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Love it - I dream of an alternate universe in which IoT was done with infrared, RCA jacks, and 8 bit microcontrollers instead of JSON, Docker and billion-transi

by pjs_ 5y ago

Love it - I dream of an alternate universe in which IoT was done with infrared, RCA jacks, and 8 bit microcontrollers instead of JSON, Docker and billion-transistor SoCs. I have a raspberry pi set up with an infrared LED to control my old NAD amplifier. It's from the time period where no stereo amplifier was complete without a motorized volume knob, so the knob physically turns when I control it from my phone over HTTP - to me this is much cooler than a touch screen or voice control :)

vladvasiliu 5y ago
Rotel still allows this, at least on models a few years old. I have a RA-1572 amplifier, and it's a joy to work with. Plug a serial or a network cable, and start talking to it. It supports the same commands over RS232 or TCP (basic TCP, not HTTP or what have you – just don't open too many connections too often, or it will choke). They also support IR IN / OUT, but I've never attempted to work with those. I seem to remember that the IR codes were documented somewhere, but I can't remember where I've seen that (I've never needed them). The protocol is documented here: https://www.rotel.com/manuals-resources/rs232-protocols https://www.rotel.com/manuals-resources/rs232-protocols. The TCP commands are the same as the RS232 commands, the docs say on which port it listens, etc. I've started building a "remote control" to an amp to be used from an I3 bar: https://github.com/vladvasiliu/amp-mate-rs https://github.com/vladvasiliu/amp-mate-rs (older Python version which doesn't do much: https://github.com/vladvasiliu/amp_mate https://github.com/vladvasiliu/amp_mate).
- mongol 5y ago
  I created a Home Assistant plugin for the RS232 protocol: https://github.com/claes/homeassistant-rotelserial https://github.com/claes/homeassistant-rotelserial
asjo 5y ago
> I have a raspberry pi set up with an infrared LED to control my old NAD amplifier. Interesting - could you share a little about how you have done this? I have a Raspberry Pi that I use as a jukebox, connected to a NAD C320BEE amplifier, and I would like the jukebox to turn the amplifier and (active) loudspeakers on, using a usb-controlled relay, when I unpause mpd and off when I pause it, but unfortunately when the amplifier is powered on, it is humming until a source is physically selected!
- pjs_ 5y ago
  Yeah absolutely - the last two images on this page show the hardware: https://peteshadbolt.co.uk/writing/rpi/ https://peteshadbolt.co.uk/writing/rpi/ It works great, just bouncing IR off the walls in my room to put the amp on standby, change volume, switch input, mute etc etc. The software side is done with LIRC. LIRC is very old and a bit awkward to get running but it works. Send me an email at hello @ peteshadbolt.co.uk and I can share the LIRC configuration as well as an Ansible role to install LIRC etc.

by pjs_ 5y ago

vladvasiliu 5y ago

Rotel still allows this, at least on models a few years old. I have a RA-1572 amplifier, and it's a joy to work with. Plug a serial or a network cable, and start talking to it. It supports the same commands over RS232 or TCP (basic TCP, not HTTP or what have you – just don't open too many connections too often, or it will choke). They also support IR IN / OUT, but I've never attempted to work with those. I seem to remember that the IR codes were documented somewhere, but I can't remember where I've seen that (I've never needed them). The protocol is documented here: https://www.rotel.com/manuals-resources/rs232-protocols https://www.rotel.com/manuals-resources/rs232-protocols. The TCP commands are the same as the RS232 commands, the docs say on which port it listens, etc. I've started building a "remote control" to an amp to be used from an I3 bar: https://github.com/vladvasiliu/amp-mate-rs https://github.com/vladvasiliu/amp-mate-rs (older Python version which doesn't do much: https://github.com/vladvasiliu/amp_mate https://github.com/vladvasiliu/amp_mate).

mongol 5y ago
I created a Home Assistant plugin for the RS232 protocol: https://github.com/claes/homeassistant-rotelserial https://github.com/claes/homeassistant-rotelserial

asjo 5y ago

> I have a raspberry pi set up with an infrared LED to control my old NAD amplifier. Interesting - could you share a little about how you have done this? I have a Raspberry Pi that I use as a jukebox, connected to a NAD C320BEE amplifier, and I would like the jukebox to turn the amplifier and (active) loudspeakers on, using a usb-controlled relay, when I unpause mpd and off when I pause it, but unfortunately when the amplifier is powered on, it is humming until a source is physically selected!

pjs_ 5y ago
Yeah absolutely - the last two images on this page show the hardware: https://peteshadbolt.co.uk/writing/rpi/ https://peteshadbolt.co.uk/writing/rpi/ It works great, just bouncing IR off the walls in my room to put the amp on standby, change volume, switch input, mute etc etc. The software side is done with LIRC. LIRC is very old and a bit awkward to get running but it works. Send me an email at hello @ peteshadbolt.co.uk and I can share the LIRC configuration as well as an Ansible role to install LIRC etc.