IR Blaster (progress)
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First Dev Boards Complete 10-JUL-2015 - status update with video
I assembled two dev boards yesterday, brought up all subsystems and they are both working great. Still a bit more work to do before they go to production but here are a couple of photos and a demonstration video.
Assembled dev board w/o radio
Assembled board w/Radio attached
Demonstration Video
https://youtu.be/UXjcwlJOMOII am going to rev the board a bit to pull all components to the top-side to reduce the cost and also subject the boards to the IR Sensor Array testing to tune the IR LED component choice for maximum performance.
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This thing would be cool to have. In my setup i would really like to test this as a transceiver for my project.
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Interested in purchasing a few! Would be perfect int he home theater, I think.
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@gloob, @john, @notYetRated and everyone else - Here is an update on IR Blaster project
The first dev boards are working well but not as good as they should IMHO. My 0.5 LED circuit design uses a separate voltage-regulated parallel IR LED emitter circuit. After a lot of technical research into the depths of IR Emitters and collaboration with others, I can greatly improve the IR performance by moving to a constant-current (not constant-voltage) serial IR LED emitter circuit. I have been scouring the net for constant current regulators and/or LED drivers that can handle 7 IR LEDs @100ma & 1.6FV and have a few candidates under review for prototyping.
I have also been in touch with the AnalysisIR guys to ensure compatibility of our board with their offerings because users have successfully decoded long IR encodings, using the advanced AnalysisIR decoding software, such as HVAC units popular in the EU/UK - for example Panasonic AC and Mitsubishi AC. The goal being that any Analysis IR decodes, will be directly compatible with our board so we can leverage the enthusiasm and prior work of the AnalysisIR community at large. In addition, I would like to advance our board to be able serve as a full spectrum IR decoder to ensure maximum decoding performance when using AnalysisIR on the board. Compatibility requires running the MCU at 16MHz or great to improve the IR mark/space decoding which also requires additional changes to the original circuit design.
All of that said, the reason for the recent silence by me has been due to my personal life - I have had a hectic family pursuit requiring multi-month travel from home and work has heated up again.
Fear not though, this is an extremely important project for me and I will get it done! While it is taking a bit longer than I had hoped, I firmly believe it will be well worth the wait.
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@gloob, @john, @notYetRated and everyone else - Here is an update on IR Blaster project
The first dev boards are working well but not as good as they should IMHO. My 0.5 LED circuit design uses a separate voltage-regulated parallel IR LED emitter circuit. After a lot of technical research into the depths of IR Emitters and collaboration with others, I can greatly improve the IR performance by moving to a constant-current (not constant-voltage) serial IR LED emitter circuit. I have been scouring the net for constant current regulators and/or LED drivers that can handle 7 IR LEDs @100ma & 1.6FV and have a few candidates under review for prototyping.
I have also been in touch with the AnalysisIR guys to ensure compatibility of our board with their offerings because users have successfully decoded long IR encodings, using the advanced AnalysisIR decoding software, such as HVAC units popular in the EU/UK - for example Panasonic AC and Mitsubishi AC. The goal being that any Analysis IR decodes, will be directly compatible with our board so we can leverage the enthusiasm and prior work of the AnalysisIR community at large. In addition, I would like to advance our board to be able serve as a full spectrum IR decoder to ensure maximum decoding performance when using AnalysisIR on the board. Compatibility requires running the MCU at 16MHz or great to improve the IR mark/space decoding which also requires additional changes to the original circuit design.
All of that said, the reason for the recent silence by me has been due to my personal life - I have had a hectic family pursuit requiring multi-month travel from home and work has heated up again.
Fear not though, this is an extremely important project for me and I will get it done! While it is taking a bit longer than I had hoped, I firmly believe it will be well worth the wait.
@blacey Let me know if I can be of any help. Mostly in the use-case testing area probably, as I am no electrical engineer or software genius. :)
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@gloob, @john, @notYetRated and everyone else - Here is an update on IR Blaster project
The first dev boards are working well but not as good as they should IMHO. My 0.5 LED circuit design uses a separate voltage-regulated parallel IR LED emitter circuit. After a lot of technical research into the depths of IR Emitters and collaboration with others, I can greatly improve the IR performance by moving to a constant-current (not constant-voltage) serial IR LED emitter circuit. I have been scouring the net for constant current regulators and/or LED drivers that can handle 7 IR LEDs @100ma & 1.6FV and have a few candidates under review for prototyping.
I have also been in touch with the AnalysisIR guys to ensure compatibility of our board with their offerings because users have successfully decoded long IR encodings, using the advanced AnalysisIR decoding software, such as HVAC units popular in the EU/UK - for example Panasonic AC and Mitsubishi AC. The goal being that any Analysis IR decodes, will be directly compatible with our board so we can leverage the enthusiasm and prior work of the AnalysisIR community at large. In addition, I would like to advance our board to be able serve as a full spectrum IR decoder to ensure maximum decoding performance when using AnalysisIR on the board. Compatibility requires running the MCU at 16MHz or great to improve the IR mark/space decoding which also requires additional changes to the original circuit design.
All of that said, the reason for the recent silence by me has been due to my personal life - I have had a hectic family pursuit requiring multi-month travel from home and work has heated up again.
Fear not though, this is an extremely important project for me and I will get it done! While it is taking a bit longer than I had hoped, I firmly believe it will be well worth the wait.
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Apologies everyone but progress has been much slower than I had planned/wished for two reasons. 1) Work obligations and 2) a special automation from my wife that has usurped my MySensors cycles that required helping the FreeCAD open source project to advance my cause. My plan is to hit IR Blaster hard within the next 4-6 weeks.
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@blacey
Did you abandon this project? We are heading for darker times again and I was really hoping that your blaster would be available to turn on those candles in the night.Just let me know if you stil have plans to realize this or not so that I know if I should make something for my self on a perfboard or something.
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@korttoma Apologies to you and others; I wouldn't say that I have abandoned this project but it is fair to say that I haven't had the time to devote to this either so it is woefully stalled. @scalz is working on something similar that may fit but bill nicely after which I will decide whether this warrants further development or not.
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@blacey @scalz
I'm thinking of starting to do an IR blaster on my own, any chance to get a glimpse of what you are cooking on your side to either wait / see what kind of function you plan?On my side I'm thinking of:
- Eventually esp8266 based (probably using a WeMos mini Pro) to allow a wide range of usage even out of MySensors.
- Micro usb powered (using the WeMos' port)
- SMD nrf24L01, eventually RFM too if it fits on the PCB.
- optional ATSHA.
- IR leds on the side (roundish PCB?)
- Optional IR receiver
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@blacey @scalz
I'm thinking of starting to do an IR blaster on my own, any chance to get a glimpse of what you are cooking on your side to either wait / see what kind of function you plan?On my side I'm thinking of:
- Eventually esp8266 based (probably using a WeMos mini Pro) to allow a wide range of usage even out of MySensors.
- Micro usb powered (using the WeMos' port)
- SMD nrf24L01, eventually RFM too if it fits on the PCB.
- optional ATSHA.
- IR leds on the side (roundish PCB?)
- Optional IR receiver
@emc2 That pretty much sums up the above sans ESP8266 vs. Atmel 328p... My next iteration, albeit delayed, uses an SMD footprint compatible with both NRF and RFM. I had originally included an Si7021 temperature and humidity sensor but that isn't really necessary. @sparkman had requested a barrel connector to drive external IR LEDs.
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@scalz Cool! Let me know when you have some details on that. I may stick to esp8266, esp32 seems to be overkill for what I'm thinking, but if you have any tips let me know.
@blacey I saw this request, I can see the use of it, will see if I end up with a spot for one. One thing still, are these standard in term of where is ground and where is VCC on the mono 3.5mm jack? (I assume GND is "outside" and VCC is the "tip" but I may be wrong)
