just using it to turn on your television or audio device. Here are some of our favorite ways to use the universal remote controller in your home.

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Please note: Many of these tasks will also work with other Harmony remotes that support the Harmony Hub.

Harmony Elite and Nest

The Nest Learning Thermostat was one of the first smart devices to arrive on the market. With Nest, you can control the temperature in your home from your smartphone or online. When connected to Logitech Harmony, changing the temperature in your home is now as easy as one-touch on your remote controller or Harmony app. You can also use Harmony to detect and change Nest Away Mood.

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Setup

To add Nest to Harmony, find Devices on the home screen of the Harmony app. From there, click Edit Devices at the bottom of the screen. Next, click + DevicesHome Control, and then Nest. Finally, log into your Nest account. Once completed, “Thermostats” are added to the list of devices on your Logitech Harmony.

Great uses

It’s convenient being able to control the temperature in your home with a remote controller. What’s even better is setting pre-defined Nest thermostat temperatures for each of your Harmony Activities. For example, automatically warming up your home when launching watching TV or turning off your A/C when listening to music.

Let's Do This

In this example, we’ll add Nest to your Watch TV Activity. To do so, click Activities from the main screen on your Harmony app. Next, click Edit Activities and then Watch TV.

From this screen, we want to set the temperature in our room to 68 degrees each time we watch television. Conversely, we want to turn the temperature down to 55 degrees when TV time is over.

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Hit Edit Start Sequence and then Edit Home Controls. Next, select the Nest device to use with your activity. From there, change the temperature to the correct setting and hit the X icon at the top-right of the screen. Select the > icon to go back to the Activity Summary display. Repeat these steps for Edit End Sequence.

One of the main reasons to purchase a Nest is to control and maintain home temperatures more efficiently. Adding Harmony takes that to a new level.

The Harmony Elite also works with the Nest Protect smoke and carbon monoxide alarm.

Harmony and Philips Hue

Philips Hue, the wireless lighting system, like Nest, helped define the still-growing smart home industry. With your Harmony Elite, you can both control the lights that are part of your Philips Hue system, plus add them to your list of home activities.

Setup

To add your Philips Hue to Harmony, find Devices from the Harmony app. From there, click Edit Devices at the bottom of the screen. Next, click + DevicesHome Control, and then HueLog into your Philips Hue account, and then follow the final instructions.

You can now adjust lighting using the Harmony Elite remote and Harmony app, including changing colors and scenes. You may also organize your light bulbs into groups such as Living Room and Kitchen. To do so, find Devices from the main screen on your smartphone app, scroll to the bottom and select Edit Devices, then + Group. Once configured, you may tap the group bulb icon to power everything on/off and swipe left/right to control brightness. You may also expand the group to control bulbs individually.

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You can also assign home control buttons to work with the Elite remote controller. From the Harmony app, go into Settings under Remote & Hub. From there, select Harmony Elite > Home Button Controls. There are two light buttons on your Harmony Elite remote controller. Select Button-1 and Button-2 to assign light bulbs.

Note: A short press of a light button turns the bulbs on while a long press switches them off. The two rocker switches next to the buttons control light brightness.

Activities to try

Anyone with the Philips Hue system knows that one of its best features is the ability to change the color of light bulbs to suit your mood or setting. With the Harmony Elite, you can have colors change whenever triggering activities. For example, you may want your bedroom lights to turn blue every time you’re listening to Sonos. Or have your living room lights turn off whenever you’re watching your favorite sports team on ESPN.

There are countless combinations to try between the Logitech Harmony and Philips Hue. The only limitation is your imagination.

Harmony and IFTTT

With the free web-based IFTTT (If This Then That) service, everyday users can create chains of statements, called “recipes,“ which are triggered based on changes to other Web services.

IFTTT-harmony

Built into IFTTT are some Harmony recipes worth considering. For example, using IFTTT, you can set a date and time to start a Harmony Activity, or perhaps alert your Sonos player to turn on each time your favorite sports team plays.

One of the reasons IFTTT is so popular is its simplicity. To develop new recipes, all you need to do is create an If/Then statement via the IFTTT website or app. Once testing the formula, you’re ready to go.

How to Do It

The ideal way to add or create an IFTTT recipe is by using the IF app. Most likely, the recipe you’re looking for has already been added. To find a recipe for Harmony, go into the IF app and select the recipe icon at the top right of the screen. Then next to My Recipes select the button.  On the Suggested Services screen, select the Harmony icon.

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Next, you’ll see a list of Popular Recipes for use with Harmony. Select the one you’d like to use from this list. For example, select Power of my home theater when I leave home. From this screen, you’ll be asked to choose the Activity you’d like turned off when you (and your smartphone) leave home. Once doing so, select Add from the screen. Once you do, the recipe is attached to your account, and you’re good to go.

You can also create new recipes for Harmony using the IF app. We've highlighted this step in another post.

So Much More

We're just scratching the surface on what the Harmony Elite can do. We'll highlight more exciting tasks in the future. Looking for something? Let us know in the comments below.

Image Credits:Hand and remote control by LI CHAOSHU via Shutterstock