Mar 032015
 

These days it is pretty easy to setup a Home Theater PC using a cheap computer (raspberry being my preferred choice).

Still, the remote control is many times the weak point.
It is easy to buy or refurbish an infrared remote transmitter, it is less easy/cheap to find an infrared receiver.
Thus, you can find some cheap telco+receiver like these :
amazon
ebay

I then thought it would be fun/interesting to use an arduino for this.

Quickly googling, I found 2 ways to achieve this :
-turn my arduino into a HID device (probably the cleanest way but more complex) thru the use of the v-usb firmware
-have the arduino send (over serial) the expected datas to LIRC (less complex but more prone to errors)

Lets do some mad googling and collect some interesting pointers

-setup LIRC and a FDTI232 adapter : here
-the arduino IRRemote lib as you will need to decode the incoming signals : here
-some arduino code which seems to turn the arduino into a lirc receiver : here
-another possible interesting thread : here
-a similar project with interesting links especially around irman protocol : here
-similar project using IRMAN protocol : here
-related, on attiny85 : here

-v-usb track : here

Août 302013
 

A quick article around my adventures with the Arduino.

This time, lets play with infrared.

More precisely lets catch IR signals and send them back.

The IR sensor can be found here.
The IR emitter can be found here.

You can use 2 arduino or built it all on one arduino (if so, add a object.enableIRIn() after each send or you wont be able to receive after the 1st send).

Here below the wiring and a quick and dirty sketch for sending.

Now go and place with your remotes !

ir_receiver_sender_bb

 

Sketch to send signals with your IR emitter.

/*
* IR LED must be connected to Arduino PWM pin 3.
*/

#include 

IRsend irsend;

void setup()
{
Serial.begin(9600);
}

void send(int code)
{
for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
irsend.sendNEC(code, 32); // code, length
delay(40);
}
}

void loop() {
send(0x11223344);
delay(5000);
}