6131 and IR

greg882 · Post by **greg882** » Thu Oct 23, 2003 1:03 am

Got the eeprom from Rob (thanks) and the cable parts from mouser yesterday and this afternoon I had my cable and JP1 modified 6131 (by the way, the credit card approach worked really good for opening the remote).

I had set up some manual keymoves prior to downloading. I assigned PIP in aud mode to place the receiver in tivo mode, likewise swap to select the dvd input, and move to select the vcr as input. I also manually set up the power macro to turn off the tv and the amp.

Anyway, I downloaded the remote into IR. I changed the code for a device I wasn't using and uploaded the remote. When I did this the aud selection keys that I had manually assigned stopped working and the power macro stoped working.

Is this expected?

Is this because of the new key move format that I have been reading about?

It sure seems to me that if I upload the same thing that I downloaded I should have no problem.

Thanks
Greg

Post by **The Robman** » Thu Oct 23, 2003 9:24 am

No, it's not expected. Even though the current version of IR doesn't know how to display the keymoves correctly, it shouldn't do anything to corrupt them either.

greg882 · Post by **greg882** » Thu Oct 23, 2003 7:58 pm

I tried some fresh batteries in the remote and the problem seems to have gone away. Does this make sense? I though that the remote ran off the host computer when the JP1 cable is connected.

Also, the eeprom that I put in the remote was rated for operation down to 2.4 volts. The remote runs off of 2 AA cells. That means the the supply voltage ranges from about 3.2 to about 2 volts after the cells get a bit tired. Does this mean that I will have to keep fresh batteries in the remote?

Post by **The Robman** » Thu Oct 23, 2003 9:49 pm

Even though the spec on those chips says 2.5 volts, they probably can handle voltages lower than that, so my guess is that it won't be a problem, but keeping fresh batteries in your remote is always a good idea, especially when you're doing JP1 stuff. These are the same chips that I've put in all the remotes that I've modified, which probably accounts for 95% of the URC-6131s in this group, so I think the chips will work OK.

Also, don't leave your remote hooked up to the JP1 cable for extended periods of time with batteries in it. I don't know if this applies as much with the Simple Interface, as I'm using an old fashioned powered "Dan Classic" interface, but every so often I accidentally leave a remote hooked up with batteries in it and come back to find them leaking all over the place! I've done this TWICE now!

greg882 · Post by **greg882** » Thu Oct 23, 2003 9:57 pm

Thanks for the info on the eeprom. I think I was just being overly cautous. I have uploaded and downloaded several times with the new batteries in the remote and have had no problem.

Also, thanks for the tip on not leaving the remote hooked up. I am using the simple interface - but I wouldn't want battery juice all over my desk and remote. I will definatly not leave it hooked up - just in case.

Greg