IR Remotes...

[Crossbreed]

My latest technology ⧭...!

When we set up with our current internet provider, we were obligated to try their cable services for thirty days, too.
We only decided to keep the internet and sent the cable box back. Recently, when I was cleaning out a closet, I found another box with their accessories that included various cables and two highly programmable, universal remotes, UEI* C4000s. I called to make arrangements to return them, too, but they said I could keep them!

​

They had

1. support for four devices (the cable button was dedicated,** but that still left three for my use),
2. a built-in programming language (among other things, I could reassign keys to my liking).

After wracking my brain for a work-around, I found out that the AUX button would accept a second TV code...!

I purchased an inexpensive IR detector and further learned about the nature of IR signals. And I could compare the signals to the original remotes that I had on hand.

*Universal Electronics Inc.
**I later found a way to store keys from other devices in that space (like a shift key)...!

 

[Angular Chap]

Nice! It's been soo long since I did any messing around with IR!

My very first step with IR was back in the '90s, I had a little personal organiser called a Data Zapper.

It could communicate with other Data Zappers via IR, but I found that if I pointed the IR transmitter at the stereo in my uncle's house during a party and tried to send data to another Data Zapper, it was the exact same IR code to turn the stereo off...

Then at high school my friend had a watch that could learn IR codes and mess with TVs. The teachers at that school were sooo lucky we were well behaved...

There was also a device called the "TV-b-gone" that would just spam IR codes, hoping to get the right code to turn off TVs. The local pub was sooo lucky that I was an upstanding citizen during football matches...

The Sony PSP could also be used as a universal remote, then there was Arduino IR tinkering to be done...

Hope you get as much fun out of your IR tinkering as I did!

 

[Jumpinbare]

I have played with the arduino side of things. There is a dedicated IR remote library for Arduino. It contains codes for a lot of common devices. One of the routines in the library is to "sniff" IR codes and display and/or store the code. I built a universal remote that could read any remote and store its codes. It's nice to walk around the house with one box and control anything IR.

 

[Crossbreed]

...it was the exact same IR code to turn the stereo off...

There was also a device called the "TV-b-gone" that would just spam IR codes, hoping to get the right code to turn off TVs.

That would be difficult today.
One thing I learned from my IR detector is that each transmission [key press] contains

1. format information,
2. a vendor/series stamp and, then,
3. the command byte.

If the first two are not correct, a receiver would never process #3.
(The detector gave me further insight into the nature of programmable remotes...)

Spoiler

When you program a number into a key, that number is not converted to an output via some algorithm.
It is an index to a packet within a library [the device code] that contains the above-listed sequence.
The same key code means different things in different libraries.

 

[Jumpinbare]

Older devices were less selective. Hence the stories from years ago. Still, within the last 2-3 years, I found a device on Aliexpress that claimed it was a universal "zapper". They were so cheap I bought one. They had the model and format info for the off command for every common TV out at the time. You had to repeatedly hit the button till the TV switched off, then you could store it. Of course, the process had to be repeated for each different model. If you kept track of how many button pushes it took for a given model, you could preset the fob for that model.

 

[Crossbreed]

Older devices were less selective. Hence the stories from years ago.

I had the same experiences.

Still, within the last 2-3 years, I found a device on Aliexpress that claimed it was a universal "zapper". They were so cheap I bought one. They had the model and format info for the off command for every common TV out at the time. You had to repeatedly hit the button till the TV switched off, then you could store it. Of course, the process had to be repeated for each different model. If you kept track of how many button pushes it took for a given model, you could preset the fob for that model.

That is the reverse process of programming a remote (when you do not know the correct code for direct entry).
I don't have the patience to go through all of those key presses only to find that mine was not on the list...

 

[Jumpinbare]

Yeah, it's a pain. Once I tried that device on a cuppla TVs, I tossed it aside as impractical

 

[Crossbreed]

Yeah, it's a pain. Once I tried that device on a cuppla TVs, I tossed it aside as impractical

When I was going through my older universals, I just downloaded their code lists if I had lost them. But now, I throw out any that do not include DVD player support.

 

[Slime_Punk]

IIRC I have an IR transmitter & receiver for microcontrollers but I thought they were only there to talk to one another -- if they're typically more flexible than that, then I need to mess with those for sure. Not just because me and my wife both have TVs in the same room that trigger one another, either. But that's a thing.

Also I wonder if there's an inbuilt Flipper Zero function or at least a hat that adds IR functionality. I know they've become a bit nerfed for security reasons (and that's probably a good thing), but I bet the IR functionality is still there if it was a default function. Well, some of it.

 

[Crossbreed]

Not just because me and my wife both have TVs in the same room that trigger one another, either. But that's a thing.

If they are both similar enough models, that will be unavoidable.

 

[Crossbreed]

(I hope that I can make a remote-related recommendation that won't be taken as spam.

I am not involved in their sales in any way.)​

My Magnavox DVD/TV needed a factory remote that is no longer available. Remotes World sold me a programmable remote (on the left; $24 delivered) pre-loaded with all of the keys of the original. (My universals only give me a subset of the original keys.) And it has room for three other device codes.

I asked them if they had an unavailable remote for my Toshiba DVD/VCR. Instead of selling me another remote, they downloaded the codes to this one --for free! (It has a mini-USB port.)

The first code (Magnavox) was not quite right, but they are willing to download the necessary corrections for free, too. The Toshiba codes seem to be correct.

 

[Crossbreed]

They downloaded all of the correct codes (plus a key not found on the original remote!) for my DVD/TV.
Now we are just tweaking the labels of the map.

 

[Slime_Punk]

They downloaded all of the correct codes (plus a key not found on the original remote!) for my DVD/TV.
Now we are just tweaking the labels of the map.

That's incredibly nice of them, and super rare in today's world. I wish more companies operated like this!