JP1 Remotes

[efilnikufecin]

First off thank you to everyone involved for your hard work writing these programs, creating this site, and obtaining the knowledge base you have made available here. I feel kind of cheesy saying that, but I want you to know how much I appreciate it. Already it has allowed me to turn off that bright power light on my Samsung HT-x50 which disturbed me when watching TV in the dark. I know it will help a lot more!

I have 3 Atlas OCAP URC-1056 remotes. 1 in my son's bedroom, 1 in my bedroom, and one in the living room. Today I am looking at the one in my bedroom.

I have built my JP1.3 cable out of broken electronics...an old video filter for the transistors, resistors, and diodes, I found all but 1 resistor. I was able to put 5 resistors of lower value in series to make the final resistor. I used the front panel connector from an old gateway computer, a serial extension cable, an old AC adapter with a screw together case (only the case was used) and last but certainly not least (funny one here) a piece of a 24 pack coke box for the circuit board. My cable was built investing no money whatsoever (I must be a penny pincher or something) and when I tested it only had one flaw. I was so excited to have it done that when I connected it to the remote I connected it wrong. Once fixed, it works perfectly, and I have updated my bedroom remote to operate more of the functionality on my Samsung HT-X50 Audio receiver/DVD player.

The last thing I am wanting to do to my bedroom remote before moving on to the living-room remote is to set up a power macro. I want to hit the power button, and turn on (or off) My Motorola cable box (the remote came with it), My RCA TV (the remote is already fully functional for it) and My Samsung DVD player/audio receiver. I have it programmed to do this, but there is a problem. When turning on, the cable box comes on, then the DVD player The TV does not come on. Now the reason for this is because there needs to be a delay between the cable box coming on, and the TV being turned on because when the cable box is off the TV loses power entirely. I do want to keep this functionality as we saw a $20 a month decrease in our power bill when I enabled it, and the TV maintains all memory except time through a power outage. The cable box has the time on it.

So I would like to insert a delay in the macro between turning on the cable box, and turning on the TV. I have tried setting it up to turn on the cable box, then the DVD player, then the TV, but that is not enough of a delay.

Anyone have any suggestions of how to add this delay?

[greenough1]

Try looking at this POST .

You can add a pause to a key in RM or KM and then execute that key in your macro.

I've not done this as I use the extender.

jeff

[mdavej]

Open RM, pick Pause Protocol (Special) and pick your remote model. Copy/Paste the Protocol Code into Protocols in IR. In the Special Protocols tab in IR add a new one and pick a key (shift-pause is an intuitive one) and pick the Pause protocol and specify a duration. Use that key for pause in your macros. If you use IR version 8, you can specify pause in seconds. Otherwise you'll have to calculate the value in hex.

[efilnikufecin]

I found the pause protocol, and after reading the protocol notes section about 4 times, and experimenting I figured out how to program a 3 second pause into a phantom button on the remote. Now everything turns on with one button press. This is great! Thank you!

My next task will be the living-room TV, but that will be Monday or so because I want to get the model number from the TV. At the moment, my sister and her kids are crashing at my place while some work is being done in there homes. I cannot reach my living-room TV for their stuff being piled up in front of it.

Thank you for the help! It is much appreciated!

[The Robman]

I think we'd like to see some pictures of your Frankenstein cable, it's sounds fascinating.
_________________
Rob
www.hifi-remote.com
Please don't PM me with remote questions, post them in the forums so all the experts can help!

[efilnikufecin]

LOL please laugh at it, not me

Here's the whole thing:

I chose a Gateway computer front panel connector over an old IDE cable because when I tried to make a connector from an IDE it seemed to fragile, and the connector I used seems to fit the terminals on my remote better. I made sure pin 1 was red because I have connected a lot of hard drives and floppy drives where the only indication of proper connection was the red wire. and of course omitted pin 5. The plug has little retainers that hold the individual wires in, and slight prying on them will release them so that was easy.

Here's the back of the case..I left the stickers in place.

I do not remember exactly what the power supply was to, but it was some sort of network equipment that was left behind In a building I cleaned out after a business left. I had 3 of them, and none of them worked so I took one apart to see if I could fix it, and decided I had better uses for the cases than the power supplies. This is use number 1.

Here's the top of the circuit board

The loop of wire (the big black serial cable) Is there so it can loop around the screw riser that holds the power supply case together. That way if I accidentally let go of the cord while I am carrying it, it wont put undesired stress on the internal components. The "circuit board's" only real function is to keep the connections apart.

Here's the chain of resistors I mentioned...it really looks like a mess. there is a 1.2K a 1.5K and two 1K resistors in series for the required 4.7K ohms. My multimeter reads it a 4.68, but it's within tolerance.

It looks like a mess to me, but I didn't see any other way to achieve my goal, and it is pretty sturdy.

And here it is really obvious that I used a Coca Cola box piece for the circuit board.

The hook-up wire used was extra wire from the Gateway computer front panel connector. There is one or two components on this side...can't see very well because of a cheesy camera.

If I were building this for someone else, I probably would have just skipped it and bought a USB cable. With front panel USB on most computers, it sure makes it easier. Since I made it for myself only, I know how to handle it...and definitely not pull on any of the wires!!!


This project is not the worst I have cobbled something together to get it working. When I was a kid, my parents gave me a VCR to tear apart that my sister had knocked off of something. When I opened it, the power supply board was broken. I spent 2 days with telephone wire, old lamp cords, and a soldering iron reconnecting every connection across the break. They were quite surprised when they came in my room and I was watching a movie on it.

Here's another one. I saw this RCA 32" TV sitting on a curb with the remote laying on top of it, and asked if I could take it. The people said it didn't work, and they were quoted around $200 to fix it. I told them I would probably just use pieces out of it for something else. I got it home and checked it out. There was a spark coming from the flyback transformer to ground. I've been told they call it chroma arc (or something similar sounding) anyway, I used a candle to melt wax onto the hole in the insulation, and that TV is still working in my bedroom today. It's been 3 years without a problem.

[The Robman]

I love it, I don't like throwing things out that can be fixed either.
_________________
Rob
www.hifi-remote.com
Please don't PM me with remote questions, post them in the forums so all the experts can help!