I assume you’re being sarcastic? 
I’ve seen a number of positive comments about these around the forum.
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But the issue isn’t on the receiver end of things; it works just fine with the cheap coin cell powered remote that came with them. Because they are candles, the receiver is imbedded inside without a ‘window’ as is common on electronics and appears to just be relying on the entire candle getting ‘lit up’ by the IR signal for it to register it.
As above, because they are candles, modifying the receiver isn’t really an option. It’s certainly not something I’m open to as it would ruin the aesthetic and probably damage the cheap plastic housing in the process, since they aren’t designed to be opened up.
I’m familiar with RAW codes but would prefer to avoid, and honestly I don’t think it’s likely to make any difference. The standard codes (I think it’s NEC) I deciphered and setup are working perfectly, just with limited range. The actual codes are sequential through the various buttons, which in my mind makes it even more likely they are the ‘actual’ codes the remote is sending.
Thanks for the tip!
I was hoping to just get a ‘sensor’ and use my own ESP but that could also work. I was also kind of hoping for an Amazon purchase so I could get it sooner (got the candles mainly for the holidays). I may go this route if I don’t have any other luck in the next week or so.
LEDs are current devices. The voltage is not as important if the power supply can deliver the current. If the voltage is greater than the forward voltage (Vf), the LED will start conducting and emit light. The current directly affects the brightness of the LED. As the current increases, the brightness of the LED increases. A 20mA LED driven at 5V with a 250-Ohm current limiting resistor will be the same brightness as the same LED driven by 12V and a 600-Ohm current limiting resistor. 20mA.
The only way to increase the range off your emitter is to increase the illumination. You can do this a few ways.
- More LEDs. Drive them in parallel. If your power source can handle the current, this will increase your illumination.
- More current. The forward current limit (Ifwd) is the constant current limit. This is the current that you can’t exceed if the LED is on full time. But, look for a specification of the Peak Pulse Current. It is usually 10X Ifwd. So the series resistor for an LED with an iFwd of 20mA should be calculated for the Peak Pulse Current or 10X 20mA, whichever is higher.
IR Repeaters that increase the range of an IR remote use several IR LEDs to flood a room with light.
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I seem to recall a lot of people struggling with standalone sensors. Especially when trying to work with just a ir led.
I think the modules are better equipped with other components.
That said, I would have thought the sensors like you linked would also have a thoughtful layout.
I’m sure you could find them on Amazon too.
People are also chip swapping or cloudcutting cheap Tuya devices.
I’m using Broadlink RM4 mini as transmitter. Not expensive, nice design, has HA integration and works with good range
Sadly not.
I have a few of such candles too and they had actually written on the package that they should be turned on like an real candle with a lighter, as if it was something special.
And I have three sets of three candles each, so nine in all, and they all nine have the same turn on and off signal.
I tried that with the ones I have and saw essentially no change in distance/performance.
That’s exactly why I got them instead of just the individual sensors; however the receivers had terrible range as well so I suspect the transmitter may also be a tad deficient. The problem is they all basically look the same and I don’t feel like buying what looks like more of the same.
That’s very intriguing… While I love having full-control via ESPHome, that price is very reasonable (and it’s currently on-sale too). I might just grab one and see if it works; worst case I can return it. Thanks!
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Oh. That’s definitely not the case with mine. They all use the same signals/remote and I can turn them all on simultaneously from across the room with the provided remote. I’m just wanting to emulate this via HA.
Then, hack the remote. Also, I have two of the Broadlink Minis and they work fine. It’s a bit convoluted to record the IR commands, but it works well after that.
That sounds more like a poor IR transmitter or one with the wrong frequency then.
That was my third ‘option’, but I’ve been trying to avoid going down that rabbit hole. Having done IR projects before, I figured ‘this will take less than an hour at most’ and was all I was initially interested in putting into it, but as these things always go…
I grabbed one of the Broadlink devices for $20 and it should come in a few days so hopefully it will work. Honestly, I’d be spending half that making my own and I’m guessing it will do a better job of lighting up the whole room than anything I would have made.
That’s been my assumption from the beginning, it’s just they all look the same and I didn’t feel like buying more of the same in the hopes that they work better. My last project when I had issues with the receiver, someone had a specific one they had good luck with so I bought it and it solved all my issues.
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Where? I could use another one.
Amazon has them on a Black Friday sale.
BroadLink RM4 mini for the win! Worked so well I ended up getting more candles and another unit so I could do the same in another room.
It still takes some testing to locate both the Broadlink and the candles to get them to reliability see the signal, but it pretty easily covers entire rooms of my house.
Rolling your own device makes sense if you have some more complex things you want to do (which I’ve done in the past) and can locate the transmitter near the receiver you want to hit, but for simply controlling IR devices it’s not worth spending the time versus spending a few bucks and being done with it.
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Interesting to see that people seem to have quite a lot of problems with diy ir blasters. Mainly range (as people generally think ahead about direction). People reasonably expect the range to be decent (comparable to a remote) but are often disappointed.
Whereas I’ve had the opposite experience with RF. I see a lot of people struggling a bit with off the shelf RF devices (flash a sonoff rf bridge etc), whereas my experience is that buying a reasonable RF transmitter/receivers and attaching them like your original solution is easy and reliable.
I love RF. The signals are so solid and can penetrate walls etc. But not available for all devices.
I also have a broadlink rm pro plus which is solid at both. I wonder if anyone has nailed a diy version?
I’m actually currently waiting for a custom esp board to arrive since I couldn’t find any better options…
Sneak peek:
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I completely agree. RF isn’t something i’ve needed or desired to use until recently and my expectations have been far exceeded with RF. You don’t always have the choice when working with some components, they’re already IR but, if someone does have the choice, I suggest RF hands down, It’s far better…
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My custom IR transmitter/receiver esp32 boards finally arrived as replacement for my RM4 and other broadlink units. Work a treat and the signal is ridiculously strong 
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