Re: Infrared to serial signaler

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Bill Kearney" <wkearney-99@hot-mail-com> wrote in message
news:NYmdnbAbMs9ceW_YnZ2dnUVZ_vTinZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Many thanks it was the Indutrologic device i was looking for.
>
> Which uses Sony SIRC 40khz IR codes.  Are you using Sony devices and
> remotes?

My IR232 came today.  Within 5 minutes of opening the box, I was playing
with it, firing every Sony remote I have at it.  All you do is plug it in to
the wall wart (supplied!) and the 9 pin serial cable (also supplied) and run
the terminal emulator on the enclosed CD (packaged right on the top where it
was nearly slit in two with a razor knife!!!!!).

As soon as it's running, tap ESC three times (remember that old TwiZone ep
with the elevator to hell?) and a command prompt appears.  Fire a Sony
remote at it and the Device and Function code magically appear on the
screen.   I am getting about 40' max with bright sunlight in the room.  They
claim 50' max with a twenty degree angle of acceptance.  We'll see.

Now all that's left is for me to select two different Sony device codes for
the AUX1 and AUX2 of my 8-in-1 remotes and map the text strings that control
the GVI video MUXes to the corresponding buttons on the remotes.  They even
specify how to format the table as an ASCII text file so you can create the
map in a text editor and upload it to the IR232 instead of keying the text
strings in one at a time via Hyperterm.  Uber slick!

While it's not really fair to compare this unit to the Ocelot/Serial Bobcat
solution I *tried* to implement, I will anyway!  The Ocelot, of course, is
infinitely more flexible.  But I didn't want flexibility as much as I wanted
ease of implementation.  With the IR232 there was no program I had to load
on my PC, no tedious learning of IR codes (that just about did me in and
admittedly gave me a negative impression about the Ocelot, at least for
converting IR to serial text messages in a timely fashion).  No hunting down
the latest version of C-Max, resetting some bizarre parameter that was not
set correctly at the factory, apparently and some other issues that kept
derailing the project.

Don't get me wrong.  I really appreciate the power of the Ocelot.  Its
combination of inputs, ability to talk to X-10 and use IR and its
reliability have enabled people to do remarkable things with it.  Perhaps
now that I've freed it up from the MUX project I'll be able to explore it
more leisurely.

Ladder logic seems to come easily to those who have had experience with
similar programming languages or pinball machine controllers.  But for
someone who learned on Pascal, PL-1 and Cobol, like me, it's really jarring.
No procedures?  Yikes!  It's the way conditionals evaluate in ladder logic
that threw me and seems to throw most newcomers.  That and the magical
parameters that give great flexibility, but add considerably to the
complexity of creating a C-Max program.

What I wanted to do was really simple.  I had unused IR devices (slots,
channels, whatever) available on my UR24A remote.  I had two CCTV MUXes that
had no built-in IR controller, but did have a serial input that accepted
text strings to control the unit.  The GVI MUX is normally controlled by
about 33 little chiclet style buttons crowded together on a very narrow
faceplate.  But that's *very* inconvenient unless you are a security guard
sitting directly in front of a bank of them.  I wanted the MUX and the rat's
next of more than 32 cables that plug into it to be buried in the basement
and the attic, where most of the cameras are.

For me, a rather "dumb" device that does nothing but read IR and spits out
predetermined ASCII text is by far the best way to go.  The IR232, as you
noted, Bill, does NOT appear to read any of my non-Sony remotes, so that
might be critical to someone who wanted to send text strings from something
other than a Sony remote or a universal remote like the UR24A that can send
Sony strings for a number of different devices.

All I have to figure out how to do is to create my crossmap table and upload
it to the unit.  That gives me all the intellectual control I need of this
process and an easy way to make changes if it turns out I need to modify my
map.  The unit accepts global as well as individual erasures of memory
slots.

Then, if all works according to plan, when I press AUX1 and then 5, the MUX1
will display camera 5.  I'll probably run into some issues with getting 16
digits from the remote.  I am not sure I can process the messages to create
the text string "/XG" (select camera 16) without some trickery.  As soon as
I press 1 it will be sending "/X1" to select camera one and when I press 6
it will send "/X6" to select camera six.  I suppose I could see what happens
when I use the X-10 Shift key and use that as a 10+ key.  If I press shift +
6 it *should* be programmable to send "/XG".  This is a situation that the
Ocelot could handle a lot more easily.  I would simply have each channel
selected via the format NN + Enter, with leading 0's used to pad out each
channel to two digits as in 02 and 12.

Lots of stuff to try!  I hope this works out.  At least it's starting off a
lot better than the Ocelot and Bobcat effort did.  The return deal is a lot
better too.  If I can't get it to do what I want in 30 days, all I am out is
the $16 postage here and back.

--
Bobby G.