JP1 Remotes

[Julie5040]

Jim,

I know that the command centers are working because they control all of my other devices in the room with the DVD player (sat rcvr, VCR, etc). Also, the command center appears to have another LED with visible light (or same one with both IR and visible?) because when I press a button on the remote, a can see (with my naked eye) an LED lighting in the command center (center front of the unit).

I will however use a different remote and command center combination to see if that makes a difference (e.g. the 9910's command center with the 2117s remote sending into the 9910 for learning).


This brings us back to the question:

Does anyone know if there are any "real" differences in the command centers between my old 15-1995, my new 15-2117s, or the 9910? All of the remotes appear to control all the other devices through the older 1995 command centers.

I'll play with all of this tonight and report back.
Julie

[Julie5040]

Back to the "lighter side" for a moment:

I wrote:

[Mark Pierson]

[Julie5040]

This brings up an interesting point, a couple of years ago, I came home and was attempting to use my remote and quickly realized that I was unable to control anything. I went into the room where the command center is located and noticed that the LED (the one that can be seen with the naked eye) was lit solid (without me pressing any buttons)! I unplugged the unit, waited a minute, plugged it back in and the LED lit solid again. I then unplugged the unit and went to sleep. The next day, I plugged it back in and all was fine. I wonder if it was malfunctioning or if it was picking up interference from something?

Julie

[gjarboni]

Julie,

Okay, here are a few others to try. These are a bit different in that they simulate the button being pressed and held between once and 4 times a second:

The number of keypresses increases in each successive block. The only number that is different between them is the number after the A9 (8th from the left) in the third line from the bottom in case you want to try other values.

12 13 31 80 23 85 56 26 56 90 0D A9 15 20 DB 00
A2 BA A0 01 22 44 80 0B A9 15 20 DB 00 A2 31 A0
03 22 44 C6 57 D0 E0 60 A5 5E 85 5D A5 60 85 5E
20 6A 01 22 06 90 F9 60 A9 FF 20 DB 00 A9 69 20
DB 00 A2 EE A0 06 22 44 A5 5D 3C 08 57 20 37 01
A5 5D 49 FF 3C 08 57 20 37 01 A5 5E 3C 08 57 20
37 01 A5 5E 49 FF 3C 08 57 20 37 01 A9 15 20 DB
00 A2 69 A0 78 22 44 A9 0A 48 A9 FF 20 DB 00 A9
69 20 DB 00 A2 EE A0 03 22 44 A9 15 20 DB 00 A2
69 A0 78 22 44 68 1A D0 E0 60

12 13 31 80 23 85 56 26 56 90 0D A9 15 20 DB 00
A2 BA A0 01 22 44 80 0B A9 15 20 DB 00 A2 31 A0
03 22 44 C6 57 D0 E0 60 A5 5E 85 5D A5 60 85 5E
20 6A 01 22 06 90 F9 60 A9 FF 20 DB 00 A9 69 20
DB 00 A2 EE A0 06 22 44 A5 5D 3C 08 57 20 37 01
A5 5D 49 FF 3C 08 57 20 37 01 A5 5E 3C 08 57 20
37 01 A5 5E 49 FF 3C 08 57 20 37 01 A9 15 20 DB
00 A2 69 A0 78 22 44 A9 08 48 A9 FF 20 DB 00 A9
69 20 DB 00 A2 EE A0 03 22 44 A9 15 20 DB 00 A2
69 A0 78 22 44 68 1A D0 E0 60

12 13 31 80 23 85 56 26 56 90 0D A9 15 20 DB 00
A2 BA A0 01 22 44 80 0B A9 15 20 DB 00 A2 31 A0
03 22 44 C6 57 D0 E0 60 A5 5E 85 5D A5 60 85 5E
20 6A 01 22 06 90 F9 60 A9 FF 20 DB 00 A9 69 20
DB 00 A2 EE A0 06 22 44 A5 5D 3C 08 57 20 37 01
A5 5D 49 FF 3C 08 57 20 37 01 A5 5E 3C 08 57 20
37 01 A5 5E 49 FF 3C 08 57 20 37 01 A9 15 20 DB
00 A2 69 A0 78 22 44 A9 06 48 A9 FF 20 DB 00 A9
69 20 DB 00 A2 EE A0 03 22 44 A9 15 20 DB 00 A2
69 A0 78 22 44 68 1A D0 E0 60


12 13 31 80 23 85 56 26 56 90 0D A9 15 20 DB 00
A2 BA A0 01 22 44 80 0B A9 15 20 DB 00 A2 31 A0
03 22 44 C6 57 D0 E0 60 A5 5E 85 5D A5 60 85 5E
20 6A 01 22 06 90 F9 60 A9 FF 20 DB 00 A9 69 20
DB 00 A2 EE A0 06 22 44 A5 5D 3C 08 57 20 37 01
A5 5D 49 FF 3C 08 57 20 37 01 A5 5E 3C 08 57 20
37 01 A5 5E 49 FF 3C 08 57 20 37 01 A9 15 20 DB
00 A2 69 A0 78 22 44 A9 04 48 A9 FF 20 DB 00 A9
69 20 DB 00 A2 EE A0 03 22 44 A9 15 20 DB 00 A2
69 A0 78 22 44 68 1A D0 E0 60

12 13 31 80 23 85 56 26 56 90 0D A9 15 20 DB 00
A2 BA A0 01 22 44 80 0B A9 15 20 DB 00 A2 31 A0
03 22 44 C6 57 D0 E0 60 A5 5E 85 5D A5 60 85 5E
20 6A 01 22 06 90 F9 60 A9 FF 20 DB 00 A9 69 20
DB 00 A2 EE A0 06 22 44 A5 5D 3C 08 57 20 37 01
A5 5D 49 FF 3C 08 57 20 37 01 A5 5E 3C 08 57 20
37 01 A5 5E 49 FF 3C 08 57 20 37 01 A9 15 20 DB
00 A2 69 A0 78 22 44 A9 02 48 A9 FF 20 DB 00 A9
69 20 DB 00 A2 EE A0 03 22 44 A9 15 20 DB 00 A2
69 A0 78 22 44 68 1A D0 E0 60

[jamesgammel]

Julie,

Edmund at RC (this command center stuff comes up a lot there) said that the only time his command center acted up was when his sister stayed with him for a week, when she left, all was back to normal. He theorized that the only significant thing different was she brought and used her PC while she was there, he doesn't have one.

A lot of people have reported weird happenings with these things. "fixes" have run a whole gamut of things, including shortning the antenna, moving away from an outside wall, changing to a different outlet, disconnecting the microwave or cordless phone, etc.

Jim

[The Robman]

Personally, I think his sister was the root cause, like maybe she was giving off some kinda RF signal!
_________________
Rob
www.hifi-remote.com
Please don't PM me with remote questions, post them in the forums so all the experts can help!

[jamesgammel]

ewwwwwwwwwww, like bad gas carries RF? No baked beans allowed at edmund's house from now on, especially when sis is visiting.

Jim (ROFLMA)

[Julie5040]

Ok, here is more food for thought....

I tried all the different combinations regarding command centers and remotes. I do not seem to notice a difference between the command centers (1995, 2117s, 9910); however, I am testing at a distance of a foot between the command center and the remote. Thus, they may have their differences at greater distances.

I am not able to get any learning remote to learn from any command center (it just occurred to me that I should have tried a device different than my DVD) with regularity. What I mean by this, AND THIS IS WHERE IT GETS INTERESTING, is that once in a while (once out of every 20 times, or so) I can get the remote to display success after attempting to learn a command. However, IR.EXE shows either completely different values than its counterpart (learned remote to remote), or IR.EXE displays the following message:

[Julie5040]

Jason,

In the protocol ID box, I'm using 5A (from the first code post by Rob) is this still correct? If so I think something is wrong because I cannot control the DVD via IR with the command center unplugged (I tried all the variations you posted). Just for fun I tried taking my original remote and pressing the buttons many times in a row and it works just fine via IR.

I just do not get what's wrong or why I cannot learn from the command center. I still would like to know if there is a "reader" which can read what is coming out of the command center...

Julie

[mr_d_p_gumby]

Julie:
The RF receivers used in this kind of equipment are usually pretty crude, and may be "swamped" when the transmitter is operated at very close range. By this, I mean that the pulse widths will become wider or narrower, and may actually become inverted at some point. While this is probably not the cause of your problems, it would most likely be better to operate the remote 2 or 3 feet away from the receiver.

Jason:
It's possible that the RF receiver has some crude form of AGC, or at least that the data is AC-coupled at some point, so what may be happening is that the first part of the signal is being distorted such that the DVD rejects it. Here's a thought: how about modifying the protocol to send a fairly long burst of carrier (something that the DVD will not recognize as a valid signal), waiting an inter-frame time, and then sending the first part of the NEC1 signal?
_________________
Mike England

• JP1 Group at Yahoo!, JP1 Files Area

[jon_armstrong]

Some random ideas:

Since Julie has several OFA remotes now, why not learn the signal that is being transmitted from the base station and post the results to the diagnosis section. That way we can actually see what is happening. I have only sort of followed this thread, so ignore if that has already been suggested.

Mike, I think that is a very good suggestion. IIRC, NEC frames are 108 mS whether they contain data or not. So the final off time in each frame is adjusted to get uniform frames. Are you saying something like 20 mS on and 88 mS off? Then the data frame followed by the null repeat frame?

Julie, I have zero experience with the OFA IR to RF stuff but I did have the little pyramids all over my house until I changed to a wired IR distribution system. I found that they were extremely susceptible to both powerline interference and RF interference. One trick that I learned in troubleshooting home automation problems is to turn off the breakers to everything except for the base station and DVD. If it starts working, then turn the breakers back on one by one until the problems re-appear. If that doesn't fix the problem you might try a different area in your house for a trial.
_________________
-Jon

[Mark Pierson]

[gjarboni]

[jon_armstrong]