Broadlink RM4 Mini vs RM4 Pro: control your old AC, TV and fan

Your old air conditioner, TV and ceiling fan don’t need replacing just because their remotes keep disappearing. An RM4 gives Home Assistant a way to press those remote buttons for you. The Mini sends infrared; the Pro adds radio-frequency control for compatible remotes.

Buy the BroadLink RM4 Mini for IR appliances. Choose the RM4 Pro when you also have a compatible RF fan or other RF-controlled device. Start by learning a few useful commands, then turn them into buttons and automations. Your old TV can finally join bedtime without joining another cloud service for every command.

Hardware specifications come from BroadLink’s datasheets; setup and automation steps come from Home Assistant documentation.

Quick picks

• Best IR-only: RM4 Mini. Pick it for an infrared-controlled TV, window AC, audio system or fan. It is the straightforward choice when your original remote needs to point at the appliance.
• Best IR + RF: RM4 Pro. Pick it when a compatible RF remote is part of the job. Match its frequency and fixed-code protocol before choosing the hardware; “RF” alone doesn’t identify a compatible fan.

For more ways to give existing appliances a smart upgrade, visit the Home Assistant hub. If your appliance has a physical button instead of a learnable remote, the SwitchBot Bot guide is the more useful starting point.

Mini vs Pro: the useful differences

Feature	RM4 Mini	RM4 Pro
Infrared control	Yes, 38 kHz	Yes, 38 kHz
RF control	No	Yes; match the frequency and hardware variant
Home Assistant route	Broadlink integration, local commands	Broadlink integration, local commands
Network	2.4 GHz Wi-Fi	2.4 GHz Wi-Fi
Power specification	5 V, 1 A	5 V DC, at least 1 A
Power adapter in maker’s standard packaging	Excluded	Excluded
Best fit	IR TV, AC and audio commands	The same IR jobs plus compatible RF remotes

The Mini datasheet and Pro datasheet are BroadLink documents hosted by its regional distributor. The Pro paper lists 433/315 MHz and notes that 315 MHz is unavailable on EU and AU versions. Match the exact variant to the label or manual for your fan remote rather than buying from the frequency number alone.

The Pro’s extra radio is useful only when the appliance speaks its language. A rolling-code or different-frequency remote needs a different control route. For this guide’s fan recipe, start with a compatible fixed-code remote and prove that its low-speed and off commands learn correctly.

What local control means here

Home Assistant classifies the Broadlink integration as Local Polling. HA learns and sends commands through the RM4 on your network. The maker’s app is still required to connect a new RM4 to the network; distinguish that first setup from everyday HA control.

The remote entity represents the blaster, not a live report from your TV or fan. A successful send means a command was transmitted. It doesn’t tell you whether an appliance received it, whether someone used its original remote, or whether the fan is now spinning.

That’s why separate On, Off and speed/preset commands are so useful. A power toggle can turn a device either way. Use tested, specific commands for unattended automations; keep toggle-only controls as deliberate dashboard buttons or reminders.

Set up the RM4 in Home Assistant

1. Power the RM4 with a suitable supply and use the BroadLink app to join your 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network.
2. In HA, open Settings → Devices & services. Complete the discovered Broadlink setup, or add the Broadlink integration manually.
3. Find the new remote entity. Give it a useful name so you can select the correct transmitter when learning and sending commands.
4. If HA reports the device is locked, open that device’s settings in the BroadLink app and disable its lock. Back in Settings → Devices & services, select Broadlink → Reload.
5. Put the RM4 where it can reach the appliance’s receiver. For IR, test from its intended position rather than teaching codes beside the TV and then hiding it behind a cabinet.

Have the original remotes nearby. Your first goal is one reliable button, not a dashboard that looks like an airport control room.

Learn an IR command, then send it

Open Settings → Tools → Actions and choose Learn remote command (remote.learn_command). The current learning-action guide documents the fields and Perform action button.

1. Target the RM4’s remote entity.
2. Set Device to a short name such as television. Here, Device is the name under which Broadlink stores this appliance’s commands; it isn’t the RM4’s hardware identifier.
3. Set Command to a clear name such as off. Keep Command type as ir.
4. Select Perform action. When the RM4 LED blinks, point the original remote at it and press the button you want to capture. Follow the notification prompts.
5. Switch to Send remote command (remote.send_command), target the same remote entity and enter the same Device and Command. Select Perform action and watch the appliance.

Use the sending-action guide when adding that action to a script or automation. A tidy set might be television/off, aircon/cool_24, aircon/off, ceiling_fan/low and ceiling_fan/off. Those are example names you create, not built-in codes.

Test each command from the states that matter. For an off command, try it with the appliance on, then again with it already off. If the second send turns it on, you’ve learned a toggle; rename it and use a deliberate button instead of scheduling it as Off.

Learn RF on the Pro

Use the same learning action and naming scheme, but choose Command type: rf. RF learning has two stages:

1. On the first LED blink, press and hold the original remote’s button while the Pro sweeps the frequency.
2. Wait for the next blink, then press the button a second time to capture its code.

Keep HA’s Notifications open for the prompts. When sending the learned command, use the same Device and Command names; you don’t need to specify command_type again because the learned code stores that information.

Start with one fan-speed button and verify it repeatedly before learning the whole remote. Keep speed, light and power commands separate so a “fan low” button doesn’t unexpectedly change the light too.

Recipe 1: cool the hot room

Pair the RM4 with a sensor from our room-by-room temperature guide. Teach an AC command that selects a known cooling setting, such as Cool at 24°C, and name it cool_24. Learn and test a separate off command too.

Here is an example, not a required comfort temperature:

1. Open Settings → Automations & scenes → Create automation → Create new automation.
2. Under When, choose the room’s temperature entity and Temperature crossed threshold. Set Above: 27, Unit: °C, and For at least: 5 minutes.
3. Under Then do, select Send remote command, target the RM4 and set Device: aircon, Command: cool_24.
4. Select Save. Create a second automation crossing Below: 25°C for 5 minutes, sending the tested aircon/off command.

The temperature-trigger documentation explains these current UI names. Leave the AC’s own thermostat and compressor-protection behavior in charge; follow its maker’s restart guidance rather than treating HA’s example delay as an equipment specification.

If the room is already hot when you enable the automation, use the cooling button once: a crossing trigger waits for a new crossing. Test delivery with Run actions, then test the trigger with a controlled temperature crossing. Changing a threshold and saving isn’t the same test.

If your AC only offers a power toggle, make the hot-room automation a phone nudge with a deliberate remote button instead. That keeps an uncertain power state from turning cooling off when you meant to turn it on.

Recipe 2: TV off at bedtime

Create an automation with a Time trigger at your chosen bedtime. Under Then do, use Send remote command with the RM4 target, Device: television, Command: off, then Save.

Use the discrete Off command you tested earlier. A scheduled power toggle is a coin toss when someone has already switched the TV off. If that is the only command your TV offers, use a bedtime reminder and a manual dashboard button instead.

Run the action once with the TV on and once with it off. You’re checking the outcome, not just whether HA shows a successful action trace.

Recipe 3: put the RF ceiling fan on the dashboard

On a compatible RF fan, learn separate low and off commands through the Pro. In Settings → Automations & scenes, create a script whose action is Send remote command → ceiling_fan/low. Save it, and make a second script for ceiling_fan/off.

Use dashboard actions to add the scripts to your dashboard as clearly labeled Fan low and Fan off controls. You now have an easy manual action to call from a scene or a temperature automation after testing the actual fan’s behavior.

Keep the labels as commands. Don’t display an invented “fan running” state just because a script ran. If the fan has one cycling speed button instead of separate speeds, give that button its real name and keep it deliberate.

Keep the commands you learned

Make a Home Assistant backup after teaching the remotes. Broadlink stores learned codes in HA’s storage; its integration documentation warns against editing those storage files by hand. Use the learning actions to add or replace commands.

Keep the original remotes for setup and troubleshooting, and test again after moving the transmitter. Most of the convenience comes from a handful of well-named commands that behave exactly as their buttons say.

The verdict

Choose RM4 Mini for IR appliances; buy RM4 Pro when a compatible RF remote joins the job. Learn specific cooling, off and fan-speed commands, test them, then build the three small automations. Your old appliances get useful local controls—and you get fewer reasons to search the sofa for a remote.