Does an option for this capability exist? Basically the opposite of what the SQBlaster does.
I have a number of Z-Wave devices that I would like to control from an IR remote control(Harmony). These devices are not IR capable nor are they in direct line of sight. I want to associate scenes to buttons on my IR control for these devices. I require a device that can take an IR command and send it to the Vera to trigger scenes, my guess is that wifi would be the most likely form of communication between this bridge device and the VERA. Has anyone been able to achieve this?
I havent tried this but it should be possible with a little scripting and/or coding. I say this based on what i did for my ir solution…
I have a global cache wf2ir device. This device captures the ir code when you push a button on your remote. I took all these captured codes for all my remotes and use them in an app i coded for my phone. It just sends them over a socket.
You would need to write the “other” end…that is, the receiving end and map each received ir code to a vera command.
Unfortunately I do not currently have the capacity/bandwidth to learn how to do the coding on my own. I was looking for something that has done most of this work for me. Something off the shelf that I can customize…
This isn’t quite off the shelf but it’s really very simple to do, I learned how to do it following the information on the thread below in an hour. Hope this helps?
I’m currently waiting for my vera lite to arrive in the mail, but I too have a harmony 1100 with the IR extender and I’m looking at finding a solution that will also allow me to control my lighting from a vera lite. I did read in the Luup intro that there was support for IR devices like tv’s, etc. However I didn’t see on the vera lite that there was an IR receiver or transmitter anywhere so I’m assuming that there might be software support, but you’d have to get a USB-UIRT or something. Personally I’m not very familar with Lua, so I don’t know how involved it would be to build a plugin that would support a logitech remove over USB-UIRT, so I’m going to stick with what I know.
What I’m thinking on using is my little raspberry pi that I recently got in the mail and turn it into my IR > Raspberry PI > Vera Lite device. I can install lirc on this little device and program logitech codes into it and write scripts whenever a specific key is pressed. Here is a great site that gives instructions on how to build the IR receiver from scratch for a raspberry pi. Setting up LIRC on the RaspberryPi - alexba.in
[ul][li]Since I don’t feel like paying $7 for shipping a $2, IR receiver I’m going to use an old twinhan remote that I had in my closet as my receiver. It comes with remote and USB IR receiver. [/li]
[li]Instead of using lirc, I used inputlirc which ended up working better for the twinhan usb receiver. [/li]
[li]Once I had configured inputlirc I then tested my setup using irw. Once I started to see the key press info, I knew that the receiver was getting the signal from the remote [/li]
[li]The next part just required me to teach my logitech the key press signal from my twinhan remote. I assigned the power button as the button that I wanted to use to power on the lights in the family room.[/li]
[li]Once I went through the process of teaching the harmony the correct codes I then ran irw again on the raspberry pi to see if the receiver was able to see the logitech remote.[/li]
[li]Once I knew the logitech was visible to the raspberry pi, I then wrote a short script so that when I pressed the button on my logitech it would make a url call to the vera lite device. [/li][/ul]
That’s about as far as I’ve gotten since I haven’t received my vera lite yet, it should be here next week, I can’t wait! I can then test and confirm whether or not this process will work. So far it seems very promising since I know I’m able to get my logitech to communicate with my raspberry pi. I will post more detailed instructions once I get my vera lite and test.
I have setup my hometheater system with Irule on IPAD for IR control.
Now I am thinking of getting a cheap universal IR remote and getting the codes to do the right switching in VERA.
My irule system now is sending a command to vera that indicates what is playing in the hometheater.
So basically, with a cheap IR remote, I could re-assign in VERA how the buttons are interpretted and use my global cache IR-blaster from the Irule system to send the correct codes.
So when I’m playing bluray on the TV, the volume buttons on the universal remotes would work for the TV and when I’m playing on the HT system, the buttons would work for my surroundprocessor.
The raspberry Pi project seems to be fun, but is there no way to get the IR signal directly into vera?
I stuck with the raspberry pi solution because the raspberry pi also runs my xbmc. It’s ran great for me and I’ve been able to add as many scenes as my spare remote has keys for. However, I did find others that have tried other options that you may want to read up on.
I personally have not used that product, but it does claim to take IR signals and convert them to Insteon (which is supported by vera). Some have claimed that it works well for them, but I can’t say, I’ve never tried it.
Kira IR receiver: http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,14618.0.html
I read this post and although it looks promising it looks like you’d have to purchase an IR receiver from the UK. Not sure if it will work here in the US, don’t know if it comes with compatible power supply.
I am using the Kira(Rx and Tx). Easy to get set up and works very reliably! I send IR codes from my Pronto remote do do a LOT of things with Vera! Evan control my CT80 radio thermostat. I also have the Vera run some of my IR equipment. You would need RexBeckett’s plugin and a Kira unit.
I’ve been struggling to find a solution for controlling my z-wave devices from my TV remote control. I realize that there ways of getting this done by running a PC and some special code to trigger a scene in vera when an IR command is detected, but I’ve been looking for a standalone solution for this (without a PC). I’ve created a device for this (powered by the guys at Keene) called the IR Bridge. I have a prototype of the device and made a demo video of it here:
I would love to get some feedback on this approach. If I can get enough pre-orders for the device, I can get them manufactured and we can all solve this challenge!
[quote=“robnazzal”]I’ve been struggling to find a solution for controlling my z-wave devices from my TV remote control. I realize that there ways of getting this done by running a PC and some special code to trigger a scene in vera when an IR command is detected, but I’ve been looking for a standalone solution for this (without a PC). I’ve created a device for this (powered by the guys at Keene) called the IR Bridge. I have a prototype of the device and made a demo video of it here:
I would love to get some feedback on this approach. If I can get enough pre-orders for the device, I can get them manufactured and we can all solve this challenge![/quote]
Is this product available at this point? Thanks!
Peter, unfortunately, I’ve been ill and the website is just now back up and running to take pre-orders. I expect to have the product available by late February. I am taking pre-orders now at www.ir-bridge.com. Please let me know if you have any questions.
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