Dangerous Prototypes Open Source Hardware

HELP!!! USB Infrared Toy downloads, help, FAQ

February 03, 2012, 02:02:36 pm

The USB Infrared Toy is a USB infrared receiver and transmitter for computers.

Latest firmware
*Downloads
*How to upgrade

Help
*Documentation
You will always get help fastest from the crowd in the forum. A bunch of people can help, and the answers are available to help other people too. Private messages with support questions are discouraged.

Frequent Questions

Q. My IR Toy was working fine, but now it doesn't connect to the USB port. Is it broken?
A. A firmware update will often fix this. Connect the PGC and PGD pins of the ICSP header with a bit of wire and plug in the IR Toy. It should show up as a USB HID device. Then run the update program available here.

Q. The indicator LED I is always on! The IR Toy is stuck in upgrade/bootloader mode. It appears as a USB HID device and the indicator LED (I) is on. How do I get out?
A. Upload the latest firmware over USB to get unstuck. Once you jump to the bootloader by typing $ in the terminal you must complete an upgrade, or exit cleanly with the fw_update application, or it will stick in the bootloader mode.

Q. I cannot find a serial (COM) port number in bootloader/upgrade mode. What gives?
A. The USB IR Toy bootloader uses a USB HID interface, not a serial port.

Q. Is the IR Toy portable? Can I capture a code and play it back away from the computer on battery power?
A. In theory it could, but the current firmware does support that feature.

Q. How do I fix these problems: incorrect transmit frequency, transmit often fails, IR Toy disappears?
Firmware v22+ has massive fixes, please upgrade. If the problem persists, please give us a shout for more help.

Q. What does the IR Toy version string mean?
The IR Toy t and v commands report a four character version string like v122 or v222. The first number is the hardware version (v1 or v2). The last two digits are the firmware version (firmware v22). IR Toy hardware v1 and v2 use the exact same firmware.

Q. What is the difference between IR Toy v1 and v2?
IR Toy v2 has a frequency detector for raw frequency measurement. It also has a much higher power constant current transmitter, and a expanded breakout of unused pins. IR Toy hardware v1 and v2 use the exact same firmware.

Q. I have IR Toy v1 and the transmit range is very poor. Is there anything I can do to improve it?
IR Toy v1 has a very weak transmitter. You can swap resistor R4 to a lower value, such as 22ohms, to provide more power to the LED. Beware that the resistor will be over-current if the transmitter ever sticks on the 'on' position.

Re: HELP!!! USB Infrared Toy downloads, help, FAQ

Reply #1 – July 11, 2013, 11:22:05 pm

Note: I had a unit stuck in bootloader mode, OSX, Windows 7, Windows 8 all failed to 'find' the device to flash it. The only system that could was Windows XP. So... if all else fails - do it from an XP 32 machine!

Re: HELP!!! USB Infrared Toy downloads, help, FAQ

Reply #2 – April 06, 2015, 03:47:11 am

Hi. I'm willing to buy one, but need to known the exact PCB dimensions (length & width) to buy a case at the same time (live abroad, in europe, so i've to avail shipment cost). Thanks.

Re: HELP!!! USB Infrared Toy downloads, help, FAQ

Reply #3 – June 22, 2015, 08:36:26 pm

Hello, I am having issues similar to those described in some of the FAQs (IRToy isn't recognized as USB/COM device, Indicator light always on...). The recommendation is to reload the firmware, but I can't seem to accomplish that with the regular methods described in the guide (can't connect with terminal via Linux/OSX, shorting the PGC and PGD pins doesn't have the desired effect for Windows). I am hoping that using a PICKit will be easier/more reliable, but when I download the update zip there doesn't seem to be the Hex dump file for using a PIC programmer included (the readme says the file name will be of the format 'USBIRToy-BLxFWyy-DUMP.hex'). Am I just missing it (for instance, will the USBIRToy.v22.hex file work?) or is the hex dump file not included? If it is not included could it be made available? Thank you for your time.

Re: HELP!!! USB Infrared Toy downloads, help, FAQ

Reply #4 – July 27, 2015, 07:24:38 am

I have the same exact problem. The orange LED is on, I assume that's the boot loader indicator? Well, the device used to appear as COM2, but now it does not. The docs say "it won't show up as a COM port", well it used to, and the upgrade .bat file asks for the COM port, so what gives? The upgrade reports: U2IO flash erasing: FAILED. Device is not found. Operation aborted. So I guess this is bricked then?

Re: HELP!!! USB Infrared Toy downloads, help, FAQ

Reply #5 – July 27, 2015, 02:56:24 pm

I am assuming you are on Windows

- put the toy into firmware mode by shorting the 2 pins (see docs) and powering on
- make sure the hex file (USBIRToy.v22.hex) is in the same dir as the batch file
- cd to the dir with the batch file
- run the batch file...from the command prompt
- ignore the request for COM port, by pressing return
- continue as prompted and it should be good.


This is how it works for me (based on memory).

Re: HELP!!! USB Infrared Toy downloads, help, FAQ

Reply #6 – July 27, 2015, 03:22:12 pm

Thanks, I just gave that a try. But fw_update.exe returns:

U2IO flash erasing: FAILED. Device is not found. Operation aborted.

Correct, I'm on Windows 8.1 - the device appears in Device Manager as a HID that fails to start. I've tried removing/uninstalling/upgrading drivers for about 3 hours last night with no luck.

Re: HELP!!! USB Infrared Toy downloads, help, FAQ

Reply #7 – July 27, 2015, 03:38:46 pm

sorry...no more ideas :)

Re: HELP!!! USB Infrared Toy downloads, help, FAQ

Reply #8 – July 29, 2015, 01:55:05 pm

More info here that may help: viewtopic.php?f=29&t=6576&p=61774#p61774

Re: HELP!!! USB Infrared Toy downloads, help, FAQ

Reply #9 – August 20, 2015, 12:03:16 pm

Hi,
I want to know that usb ir toy has the learning capability of different ir codes ?
Actually what I want to do is make it learn code and then send it command via UART to replay the same code via ir transmitter.
Is the usb ir toy suitable for it?

Re: HELP!!! USB Infrared Toy downloads, help, FAQ

Reply #10 – August 20, 2015, 12:17:31 pm

It will give you the timings related to each signal & you can also send a signal using the IR Toy.

However, you would need to write some code on your Win/OSX/LinuxPC, to achieve what you wrote.

Think of it as a tool, not a complete end-solution.


Out-of-the-box, I don't believe it does what you wrote in your post.

Re: HELP!!! USB Infrared Toy downloads, help, FAQ

Reply #11 – August 20, 2015, 01:59:53 pm

[quote author="AnalysIR"]It will give you the timings related to each signal & you can also send a signal using the IR Toy.

However, you would need to write some code on your Win/OSX/LinuxPC, to achieve what you wrote.

Think of it as a tool, not a complete end-solution.


Out-of-the-box, I don't believe it does what you wrote in your post.[/quote]

Can I attach eeprom with it and use it to save the learned codes and then replay the codes via UART?
Though i'll be writing the codes too

Re: HELP!!! USB Infrared Toy downloads, help, FAQ

Reply #12 – August 20, 2015, 03:28:47 pm

The source code is available to download and is open source.

So you should be able to build your own with EEPROM etc with a PIC MCU.

...other stuff might be possible directly with the board - should be covered in the docs?.

Is this a one-off project?

Re: HELP!!! USB Infrared Toy downloads, help, FAQ

Reply #13 – August 21, 2015, 08:52:35 am

[quote author="AnalysIR"]The source code is available to download and is open source.

So you should be able to build your own with EEPROM etc with a PIC MCU.

...other stuff might be possible directly with the board - should be covered in the docs?.

Is this a one-off project?[/quote]

thanks for your guidance.