Hi All,

New here and very green (aka newbie) to the world of everything IR. You guys have taught me A LOT already and I'm hoping to learn more as I devour the information on this site.

Here's my problem: I am a high level quadriplegic and cannot us my arms (or hands). I use a Permobil C300 power wheelchair that possess an interval IR receiver and emitter/blaster (not sure which one).

I can program my TV (2 Samsungs) into the chair no problem, but I am having issues with things like my DishNetwork (Hopper), Amazon Fire TV, and HeatSurge (M7) remotes. Could this be because these remotes possess weaker signals even though I have each remote pointing and almost touching the receiver LED? Is there a way to improve or amplify the signal to be received by my wheelchair's receiver?

Any and all ideas are welcomed and greatly appreciated.

It is really hard to try to understand what IR hardware you have and what you try to achieve. Let's guess: Is it this device [Link: quantumrehab.co.uk] ?

You have "learned" some remote control signals, they work with some devices (Samsung TV) but not with others?

If that is true, the problematic signals are likely either bad learns or limitations in you system -- like inability to learn and reproduce a certain kind of signal.

Yes, that is the correct device. My apologies for the confusion.

If the signals that cannot be learned by the wheelchair are because of my chair's inability to acquire the signal from the original remote control, could I possibly program these remote controls into a universal remote and then try to learn them to my chair from the universal remote? Could that possibly work? If so, any recommendations on what universal remote I should try to use?

Also, take you so very much for your response.

The Fire tv has no IR receiver built-in, its rf only. Your Dish receiver and remote are RF too, but probably can be switched to IR. For Fire tv you need to purchase Flirc:

[Link: amazon.com]

My Amazon Fire TV accepts a MCE IR dongle and associated remote, like [Link: amazon.com]. And THAT protocol (known as OrtecMCE) is relatively easy for a universal remote to learn.

The FLIRC does noting but to _emulate_ the MCE dongle, so the only thing it buys you is that you can use another remote.

At least some Dish receivers use am IR protocol with 56kHz modulation frequency; your thingy is probably unable to learn it, but it is not unlikely that it can send it, if you can find out how.


No.