Tag Archives: USB IR Toy

A hack for Hacks using AnalysIR

One of our users from Italy, Guido, was tasked with upgrading an old in-house WRC system to allow the team of Sport’s Journalists to access the rack of satellite receivers relaying the various sports events around the building.  The challenge is that all of the STB (Set Top Boxes) are located in a dedicated room away from the Journalist’s desks and it is impractical for them to manually change the stations when working to tight deadlines. Previously there was a system in place to remotely switch feeds, but Guido needed to upgrade the system to handle the ever growing number of devices and Infrared protocols. Luckily, he found AnalysIR during his research to implement ‘a hack for Hacks using AnalysIR‘.

Satellite Feed Rack
Satellite Feed Rack during testing

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AnalysIR supports PSOC 4 from Cypress

AnalysIR now provides support for the PSOC 4 Prototyping kit from Cypress. Effective immediately users of AnalysIR can use the kit to act as an Infrared source for AnalysIR. The PSOC 4 Prototyping kits are available from Cypress and via their global distributors for just US$4 plus shipping. To use the kit with AnalysIR you will also need an IR Receiver and an optional IR Learner, which can also be purchased with AnalysIR. Initially, the PSOC Firmware is available on request and will be included as part of the installation package in a future release.

PSOC4 and AnalysIR
PSOC4 and AnalysIR

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Campaign Update: AnalysIR, one year on

One year on from the initial release of AnalysIR, we have provided a copy below of our recent update for the original crowfunding campaign for AnalysIR.

AnalysIR Screenshot
AnalysIR Screenshot

This just serves as a local copy of the original update which can also be found on the Campaign Activity page. Continue reading Campaign Update: AnalysIR, one year on

Teensy now supported for AnalysIR

A new user of AnalysIR from the Netherlands, wanted to get the AnalysIR firmware working on Teensy 3.x . Although this has not been officially supported, we were happy to support his efforts knowing that it would most likely be a relatively easy exercise, based on past experiences. Needless to say, he was successful in decoding Infrared signals with AnalysIR within a short space of time. Prompted by his interest, we ordered our own Teensy 3.1 to add to our growing collection of 40+ MCUs and although Teensy support is in beta for now, it will be oficially supported for AnalysIR from our next release. In the meantime, users of AnalysIR can just contact us for a copy of the Teensy sketch (firmware).

Teensy 3.1 now supported for AnalysIR
Teensy 3.1 now supported for AnalysIR

Teensy 3.x now joins a long list of devices supported for use with AnalysIR, including: Continue reading Teensy now supported for AnalysIR

Controlling Chigo Air Conditioner via Infrared from smart phone

Anyone who has tried  controlling an Air Conditioner unit using an Arduino, USB IR Toy, RPi or any MCU will know how difficult it can be to record the longer infrared signals they use. Typical TV systems use IR signals circa 32 bits long, while this Chigo AC unit uses a signal with 197 marks & spaces (or 97 data bits). One of our users, Sertunc – from Istanbul in Turkey, reported his success using AnalysIR to easily record the signal timings for his AC unit and sent us the details along with some nice photos. After testing the validity of the recorded signals using an Arduino, he then set about loading the signals onto his Samsung smart phone (models S4, s4 mini, S5 and more supported). This was helped by installing the free ‘Samsung IR – Universal Remote‘ app onto his phone via Google Play.

Samsung IR Remote app Samsung IR Remote app

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Latest ‘New Year’ release of AnalysIR with full support for USB IR Toy and more.

Dublin, Ireland – 31st January 2014. We are happy to announce the latest ‘New Year’ release of AnalysIR to all our backers & supporters. Since the completion of the crowd-funding campaign on Indiegogo we have added over 125 updates and enhancements to AnalysIR, with more to come.

AnalysIR Screenshot
AnalysIR Screenshot

A major highlight of this release is full AnalysIR support for USB IR Toy from Dangerous Prototypes (V1 & V2 hardware) for decoding and resending IR signals at all common modulation frequencies. In our opinion, AnalysIR is now the premier GUI supporting DP’s IR toy, not to mention the Arduino, RPi, MSP430 F5529 LaunchPad (beta)  and more. A selection of enhancements in this latest release, include: Continue reading Latest ‘New Year’ release of AnalysIR with full support for USB IR Toy and more.

USB IR Toy – Infrared Carrier frequency review

Since introducing support into AnalysIR for the USB IR Toy we haven’t played too much with setting the different infrared carrier frequencies. After reading some mixed experiences on the Dangerous Prototypes forum we decided to put it to the test. So to start off we implemented a feature in AnalysIR to set the carrier frequency and to default to 38kHz at start up. UIRToyModulation38kHzNext we checked the mechanism described on the DP website about configuring the carrier frequency and everything seemed to work out OK. Continue reading USB IR Toy – Infrared Carrier frequency review

Constant current infrared LED emitter circuit

Recently, we have been asked several times about driver circuits for IR LEDs, particularly with good range and coverage. Most of us start off driving infrared leds directly from an Arduino or other MCU using a basic resistor in series with the LED connected to a digital output pin of the MCU.

IRsignaltraceRectifierDiodeIN4148
An oscilloscope snalpshot showing a trace of Ve from the constant current circuit shown below.

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Testing AnalysIR with a custom PCB

Here are some photos we captured, of a sample of our MCU test rigs and custom PCB for AnalysIR.

AnalysIRtestrigs
A sample of our test rigs for AnalysIR

The photo above shows some of our test setup for Arduino, Raspberry Pi, TI MSP430 LaunchPad and the (big) baby of them all the USB IR Toy. The small red custom PCBs are ones we had made via Elecrow which worked out great. So instead of just using  solderless breadboards we now plug these ‘half shields’ directly into the Arduino header, or in the case of the RPi using a ribbon cable. The USB IR Toy already has the IR receivers on board and doesn’t require this PCB.

We should also be able to hook up the LaunchPad to this board using headers. So once we receive the full set of headers, we ordered on-line, we will have all our test setups much neater and more reliable. Previously, we used solderless breadboards, as can be seen in the photo attached to the LaunchPad. Continue reading Testing AnalysIR with a custom PCB

USB IR Toy – test release issued.

Today we issued a test release of AnalysIR, supporting V1 & V2 USB IR Toy loaded with firmware V22. If you have an IR Toy and want to test it out, leave a message with your email in the contact form at the top. Naturally, this is available only to backers with AnalysIR. You can support our project and get a copy of AnalysIR via the option at the top of this page.

Continue reading USB IR Toy – test release issued.