URC R6 - JP 1.3 compatible?

Brad M. · Post by **Brad M.** » Thu Oct 27, 2011 11:05 pm

Board doesn't have a 1.3 pad layout, but does have Rx/Tx/Reset/Gnd/VCC pads next to the processor/prom chip. Searched for references to it, but didn't find anything.

I'll post a pic of the pads & chip if needed.

Will also need pinout of Tommy's USB->JP1.3 cable if I can find a way to wire up the remote (and it's actually programmable).

Thanks all.

Post by **The Robman** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 6:10 am

Who makes this remote? It sounds like it might be a URC remote rather than a UEI remote, in which case it's not JP1 compatible.

Brad M. · Post by **Brad M.** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 6:17 am

Remote is a URC-R6, also called an Avex R6 in the manual.

gfb107 · Post by **gfb107** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 7:46 am

It is definitely made by URC, not UEI. So it is not JP1 compatible.

It is confusing that some UEI remotes have a model number that begins with URC.

Post by **The Robman** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 7:48 am

A quick Google search lead me to the user manual which clearly states that this remote is made by URC ("Universal Remote Control"), which means it's definitely NOT made by UEI ("Universal Electronics, Inc"), so therefore it's 100% certain that it's NOT a JP1 remote.

Brad M. · Post by **Brad M.** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 8:01 am

Ok, I understand it's not a UEI remote.

If it has pads inside that appear to match JP1 naming (even if they don't match JP1 layout), can I make use of that?

Maybe I'll look up the specs of the chip it's using, might be some interesting info out there someplace.

mdavej · Post by **mdavej** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 8:14 am

You can certainly try. Others have been trying for years and gotten nowhere. HERE's a thread at remote central you may find interesting.

Post by **The Robman** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 9:29 am

Brad M. wrote:Ok, I understand it's not a UEI remote.

If it has pads inside that appear to match JP1 naming (even if they don't match JP1 layout), can I make use of that?

Maybe I'll look up the specs of the chip it's using, might be some interesting info out there someplace.

Sure, you might be able to put something together, I was just trying to make sure that you understood that you wouldn't be able to use the JP1 software to program the remote. If you are successful in downloading something from the remote, you would then need to reverse engineer what the format of the data is, then you would need to write software, somewhat similar to the JP1 software, to manipulate the data.

It wasn't clear from your earlier posts that you understood how much work it would take to follow this path.

Brad M. · Post by **Brad M.** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 9:34 am

The Robman wrote:Sure, you might be able to put something together, I was just trying to make sure that you understood that you wouldn't be able to use the JP1 software to program the remote. If you are successful in downloading something from the remote, you would then need to reverse engineer what the format of the data is, then you would need to write software, somewhat similar to the JP1 software, to manipulate the data.

It wasn't clear from your earlier posts that you understood how much work it would take to follow this path.

I haven't dealt with low-level hardware for a while, but do have 30 years of software design/programming experience. If I come up with anything useful, I'll share it.

Post by **The Robman** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 12:41 pm

Assuming that this remote is set up in a way that is somewhat similar to JP1 remotes (which is a big assumption), once you've got past the initial challenge of downloading the data from the remote, the next step is to reverse engineer the data itself. For JP1 remotes, this involved taking a snap shot and then changing something on the remote, then downloading again to see what changed, then repeating the process over and over until every byte of data is accounted for. We also have the concept of upgrades, which I doubt this remote supports, so those presented an extra challenge in terms of reverse engineering.