Learning TV Remote using a Basic stamp

Basic Jim

Hi,

Although I'm new to the Basic Stamp (Just got one last week). I am amazed at its power and versatility as well as all the projects readily available. One project that I would like to try building would be to make a true 'LEARNING' TV remote control where you would aim you present TV remote at it and it would record the IR stream feed to it. You could then replace that dog-chewed remote with your snazzy Basic Stamp remote! To my surprise, I cannot find any projects that have done this. Seems to me a project like that would already have been done if it were possible. Is there a technical reason that a Bs2 couldn't do it? If it has been done, could someone point me in the right direction?


Thanks in adanvce,
Jim

K de Jong

Hi Jim,

You could start with an IR-Buddy (sold by Parallax) to test your idea on the widely used Philips RC5 code. When you have that working you can try to go to more exotic IR-codes.

The IR-buddy is easy to use and works reliable.

Regards and succes,

Klaus

Basic Jim

Thank you Klaus. I will order one this evening and get going on this project. Do you know if the philips RC5 code is similar to a Zenith TV code? I have a lot to learn in this area but it should be fun!

Best,
Jim

The Dead Bug

Jim,

I don't want to quash your enthusiasm for your newly discovered BASIC Stamp, because it is well founded, but aren't there already remotes on the market that do exactly what you want to do? You wouldn't be the first on this forum to want to reinvent the wheel because he (she) can do it with the Stamp, so more power to you. But if you want the outcome more than the process, I think it has already been done cheaper than you'll be able to do it with the Stamp when you factor in time and parts.

Here's one for $50.
www.x10.com/products/x10_ur74a.htm

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Name: Bruce Clemens

Work:· Clemensb@otc.edu
Good Stuff on my Blog: http://theDeadBug.journalspace.com

agentile

Basic Jim,

· This sounds like an interesting application.· I know of a handicapped student who is trying to use a TV remote to create a remote-controlled lawnmower.· I haven't had the time to figure out the IR coding of the remote control.· But I sure would appreciate it if you would please post a summary of your results.· Also, please include the cost of the·decoder.



thanks,

agentile

Basic Jim

Hi Bruce,

Your right, I can do it faster by simply buying one. I've been there and done that. The kind of remote that I need would be the true learning remote. The kind that you point your old remote to and feed it the pulse. From what I have seen they tend to go for $80.00 and up! I've already spent up to $35.00 for the universal remotes. They all work fine for most functions but none of them will do all the functions like picture in picture and other specialized function that the original did before 'Evil Dog' got to it. Anyway, I definitely don't want to loose a $100.00 remote to monster dog. I don't know if I can even do it but it would be a useful project that I others might be able to use. If I can get anywhere I'll post my results here. Thank you for the link. I have one of those remotes from X10.

Thanks,
Jim

Basic Jim

Hi Agentile,

I think that if I were going to build a remote controlled lawnmower I would use RF signals instead of IR (infrared). With RF (radio Frequency) you don't have to constantly point a remote at the mower. Also, when the mower turns you will loose communication. If I were to control a mower with RF I would probably consider a low-end radio controlled airplane kit. It comes with a transmitter and some servomotors. That probably doesn't answer your question though. As my project evolves (if it evolves) I'll post my progress here and I'll let you know the cost of the decoder I end up with.

Thanks,
Jim

K de Jong

Hi The Dead Bug and Jim,

I'm reinventing wheels all the time and they allways turn out to be more expensive than what I can buy, most problems have been solved before, you know. But it's big fun and it's big learning to do these things myself, that's why I keep doing it )))

I started programming on a ZX81 in basic (actually on an IBM 370 in ALGOL and then moved in a couple of steps to PC programming in C/C++. Then back to PBasic and the Stamp an now I'm mainly working in C on the PIC platform. We have some verry usefull devices in our home develloped in the past few years, but DON'T ask for the cost of them. That is really $$$ if you ad up everything ))))))))))))).

But it's big FUN !!!

Regards and succes,

Klaus

RickB

Jim:
here is a link to info on protocols and theory of ir remotes.
www.xs4all.nl/~sbp/knowledge/ir/ir.htm

Rick

PLJack

Rick, Thank you very much for that link.

Jack

Basic Jim

Hi Rick,

That link will be a big help on my project!
Thanks,
Jim

Basic Jim

Hello All,

RE: Building Learning TV Remote Baby step #1

1. Disassembled an old broken TV remote and removed IR LED
a. Installed onto breadboard and wired it like a standard LED
b. Verified it’s still alive and well by looking at it while lit through my digital camera. (Through the camera you can actually see if its on or off) Found that out from the link that Rick posted.

2. Scrounged up an IR receiver from a broken VCR we had in the attic.
a. It took a little guesswork but I got it to work!

3. I downloaded an oscilloscope program that works from the mike input of your sound card from this link http://www.electronics-lab.com/downloads/pc/002/index.html
a. I built a probe to verify that it worked by removing the microphone from an old mike and grounding the black wire and hooking the red wire to the output of the IR receiver.
b. I took a working remote and aimed it at the receiver and pushed a button. I can clearly see the pulses.

4. I then hooked it up to the basic stamp and wrote a little program that scanned the input of one of the lines. When I run it in a loop I can see ones and '0's flying by when the remote is sending data to it.

Next Step:

Now I need to figure out how to capture that pulse in a variable and store that in the EPROM.
I never used it before but I think serin might be the answer. Are there any maven’s out there that might have some advice? I would prefer to avoid building a lot of supporting hardware if I can. Seems to me capturing the pulse could be done with a software routine.

Any pointers are greatly appreciated,
Jim

allanlane5

If the pulses are slow enough, you can use a loop to capture them.

HighLen VAR WORD
LowLen VAR WORD
HighHold VAR WORD
LowHold VAR WORD
IR_Decoder VAR IN0 ' Pin zero

INPUT 0

MAIN:
IF IR_Decoder = 0 THEN
GOSUB GetBits
HighHold = HighLen
LowHold = LowLen
END IF
GOTO MAIN



GetBits: ' You'll have to experiment to find how long each 'while' loop increment takes.
HighLen = 0
LowLen = 0
WHILE IR_Decoder = 0
LowLen = LowLen + 1
WEND
WHILE IR_Decoder = 1
HighLen = HighLen + 1
WEND
RETURN

Basic Jim

Thanks allanlane5,

I can't wait to try it out! You must be claravoyant. How did you know I was using pin '0' as an input?

allanlane5

Pure luck. It just helps to have a definition early in your program like "IR_Decoder VAR IN0" or IN1, or whatever. That way, you can re-map what pins you use in one place.

glaso

Here is a Parallax manual about infrared signals and how to decode a Sony Remote Control signal

http://www.parallax.com/dl/docs/prod/sic/IRRemoteforBoebot.pdf

Hey Basic Jim, can you talk more about the sound card based oscilloscope?? how you made the probes? maximum voltage that the sound card support, etc??

Basic Jim

Thanks for the link glaso.

I only used the O'scope to see the wave pulse. I wouldn't recomend using it for any high current or high voltage apps. It looks to me like it is ment to be used for noise waveforms. All I did to build the probe was to pulg in an old mic from a headset that I had and after I verified my voice was registering on the scope I unpluged it and chopped the mic part off. I connected the black wire to my test circuit ground and used alligator clips to connect to the reciever output through a 10 k resister. I would recomend a high ohmage resistor and reduce the resistor until you get the amplitude you want. I realize this isn't a great setup but it did give me what I was looking for. The only thing I wish the scope could do is measure DC voltages. but, the price is good! Total cost 1 crappy mike that would have been scraped anyway.

Thanks,
Jim

steve_b

I would assume (uhoh..bad word) that the LINE-IN port on a sound card would start clipping over 1Vp-p (line level audio signal).

As far as the mic input....I think it clips at a less voltage....

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Steve
http://ca.geocities.com/steve.brady@rogers.com/index.html
"Inside each and every one of us is our one, true authentic swing. Something we was born with. Something that's ours and ours alone. Something that can't be learned... something that's got to be remembered."

Chris Savage

Steve_b,

·· You are correct, as I was saying in the other thread (There are 2?) that line level audio signals are usually 1V P-P, although some car audio systems go up to 2V.



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Chris Savage

Parallax Tech Support
csavage@parallax.com

L.E.D.

I know its been a while ,but are there any updates on this project? I'm researching to see if anybody has been able to make their basic stamp learn any remotes IF. I have remote that can control my Kodak Zx5 via its IF sensor and I want to be able to use the stamp to learn the IF and take pictures in timed intervals so I can make time lapse videos.

Thanks!

erco

A Stamp is not well suited for this task of learning directly, it's too slow to store the pattern readily. A better bet is to buy a learning remote. I have this $6 unit and it works flawlessly: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-Learning-Remote-Control-TV-VCD-DVD-VCR-/160429354555?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item255a55ae3b

$6 makes more sense than using a $50 stamp! But if you're really determined to use a stamp, you could use an oscilloscope and a 38 kHz IR receiver module and examine the various patterns. You could manually code the output for as many keys as the Stamp memory will allow.

Have a look at the Parallax apps for IR to learn about the Sony SIRC protocol. Here's an older one : http://www.jameco.com/Jameco/Products/ProdDS/282933APP.pdf

L.E.D.

Thanks for replying. I understand there are remotes that can learn IR, I'll take a look at your suggested PDF(I've so far only been referencing the boe bot IR PDF) and I don't have an oscilloscope (I'm gonna try out that O'scope program that uses the mike input). The problem with using the remote they aren't able to set predetermined time intervals to automatically to tell my camera to take a picture. My Kodak camera doesn't use the Sony standard (from what I could find Kodak uses 239,246,285). I however was able to use my learning remote to take pictures using the 239 code. I could cut apart the remote and use its internals and build a circuit to control the button, but that would look like an abomination and makes owning a Basic Stamp less fun.

erco

Here are a couple older threads with some of my test results using IR with a BS2:

http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?102444-Infrared-Remote-controll-Help&highlight=build+IR+remote+control

http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?107497-Ir-remote&p=759751