Pandora as infrared universal remote control?

[hedwards]

I think though that if you're going to go to the trouble of seeing up an arduino or similar to do this, then you might as well ditch the IR and go for wifi or RF. Now that I think of it, I did see something a while back that converted a typical controller into one that sent signals via RF to a unit that had a diode that would set direction on top of the sensor on the device.

Seems like overkill, but on the bright side, it would probably be relatively easy to make the software controllable by pretty much any wifi connected device. Not to mention the fact that you wouldn't need to physically hook it up to the unit.

 

[HelenF]

I'm looking to control actual TVs and so on, so ditching the IR isn't an option. A radio-controlled Arduino with an IR emitter would be possible, but the user would still need to point it the right way while controlling it with the other device.

 

[A2000]

I was thinking about using my Pandora as a universal remote control the other day, too. I remembered a commercial product called irtrans: http://www.irtrans.com/en/


While it seems to have linux support it is both bulky and very expensive. On the other side the wlan module with additional external transmitters could be installed out of sight while controlling a variety of equiptment in different locations.


Though I look forward to your efforts to implement a way cheaper and lighter solution. BTW user infinity made a tv out cable for me where he soldiered the wires to the ext connector directly.

 

[HelenF]

Thanks, I hope I reach some useful result.

It seems there were two different EXT connectors: the ones WizardStan distributed (which fit the TinyBoB); and the ones in ED's shop (which I have).

Standard PCBs are 1.6mm or 0.8mm thick. Looking at things that fit neatly between the two rows of pins on my EXT connectors, the best thickness would be 1.2mm. 1.6mm is definitely too thick and 0.8mm is definitely too thin. Edited to add: 1.2mm PCB does exist.

 

[levi]

Hmm, I got mine from ED's shop too, and I got the 1.5mm from measuring the gap from it. But perhaps ED got that one from Wizardstan too, dunno.

 

[HelenF]

Could you try measuring the thickness of what fits in between the rows?

The Wiki mentions the two connectors:
http://pandorawiki.org/Hardware_hacking#Ext_Connector

The Tyco connector would then be this:
http://www.te.com/catalog/pn/en/1717169-2
I don't really understand the drawings, but I think the gap between the rows is 1.2mm on that one too. The main difference is that there are four metal tabs at the sides, rather than two.

 

[ingoreis]

In the German Forum had we this Idea Years ago and its ever interesting.

There are some Informations about GPIO and EXT Connectors.

http://forum.gp2x.de/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=9254&hilit=universalfernbedienung

Maybe someone can translate some important Informations from there

Edit:

Wow see here:

http://boards.openpandora.org/topic/14959-docking-port/#entry292042

The Pandora has an IR port on the EXT connector, all it needs are the IR LED and receiver wired properly to an EXT connector and the right sys files twiddled into serial mode.

 

[levi]

Yeah, that was discussed on the previous page.


I could try seeing what fits inside the rows, but I unfortunately don't have a handy set of calibrated 8mm wide samples

 

[HelenF]

Thanks for the link ingoreis. Google Translate works quite well on German. I don't think there's any new information there about GPIO or EXT connectors. The Digispark is interesting - apparently it's possible to do USB with ATtiny85 which has no dedicated USB hardware.

Levi, I used a collection of assorted small washers, which I calibrated for thickness as I went along, and which were generally not 8mm wide

If you have a piece of standard PCB, you could probably verify whether that fits. Again, you can use the corner, you don't need to cut it. Though the copper has thickness, so if a corner with no copper fits, it still might not fit with the full thickness.

 

[HelenF]

I'm looking into making PCBs. I found someone who does small-scale production with milling, but the problem is the double-sided 1.2mm PCB. Anyone know where I could get hold of some?

 

[levi]

I'm drawing a blank with my usual UK suppliers I'm afraid, but with the number of hardware hackers around here I'd hope someone else can find something.

 

[dimag0g]

I'm trying to make a CIR receiver for the Pandora. I hope to get some answers from StackExchange, but I figured I'd cross-post here.

 

[ingoreis]

When anyone from you can German in this Thread are lot of Informations and Ideas for

changing the Pandora to an Universal Remote Control via Infrared:

http://forum.gp2x.de/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=9254&hilit=universalfernbedienung

My last Idea was to use Lirc over the Audio System to send the Infrared Signals over Audioport.

The 3.5 Headphone Port has engough Power for such a Device,but did not get it to work here :-(

 

[dimag0g]

Thanks, but I'm trying to receive the IR signal, not  send it.

 

[Binky]

why not connect the IR reciever as a microphone?

 

[dimag0g]

I will try that as well, thanks!

 

[HelenF]

I was thinking in the IR receiver situation, the Pandora is probably sitting on a solid surface while you remote control it from a distance, so there's not much downside to using a large-ish USB solution with a hub. Arduino IR detector circuits are very simple to build. Or do you have some portable use case in mind?

 

[comradekingu]

Taco-talking and pausing conversation to change the channel, priceless.

 

[dimag0g]

I was thinking in the IR receiver situation, the Pandora is probably sitting on a solid surface while you remote control it from a distance, so there's not much downside to using a large-ish USB solution with a hub. Arduino IR detector circuits are very simple to build. Or do you have some portable use case in mind?

How about not having to buy Arduino? My IR sensor is completely self-sufficient (powered by EXT port and feeding data to line-in of the same port).

Portability is a feature people tend to underestimate. I imagine myself in an hotel with my pandora connected to TV set and showing my favorite movies, being controlled by the same remote as the TV =)

Also, my IR sensor consumes several mA, and sound card activity perhaps another 10 mA. USB Host alone consumes about 60 mA (when idle), plus there will be the USB hub (usually rated 100mA). Even if Arduino consumes nothing (since I don't need portability I will power it with a RITEG), that's still 10 times worse.

However, if there's a readily available IR solution with linux support for under 15$, then I indeed am wasting my time. I believe Arduino is not in that price range, nor it is "ready" to decode IR unless you put extra effort in.

 

[HelenF]

Fair enough. Good point about the current usage. There are $15 USB Arduino boards, and IR decoding libraries available, but I don't see anything for integrating with LIRC. There are various posts around the web with people asking how to do that and not getting good answers. Someone suggested using an Arduino model with HID support and sending key commands to the host when it receives remote signals.

What's the safe voltage range for line-in, and how are you doing that?

It only just occurred me now that putting my transmitter on the line-out might be a useful idea. The signal would be much cleaner than headphone and not affected by the volume setting. And it could use EXT power switched with a transistor.