Room wide IR

General discussion and comments that don't fit in the other topic areas.

Moderator: jrhees

Room wide IR

Postby tscales » Sat Aug 27, 2005 3:11 pm

I am building a complex, whole house control system. I have devices I wish to control in every room. My challenge is that getting a USB-UIRT aimed right is impractical and there are just too many devices to run the little stickons to every device (not to mention tacky).

I do, however, have simple access to the ceilings of each room through the attic and fairly short runs from there to the computer (in the upstairs bonus room).

I'd like to drill a small hole in each ceiling, put an emitter through the hole, and have to cover every device in the room. Line of sight should work.

I doubt a little stick-on is strong enough. Can anyone make a specific suggestion (and where to purchase) emitters strong enough for this and how they connect to the plug on the USB-UIRT?

Thanks,

Tom
tscales
 

Postby jrhees » Sun Aug 28, 2005 12:51 pm

Tom,

You are probably going to need some sort of amplified IR distribution block and blaster-type IR emitters. The distribution block will be necessary since the USB-UIRT does not have enough supply to power a lot of high-power emitters.

-Jon
jrhees
Site Admin
 
Posts: 1652
Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2003 11:49 pm

Postby Guest » Sun Aug 28, 2005 7:56 pm

OK, that makes sense. If I read other posts correctly, I can use a mini-plug to mini-plug cable after the stereo/mono splitter to amplify my choice of Zone 1/Zone 2?

I'll re-read old posts to learn more.

Tom
Guest
 

Postby peterjwhite » Tue Oct 11, 2005 10:25 am

My situation is similar: my home electronics (DVD, amp, satellite, projector, etc) are at the eastern end of a long room. My NetRemote/MediaBridge/Girder server are in a separate room behind the western wall of the long room. I plan to drill through the western wall and mount the USB-UIRT on a bookshelf facing the home electronics. The distance across the room will be about 7M. Is the USB-UIRT powerful enough to do this?
peterjwhite
peterjwhite
 
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Oct 11, 2005 10:19 am

Postby jrhees » Tue Oct 11, 2005 4:08 pm

I fear that too much loss will be experienced by the fact that only a small hole will be available for the (already dispersed) IR to travel through...

-Jon
jrhees
Site Admin
 
Posts: 1652
Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2003 11:49 pm

Postby peterjwhite » Tue Oct 11, 2005 4:18 pm

jrhees wrote:I fear that too much loss will be experienced by the fact that only a small hole will be available for the (already dispersed) IR to travel through...


Hi Jon, many thanks for the quick reply but this could be a problem. What is the typical maximum line-of-distance you are confident about covering?

One workaround is to run an extra long (would have to be 15M) USB cable around the walls and under a rug to a coffee table near the HiFi, but that would kinda defeat the whole purpose of a "wireless" remote. Do you have any idea offhand what is the max length for a USB extender cable?

I think I read on another post that tranmission power is limited by what you can pull through the USB port, is that right? I have an external hard drive that gets around it's own high power requirement by having a special cable with 2 USB plugs at the computer end: one for power+signalling and the other just for extra power. By using 2 USB ports on the PC the external drive gets 2X the USB spec. Could you do something similar with the USB-UIRT to increase the transmission power and distance covered? Or spec in more efficient components? I'm sure many of us would pay extra for a device with extra power.
peterjwhite
peterjwhite
 
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Oct 11, 2005 10:19 am

Postby peterjwhite » Tue Oct 11, 2005 4:29 pm

jrhees wrote:I fear that too much loss will be experienced by the fact that only a small hole will be available for the (already dispersed) IR to travel through...


I just realised that I may have misinterpreted your reply. Just to clarify, I will *not* be pointing the USB-UIRT through a hole in the wall. I will be punching a large enough hole in the whole to fit the USB plug. My intention is to sit the USB-UIRT on a high bookshelf 7-8M from the home electronics and only the cable would run through the wall to the server in the other room. Please advise.
peterjwhite
peterjwhite
 
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Oct 11, 2005 10:19 am

Postby jrhees » Wed Oct 12, 2005 3:06 am

Oh, thanks for the clarification -- that should work. To be sure, you can grab your existing remote and hold/aim it where you plan on placing the USB-UIRT. Then try buttons on the remote for each piece of equip. and verify the equipment responds.

-Jon
jrhees
Site Admin
 
Posts: 1652
Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2003 11:49 pm

IR Extender

Postby paulhomewizard » Wed Feb 22, 2006 4:42 am

Radio shack has a device called an IR extender. It will convert IR signals to work over RF. You can place a IR reciever unit in any room of your house and it will receive the signal from the RF transmitter. I have a large house with to many rooms to count. It would be impossible to control the entire house without one of these units.

The basic trick is to place the IR to RF extender unit by your UIRT so it will get a strong signal. No worries about how well the RF transmitter works. I have a 6000 Square foot house on two levels and it works every where :D
paulhomewizard
 


Return to General-Discussion

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 24 guests