Hey I was wondering how I am able to program the remote so the on button doesn't turn all my devices on or off depending whether or not I click it repeatedly. The same issue is with the off button. Both of these buttons can turn my devices on and off but I am trying to make it so on strictly turns the devices on and off turns them off

You need to setup variables and have them track the on and off buttons.

I believe you need CCP to accomplish this.

And you slightly missed the whole part about making sure the equipment has discrete codes rather than TOADs of toggles....

example hit a toggle it flips whatever stage its at ON/OFF/ON/OFF etc
Discrete OFF= OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF always

Get your programmer to change the codes if possible but depending on your equipment you may have equipment that cannot be controlled with discretes..

Check and see if the devices you are trying to control have discrete commands. Some devices can be turned on with a different button press. For example most DVD and Blu-ray players will turn on when you press play, uverse turns on when ok is pressed, things like that. For devices like that I turn it on then issue the power command to turn it off. If it doesn't have discrete commands and doesn't turn on with a different button then a variable is really your last option

Actually I "presumed" this scenario as a TOAD
From his statment above
Hence the "variable"

The TOAD
TOAD stands for "Toggle-Only Actuated Devices", which basically means these devices do not have discrete power and/or input codes

Remember, you may not reliably create discretes (even with variables) without at least some kind of light, video, audio, or voltage sensor on the TOAD. By itself, the remote can only track which buttons are pressed which means absolutely nothing if there is a power failure or someone presses power on the unit itself, then it's completely out of sync and broken until someone presses the actual device's power button again.

It's been years but once I was fascinated to see a monthly URC email had some tips and tricks article, one of which was explaining how to do this and that you should when encountering a toad. Can't think of any worse advice.

Also looks like the OP has a remote that was programmed sloppy, at least if he's having to press off "repeatedly" to get everything to shut off.

Hopefully, I have only one TOAD in the system. In this case OFF always hits the toggle. ON will set a variable. OFF always clears the variable. I can use the variable to avoid unnecessary startup waits and command strings if the TOAD is already ON. In this scheme successive OFF presses can sync the program with that TOAD.

In the case of cable boxes, I instruct the customer to leave it ON and my program will not issue power commands for the cable box. This works well until the babysitter or visiting relative tracks down the box and turns it OFF. It seems silly to me, but most customers eliminate the sensor as a cost saving measure. Cable box power sensing is always a fragile effort anyway because, if the box is swapped, the scheme is likely to breakdown.

I'm unsure why you guys are bothering trying to explain variables and TOADs to this guy, as I don't think he's even grasped the concept of what IR commands he can assign to which buttons...and how to do so.

It's like trying to teach someone to read, who doesn't even yet have a grasp of an alphabet. Not trying to be harsh, but I think any answers should be tempered to what person can grasp, otherwise we're just talking to ourselves.

And also, his question is too vague. In order to give a reliable answer (if one even exists), he would need to post a whole lot more information.

He seriously needs to play with the editor a lot more before asking more questions. Trial by fire, on his own...and then come back with more astute questions. A damp sponge absorbs faster than a completely dry sponge.

Just sayin'

A toad is a toad. You can kiss it all you want and it'll still be a toad.

This is great info re: variables and why you shouldn't use them. Variables and reliability with URC don't belong in the same sentence. If you use variables, you will have an angry customer. Disclaimer: we love URC remotes...just not variables.

Urc remote + mrf350 + antenna PROPERLY PLACED + variables = works fine.

Most of the time, we are supplying equipment and we work with products with discreets. In the rare occasion where we work with supplied equipment, and some is void of discreets or workarounds, I have no issues adding variables. I put a fix button on the remote which sends power command and sets the variable to true (in the case of a 900). A client will always notice an issue when they try to turn the system on, not off, so this pretty much always fixes any issue. I also instruct them if issue persists for any reason, shut off system by pressing off button on remote, and physically checking to make sure equipment is all off. If it is not, manually turn it off.

Clients always prefer this to having to always go and power on a device separately or leaving stuff on. In over 10 years, I've never had a client complain. I have gotten repeat business and referrals from them, so I guess they are ok with the setup.

Can I accomplish this on the mx900 editor I do not have ccp?

Shafer, yes, you were talking about TOADs, but the OP's expertise doesn't seem to include them, so mentioning them would have made your response more helpful.


Yet it's quite effective. I have seen and programmed many systems where the OFF macro hits BD PLAY as its first command, then ends with a timer that waits until POWER will turn the player off.

The stupidest-looking system I ever did had a DVD player where the only discrete ON was the OPEN/CLOSE command. The guy was watching TV, turned off the system, the drawer opened... then closed thirty seconds later.


I think he was asking for a solution to what happens IF someone hits the button more than once.


It is repeatedly noted at this point that cable box updates always seem to turn the box off, so this is no answer.


Right. And you let the customer choose to eliminate the sensor? It's a good thing you haven't told them they can save some money by eliminating the individual LEDs and just using the blaster on the processor!


Well, first, this is a forum where we share information, and if he doesn't know about TOADs, this is the place to tell him. Second, I've run into a similar issue with a URC OFF button, where I wanted the OFF button of every device to run the OFF macro and return me to the home page. I had to move the device's OFF command to a page, which is far from intuitive.


But you'd show that person the alphabet, right?


Yeah, well, thanks for being on the back end of my bandwagon. You've read my signature, right? The first version of that came about after a documented THOUSAND times people did not include enough information to answer the question.


What's wrong with asking questions as they arise? Many questions can't be formulated until some simpler questions are asked and answered.

As has been suggested for other topics, you don't have to open his threads and get yourself all irritated and stuff. Go back and read the first forty or so posts by Ali Hashemi, where we bashed him mercilessly for his ignorance (because he WAS ignorant at that time) WHILE GIVING ANSWERS, and today he's quite the guy!

That's your own fault for sticking with an old technology. The 850 was good in its day. It's a dinosaur now.

Never used variables and never needed to.