First, apologies if this is repeated, I haven’t found what I needed.
I want to create a project where I can control a device using IR (infrared).
My idea was to connect the IR to a Raspberry Pi and install Home Assistant to control it from HA.
I have a restriction, which is that I can only use the Ethernet (RJ45) input to connect the Raspberry Pi to the internet.
Do you know what hardware I might need to connect an IR to the Raspberry Pi? I thought it could be USB to make it easier, but I’m open to more options.
The only restriction is that it cannot be either Wi-Fi, Zigbee, or anything with radio waves.
A pi running Home Assistant doesn’t really use direct controls, other than to talk to the backend. It communicated to you via a browser (or api) interface.
Do you know if there’s any USB device from any company that I could connect to an IR [Infrared] and then install the integration in the HA [Home Assistant]
If you want the device to send IR commands, then the Broadlink devices are what most people use.
It’s got an HA integration and it’s USB powered, but it needs wifi to communicate with HA (you can’t plug it into the Pi and expect it to work).
If you don’t have wifi available, then you’ll have to build your own ESP device. Not sure which ESP board comes with RJ45 and works with ESP home, so you’ll have to search.
Other than that, you’ll only need 2 more components to set it up - an IR receiver (to teach it the commands) and an IR transmitter (to send the commands). It’s a pretty cheap and straightforward project once you figure it out.
PS - IR is also a form of radio wave, just like anything which isn’t hardwired.
