Category Archives: Infrared Hardware

The image below is a link. Try to click on it.

TuxCon Kitty TV BGone Mod Irdroid

Posted on by

This year’s (2017) TuxCon open source Linux conference took place in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. On the second day of this gathering ( the Workshop day) we all got a free and open source soldering Kit – the TuxCon Kitty conference badge (Thank you Olimex). The kit included a Atmel Attiny85 microcontroller, the TuxCon kitty pcb a buzzer two leds (the Kitty eye’s) one battery, battery holder and several resistors, capacitors and diodes.

I was on the conference with my son and we had a lot of fun assembling the kits. The kid was really exited to make his own toy and play with the other kids, attending the conference. Weeks after the conference I found the TuxCon kitty badge in my drawer and decide to make something cool with the Kitty badge – To turn it into a TuxCon Kitty TV BGone Mod Irdroid – To make it possible to switch ON/OFF any television by simply replacing several components from the existing design. The software that I have used simply sends a bunch of TV Power (ON/OFF) infrared commands in a loop.

Hardware Mod:

  1. Remove / desolder R1,R2, R3 and R4

  2. Solder 22 Ohm 0805 resistor to R1

  3. Remove Led1 and solder IR LED (TSAL6200)

  4. Desolder D1 and solder a micro switch/button in its place

Software:

The TuxCon Kitty badge is compatible with Arduino and comes pre-programmed with a bootloader and default code. I have programmed a new TuxCon Kitty BGone firmware using a STK500 programmer and desoldering/soldering the MCU (I havent yet found a way to write HEX using the Arduino IDE / the default bootloader in ATTiny85 that shipped with the badge) . I have used a Tiny85 code by Mitch Altman + Limor Fried (Adafruit Industries)

Supported TV Brands:

Acer, Admiral, Aiko, Alleron, Anam National, AOC, Apex, Baur, Bell&Howell, Brillian, Bush, Candle, Citizen, Contec, Cony, Crown, Curtis Mathes, Daiwoo, Dimensia, Electrograph, Electrohome, Emerson, Fisher, Fujitsu, Funai, Gateway, GE, Goldstar, Grundig, Grunpy, Hisense, Hitachi, Infinity, JBL, JC Penney, JVC, LG, Logik, Loewe, LXI, Majestic, Magnavox, Marantz, Maxent, Memorex, Mitsubishi, MGA, Montgomery Ward, Motorola, MTC, NEC, Neckermann, NetTV, Nikko, NTC, Otto Versand, Palladium, Panasonic, Philco, Philips, Pioneer, Portland, Proscan, Proton, Pulsar, Pye, Quasar, Quelle, Radio Shack, Realistic, RCA, Samsung, Sampo, Sansui, Sanyo, Scott, Sears, SEI, Sharp, Signature, Simpson, Sinudyne, Sonolor, Sony, Soundesign, Sylviana, Tatung, Teknika, Thompson, Toshiba, Universum, Viewsonic, Wards, White Westinghouse, Zenith

Downloads:

Source and Firmware

Get a assembled kit:

Grab a assembled and tested TuxCon Kitty TV B Gone Mod (USD 12)

The image below is a link. Try to click on it.

USB Infrared Transceiver workaround for : Failed to set rts/cts in recent Linux Kernels

Posted on by

 

Irdroid USB IR Transceiver v1.0

We have received reports from customers , that is some recent GNU Linux Kernel versions the serial USB ACM Class Driver is causing issues with the Irdroid USB Infrared Transceiver module / Linux kernel versions (above 3.18). Below is a workaround for the affected systems:

In GNU Linux kernel (3.18+), the CDC ACM Class Driver was updated and new features were introduced. These new features are not interoperable with old serial ACM hardware and demand from the USB Manufacturers to introduce additional features in their firmware in order to gain compatibility with the changes in the CDC-ACM driver.

The new driver requires devices to reply whether they support “RTS/CTS” feature. If this call is not implemented in the serial ACM hardware (in the firmware of the serial USB ACM devices), it causes device lock up’s, and fails to enumerate after several seconds of operation. The above affects also the Irdroid USB Infrared Transceiver module and causes inconvenience for the customers.

We have tested various workarounds for the above and came up with a fix, which for now requires the user to recompile the kernel with the USB ACM Driver below:

The Procedure is as follows:

  • Depending on your distribution, you will have to download the Linux kernel source code, unzip, and configure for your system
  • Copy and replace the above files in /drivers/usb/class/….
  • Compile and install your new kernel.

Once you complete the above procedure you will have more stability for your serial ACM devices / hardware.

Update!!!

As of October 2017 All new Irdroid USB Infrared Transceiver modules ship with an updated firmware that provide support for the new USB  ACM Class Driver in Gnu Linux Kernel 3.18 + . For existing customers a firmware update procedure needs to be performed with the firmwarebelow:

 

The image below is a link. Try to click on it.

[ SOLVED ] Irdroid USB Infrared Transceiver and the Raspberry Pi3

Posted on by
Irdroid USB IR Transceiver and the Raspberry Pi3

Irdroid USB IR Transceiver and the Raspberry Pi3

User’s reported a bug in Lircd (v0.9.4 and below) that renders the DP Irtoy and the Irdroid USB Infrared transceiver modules unusable . When the lircd is started and and after sending a number of IR commands (sometimes it crashes after sending just one ir command ) to the Irdroid USB Infrared transceiver, the module gets de-enumerated and the only way to recover is to unplug and plug again the module in the USB port.

Last few months I am trying to fix this issue with no success then a few days ago I have received an email from a previous customer (Thomas Orgis l  Tnak you very much Thomas! ) who managed to find the bug in Lircd. Thomas has used the GDB in order to debug the issue and he found out that all happens in the “setPin” function in irtoy.c file. He contacted me to provide a patch see below:

— lirc-0.9.4d/plugins/irtoy.c.orig    2017-01-23 10:23:38.000000000 +0100
+++ lirc-0.9.4d/plugins/irtoy.c 2017-02-05 16:42:19.203099837 +0100
@@ -171,13 +171,16 @@
static int setPin(unsigned int pin, int state)
{
unsigned int mask = 1 << pin;
–
+#if 0
IOdirections &= ~mask;
if (state)
IOdata |= mask;
else
IOdata &= ~mask;
return setIOData();
+#else
+       return 0;
+#endif
}

I have tried to open a ticket in sourceforge providing the bugfix to the community , but they replied that this should be now fixed in lircd 0.9.4d (which is not the case). So I am providing here the lircd 0.9.4d with the above mentioned patch already applied so that the users can directly download , compile and install lircd and continue using their Irdroid USB Infrared Transceivers. I have tested the above lircd version with the patch on Raspberry Pi3 with raspbian installed , but it should also work on other GNU Linux Systems.

Downloads:

The image below is a link. Try to click on it.

Irdroid USB IR Transceiver compatible with Mac OS X

Posted on by

USB IR Tranceiver compatible with Mac OS X

USB IR Tranceiver compatible with Mac OS X

The Irdroid USB Infrared Transceiver is compatible with Mac OS X and it is working without installing any drivers on the host system. The above is possible due to the fact that the Irdroid USB IR Transceiver enumerates as a serial ACM device. The drivers for these types of devices are built in all Mac OS X versions. When you plug the USB IR Transceiver in a free USB port on your Mac , the device shows up as /dev/cu.usbmodem00000001 .

To use it on your Mac, you will also need the LIRC application software( Linux Infrared Remote control) for Mac OS X , available for Download from our github repository (see the links at the end of this article) . The LIRC software will allow you to use the Transmit and Receive feature of the Irdroid USB IR Transceiver. By using the software you can use your Mac to control almost any appliance that accept Infrared Commands, you can also record / scan existing remote control by using the infrared receive feature built in the Irdroid USB IR Transceiver.

More Info:

Purchase a module:

Downloads:

 

The image below is a link. Try to click on it.

Infrared Task Automation with Irdroid on Mac OS X

Posted on by
Irdroid USB Infrared Transceiver support Mac OS X

Irdroid USB Infrared Transceiver support Mac OS X

Last year I had the chance to play with an old MacBook ( Late 2006 model ), running Mac OS X Mountain Lion and OS X Mavericks as a second OS installed on the hard drive. Originally I purchased the MacBook online from a second-hand store, and I intended to use it for the development of a  iOS proprietary Application for one of our clients. Now that the project is finished I decided to use the MacBook to play with LIRC and the USB Infrared transceiver, allowing the machine to transmit and receive Infrared signals.  In the past we have received questions from Irdroid user’s regarding the possibility of using the Irdroid USB Infrared Transceiver on Mac OS X. The above was not possible until now, because Lirc couldn’t compile on Mac OS X without doing changes to the original LIRC source code.

The Irdroid USB Infrared Transceiver module enumerates in the host system as a serial ACM device. In OS X the serial USB ACM driver is shipped and supported natively, which means that you don’t have to install any additional drivers and the module should enumerate “out-of-the-box” once plugged in a free USB port.

Considering the above and in order to have a fully functional Infrared Transmit and Receive environment in Mac OS X the only remaining thing that we need is a port of LIRC for Mac OS X, because LIRC manages the infrared transactions and provide utilities for transmitting and receiving infrared signals. LIRC is based on Linux and it can be easily ported to Mac OS X because Mac OS X is a POSIX operating system.

Used Tools:

  • Mac OS X Mountain Lion

  • Homebrew / brew v.1.1.7 (for installing GCC and dialog*required by the LIRC setup scripts)

  • GCC 4.9.3 (installed and compiled using Homebreq/brew)

  • Xcode 5.1.1

  • Xcode 5.1.1 command line utilities (installed via Xcode)

To make a port of LIRC one needs to replace the #include <linux/types.h>  (Because we are no longer using Linux) with a custom include file defining the relevant types for Mac OS X.For the above I have created a custom include file that replaces the <linux/types.h> and named it <my_custom_types.h> . Next I replace <linux/types.h> with #include “my_custom_types.h” in all source files that contained <linux/types.h> . I also had to install the “dialog” using brew as the LIRC version I used uses “dialog” for the setup and configuration process.

After that in order to make the configuration for my system I runned the ./configure.sh configuration script which generated a Makefile and configuration for my particular system (Mac OS X Mountain Lion) . After that make && make install compiled successfully and I was surprised to see a fully functional LIRC daemon working  with my old Mac.

I had to create a “rc.local” file in /etc/ so that lircd is called on boot and also LIRC needs the directory /var/run/lirc created on boot ,which is a separate lin in /etc/rc.local file.

The contents of rc.local are as follows:

mkdir /var/run/lirc

lircd –device=/dev/cu.usbmodem00000001 –listen=8765

the above commands create the required directories on boot and also start the lirc daemon. As you can see on Mac OS X the serial ACM devices are enumerated as /dev/cu.usbmodemxxxxxxxx (that is Apple’s way of naming these) . In my case the Irdroid USB Infrared transceiver enumerated as /dev/cu.usbmodem00000001 .

The other thing that you need to do is to get a sample lircd.conf file and copy it into /etc/lirc/lircd.conf  (this is the default location for lircd configuration files)

Depending on your configuration you may have to open port 8765 in Mac OS X firewall settings in order to be able to access the running LIRC daemon from another system on your local network, or using a LIRC client running on your Android Smartphone.

Transmitting Infrared signals:

If you will use LIRC locally only, then you can use the “irsend” utility for transmitting infrared commands.

example:

# irsend SEND_ONCE Samsung_TV Power

Next you can do some useful infrared task automation, with irsend and Cron , scheduling infrared commands etc.

Receiving and decoding Infrared Signals:

There are two utilities which you can use for reading infrared signals with Lirc – irrecord and irw .

The “irw” utility will allow you to “watch” the received pulse – space IR sequencies directly in the console.

The “irrecord” utility will allow you to scan and record your existing remote controls and storing the recorded commands into a lirc configuration file.

You can record your remote by issuing :

# irrecord –device=/dev/cu.usbmodem00000001 mylirc.conf

Used Tools (Software and Hardware):

Downloads:

The image below is a link. Try to click on it.

Recording Air Conditioner remote controls using Irdroid

Posted on by

 

Recording Air conditioner remote controls with Irdroid

Recording Air conditioner remote controls with Irdroid

Recording Air Conditioner (AC) infrared remote controls can be a challenge, when using conventional methods for recording IR remote control codes with LIRC (The Linux Infrared Remote control software package).Recording off-the-shelf TV / STB infrared remote control includes running the irrecord utility that comes with LIRC and recording the physical infrared remote buttons one after another and storing the data into a flat text file. The above procedure is standard for recording home appliance IR remotes, except for Air Conditioner remote controls.

OK, what is different about the AC infrared remote controls ?

Well, the difference is that the AC infrared remote control codes are longer in comparison with any TV, DVD, STB or any other IR controlled equipment. The main difference is the way these infrared remote controls work.

The AC remote control sends all its settings (current state) at once (in one infrared code sequence) . That means when you set for example a temperature, air direction , mode etc these are all send with one IR command which contains all the current settings (current state) with other words all the data in the remote. It means that normally we can’t record remote buttons individually by pressing each button and recording with LIRC, as with every button press we get the remote current state, not a single pressed button.

We can record ON command, OFF command in combination with the current setting/state (mode – heat, current temperature;air direction etc) . We can do that using a patched version of the IR record utility, which is part of the LIRC software package which will allow us to record longer infrared commands.

The LIRC irrecord utility assumes maximum infrared code length of 200 bits, which is a limitation and it is not enought as most of the ACs are using code length > 200bits (some are using code length of ~500 bits) .To change the setting, we need to edit the source file irrecord.c that comes with the version of LIRC , attached to this article.

In particular we have to edit line #109 of irrecord.c

  • #define MAX_SIGNALS 200

this defines the maximum signal length that irrecord shall consider as valid. We shall change that to :

  • #define MAX_SIGNALS 600 (to have some reserve and make sure we cover all ACs with code length over 500 bits)

After changing the file we have to compile LIRC by issuing:

./configure
make
make install

*My configuration for the above procedure was a Laptop running Ubuntu Linux 14.04 LTS
*In Windows the user needs to download WinLIRC, edit the irrecord.c file and recompile the software

After the install process finishes we should be able to use the Irdroid USB IR Transceiver or the Irdroid-Rpi (infrared transceiver for Raspberry Pi) in combination with irrecord to record any AC infrared remote control code in RAW form.

The irrecord syntax:

irrecord -f -d /dev/ttyACMx /etc/lirc/lircd.conf

*depending on your configuration and the number of the serial ACM devices used in your system the ttyACMx can be ttyACM0 or any other number depending on the number of serial ACM devices in enumerated in your system.

the irrecord -f option forces the program to go in a RAW IR record mode (it will not try to decode any of the known IR protocols like RC5, RC6 etc)

Example lircd.conf file with a scanned toshiba Air Conditioner ON command :

begin remote

name Toshiba
flags RAW_CODES
eps 30
aeps 100

gap 1000000

begin raw_codes

name ON
3285 1578 447 405 405 405
426 1173 469 383 426 1173
469 383 426 383 426 383
426 1173 469 1173 469 383
426 383 426 383 426 1173
426 1194 426 405 405 405
405 447 383 447 383 405
405 405 405 405 405 405
405 405 405 405 405 405
405 405 405 405 405 1215
405 405 405 405 405 405
405 405 405 405 405 405
405 405 405 1215 405 405
405 405 405 405 405 405
405 1215 405 405 405 405
405 405 405 405 405 405
405 405 405 1237 405 405
405 1215 405 1215 405 1215
405 1215 405 1215 405 1215
405

end raw_codes

end remote

*The above example represents a ON command, and the current remote state (mode heat,22 degrees celsius, swing mode). You maybe noticed that there are repeating codes like 405, 1215, 1173 , these are the bit representations normally a sequence of zero’s and one’s . these numbers also represent the pusle / space IR signal length in microseconds. The big number in the begining is the so called “lead-in” “informing” the receiver that a infrared command starts.

Initially the program will try to identify the so-called “IR Gap” , it will ask you to press different buttons from the physical remote control. Even if the Gap is not found you can still continue and record button presses from the target remote and store them in a flat lircd.conf file, which is later used by lircd for reproducing the recorded infrared signals.

*The recorded remote control in the above example was for an old Toshiba Air Conditioner. A friend of mine asked me whether he can use one of the Irdroid modules to control (Turn On and Off) the Air Conditioner at his office. In particular to do that using WinLirc in Windows. I have successfully scanned the physical remote control and tested successfully with the target AC. Later on I find out a nice automation utility for windows which has plugins for LIRC and a Scheduler, giving the option to schedule infrared remote control commands. Convenient , isn’t it?

Downloads:

Hardware:

The image below is a link. Try to click on it.

Infrared task automation in Linux using the Irdroid USB Infrared Transceiver

Posted on by

This is a Blog post with example usage of the Irdroid USB Infrared Transceiver in Linux for Infrared Task Automation. In the past we had a number of project that inluded creating scripts and cron jobs for executing sequences of infrared commands one after another , defined in scripts / macro’s .

In particular we had a client who needed to send a IR command to a number of STBs (IPTV distribution company) to wake them up from “sleep mode” every couple of hours, before the STB goes sleep mode.

The above task is achievable using the Irdroid USB Infrared Transceiver in Linux, or using the Irdroid-Rpi in combination with a Raspberry Pi.

In practice the client’s hardware configuration consisted of a transcoding server, running Ubuntu 14.04 and a LIRC Daemon for sending / receiving infrared commands. In this particular project my task was to set this box to work with the Irdroid USB Infrared Transceiver and issue a “Menu” command for the particular STB every 5 hours (which avoids the unit/s entering “sleep mode”) .

Tools used:

Tasks:

  • Compiling and installing LIRC on the Linux transcoding machine
  • Digitizing the Infared Remote Control used to control these STBs
  • Setting a CRON Job to send a infrared command every 5 hours

 

First I had to download a patched version of LIRC, compatible with the Irdroid USB Infrared Transceiver from the Irdroid.com download section (see the links at the end of this article). To use the patched version of LIRC , I had to compile it using the standard commands in linux:

  1. ./configure
  2. make
  3. make install

After installing LIRC, you will need a lircd.conf file which holds the remote control commands either in RAW form (pulse / space sequences) or a decoded HEX values / depending on the protocol these can be with different length.

For the above project the original remote control was not already available in the LIRC database (http://lirc.sf.net/remotes) , therefore I had to scan and record the remote control using the “irrecord” utility. The Irrecord utility comes with the LIRC package and it is used to record, decode and store the infrared signals from any (almost) infrared remote.

The Irdroid USB Infrared Transceiver enumerates as a standard Serial ACM device and if you dont have other serial ACM devices in the system it should enumerate automatically as ttyACM0 available as /dev/ttyACM0 .

To record the target remote I have used the command “irrecord -d /dev/ttyACM0 /etc/lirc/lircd.conf” . Once that command is issued you will be asked (in console mode) to make random button presses, which allows irrecord to analize and try to decode the target remote control protocol, then you will be asked to push and name every single button and at the end to save the configuration file and exit. Once done you should end up with a lircd.conf file located at /etc/lirc/lircd.conf .

To start LIRC issue “sudo lircd –device=/dev/ttyACM0 –listen=8765” this will instruct LIRC to listen on port 8765 on All interfaces .

Then you should be able to issue commands :

“irsend SEND_ONCE Remote_name Button_name”

Finally I had to set a cron job to run every 5 hours and issuing the “Menu” command in order to avoid the STBs going in “sleep mode”

That is done via Cron :

0 */5 * * * irsend SEND_ONCE Remote_NAME Remote_COMMAND

The above will send our command every 5 hours.

Downloads:

 

Dont have a Irdroid USB Infrared Transceiver?

– You can purchase one from HERE

The image below is a link. Try to click on it.

Discover how to turn Raspberry Pi into a Infrared Remote control using the Irdroid-Rpi

Posted on by

This Blog post is a continuation of my previous Blog post for turning raspberry Pi into a Infrared Remote Control using the Irdroid USB Infrared Transceiver. This time we will be using the Irdroid-Rpi Infrared Transceiver HAT for Raspberry Pi. The Irdroid-Rpi Transceiver HAT has three powerful IR leds , that will allow wider remote control angle (you dont need to point it to the target IR controlled appliance – it can be behind it ) and improoved Infrared Remote control Range – more than 15 meters. The module also has a sensitive Infrared Receiver that will allow you to scan and digitize infrared remote controls of your choise.

In this example we will be using a Raspberry Pi model B+ with 512 MB of RAM as a system for running the open source software LIRCd , responsible for sending and receiving infrared commands in Linux.

I am using the following tools ( Hardware ) for our tests:

I also use the following software tools :

  • The latest version of LIRC

  • We will also use Raspbian , installed using NOOBS on a 16 GB sdcard.

  • The Irdroid-Rpi Infrared Transceiver HAT uses the Lirc-rpi and lirc-dev kernel modules, that normally comes with Raspbian

Below are the steps for configuring Irdroid-Rpi with LIRC on Raspbian:

  1. Attach the Irdroid-Rpi Infrared Transceiver HAT to your PI and turn your it on.

  2. After it boots issue “sudo apt-get install lirc lirc-x” and wait until the lirc packages are installed on Raspbian.

  3. cd to /boot and edit the config.txt file using your favourite text editor and uncomment “dtoverlay=lirc-rpi” . This will enable the lirc-rpi gpio kernel driver, and it will allow us to use the default IR Transmit and Receive GPIOs which are GPIO17 and GPIO18 (The Irdroid-Rpi board uses GPIO17 for IR TX and GPIO18 for IR RX , so you don’t need to change the pins. UPDATE!!! For Kernel 3.18+ where device tree is enabled by default  you will need to add “dtoverlay=lirc-rpi,gpio_in_pin=18,gpio_in_pull=high,gpio_out_pin=17” 

     “device_tree=” in order to disable the device tree.

  1. cd into /etc and edit “modules” using your favourite text editor add “lirc_dev” and under it “lirc_rpi” then save the file.

  2. cd into “/etc/lirc” and edit the file “hardware.conf” with your favourite text editor add “–listen”  as follows in “LIRCD_ARGS=”–uinput –listen”  then save the file . That will instruct lirc to listen on the default port (which is tcp port 8765), allowing connections from the local network (We will need that later for our lirc client application).

  3. Download an example lircd configuration file which includes some sample remotes. Issue “cd /etc/lirc” then issue “sudo wget http://irdroid.com/db/t.conf -O lircd.conf ” to download a sample config file with a sample “remote controls in it”

  4. Reboot your Raspberry Pi and make sure lircd is running , if not start it by issuing “sudo /etc/init.d/lirc restart”

Now you can play with the LIRCd Android clients like “Amote”  , and configure your smartphone as a custom user interface for controlling IR appliances using your newly configured Raspberry Pi Infrared Remote control.

As in my previous post I will again use the “Amote” lirc client application for Android in order to control my new Raspberry Pi infrared Transceiver.

The Amote app will allow you to:

  • Configure the network settings to connect to The lircd that runs innside Raspberry Pi

  • Allow you to connect to that lirc daemon and query for the remotes.

  • To assign and make custom buttons and interface for any of the remotes in the Lirc database . Below are some screenshots and videos.

We have a special discount ( 20% Off )offer for Raspberry Pi owners, you can purchase a Irdroid-Rpi Infrared Transceiver HAT with discount using the link below and applying the “raspberry” coupon on checkout .

http://www.irdroid.eu/product/irdroid-rpi-infrared-transceiver-raspberry-pi/

We also provide a ready configured and tested install of the LIRC daemon on a sdcard so that you can directly plug the card to your Raspberry Pi (for model B+) and save you some typing in the terminal. You can purchase a 16 Gigs SDcard with Raspbian and LIRCd configured for Irdroid from the link below:

Click here to grab a configured and tested install of Lircd, configured with the Irdroid-Rpi Infrared  Transceiver HAT  on a sdcard ready for running on your Raspberry Pi model B+

Downloads:

 

The image below is a link. Try to click on it.

Flashing new firmware to Irdroid USB Infrared Transceiver

Posted on by

Flashing NEW Firmware to Irdroid USB IR Transceiver

Flashing NEW Firmware to Irdroid USB IR Transceiver

 

The Irdroid USB Infrared transceiver does not have a bootloader and firmware update is only possible via a ICSP serial programmer. The firmware can be updated using MPLAB and a PIC programmer. In order to program the module you will have to remove the plastic cover. To attach to the module you wil also need a 5×1 male pin header. Attach the pin header to the PIC programmer , then connect to the USB Infrared transceiver board as shown on the pictures below. You need to provide  power to the module with the PIC programmer. That option has to be ticked in the PIC programmer settings in MPLAB. The import the target HEX file and program the module. After a successful programming the Irdroid USB blue led should be lit.

 

Providind power using the PIC programmer

Providind power using the PIC programmer

Tools used:

  • PICKit3 programmer
  • 5×1 male pin header
  • MPLAB 8.92

Downloads:

The image below is a link. Try to click on it.

Rapid Infrared Remote Control App development with Irdroid

Posted on by

In this blog post I will share my experience on how to rapidly develop custom infrared remote controls for Android using the Irdroid Hardware modules, and in particular the Irdroid WiFi to Infrared adapter module and the Irdroid USB Infrared Transceiver module.

You will learn how to:

  • Rapidly develop Infrared remote control Apps for Android
  • Design custom remote control screens / templates.

The winter is coming and i have decided to purchase additional heater unit for our living room.After i made a short investigation on the Internet I found that there are plenty of home heating units, with ability to be controlled  via small infrared remote controls like this one. In my particular case the heating unit is Tesy (Bulgarian brand) MC 2014. The unit comes with a small infrared remote control, that allows the user to set the heater temperature, to turn on/off the unit, to set a on/off timer as well as to set the unit to work @ 1000W or 2000W.

Immediatly after i purchased I have decided to make a simple App for Android, showing the same small remote control interface on the Android Smartphone screen, and to allow the user to control the unit via the APP over WIFI, using the Irdroid WiFi to infrared adapter module.

So far so good , but how to transmit the same codes that the remote transmits to the Tesy MC 2014 unit ?

Well, the Irdroid WiFi to Infrared adapter consist of two modules – the main wifi unit and the USB Infrared Transceiver unit. The Irdroid USB Infrared Transceiver unit can be used to transmit and receive infrared signals. So I used the Irdroid USB Infrared transceiver to scan the remote codes, using Winlirc / LIRC . In my particular case I have used Winlirc and the built in irrecord command line tool to record the infrared remote control codes and to generate a file with that codes.

To be able to scan infrared remote codes under Windows you need to  install the Irdroid USB IR transceiver ACM driver for Windows by downloading it from here https://irdroid.com/downloads/?category=5 , you will also need to download and configure WinLirc (Which is described here : https://irdroid.com/downloads/?did=17)

After I have scanned the Infrared remote control buttons of Tesy MC 2014, I ended up with the following file:

 # Please make this file available to others
 # by sending it to <lirc@bartelmus.de>
 #
 # this config file was automatically generated
 # using lirc-0.9.0(IRdroid USB IR Transceiver) 
 #
 # contributed by
 #
 # brand:                       Tesy MC2014
 # model no. of remote control:
 # devices being controlled by this remote:
 #
 begin remote
 name  Tesy
 bits           16
 flags SPACE_ENC
 eps            30
 aeps          100
 header       8969  4395
 one           599  1607
 zero          599   489
 ptrail        604
 repeat       8981  2156
 pre_data_bits   16
 pre_data       0xFF
 gap          39670
 repeat_gap   95433
 toggle_bit_mask 0x0
 begin codes
 power                    0x50AF
 plus                     0x20DF
 minus                    0xE01F
 timer                    0xF807
 temp                     0x08F7
 end codes
 end remote

The above file is used by LIRC to regenerate the Infrared Signals transmitted by the TESY MC 2014 remote. This file is to be downloaded to the Irdroid WiFi to infrared adapter. The procedure for adding new lirc conf files to the Irdroid / LIRC database include sending an email with the file to info@irdroid.com and adding the file in the Irdroid WIFI database. After that I have added the Tesy lirc conf file to the Irdroid WiFi to infrared adapter by visiting the link https://irdroid.com/db/database/index.php?dir=Tesy%2F and clicking on the file Tesy.conf (make sure that you are connected to the Irdroid WiFI to infrared adapter and the adapter itself is connected via ethernet cable to your home router)

So finally the Tesy.conf file is in the Irdroid WiFi to infrared adapter unit and I can now connect to the adapter using the Amote app for android and control the Tesy MC 2014 from the Amote App.

That is OK but i want to have the same UI design as the original remote, so what to do ?

I have decided to take a picture of the remote, I have used GIMP to edit that picture in order to use it directly as a base for my Tesy remote UI. So now I have the same picture of the Tesy MC 2014 remote , but how to make the buttons on the picure clickable / tapable. I decided to use a second picture loaded the same way as the main ui picture but not visible defining color regions at the places where the buttons are on the original Tesy Remote picture. The user sees the remote control picture and after he tap on the relevant button it is recognized by color from the reference picture and a particular action is assigned for every button.

Once started the application main activity uses the JAVA LIRC client library to connect to the Irdroid WiFi to infrared adapter and to establish a connection with the listening LIRC server Establishing a socket connection the the Irdroid WiFi to infrared adapter is very easy. You need to add the following in your onCreate() method:

client = new LircClient(“192.168.2.1”,8765, true, 3000);

After a connection is estavlished you may start sending commands to the listening LIRC server by issuing:

client.sendIr1Command(“Remote_NAME”,    “Remote_Command”, 1);

For the five buttons that we have on the Tesy MC 2014 we assign the following lirc commands as per the LIRC conf file that we previously made:

client.sendIr1Command(“Tesy”,    “timer”, 1);    // Set unit timer
client.sendIr1Command(“Tesy”,    “temp”, 1);     // Set unit Temperature
client.sendIr1Command(“Tesy”,   “power”, 1);    // Power On / Off
client.sendIr1Command(“Tesy”,    “minus”, 1);    // minus
client.sendIr1Command(“Tesy”,    “plus”, 1);     // plus

Every command has an assigned color from the mask image loaded in parallel with the main UI image, once the user tap in that color region the relevant command is fired up to the
Irdroid WiFi to infrared adapter and the relevant Infared code is transmitted.

So, voila we have a custom remote control, developed in 2 hours and a nice heater for the cold winter nights 🙂

Video

Downloads:

Tesy.conf – LIRC remote control conf file
Tesy App – APK file (Signed)
Tesy App  – Source Code

You dont have a Irdroid WiFi to Infrared adapter?

Purchase one from the links below.

[print_thumbnail_slider]