IR Wiring

[RandyKnight]

Working on my LV plan for the new house and wondering what you all use IR for? The only thing I've thought of is in the home theater, family room, etc. to control A/V components that are remotely located. What else are you using this for?

 

[Guy Lavoie]

Its mostly for what you're saying yourself: home theater, TV, etc. Most people use ordinary Cat 5 wiring for this, with Buffalo or Xantech connecting blocks. An alternative method uses special devices (modulators) that allow the signals to travel over the same coax that sends cable/satellite signals to your TVs.

 

[electriclight]

Home theater for sure; another place that I wish I had IR (read as I will crawl through the attic one more time) is at my security camera DVR which I modulate on to the CATV system. I would like to have an IR receiver at each TV so that I could control the DVR remotely just like the home theater components. If I were rewiring the house today I would be more liberal with IR wiring even if I did not plan on using it right away.

If you end up using Russound (CAV6.6) for whole house audio the keypads have IR receivers built-in which send IR data back to the main amplifier location. From there you could use a connector block to distribute to emitters where needed.

A comment on wiring for IR (Xantech and similar components); twisted pair for emitters works fine. For IR receivers routed back to a central connecting block/router I use a 3 or 4 conductor shielded cable (not twisted pair). The output signal from IR receivers is single ended (one wire) and when coupled with the other wire of a pair (usually common or +12V) can be slowed by the capacitive nature of twisted pair cable. This can cause problems on longer runs (for a short run TP is ok). I have found a perfect 4 conductor shielded cable at Home Depot. As far as where to wire IR, I would run an up (IR receiver) and down (IR emitter) path to each location that you might want to control something with IR.

 

[elcano]

We dont have central HVAC in the tropics (too hot here), so at home most people have either window ACs (on the window or thru a hole in and outside wall) or split units.

All the three units that I have at home (a very old split system, and two window ACs) can be controlled via IR.

 

[bfisher]

In addition to controlling AV with IR, I also control the lighting and mode of the house. I use HomeVision Pro which understands, recognizes and can send IR codes.

If I'm in the basement and I pause my TiVo, it turns up the lights upstairs in case I'm going up for a drink. Or I can push 01 on my remote to manually turn on the main hall lights (and 02 for my stairs, etc).

I push 99 (like nighty night) if I want to manually tell the house we're going to bed. This turns up all the lights for 5 minutes, turns off all AV equipment, sets the alarm, etc. (The system can tell if we've gone to bed and ensure lights are off, AV off, security on, etc. However, this method is a manual way to force the system into goodnight mode, and gets used regularly since it makes it easy to turn everything off and make sure the lights are on to check on the kids and go upstairs, etc.)

 

[RandyKnight]

A comment on wiring for IR (Xantech and similar components); twisted pair for emitters works fine. For IR receivers routed back to a central connecting block/router I use a 3 or 4 conductor shielded cable (not twisted pair). The output signal from IR receivers is single ended (one wire) and when coupled with the other wire of a pair (usually common or +12V) can be slowed by the capacitive nature of twisted pair cable. This can cause problems on longer runs (for a short run TP is ok). I have found a perfect 4 conductor shielded cable at Home Depot. As far as where to wire IR, I would run an up (IR receiver) and down (IR emitter) path to each location that you might want to control something with IR.

I know this is old but now that I'm in prewire I need to address it. Are you saying each emitter/receiver uses one conductor? So a 4-conductor shielded cable would allow for any combination of emitters/receivers up to 4?

 

[bfisher]

I know this is old but now that I'm in prewire I need to address it. Are you saying each emitter/receiver uses one conductor? So a 4-conductor shielded cable would allow for any combination of emitters/receivers up to 4?

No.

Emitters use 1 twisted pair (2 wires). Receivers use 3 wires.

I run Cat5 to each location - this gives me a receiver plus 2 emitters (and you can use dual emitters (2 emitters on 1 wire) - meaning you can have 4 emitters and 1 receiver for each Cat 5 run).