Raspberry PI Universal Controller - Setting up IR Receiver and Storing the Codes (Part 2)

Intro

This is a series of posts on how to make an universal remote controller out of a Raspberry Pi and use it with a node API.

1. Setting up LIRC
2. Setting up IR Receiver and storing the codes
3. Setting up IR Leds and using LIRC
4. Create the Node API

Setting up the IR Receiver 

After setting up LIRC, I need to get the codes of the remote controllers I want to use. LIRC will help a lot with this, but first I need to attach an IR sensor to the Pi for that.

I'm using a sensor I get from this pack: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017YKHSAI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 but pretty much any IR sensor would do the job.

The sensor has 3 legs (S, GND, VCC), the wiring is like this:

If you're using the same sensor as I am, you should be able to just point any remote control to it, push any button and a little led in the sensor board will blink.

Back to the Pi, I need to check if LIRC is getting the codes, so I run these commands:

> sudo /etc/init.d/lirc stop
> mode2 -d /dev/lirc0

Now, I can point my remote to the sensor and press any key, and it shows something like this:

space 23224
pulse 85
space 44506
pulse 43
space 55634
pulse 55

If you see something like that, it's working!

Getting the Codes

LIRC uses a config file to know the codes it need to send for each remote. If you're lucky enough, you'll find a config file for your remote here: link 

If not, you'll have to create one. But fear not! LIRC has a pretty straight forward method to do it:

#Stop lirc service
> sudo /etc/init.d/lirc stop
#Create a new config file named remote1.conf
> irrecord -d /dev/lirc0 ~/remote1.conf

You'll be asked to press several buttons, and a few more steps to detect your remote. Then you'll be asked to record every independent key you want. You'll need this list for naming the keys. Or you can run irrecord with the -n option to name the keys whatever you want.

Side note: If you want to record an AC remote controller, have in mind that those remotes send the full status, so you can't save the independent keys. The path I took for recording the AC remote was to record every state I wanted as an independent key. For example, to set the AC for HOT 24°, I set that in the AC remote in off mode, then I recorded the key when pressing the Power On button. That would be recording the status: ON with HOT air at  24°. So I saved that as a key with name: HOT_24. And repeated that step for every status I wanted to set.

After finishing the recording, open the newly created file:

> nano ~/remote1.conf 

And change the name line to whatever the name of the remote you want, like this:

begin remote

  name  /home/pi/lircdCable.conf

  flags RAW_CODES

  eps            30

  aeps          100

...

To:

begin remote

  name  cable

  flags RAW_CODES

  eps            30

  aeps          100

Then, you'll have to copy the content of that file to /etc/lirc/lircd.conf

You'll have to repeat this steps for every remote you need. 

Here's an example of my lircd.conf:

#UNCONFIGURED
#
# To find out how to get a proper configuration file please read:
# 
# /usr/share/doc/lirc/README.Debian

begin remote

  name  tv
  bits           16
  flags SPACE_ENC|CONST_LENGTH
  eps            30
  aeps          100

  header       4563  4453
  one           605  1637
  zero          605   516
  ptrail        607
  pre_data_bits   16
  pre_data       0xE0E0
  gap          108077
  toggle_bit_mask 0x0

      begin codes
          BTN_BACK                 0xA659
          KEY_POWER                0x40BF
          KEY_MENU                 0x58A7
      end codes

end remote

begin remote
  name denon
  bits 24
  flags SPACE_ENC
  eps 30
  aeps 100
  header 3378 1673
  one 466 1215
  zero 466 374
  ptrail 470
  pre_data_bits 24
  pre_data 0x2A4C02
  gap 74648
  min_repeat 1
#  suppress_repeat 1 uncomment to suppress unwanted repeats
  toggle_bit_mask 0x0
      begin codes
          KEY_POWER 0x8A0088
          KEY_VOLUMEUP 0x80E86A
          KEY_VOLUMEDOWN 0x88E862
      end codes
end remote

Now that I have saved the remote's codes I need to build the circuit for the IR leds in the next post.

Setting up IR Leds and using LIRC >>