A shout out to @Jimi for Switchbot idea

[Fusia]

I just wanted to thank @Jimi for one of the things he talked about in his great YouTube video recently, detailing all of the technology that he has set up.

I have been having more trouble pressing the power button on my coffee machine - it's way in the back and you really have to press it really hard. I've been getting quite anxious about that, because I really start jonesin' for my morning coffee before my helper gets here in the morning. @Jimi talked about a Switchbot, which can press the switch and can be activated from your phone. I purchased one from Amazon, and a friend help me put it on this morning. It works perfectly!

I can still push the buttons on the front of the machine in order to get my cup of coffee, and could probably even push them with my nose if I had to…

Thanks @Jimi for sharing your knowledge!

 

[Jimi]

Glad it worked!

 

[affected]

that is just so awesome!

 

[Bass]

I am also a big fan of switchbot. I discovered them in late 2019 or so and it improved the quality of my living space.

I have 6 of them! 1 for my electric blanket, 1 for my computer [in case it crashes and I need to reset it], 1 for my garage [in case my caregiver is stuck out there and cant get in ] and 3 for my electric bed!

For many years I always wished there was a way to control my electric bed remote control but it was hard because the bed remote-control uses radiofrequency and not like normal infrared remotes.

But with 3 switchbots I am able to control the head up and down as well as the head vibration [don't need to control the leg for now].
You can see the pictures of how I did it on my reddit post. It looks crude but it works…



I am also a fan of their switchbot hub! It adds two functionality to the switchbot.
- 1st it acts like a Wi-Fi bridge to the switchbots so I can control them through Alexa or Google assistant.
- 2nd it acts as a universal remote control. It enables me to turn on/off my TV and change the channels. It also allows me to control my heater/fan which has an infrared remote.
If I am on my electric bed I control both TV and heater through Alexa and when I am in front of my Windows 10 computer I use Tobii eye gaze to control their Android app.

Anyway you can watch switchbot hub review on YouTube…

I hope my post is helpful to others.

 

[Fusia]

Thanks, @Bass, a great idea for using the bed remote. I'm just starting the process of getting a bed, so makes me feel a little better that I could control it with the switchbots.

Question: how do you accomplish a "Press and hold" function with the switchbot? I.e., if I need to press and hold the Head up button until I get to the position I want to be, how do you do that using the switchbot?

 

[Jimi]

There is a dwell feature for the button press on the switch bot. I can't recall how long you can set it for. On my bipap I had to set it to dwell for a little bit. On my diy recliner smart control using the sonoff smart switches, I set them for 1 second dwell (momentary) per activation. This ensures safe and controlled incremental moves.

 

[Bass]

Hello Fusia and Jimi,

for me it's almost the same as Jimi:
1) I have 2 switchbot named up and down. The one that is named simply "up" I set it up to press and hold the button for 4 seconds and the one that is named "down" press and hold the button for 2 seconds only.

2) After that I create 6 Alexa [or Google home] routines named "up 1" "up 2" "up 3" "down 1" "down 2" "down 3" .


The 2 seconds difference in press and hold time is because if I end up going up too much I can adjust it by saying "Alexa activate down 1 or 2 etc." or vice versa...