@cikaybe Assuming your IR Blaster works and you flashed the YAML, I believe all you need to do is to start the log and then point your remote and press the button you want to replicate. The codes received will appear in the log. Without trying it again I can’t recall the exact details but I believe it gives you several different code options. If I recall correctly I picked NEC or Pronto, but I am not sure. I can look into it if you can’t figure it out.
1 Like
do you have a link to the exact product you purchased?
I’ve made my own custom ones 
Will make a thread when the cases are printed later on
2 Likes
I bought the tasmota ir controller from athom.tech, then flashed esphome onto it. Works pretty good for 15€
1 Like
That’s cool, I like that! I forget where I saw it or read it not long ago but, it was the same topic IR range and needing a clear line of sight and the shortcomings of IR. Now this probably wouldn’t be practical for everywhere but this person made a similar device as yours but instead of IR transmitters they used an RF transmitter. So, IR signals would come in and then they’d be converted, then transmitted long range, through walls, up/down different story’s of a house, etc. and then whichever RF receiver that code went to and triggered a sensor state change, it would then be converted back to the original IR code (from upstairs) and then transmitted via IR to the desired device in the house. I thought that was pretty clever. I get that you could do that through HA automations or other possibilities but, I like keeping automations on the esp’s whenever possible and therefore very reliable.
2 Likes
Thanks
Here’s it sitting in the case finally ready: ESP32 IR Blaster (Transmitter/Receiver) - Long Range
Interesting about the RF relay, I was actually thinking about adding that to this unit but I already have a bunch of RF boards sitting around and just used those in the end.
Definitely easy for me to add in a future version though 
1 Like
I dont know how to put this nicely but, if i was an IR remote, id hit it! I meant to ask about the case in my initial rambling post and forgot… Im curios though. It looks like its meant to sit flat like in the photos. Does pointing all the led’s vertical effect the range at all? As much as I do like it, I think if there were only minimal negative effects from the leds on the sides instead, i personally would like that more. Not that my opinion matters here, i’m just saying for the sake of feedback.
Something else im curious about. What kind of testing did you do when planning this? Did you find a meaningful difference between the final number of leds and say half as many? I guess im just wondering how you landed on that number.
1 Like
Why does one need RF if you have wifi from the esp33 already. Is it wall penetration and range that’s more important with RF?
1 Like
I actually went for vertical because it’s the same way I had my RM4 mounted/pointing… But so far in testing I’ve pointed it in all directions without missing a signal.
I was initially planning to bend the LEDs over and point them at different angles until it didn’t seem necessary in the tests
Planning is over-rated I picked 9 LEDs half at random and half based on current/voltage drop calculations
3 Likes
It still looks good though. I havnt spent much time looking into it, but why does it seem like the IR leds that come in something like an Arduino/esp transmitter/receiver kit are nowhere near as good as your common TV remotes?
1 Like
Having done a little bit of looking into it, they basically all use very cheap LEDs. Common TV remotes always have at least one (sometimes 2) decent IR LEDs as well as some sort of cone or lens to focus the signal more
Hi, These are generally Tuya variants. The one I bought is via Amazon India, the brand name is Teqooz that costed me 10$. You can find it here
Looks like LibreTiny is opening up ESPHome takeovers for some more Tuya devices again.
Just got this one working… Code’s there in case it might help at all.
Anyone got any good ideas for improving it?
Theres a button that I havent used, and the LEDs only showing status in case of error…
You want to flash the status light after each command you send probably:
- light.turn_on: status_light
- delay: 60ms
- light.turn_off: status_light
Personally I use a lazy “on” tracker, this way:
globals:
- id: last_action
type: int
binary_sensor:
- platform: template
name: "TV Tracker Internal"
id: tv_tracker_internal
internal: true
on_state:
then:
- lambda: |-
id(last_action) = millis()/1000ULL;
- light.turn_on: status_light
- delay: 60ms
- light.turn_off: status_light
Then after each TX command I run this:
- lambda: id(tv_tracker_internal).publish_state(true);
(or false if it’s a power off command)
Thanks.
Light’s flashing with each command sent now. Probably the best use there is for the LED tbh
Added a bunch more buttons and icons for them too.
I like the idea of tracking if the TVs on or off, but the TVs own remote is used as well. I guess that’d mean it’d often end up wrong?
I like the idea of using a multidimensional array to hold the button details and their remote codes, rather than a long list of mixed code/data, but I’m still getting that working. It’d mean adding more buttons/codes would just be adding them to a ‘table’ rather than copy/pasting and then changing chunks of code for each.
It might just be complicating it unneccessarily though.
Some way to automate capturing codes would be good, but I’m not sure how to start with that yet. At least for me, capturing them is still hit-and-miss enough that it might have to stay a manual process.
I’ve settled on capturing a buttons codes maybe 5-10 times, then creating buttons for each and trying them out multiple times. The one that performs most reliably and/or fastest is kept.
There might be a way to automate that, but it’s beyond me at the moment… Learning a lot right now though, so maybe
I haven’t been able to find any existing examples of doing something like that, anyone aware of anything similar pls?
I haven’t done this myself but it might work out well to use yaml anchors for duplicating command sections actually… My templates are quite long so I should play with that
Here’s what I do as far as a better way to learn commands - needs more customisation for the various protocols though, I just use pronto and sony here.
You switch the learn command switch on, fire an IR command, then the switch will turn off and you get the data in the sensor.
switch:
- platform: template
name: Learn Command
id: remote_learn_switch
optimistic: true
text_sensor:
- platform: template
name: Learned Command
id: learned_command
remote_receiver:
pin:
number: GPIO25
inverted: true
dump: all
# on_sony:
# - if:
# condition:
# lambda: 'return id(remote_learn_switch).state;'
# then:
# - lambda: |-
# id(remote_learn_switch).publish_state(false);
# std::string log_output = "Sony: Data = 0x" + esphome::format_hex(x.data) + ", nbits = " + esphome::to_string(x.nbits);
# id(learned_command).publish_state(log_output.c_str());
# - delay: 80ms
# - light.turn_on: ir_status_light
# - delay: 500ms
# - light.turn_off: ir_status_light
on_pronto:
- if:
condition:
lambda: 'return id(remote_learn_switch).state;'
then:
- lambda: |-
id(remote_learn_switch).publish_state(false);
std::string log_output = "Pronto: Data = " + esphome::to_string(x.data);
id(learned_command).publish_state(log_output.c_str());
- delay: 80ms
- light.turn_on: ir_status_light
- delay: 500ms
- light.turn_off: ir_status_light
3 Likes
I like how that sounds, but tbh I’m not able to read thorugh that code and really understand it yet.
Is it something like this?
If remote_learn_switch is on (done using a button?),
then take the IR command (that starts with "Pronto: Data = ") from the log and put it in learned_command?
publish_state is new to me, maybe something like ‘save and make available’?
I’ve got some reading to do 
and thanks… I don’t want to trample all over this thread with me getting my head around things though, better in the one I started while getting mine going?
Hey All,
I found a simple schematic online for a IR blaster.
I made a simple kicad drawing for it:
Dont mind the fan header
that is supposed to be the IR reciever.
The schematic:
It is based on a wemos D1 mini (this way I dont have to design the usb and such). And it can be soldered closer to the PCB for a flatter design.
If any one is interested i could put the project somewhere on GIT
1 Like
Just food for thought.
I use those cheap ($5 CAD) aliexpress tuya Wi-Fi based IR emitters that use the Beken microcontrollers and flash it with OpenBeken. They work very well and communicate using MQTT. OpenBeken works very well with HASS, the only downside is having to flash the chip which requires disassembly and soldering (or fly leads).
1 Like