Hi all,

I have a customer who has purchased three different control systems (to see which one he likes the best when it's time to actually upgrade his whole house).

There are several pieces of gear that need to be controlled by all three systems.

Rather than using three emitters on faceplates or inside the components, I am curious if it's possible to splice the three flashing sources together onto one emitter head? I know you can splice multipe emitter heads from one output, but can you splice multiple outputs to one emitter head?

I have never had the occasion to try this, so I have no frame of reference on it.

Anyone out there done this, or know of devices that allow it?

Thanks in advance,

avdude

A trial might prove this out for sure, but I would guess there is the potential for a back-feed from one control system to the other. You may need to zone the control with a Xantech device of one type or another. And, I'll be the first to ask the question "Why?". Do you and your client realize that building, connecting, programming & troubleshooting three different control systems will be a huge undertaking? That's ignoring the problems that may crop up when interconnecting all three. I hope this is a T&M job for you.

Interconnecting (as far as audio and video) is the easy part. The systems lay out quite nicely. The dilemna is the IR. We can always default to multiple emitters.

Yes it's T&M, thank God, as for "why" it's one of those customers that we all love to have. Doesn't know what he wants, or what he's getting, just that he needs one of everything and we'll make it work....

Well, I would simply use multiple IR emitters for now, why waste all those emitters when you have to return 2 of the three devices?

He won't be returning anything. All the existing gear from the first installations will remain, we'll just find out which one he like best, then the rest of the project, the "addition", when done in a year, will incorporate his favorites. Everything we're doing now will stay, and need to perform reliably. So far, it's sounding like multiple emitters are going to be the answer, which is doable, the wire is definitely there.

I may be wrong as I've never tried it, but I think you could use a unit from Xantech called a 793-10 which allows ip to 5 control units to attach to one emitter.(they use diodes to stop interference)

Good luck

Or you could try going to your local Radio Shack and picking up some 1N4001 diodes and make it yourself.

I've never tried it, but it sounds like a cheaper way to experiment.

------>|-----\
------>|------>-----------> to (+) side of emitter
------>|-----/

--------------------------> to (-) side of emitter

JJP

1) A couple of things to keep in mind, any modifications that you do to these emitters will slightly change their electrical characteristics. If you are making comparisons of how well the control systems transmit learned commands, then your judgements may be slightlye skewed by demultiplexing multiple IR signals to a single emitter.

2) Also, by using multiple emitters, they will each have different placement on the front panel. Ask any installer and he will tell you that slight placement adjustments are very critical for certain pieces of equipment.

3) If 1 of the systems was feeding back interference (such as a plasma, or lighting) to a component via the emitter, it is possible for it to block out the signals from another system, or even the OEM remote control.

I think that the best solution to eliminate any of the above variables is to have each control system go to a mono-mini female jack (a short misnomered woman that speaks out of only 1 of her 2 faces?) (sorry) for convenience sake or some sort of barrier strip where you can switch between the different systems.

-Tom Visser

I've done it before.... I did an installation where half the components were in the bedroom with the tv, but were blocked by the bed, and the other half were installed in the bathroom closet...

I used one Xantech target, two 'brains', one 9 volt, the other 12 volt... I got power for the target from the 12v emitter which was in the closet, and tapped in the 9v brain for the bedroom components in the 'ground' and 'signal' spots, leaving the 9v pole open...

Works like a charm.

It may not fit your application, but this example shows that it can be done :)

These circumstances are a bit different but there is a similar ganging of two IR outputs to a single emitter when you used a six zone Elan Z630 which worked well. The Elan piece has changed and it is done differently now but it worked reliably for two outputs to 1 emitter. Will it work with 3 and disimilar equipment? Thats why we should charge the big bucks. So we can do the custom thing and find out.

I've used this method successfully before, when inter-mixing Xantech, Niles Audio, Crestron, and Channel Plus IR components.

However, for it to work, the different systems must be "electrically compatible". *Most* are, but some aren't -- it will depend on the brands you're using...

I have tried mixing several systems in the past and found the most reliable way is to use a xantech system as the base control system and stick the emitters from the other system onto an extra xantech eye. This also electrically isolates everyone from each other and you can use one emitter per component.

Diodes are the way. We use them consistantly when sharing control of gear between local / distributed sytems.

J

Diodes are the way. We use them consistantly when sharing control of gear between local / distributed systems.

J

Is there a reason you did not tell us which three control systems are being used? I always find it easier to respond to questions like this when I have an idea what quirks might appear by knowing what equipment is being used.

One note of caution -- my experience is that the Niles IRP stuff should not work if you ever connect the LED (-) to the Niles power (-). The portion of the Niles circuit that actually injects the signal into the LED is between the LED (-) and the power (-). If you hook the LED (-)s together, it might work, but if the LED (-) connection ever gets tied into the Niles power (-), the LEDs will simply be on all the time.