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Custom remote control for my entertainment system — Parallax Forums

Custom remote control for my entertainment system

RagtopRagtop Posts: 406
edited 2012-08-12 11:36 in Robotics
I decided to try my hand at video documenting this next project of mine. Video narration is not my first job (or thousandth) so be kind.

I have been wanting to use Gadget Gangster's MagicIR object to make may own custom remote out of an old fan remote control case.

The objective is to have a single "simple" control for TV,cable, Roku, dvd player, and sound system using a joystick and the parallax keypad.

Comments

  • RagtopRagtop Posts: 406
    edited 2012-01-07 07:56
  • RagtopRagtop Posts: 406
    edited 2012-01-07 14:48
    I am having trouble duplicating the cox cable box signal. I think I need to change the freq in MagicIR

    Freq.Synth("A",outpin, 38_000)

    But googling the 7820 universal remote has provided no information on what freq it uses.

    Went to radio shack and got both 940nm and 850nm IR leds but neither one worked with the cox cable box.

    Another hair puller. Just found this wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_IR

    I guess could try each freq from most popular to least.

    112x 38000 Hz
    40x 40000 Hz
    40x 36000 Hz
    20x 56000 Hz
    13x 39200 Hz
    8x 32000 Hz
    3x 40244 Hz
    3x 37037 Hz
    2x 37916 Hz
    1x 57600 Hz
    1x 56800 Hz
    1x 44000 Hz
    1x 42000 Hz
    1x 38380 Hz
    1x 14000 Hz
  • RagtopRagtop Posts: 406
    edited 2012-01-07 15:31
    The cox cable box works at 56000 HZ!!!!!!!! Interesting that running at that freq doesn't affect the other devices. Still can control TV and sound system.
  • RagtopRagtop Posts: 406
    edited 2012-01-09 14:51
    Going over using the MagicIR program to duplicate IR signals.
  • RagtopRagtop Posts: 406
    edited 2012-01-13 07:29

    Having a bit of a problem adding keypad to remote. Running out of space in the case and tried cutting keypad ribbon cable and solder pins to the traces. Yeah.....plastic melts. So trying to figure out a way to attach pins to the ribbon cable.
  • RagtopRagtop Posts: 406
    edited 2012-01-14 07:45
    These guys at CES went with a similar mechanism for changing channels/volume/menu nav as the joystick I am using.
  • RagtopRagtop Posts: 406
    edited 2012-01-19 10:06
    I butchered my keypad, so I am ordering a different one off Ebay that has the same 16 keys and pin-out but will be easier to solder a connector to it.
  • RagtopRagtop Posts: 406
    edited 2012-02-01 10:13
    I am still waiting on the keypad from China and have decided to go ahead and jump to version 2 (a RF remote) of the remote before even completing version 1.

    [video=youtube_share;F8_8_wyueKI]
  • RagtopRagtop Posts: 406
    edited 2012-02-15 08:15
    New keypad finally arrives!!!

    [video=youtube_share;usZzLGRwziw]
  • RagtopRagtop Posts: 406
    edited 2012-03-22 07:17
    I am going to use Nordic RF modules to create my remote control system. This is the start of playing around with them.
  • RagtopRagtop Posts: 406
    edited 2012-03-23 11:34
    I have created two object's based on Degn's master and slave objects for the Nordics as a simple test to see if I
    can send button pushes from remote control to base station.

    [video=youtube_share;V0WLdaF6d1Q]
  • RS_JimRS_Jim Posts: 1,762
    edited 2012-04-09 07:15
    Ragtop,
    Just a wag (wild assed guess) but your buttons need to be denounced.
    Jim
  • Duane DegnDuane Degn Posts: 10,588
    edited 2012-04-09 08:54
    I love it when I see someone else using code I wrote!

    I feel like my time was even better spent than I had previously thought.

    Using six pins on those Nordic modules can be painful but it tough to beat the $2.50 price.

    In many of my projects, I include a message count byte so the receiver knows if It's received all the messages sent or not. The transmitter usually sends the same message (with the same count number) multiple times. The receiver sends an acknowledgment to each message received (even if it's a duplicate) with the count number so the tx knows which message is being acknowledged. Since the receiver can watch for this message count number, it knows when a received message is a new message or if it's just a repeated message.

    My last name "Degn" is Danish. We mispronounce it differently than you mispronounce it. We pronounce it "Dane". You actually did better with the pronunciation than most (and no need to apologize about he pronunciation). I think in Denmark, it is pronounced "Dine" with a very harsh sounding "i" after the "D". As in "dine out" said with a harsh "i".

    Thanks for taking time to document your projects.

    BTW, to others reading this thread, there's a link to the Nordic modules in post #1 of my index. A link to the driver is in post #2.
  • RagtopRagtop Posts: 406
    edited 2012-06-15 08:13
    A quick update on yet another new direction for this project that never seems to get completed.
    I am planning on switching to an xbox controller case for the remote.
  • RagtopRagtop Posts: 406
    edited 2012-08-12 11:36
    I now have a RF propeller powered remote in the case of an xbox controller.

    [video=youtube_share;wC72W8m6RuM]
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