Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Building the ESP8266 IR Learner

The project outlined in the previous blogs seemed to work well. It was time to make a PCB and put some finishing touches on the software. The PCB is roughly the same size as the Doit ESP8266 board. To keep the size down, I have almost exclusively used SMD components. Over time, I have been slowly trying to switch over from through hole to SMD.

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Long press on IR Remotes

We have looked at IR signals sent out by IR remote controls in a previous blog. So what happens when you keep the button pressed for a longer time? It depends on the remote control. Each one is slightly different but they fall into a few broad categories. I have access to a handful of remote controls and I used the IR Receive program mentioned before to analyse the repeat patterns. They fell into to two main categories - except for the damn Foxtel remote.

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

ESP8266 IR Transmitter

With the IR Receive out of the way, the next step was to add the IR Send. I have used IR LEDs in the past and they were not very strong. But now that there are IR LEDs for purposes other than remote control, the choices open up. There are several very high power IR LEDs out there rated at 1W and 3W. They are primarily used for illumination for IR cameras. As my circuit is not battery powered, I couldn’t care less about efficiency. So I went for a no name 3W IR LED bought on ebay for AU$1.25. The only thing to look out for is the wavelength – it should be 940nm.

Monday, April 2, 2018

ESP8266 IR Receiver

The project I have in mind has to mimic IR signals from remote control devices for audio/video devices like TV, receiver, set top box, etc. The IR signals have to be sent out in formats specific to each device. In order to send the IR signals, the first step is to receive sample signals and analyse them. This is what this post is about.

I am looking at using a NodeMcu Devkit for the ESP8266 and an IR sensor to capture the IR signal format. The ESP8266 also has a web server running and the UI uses this. The raw IR data is then sent to a browser on request. The analysis is done on the browser and the results displayed.

An ESP8266 Web Server

A web based micro SBC has always been on my wishlist. It wasn’t the internet connectivity that was the attraction – it was the support for a browser based UI. A hardware based user interface is so limited and clunky. Having a software based GUI is always great. In the old days, it would have been a serial port and a windows program front-end talking to it. With a web based micro, I can have a rich, browser based UI. Then it was Ethernet based PIC solutions like the 18F67J60. Enter the ESP8266.