36kHz IR controller using 3rd party HEX or RAW timing codes

Hardware
1

Hi.
I want to buy some IR controller for Home Assistant (possibly Broadlink or Xiaomi) but I have some doubts if it will match my needs or not.
And honestly I even have some doubts regarding will it work at all.

I have Marantz PM6006 amplifier and I want to control it, but not only using the native remote control codes (e.g. by learning native IR codes using Broadlinkā€™s built in receiver).
The main issue is that Marantz uses non-standart frequency ā€“ 36kHz instead of 38kHz.

I found Excel file with Marantz HEX codes for their various devices and many of them work fine for my amp as well. For example:

  • separate commands for TURN ON and OFF (not only toggle as native remote works)
  • separate commands for MUTE ON/OFF
  • switch directly to coaxial input etc.

I already did some research and small draft implementation on ESP32 with 36kHz LED using IRremoteESP8266 library.
I started this DIY with ESP32 because I read on some old forum that Marantzā€™s back panel remote input uses same signals as remote LED (but On and Off LED timings are inverted), but it didnā€™t work for me, although the device itself works using IR control via MQTT.

esp32_36khz_led
esp32_36khz_led950Ɨ950 199 KB

Now I donā€™t want to use this ugly DIY thing in front of my amplifier in living room so I just want to buy some ready-to-use device and use it to send codes that I have (HEX or RAW timings) in my scenarios. Is this possible? I read somewhere that Broadlinks sometimes have some issues with some HEX codes and beside this I see that (for example) RM Mini 3 only works in 38kHz as I understood.

Here are HEX and RAW code example that Iā€™m going to use:

HEX:
0000 0071 0000 0022 0020 0020 0020 0020 0020 0020 0040 0020 0020 0020 0020 0020 0020 00A1 0020 0020 0020 0040 0020 0020 0040 0040 0040 0020 0020 0020 0020 0020 0020 0020 0020 0020 0020 0AAB 0020 0020 0020 0020 0020 0020 0040 0020 0020 0020 0020 0020 0020 00A1 0020 0020 0020 0040 0020 0020 0040 0040 0040 0020 0020 0020 0020 0020 0020 0020 0020 0020 0020 04B0

RAW timings:
872, 872, 872, 872, 872, 872, 1745, 872, 872, 872, 872, 872, 872, 4389, 872, 872, 872, 1745, 872, 872, 1745, 1745, 1745, 872, 872, 872, 872, 872, 872, 872, 872, 872, 872, 8913, 872, 872, 872, 872, 872, 872, 1745, 872, 872, 872, 872, 872, 872, 4389, 872, 872, 872, 1745, 872, 872, 1745, 1745, 1745, 872, 872, 872, 872, 872, 872, 872, 872, 872, 872, 32713

So the requirements for IR controller are:

  • ability to work with 36 kHz frequency;
  • ability to send HEX codes or even RAW signal (I already have the converted commands);

Thank you for your help.

2

Global Cache flex ip2ir available with wired or wireless networking.

Not cheap.

Works well with Home Assistant. https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/itach/

20 to 200kHz IR learning.

Or if you want something a bit cheaper buy one of these cables, https://www.aliexpress.com/popular/ir-emitter-cable.html and hook it up to your ESP Board in a box that can be hidden behind the amp. Only the emitter will be visible, place it near your Amps IR receiver.

3

Thank you for these options, @tom_l.
The device looks interesting, but yes near $100 price is possibly a little bit too much for this kind of bridge in my particular case :slight_smile:

I will probably go ahead with my ESP thenā€¦
Solution with external LED on cable is probably one of possible directions.
And another one is to buy cheap RM Mini 3 and ā€˜extendā€™ its functionality. Looks like it has enough space inside and I can simply add ESP board with LED into it.
But Iā€™m not sure about will it cause interference or not between two WiFi boards. Need to give it a try and then (if they wonā€™t work together in small box) go with a separate box with cable :slight_smile:

1 Like
4

This is really confusing, but my RM Mini 3 arrived today and basic commands work well out of the box with my PM6006, although I know for sure (well now I have some doubts already :smile:) that the amplifier works with 36kHz and RM Mini 3 only supports 38kHz.
I tested with ESP32 and 38kHz IR LED and it didnā€™t work, after replacing emitter to 36kHz it started working. Now I just totally confused, but anyway Iā€™m happy that it works out of the box. This weekend I will investigate how to send these custom commands from the Marantz Excel file and see if they work too. This will be very cool if so and also will mean that this whole forum thread was just initially useless and I could just try :upside_down_face:

5

Letā€™s clear up some confusion you may have.

The LEDs are not rated for frequencies like 36 or 38kHz, they are rated for emitted carrier IR wavelength, like 950nm and 850nm. All of the IR LEDs, no matter what the carrier wavelength emitted, will be able to emit at 36 or 38KHz on/off pulse frequencies.

The frequency of the emitted code (e.g. 38kHz) carried by the emitted IR (e.g. 850nm) is controlled by the application generating the codes.

The wavelength of IR light emitted by the LED depends on the part number.

Iā€™m guessing one of your LEDs is mismatched in wavelength. e.g. The detector responds to pulses of 850nm light but you were using a 950nm LED.

1 Like
6

Thanks again Tom for pointing me to this. You are completely right. This was really my stupidness :smile:
Now I remember that I had to buy specific 36 kHz IR receiver (demodulator) to learn codes from native remote control. Same problem appeared with Broadlink RM Mini 3 ā€“ it can send codes from its existing database, but cannot learn codes from Marantz remote because of frequency difference.

Just want to sum up this topic as I finally managed to make it work.
Here is the question on the forum that has solution that contains python script for converting from either HEX or raw duration pulses to Broadlinkā€™s base64. This worked for me.
Also I should mention, that I must use old Broadlink android app (e-Control) without Broadlink account to add device into my network. And in HA config I needed to remove the type (it was specified as an optional in integration doc, but in fact this didnā€™t work with provided type for me).

P.S. If someone else will need more Marantz IR codes than native remote provides ā€“ there are 2 Excel sheets (and one PDF) with Marantz HEX IR codes available on the internet (at least this is all that I could found). Itā€™s not that easy to find, so it can be googled using this request: ā€œmarantz hex {hex_code_from_my_initial_question}ā€ :slightly_smiling_face:

7

Hi Alexey,

Perhaps you can help me. I have a similar challenge but havenā€™t managed to solve it. I got the RC5 codes for my device and used IrScrutinizer to convert RC5 to base64 codes for the Broadlink mini but it still doesnā€™t work. Any good advice?

RC5 Remote Control codes:
Device code: 15 (decimal) ā€“ not assigned device
Volume up: 16 (decimal)
Volume down: 17 (decimal)
Mute: 13 (decimal)
Power: 12 (decimal)
Phase: 40 (decimal)
Filter: 41 (decimal)
Firewire: 42 (decimal)
XLR: 43 (decimal)
RCA: 44 (decimal)
Toslink: 45 (decimal)