Posted: January 08 2004 at 12:27 | IP Logged

Hello...been away for a bit....Christmas display was a big hit...we won Time Warner's holiday lights contest...all controlled by Powerhome :)

Anyway....I'm ready to delve into remote control of infrared devices such as TV, radio etc....I'm not familiar with the equipment needed so Dave/Tony if you could chime in and recommend a starting point that would be great....

Right now, I have a youngster who likes to sleep downstairs but keeps leaving the TV on all night....I'd like Powerhome to turn it off at the same time I do my normal "lights out" check or lack of motion in the room......

Thanks!

Pete

Posted: January 08 2004 at 15:48 | IP Logged

PH supports infrared control via CIR, Multi-CIR, Red Rat 2, CPU-XA/Ocelot, and Slink-e. I'm not sure if others were added in the latest beta.

There are versions you can build, and, versions you can buy. I've built two published designs so far, and, neither of them worked for me. I think Dave had some luck with one that he built.

It seems that the Red Rat 2 would be a good choice. Recently, some new ones came out that are USB, not serial. The new Red Rat 3 is also USB, but, I don't know if the beta supports this yet.

Red Rat: www.redrat.co.uk

CIR: http://www.ziplabel.com/cir/

HTH - Tony

Posted: January 08 2004 at 17:37 | IP Logged

Pete,

Thats awesome with the holiday lights contest !!

I was so busy, I only got a chance to get lights up halfway around the house.  I had plans for this elaborate PowerHome switched Christmas light extravaganza.  Ran out of time though.  Ive got probably 4 dozen boxes of lights that I didnt even open !.

Anyways...Tony listed all of the currently supported IR devices.  However...the next beta will have RedRat3 support.  I completed the final development and tests for the RR3 last night and it works great!!!  Its a USB IR controller that is two-way.  It will learn IR commands as well as respond to them for remote control.  Its also cheaper than the RedRat2.

I was trying to have the next beta ready last weekend, but did not make it.  Im trying to get it out this weekend, but it may slip a little because Im adding activex COM support for PowerHome (basically, it'll be a third method of communicating with PowerHome via another program.  Currently you can use Windows messaging and sockets.  You'll now be able to create a COM object in VB or similar and directly control PowerHome.) 

Another thing that I am trying to add is the ability to send "Pronto" style codes from a CIR device.  Most of the problems associated with the CIR is structured around the capturing or learning of an IR command.  The are hundreds of Pronto IR code databases available on the web.  If I were able to get this working, then it would not be necessary to "learn" the codes and you would only have to worry about playback.  This is a little ways out and may not work at all but is something Im looking into.

Good luck,

Dave.