Guidelines for IR codes to trigger IR rules?

[myrealemai...@gmail.com]

I've been attempting to pull some IR codes from Remote Central to use to trigger IR rules on my IR blaster. It seems that not all IR codes work quite as expected.

I do see that the IR receiver on the IR blaster picks up the code as indicated by the receive light coming on. Sometimes, it will trigger the rule, sometimes not.

Are there any guidelines for codes to use as a trigger for IR rules on the IR blaster, such as frequency range, etc?

Thanks.

[WeeHau Kang]

Hi there,

I think the first question to you is are u triggering the IR rules from external IR receiver? If yes, then we will probably need to investigate whether there is any signal distortion on the IR signal due to long cable run.

You can carry out a few simple tests to check. The first thing you can do is to use load the IR rules to trigger from the onboard IRBlaster receiver. If it works without any problem, then we can assume it's the cable fault. If the on-board IRBlaster doesn't work either, it has to do with the IRCodes.

Please update us with your test result.

Thanks.

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[Jarrod Bell]

It is best to get the IR codes direct from the IR remote using our IR Learner first.
Converting some code from CCF raw pronto hex found on the internet is not a reliable way to ensure the code matches what your remote is actually sending.

This way the timing is more precise to match what the remote control is sending.

Regards,

Jarrod Bell
CommandFusion
www.commandfusion.com

[myrealemai...@gmail.com]

Thanks for the replies.

Here is what I have so far.

I tried getting a code from Remote Central. I loaded it into the IR Learner software. The software said that the frequency was 57 kHz. I then used the IR Learner's test function to send the code to the IR Blaster. The receive light on the IR Blaster did not light up at all - at least as far as I could tell.

I picked a different code and did the same thing. The frequency this time was 38 kHz, and testing the same way with the IR Learner's test function, the IR Blaster's receive light did light this time and the rule was triggered.

Trying one or two codes from the Remote Central does not make for a large set of test cases, but it seems like the IR Blaster's receiver will not respond to a 57 kHz code.

I then copied the CCF code and loaded it into my Android, and the custom service that I wrote to send IR from the Android. I set a repeat of 10 times, with a delay of 500 ms between transmissions. This seems to work reliably; however, it intermittently works if I send the code only once, although, the receive light on the IR Blaster lights up every time that I send the IR code from the Android. (I expect that you guys are not too happy with my use of the IR transmitter in the Android).

The main reason that I decided to try an external receiver is that even though the receive light on the IR blaster was indicating that it was receiving IR, the rules would not always trigger. I have my IR blaster in a equipment rack that has an "IR Transparent" grill on it, and it does trigger reliably if the door on the rack is open. I've tried repositioning the IR blaster, but on sending the code only once, it would not trigger reliably. Therefore, I thought that adding an external receiver would help the situation. The rack's maker, "Salamander Designs" seems to no longer have any racks with "IR Transparent" grills on them - all the racks they currently have have smoked glass doors - perhaps because they had problems with IR control of equipment behind the grill. Transmitting IR from the IR Blaster, on the other hand, works quite well behind the grill.

At this point, the door on the rack is closed, and I have an external receiver mounted with perhaps 5 meters of wire. Sending the code ten times works reliably, but I am not sure which receiver is picking up the code. I will attempt to isolate which receiver is working in the next few days. It has become less of an issue since sending the code multiple times is, so far, working reliably.

[Jarrod Bell]

The reliability will come down to timing. The code being sent from the device must be received within 10% timings of the code defined in the rule.
If the timing is off by more than that, the rule will not be triggered. There are a variety of factors that can cause problems here, but the end result is that the codes learnt from our USB IR learner will always be more precise in timing what is actually being transmitted. It could be a case that the transmission is not reliably happening at the same timings as was defined in the CCF code.

The receiver in the IR Blaster will not work for 57kHz signals as you discovered.

Regards,

Jarrod Bell
CommandFusion
www.commandfusion.com

[myrealemai...@gmail.com]

Thanks, Jarrod.

I'll use the IR Learner to "learn" the code as sent from the Android device. It sounds like this might result in a better match and thus increase reliability.

[myrealemai...@gmail.com]

Just a quick note: I attempted to use the IR Learner to learn the code from the android device. I dropped the delay between codes to 0 and set it to repeat the code 20 times. I started the learn, then sent the code from the android. The IR Learner picked up the code, but the frequency was way off. I know this is a very non-standard situation, so I am OK with the way things are.

As it stands, I am able to trigger the rule reliably with the android, and I am OK with that. At this point, it is the only case where I need to trigger an IR rule. In setting this up, I specifically wanted to avoid using codes from any of the remotes from my current system. That is why I chose to get a command from remote central.