I bought a plasma lift cabinet by Stanley Furniture. It comes with a little car alarm style transmitter. The control unit has no IR or place for contacts. I contacted the company shown on the motor and they said all they could do was send me the schmetics - which they did. Not terribly useful to me as I only took one EE class in college.

Does anyone have any ideas or experience being able to find a way to use IR to control this? I found a post from a few years ago that the poster impled it was possible with this unit using contacts, but I need a bit more help.

We just had a client who went out and bought the exact same piece you are talking about. We had a piece spec'd in that would have been nice and easy to integrate, now its going to be a PIA.

Why didnt you ask your CI guy before you bought this other piece? You must be a DIYer, well looks like you are gonna have alot to keep your DIY juices flowing. Have fun!

Ok. Not nearly as complicated as it seems. I just need two IR actuated momentary relays. I will simply wire them into the push-button switches.

So, can anyone suggest a good basic IR controlled relay. Xantech is too expensive for this.

I found this one, but would appreciate other suggestions or feedback on this - [Link: electrokits.com]

That one looks like it might doya. Do you know if it will make momentary contact? I didn't get that in the minute I was looking at the info.

The Xantech might be less expensive than this because it will work every time and it is supported by a company known to make things right in the rare case when there is a problem. If this unit takes you hours and days to make work, is that less expensive?

That unit looks ok but how reliable is it? i2 relays and an IR receiver and a remote control for a small price? I don't see how the Xantech can be considered expensive if you've bought furniture with a remote control lift in it. Usually, cheap and good don't go together, but let us know, that is a usefull looking unit.

I have a client with a similar lift. The cabinet is made by Sligh, and itr is a very high end piece of furniture....

I am just instructing the client to use the little RF remote for the lift, and then the T3 for the system.

After all, he chose the cabinet without consulting us as to what features we needed to have to integrate this thing.

I received a schematic from the furniture manufacturer, but I have decided not to touch that box. Call it fear, intuition, or whatever... but I see nothing but headaches coming from opening that box...

I agree with the time vs money thing. I probably would steer towards Xantech if it was for someone else's system, too. Assuming this works fine, it will be much simpler to setup for me.

I never agree with the logic that "you spent that much money, so what 's another $300?".

Yes, it says it is momentary. It can toggle, too.

If you want to spend a few more bucks, here is a different one - [Link: rentron.com] It is a bit more configurable.

As far as opening the box . . . If you have the same one as me, the UP and DOWN buttons simply pop out and you have easy access to the connecting wires. Should be a simple solder job.

I'll let you know how it works.

Can you please share where you installed the Rentron unit on the schematics? I am in the exact same situation as you.

Rick...you didnt sell him a RP-6 and wire the relays to the remote to press the button??

Ok. I ended up buying the Rentrol unit because I decided I didn't want the hassle of soldering up the board on the other.

Works like a champ.

I have the Rentron set to momentary. I popped out the "up" and "down" button on the plasma lift controller and soldered onto the back of these. I drilled a small hole in the control case to feed the wire through. These connect to the Rentron unit relays. An IR transmitter sticks to the IR receiver on the Rentron unit.

Here are the limitations:

1. I wish the Rentron unit would allow me to select some of the relays to be momentary and some latching. This would really offer some additional custom controls.

2. If you have a Sony component in your system, you have to be sure to work around the codes since this is what the Rentron unit knows. This wasn't an issue for me, but I am sure it could be.

Hope this helps someone out.