[Fezmid]

All,

I'm almost done with the basement (electrical, trim, carpet to go!) and have started looking at remote controls. I will have the equipment in a closet off to the right of the theather so I figured I'd get an RF remote. Then I started looking at the prices and realized that they're pretty expensive (the Home Theater Master MX850, for example, vs the MX500 which I already have in my living room).


So I started wondering about transmitting IR into the closet instead. I have a cat5 run that goes into the equipment closet, and it's right below where the screen will be; is there any way to send the IR signal over those wires? I seem to recall seeing some sort of IR device for the Leviton Quickports (which are the frames I'm using), but I can't find them now and I never read that closely when I saw them.


Any ideas? Or should I bite the bullet and just buy the MX850?


CW

 

[chinadog]

CW,


Cat5 is fine for IR. I'm using Buffalo IR equipment, which is relatively inexpensive. There are a bunch of different manufactures. Not sure about the Leviton stuff though. Buffalo makes a tube type repeater as well as one that looks like a Leviton Decor plate that fits in a standard electrical box.


Bud

 

[DoyleS]

I use the Xantech parts. I have a small IR receiver mounted behind the center channel speaker grille cloth in the cabinetry. It has a small green blink led on it so I can see it receiving the IR signal when buttons are pressed. It goes via 3 cat 5 wires (+, -, IR) to a Xantech distribution block located in a closet on the side of the theater. From there feeds go either to equipment in the cabinet or via other cat 5 wires to the projector, Grafik Eye, Drapes etc. I also use an MX500 which is programmed from IRClone software. Most of the IR emitters that I use are Blink emitters so it is very easy to debug the system. If you don't like all of the blinking leds then you can use standard emitters.


..Doyle

 

[paulb3rd]

here is what I used

http://ww1.onecall.com/PID_21277.htm

 

[Fezmid]

Ok, I ended up buying this for the receiver:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshow...number=182-834


and this for the closet:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshow...number=182-315


I wanted to do a dry run, so took a peice of cat5 and connected the S to the SIG, the + to the V+ and the - to the GND on the two devices. I then pluged in the Buffalo device, aimed a remote at the receiver and rpessed some buttons to see if the SIG light would turn on. Nothing happened, but I started to smell something burning. Turns out the 182-834 device was starting to burn


So, did I screw something up? Were the wires supposed to be connected differently? The documentation wasn't very good for the two devices, but I thought I was connecting it properly.


I've mailed PartsExpress to ask them what's going on, but figured I might get a quicker response here.


Thanks!

CW

 

[chinadog]

Fez,


Send an email to [email protected] . Larry is the techie there. Not sure if you have an incompatibility issue or something on that note. I've worked with Larry in the past, he's called me several times to answer my questions, solve my issues. Tell him Bud sent ya.


Bud

 

[Fezmid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chinadog Fez, Send an email to [email protected] . Larry is the techie there. Not sure if you have an incompatibility issue or something on that note. I've worked with Larry in the past, he's called me several times to answer my questions, solve my issues. Tell him Bud sent ya. Bud

Thanks for the info Bud, I'll do that now.


Chris

 

[chinadog]

Chris,


Did you get this working?


Bud

 

[Fezmid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chinadog Chris, Did you get this working? Bud

Yes, I worked with Larry and he was a big help. I'm still not sure what the problem was -- but I connected it up again and it worked. Only thing I can think of is that one of my wires wasn't put in properly, although he wasn't sure why it would've made that smell...


I have it in my walls now (only connected to one device until I get my rack), and it's working well!


Thanks for the contact!

CW

 

[chinadog]

Great. Glad to hear it worked out for you!


Bud