WiFi IR Controller Besides Broadlink?

Configuration
1

Is there any ready-made, low-cost, easy-to-integrate IR beamer (and receiver) besides Broadlink?

I got myself a RM Pro, but it seems to have compatibility issues with my router.

Is Zigbee the way to go?

How about ESPHome?

Cheers.

2

The Broadlink mini is pretty cheap ā€” if you donā€™t want the RF version. You can build something with ESPHome, but I donā€™t think itā€™s worth anybodyā€™s time, unless you find a project where somebody has done the work already (quite possibly).

EDIT: Didnā€™t see you already had a Pro. Thought you were only asking about alternatives.

1 Like
3

Let me guess a bitā€¦

Troubles with joining your wifi network?

If your router does wifi on 2,4 and 5 GHz, you need to disable the 5 GHz part before the join. Did you tried that?

1 Like
4

I believe Aqaraā€™s M2 Bridge has an IR blaster. Also their G3 camera/bridge hybrid has one

1 Like
5

For ESPHome there is a ready-made IR shield for Wemos D1 mini and compatible modules:

https://pl.aliexpress.com/item/32891173618.html?spm=a2g0o.cart.0.0.6e4a452c5mYmw6&mp=1
(LOLIN is the company formally known as WEMOS that originally created this form factor that got cloned to oblivion)
The listing has a link to documentation.

3 Likes
7

Is there such a thing? Broadlinks only receive commands in learning mode, not in normal operation, and I canā€™t think of a device that would send IR back to its remote.

This is quite common with IoT kit. I have 2.4 on a separate SSID to simplify things.

1 Like
8

I have these, send and receive

but you have to flash them.

1 Like
9

Yes, itā€™s unrelated though. Itā€™s all 2.4GHz. Had similar issue with GoPro so I guess thatā€™s that.

Cheers.

10

Am new to this so perhaps wrong terminology. I meant the IR device needs to ā€œlearnā€ the signal thus being a ā€œreceiverā€, before sending the signals out (beamer).

Cheers.

11

BTW, how about Matter and Threads? Is there any IR device for that?

Cheers.

12

Is your RM4 Pro connected to Broadlink via the app? When I was setting up mine, I read that this could cause problems. The advice was to do a factory reset, then go through the set-up process with the app again only to the point where the device connected to wi-fi. This was some time ago, though. Itā€™s been working flawlessly for a couple of years.

Mine also has a reserved IP address set up on the router.

13

Would this work?

GitHub - Mixiaoxiao/ESP8266-IR-HOMEKIT: 原ē”ŸHomeKitēŗ¢å¤–ē©ŗč°ƒé„ęŽ§

Cheers.

14

Yeah, I did the factory reset, both ways, for several times.

FWIW, besides the router compatibility issue, it seems Broadlinkā€™s WiFi implementation is not really ideal (e.g. WPA doesnā€™t support CCMP, only TKIP, 32-character limit, doesnā€™t seem to support strange characters)ā€¦ but I could have continued to use it have it successfully been setup. Anyhow, Iā€™ve given up on Broadlink.

Cheers.

15

It claims to support HomeKit and is based on crankyoldgit/IRremoteESP8266: Infrared remote library for ESP8266/ESP32: send and receive infrared signals with multiple protocols. Based on: https://github.com/shirriff/Arduino-IRremote/

I wonder how difficult/easy would it be integrated into Home Assistantā€¦

Cheers.