What I’m wanting to to is control my lighting with any IR remote or a URC remote in particular.
I have Vera 2, multiple Leviton switches. I want to be able to convert the IR signal from the remote to a converter to control on or off or a scene when I watch a movie, Etc. I’m new to the z wave and Vera scene and also need help with reading/writing the I D and S XML files for the itach unit and/or any tips or tricks for the Vera 2. Thanks
Bump
From what I have read you can only have the USB-UIRT output a code, not read one with Vera. I have one as well and want to do the same thing you are describing.
Why don’t you attach the USB-UIRT to a computer? You can have the computer in another room if you use an IR to RF exender kit (an X10 Powermid or similar from radio shack). You can then use some software on Windows or Linux (girder or eventghost for windows, lirc on linux which is what I use) to intercept the IR and send it to vera.
Right now I have this running on a linux desktop, but I plan on sticking it on a pogoplug that I ordered once it arrives.
Hello,
I am new to vera as well, and trying to accomplish the same thing.
According to the usb-uirt website, it should be possible to receive IR commands.
I am guessing that someone just needs to write a plugin for it, i contacted the support already about this.
Maybe when i have some free time i can look into it.
Can you give a bit more info? I got a linux server running 24/7 and could do the job, but i dont know where to start…
The USB UIRT can receive and transmit IR signals, however, Vera is not able to convert the received into a Luup event. With the help of MCV support, I created a virtual USB-UIRT device and enabled verbose logging on Vera. The logs show that an event (or code) is being received, but apparently, the function that handles the incoming data is commented out, which means that it cannot be used in the Luup code.
I’m after this holy grail myself… Seems there is no ‘simple’ solution for converting an IR signal to one that Vera can use. It can certainly be done if used alongside a computer with the right software, but not by itself. The monster scene controller can supposedly also work as a bit of a work-around but I haven’t had a chance to try it personally.
This is really sad this is not possible. My home automation controller I bought in 2002 far exceeded Vira in just about every way when it comes to a functional home automation system. I used a Homevision. Mine broke about 1.5 years ago and I bought the Viera based on the website and demo videos. I even confirmed IR capability, but didn’t check on the specifics.
To me it seems like day 1 feature that should be in the product. Simply, we should be able to using our existing home theater remote (like Theater Master, Universal Remote), and send IR signals that Viera receives. Once received, we should be able to assign scenes etc to these.
This is really simple and HAI, Homevision, and so many others do this. It’s a step 1 feature in my opinion. With Viera, I would have to either buy a 2nd remote (instead of using my Theater Master, $800 remote), or use an iPhone app (I can’t stand any pure touch screen control system, and again this is a 2nd remote).
P.S. The homeautomation/Home Theater Industry has come to the same conclusion, against having any 100% touch screen remote.
Still looking for a solution for this, the easiest workaround so far to use IR to RF extender, thus bring IR to PC elsewhere, and do a setup as described here The Media Center Blog: How to control Vera Z-wave devices and run Vera scenes from the command line .CMD
If only IR to RF things weren’t so ugly…
I usually use my Monster AVL300 remote for IR and Z-wave control, but an inexpensive method, other than PC, is to use free software called Eventghost (EG) and a cheap, compatible IR receiver. I’ve only used this method to control scenes in Vera by using EG to send it a command via HTTP. There is also a Vera plug-in for EG, but I haven’t tried it yet. There is a pretty steep learning curve to EG, but it’s quite powerful.
But EG has to run on something. I don’t have Windows PC under my tv to receive IR.
This thing http://cubieboard.org/ seems to have IR receiver, if it has LIRC enabled it could be the answer
[quote=“325xi, post:11, topic:167878”]But EG has to run on something. I don’t have Windows PC under my tv to receive IR.
This thing http://cubieboard.org/ seems to have IR receiver, if it has LIRC enabled it could be the answer[/quote]
Your previous message talked about using a PC, so that’s what I was responding to. As you mentioned, you can use an IR extender, either 3rd party or a remote that includes that capability. If you’re able to add cabling from TV to PC, you might also be able to hardwire the IR receiver to the PC. Hardwire would likely be more reliable than an RF extender.
The Cubieboard is an interesting tiny PC motherboard. The specs do say “1 ir”, but be careful. On a PC, this might be IRDA, which is a different animal.