Okay...easy boys and girls....

We have been battling intermittent operation on a IR controlled electric fireplace.The captured codes are annoyingly inconsistent.

We asked the manufacturer for the source code including discreets and they sent us a document on codes formatted in a way that we are not familiar with.

On 00FF3003
Off 00FF1001


can anyone clarify?

is there any more info in the document?  post the file?

The numbers posted are just 2 bytes in hexadecimal format. 0x00FF and 0x3003/0x1001. Should be fine?

Could they be toggle bits?

Tell us what control system you're using. This might not sound important, but it tells us what the software can do.

What device did you use to learn the commands?
Can you give us the Pronto Hex of the commands that aren't working right?

Also, is there anything consistent about how the commands don't work right? Do they sometimes work and sometimes not work? How many times in a row? Always work the first time of the day? Never work the first time of the day? Work in some particular way after you wait, say, ten minutes?

I'm just trying to flesh out its behavior in case it's not as simple as it could be.

Maybe I'm just being pedantic, but the commands specified by the manufacturer could be interpreted as two 32bit words, four bytes, or eight ASCII characters.

If the commands work intermittently, then I suspect that there is a timing issue. This could be caused by specifying the wrong carrier frequency or repeat timing, if the device wants commands to be repeated. I've also seen some devices want commands followed by their compliment.

The above does not exhaust the list of potential complications. As Duct Tape and Ernie suggest, we need more info. How did you learn these commands?

You could also have some IR interference.

OK detail....using Elan and the captured commands (toggle power) had been working only on the "off" on a macro (cover art, AVR, Fireplace) so the fireplace would beep to indicate command received....not turn on and the turn on when everything was turning off. Codes captured via IR Learner.

post the file that the manufacturer sent you...

I'm not sure what you mean by "(toggle power)". Is this a button on the fireplace remote or a programed macro on the Elan? In any case, if there is a toggle somewhere, you'll need to attempt to track the fireplace status and conditionally execute the toggle.

In some cases, when the controlled device uses a very cheap IR scheme, I need to provide some IR free time around commands to this device.

in really, really unfortunate cases there can be "cross talk" between unrelated device commands.

From where are the fireplace IR commands emitted? If commands are emitted from two points, there could be some interference or cancellation -- particularly if one of these emitters is in a handheld device, you could have some position dependent interference between the stationary and moving emitters.

If there is a plasma TV nearby, some IR receivers are confused when the TV is ON or the picture is bright.

As in when the on macro runs other devices turn on except the fireplace which beeps and then when you run the off macro every device turns off except IF the fireplace is off and it turns on.

Sounds like the codes are back to front but maybe I am misunderstanding what you mean.

"had been" means that it is now working differently. How has it changed?


"so the fireplace would beep" means something is making the fireplace beep; this sounds like it's unusual that it would beep, not that it always beeps when it gets a command


I think you mean "not turn on and THEN turn on when everything was turning off." If that's it, do you mean the macro will get out of sync and the fireplace will turn on when everything was turning off BUT IT DOESN'T TURN OFF WHEN EVERYTHING IS TURNING ON?


Presumably an Elan IR Learner? Is there only one model of IR Learner? Did you follow all the recommendations about learning?

The reason I'm picking on all this is that the reason for a problem like this can become obvious when you have a truth table that shows what happens, and whether it happens reliably, under all different conditions you can think of.

Ok guys....stand down....I think we got it....apparently there is a long press and a short press buried in the document that turns the toggle into a discrete. We have learned the code in several times and now realise that we have learned it in a s a "press" a "short press" and a "long press" that do different things. Now it is behaving.

Cool!
It's so easy to forget that there are long press and short press conmands, isn't it?

Once when a client had a fireplace installed with an RF controller. I located the valve wires, ditched the RF controller, and controlled it with a Xantech multichannel relay module. It was then MY remote!

Could be 8 digit NEC. here is the code converted to pronto hex.
May not work. I cant be certain its NEC code.

On
0000 006d 0000 0022 0156 00ab 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0040 0015 0040 0015 0040 0015 0040 0015 0040 0015 0040 0015 0040 0015 0040 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0040 0015 0040 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0040 0015 0040 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0593

Off
0000 006d 0000 0022 0156 00ab 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0040 0015 0040 0015 0040 0015 0040 0015 0040 0015 0040 0015 0040 0015 0040 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0040 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0040 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0015 0593