taping IR Emitters

[hgupta1]

I have a lot of ir emitters taped to IR receivers throughout my house. Its a bit unsightly.

I am about to get an ocelot (which has IR output) and some motorized blnds that have an IR receiver. Is ther a way to just wire these together and bypass the IR emitting and sensing?

 

[JimS]

I think wiring into the equipment is going to be difficult. Even if possible it voids any warranty and if you change equipment you have to do it again, etc.

I would think about locating the emitters somewhere else. At close range enough signal may bounce off things to make it work. You may be able to locate the emitter to shoot across the face of the equipment and hidden behind the face frame of the cabinet.

I located my emitter in a light tray in the ceiling and pointed at the equipment. Works great but hard to see. But I just happened to have the right locations for this to work.

Just some ideas....

 

[sic0048]

I know that professionals will open up the equipment and place an emitter inside the device, next to the IR receiver. This is easier than trying to tie the two IR systems together (many times they operate with different voltages), but still gives a totally stock look. It also gives more consistant results since you don't have to worry about the emitter falling off or being removed, and the emitter is right next to the receiver, so missed comands is also rare.

 

[hgupta1]

I think I probably could have stated the question better.


In my case, I have 7 IR sensors attached to IR distribution blocks throughout the house so that the whole house audio and media can be controlled from any room in the house. But that also means that I have 7 IR emitters taped to the front of the media PC.


Not all of the IR emitters work very well since they are crowding each other in front of of the media PC's receiver. and then there is additional interference from my plasma TV. I am also out of room to add more emitters from my ocelot and other devices.

I thought if I could hardwire them, it would solve my issues. Is this possible?

Thanks!

-hg

 

[AO-Brandon]

I think I probably could have stated the question better.


In my case, I have 7 IR sensors attached to IR distribution blocks throughout the house so that the whole house audio and media can be controlled from any room in the house. But that also means that I have 7 IR emitters taped to the front of the media PC.


Not all of the IR emitters work very well since they are crowding each other in front of of the media PC's receiver. and then there is additional interference from my plasma TV. I am also out of room to add more emitters from my ocelot and other devices.

I thought if I could hardwire them, it would solve my issues. Is this possible?

Thanks!

-hg

as long as they are all the same type / voltage IR recievers, you can run them into an IR hub and have a single "summed" output. Something like the Buffalo Electronics IR-J8 would work perfectly!

 

[sic0048]

as long as they are all the same type / voltage IR recievers, you can run them into an IR hub and have a single "summed" output. Something like the Buffalo Electronics IR-J8 would work perfectly!

How does that handle concurrent IR signals from several zones? In other words, if a person in the Den presses sends an IR code and the exact same time as someone in the bedroom, how does it handle it? There are basically two ways, one is that it doesn't do anything special and the two sets of commands might be interwoven together making both fail, the other option is that it is smart enough to delay one set of commands until the first set is completed.

The larger number of zones you have and the more people in the house that might be using the system at the same time increases the chances that something like this would happen. It's not a huge deal, but I thought I would ask.

I know xantech has a multi-zone IR distribution block that is suppose to be smart enough to handle these concurrent signals properly. But the cost is certainly higher than the Buffalo unit.

 

[apostolakisl]

If the IR emitters are all of the same brand/model, you can cut the wires and splice them all into one emitter and it will work. Make sure you keep polarity correct. As far as what if two people hit buttons at the same time, probably it will make for neither signal being correct. Somehow I doubt that that will happen very often. Even if you don't splice them together, I bet it would mess up with two separate IR emitters shining their IR light into the receiver at the same time. You could also merge 6 or 7 emitters into 2 or 3 instead of 1.

 

[sic0048]

If the IR emitters are all of the same brand/model, you can cut the wires and splice them all into one emitter and it will work. Make sure you keep polarity correct. As far as what if two people hit buttons at the same time, probably it will make for neither signal being correct. Somehow I doubt that that will happen very often. Even if you don't splice them together, I bet it would mess up with two separate IR emitters shining their IR light into the receiver at the same time. You could also merge 6 or 7 emitters into 2 or 3 instead of 1.

I totally agree with that. The current method being used (7 emitters attached to one receiver) wouldn't handle concurrent signals either. So the Buffalo system is no worse than the current system and it certainly would make a much nicer installation. Definitely worth the $30 IMHO. Or simply tie some emitters together as you have suggested. Certainly that is a cheaper solution and if done nicely, isn't going to be messy either.

 

[hgupta1]

If the IR emitters are all of the same brand/model, you can cut the wires and splice them all into one emitter and it will work. Make sure you keep polarity correct. As far as what if two people hit buttons at the same time, probably it will make for neither signal being correct. Somehow I doubt that that will happen very often. Even if you don't splice them together, I bet it would mess up with two separate IR emitters shining their IR light into the receiver at the same time. You could also merge 6 or 7 emitters into 2 or 3 instead of 1.

I totally agree with that. The current method being used (7 emitters attached to one receiver) wouldn't handle concurrent signals either. So the Buffalo system is no worse than the current system and it certainly would make a much nicer installation. Definitely worth the $30 IMHO. Or simply tie some emitters together as you have suggested. Certainly that is a cheaper solution and if done nicely, isn't going to be messy either.

There's only two of us in the house, so I haven't run into the concurrent signal problem yet.

I didn't realize that the brand/model of the emitters really mattered. I've gotten so many with different devices, that I just used whichever was closest. My fear with splicing emitters together is that the signal would travel back the wrong way and cause damage to a connecting block. But I am willing to try since I am out of space for my new devices.

-hg