Tutorial: Learning IR Codes With The GC-IRL

[zpollock]

I'm in the process of implementing IR and a GC-100, and like many others quickly ran into a problem with the fact that the GC-IRL is not directly supported by CQC yet. If your codes are avilable in a CCF then they can be converted, but for those that need to learn new devices and only have the GC-IRL, there's a simple workaround that I thought I'd share here.

1) Download and install the GC-IRL learner utility from here.

2) Capture your code with the GC utility in "GC-100" output format.

3) Using another .IRExport file as a template (download from here if you need one), copy the codes from the GC utility and use them to create an entry in your new .IRExport file. The format is pretty straightforward.

4) Replace the hard coded values for repeat, module number, etc, with the CQC variables. There are four places that get updated.

Original: sendir,2:1,11,58000,1,1,192......
Updated: sendir,%(m):%©,%(i),58000,%©,1,192......
(Your values for the other fields may be different from this example.)

5) Once finished, you can import this new .IRExport file just as you would with the versions on the website.

It's a pretty straight forward process, and only took me about 20 minutes to create a new IR device file.

Happy learning!

Zac

[Dean Roddey]

Hopefully it won't be necessary too much longer, since I have one and should be able to get a driver done here soon. But in the meantime, definitely that's a good alternative.

[znelbok]

There is a distinction here that is being missed. I believe that Dean has the IRE, no the IRL

The IRE is for accepting IR codes. The IRL is for learning them.

Not sure if this is a big issue or not or if they are basically the same thing, but they are listed as two different items

[Dean Roddey]

OH, OK, I guess maybe that's the case. I hadn't realized that there were two different things. Sigh... Oh well, that's another driver I guess.

[zpollock]

Thanks for pointing that out, znelbok. They are indeed two different devices, and function slightly differently, but the manner in which they receive data and present it to the serial port is identical so the same driver should work for both of them.

The GC-IRL has a built in IR receiver that is very limited (12 inch range) and selective, and is only intended for learning. The GC-IRE includes a more sensitive external receiver that claims a 50 foot receive range, but it can be overloaded by a remote up close, and is also more likely to pick up other IR "noise" or signals in the area. Both have the same capabilities in terms of the frequency range that they support, and the data format that is sent out the serial port.

Zac

[ToyMaster458]

When Dean gets the IRE driver done I can test it with the IRL I have.