Hi All!
I just bought a USB Ir Toy v2, in hopes of using it to solve a problem I have.
Here's my issue. I'm building an arcade emulation cabinet, the (vizio) TV I'm using unfortunately default to the always off state when power is removed. I have a smart power strip that I'm using that turns everything on when the PC is turned on or simply plugged in.
I had an older USB-UIRT IR device that I tried to make work in conjunction with EventGhost, which kinda works, but the problem is that it only sends the power on signal once the PC has fully booted, and the delay after the TV comes online takes a while, which interferes with the arcade front end loading.
So my question to all you smart folks, is whats the best way to use the USB IR Toy, to turn the TV on when the PC is powered on?
I was thinking than I might be able to have it send the power on IR signal, as soon as the IR toy was supplied with power. Like a default power on program to send the power on code to the TV. And then somehow via EventGhost or any other app, send a power off signal on shutdown.
Alternately, I was thinking I could supply it battery power, then might be able to do a voltage sense trigger from the PC... Send power on signal on detecting 5/12v and send a power off on loss of 5/12v.
All that said, I'm a n00b and not much of a programmer, but determined to hack something together with your help... So please if you have some guidance, suggestions, or just ideas on how to make this work, I'm all ears!
Many thanks in advance!
To my knowledge, you cannot do this directly with the standard firmware. You will need to write your own firmware for this.
It may be simpler to achieve what you want with a small Arduino equipped with a sending IR Led, sending the power-up sequence for the TV when the Arduino is powered up, then watching a trigger signal, sending the power-down sequence when the trigger signal drops.
Thanks Barf!
After researching things a bit more, like you mentioned, it looks like this may be easier to do with an Ardruino (which I just got as well).
After doing some digging on the Ardruino front, it looks like there are some great IR library's available that would make capturing and sending the power on/off pretty easily.
Thanks again for your feedback Barf. I appreciate you taking the time/effort to respond to my query.
-j