Arduino projects and Python tools for my home control system.

Using this circuit: ,

and loading the IRACreceiver project to the Arduino, the Arduino will print to serial raw data on received IR signals, in the form:

0x12345678 (32 bits)
Raw (182): -27866 3050 -3650 2100 -850 1100 -1800 1050 -800 1150 -800 2050 -850 ...

The HEX value is the decoded signal value, and the raw list is a list of IR marks (positive numbers) and spaces (negative numbers) in microseconds - as explained in the [Ken Shirriff's library page] (http://www.righto.com/2009/08/multi-protocol-infrared-remote-library.html).

My A/C is controlled with an IR remote that is not supported and recognized by Ken Shirriff's library. The original Arduino-IRremote library works with up to 100 mark/space buckets, while my A/C remote sends longer signals (around 180-190 buckets), so I forked the library in order to add support for my remote.

In my circuit, I used a simple 38KHz IR Photosransistor.

Using this circuit: ,

and loading the IRACsender project to the Arduino, the Arduino will send (preconfigured) IR signals according to commands received via serial input.

The state-setting commands (P, M, F, and T) echo back with messages "<Parameter-name> parameter set to <new-value>" (or "Invalid <parameter-name> value").

The IR-transmission initiation command (S) reports several status messages:

• "Error in send A/C command - not all parameters set" -- if one of the state parameters was not set to a valid value.
• "Sending A/C command with following parameters: Power=<pwr>, Mode=<mode>, Fan=<fan>, Temperature=<temp>" -- in case the state is valid, before actually transmitting anything.
• "Success" -- if IR signal was sent successfully.
• "Unsupported Command" -- if the current state is valid, but an IR signal for that state is not preconfigured.

In my circuit I used a simple IR LED.

The A/C IR Analyzer Python script in the PyTools directory is utility intended to simplify the maintenance of the A/C IR sender project.

As can be seen in the sender code, all preconfigured commands are hard-coded raw buffers representing raw IR signals that can be sent using the Arduino-IRremote library, followed by a "selector" function that returns a pointer to a specific raw buffer that matches the current state (if supported).

This can be hard to maintain manually (e.g. adding additional commands, adjusting the buffers for another A/C, etc.), so I don't :-)

The A/C IR Analyzer Python script takes the output of the Arduino IR Receiver, with some context, and implements two useful subcommands:

• graph -- plots the waveforms of the raw IR samples provided (depends on matplotlib library)
• code -- generates the Arduino code that can be pasted straight into the A/C IR sender project

The output of the Arduino IR Receiver should be given to the script with context on which IR dump represents which A/C command, by passing to the script a path to a directory (using -d path/to/dir flag) that contains raw IR dump files. Each file should be named following the command it represents, in the form "Power-Mode-Fan-Temp", where:

• Power: "Toggle" or "Leave"
• Mode: "Cool", "Heat", "Fan" or "Dry"
• Fan: "Auto", "Low", "Medium" or "High"
• Temp: A 2-digit temperature value Each raw IR dump file can contain one or more IR samples as received from the Arduino IR Receiver project. The more samples are present in a file, the better the accuracy will be, since the script averages all sampled signals.

Graphing signals for 3 commands using python IRAnalysis.py -d test-data/IRdumps graph produces .

Generating code for the same data set using python IRAnalysis.py -d test-data/IRdumps code produces this code snippet:

PROGMEM prog_uint16_t uSendBuff_Toggle_Cool_Auto_25[] = {181, 3000, 3700, 2050, 900, 1050, 1850, 1050, 850, 1100, 850, 2050, 900, 1050, 850, 1050, 900, 1050, 900, 1050, 1850, 1950, 1850, 2050, 850, 1050, 850, 1050, 900, 1050, 900, 1050, 900, 1050, 850, 1050, 900, 1050, 900, 1050, 900, 1050, 850, 1050, 900, 1050, 850, 1050, 900, 1050, 850, 1050, 900, 1050, 900, 1050, 900, 1050, 1750, 2050, 800, 3000, 3750, 2050, 900, 1050, 1800, 1050, 850, 1100, 800, 2050, 900, 1050, 850, 1050, 900, 1050, 900, 1050, 1800, 2000, 1850, 2050, 900, 1050, 850, 1050, 900, 1050, 900, 1050, 900, 1050, 800, 1050, 900, 1050, 900, 1050, 900, 1050, 850, 1050, 900, 1050, 900, 1050, 900, 1050, 800, 1050, 900, 1050, 900, 1050, 850, 1050, 1750, 2050, 850, 3000, 3750, 2050, 900, 1050, 1850, 1050, 850, 1100, 800, 2050, 900, 1050, 800, 1050, 900, 1050, 900, 1050, 1800, 2000, 1800, 2050, 900, 1050, 800, 1050, 900, 1050, 900, 1050, 900, 1050, 850, 1050, 900, 1050, 850, 1050, 900, 1050, 850, 1050, 900, 1050, 900, 1050, 900, 1050, 850, 1050, 900, 1050, 900, 1050, 900, 1050, 1750, 2050, 850, 3950};
PROGMEM prog_uint16_t uSendBuff_Leave_Cool_Auto_25[] = {187, 2950, 2850, 1000, 950, 1050, 900, 1050, 1850, 1000, 850, 1100, 850, 2000, 950, 1050, 850, 1000, 950, 1000, 950, 1050, 1850, 1950, 1850, 2000, 950, 1000, 850, 1000, 950, 1000, 950, 1050, 900, 1050, 850, 1000, 950, 1050, 900, 1000, 950, 1000, 850, 1050, 900, 1000, 950, 1000, 950, 1050, 850, 1000, 950, 1050, 900, 1050, 950, 1000, 1800, 2000, 900, 3000, 2850, 1000, 950, 1050, 900, 1000, 1900, 1050, 850, 1050, 900, 2000, 950, 1050, 850, 1000, 950, 1050, 900, 1000, 1900, 2000, 1850, 2000, 950, 1050, 850, 1000, 950, 1050, 950, 1050, 900, 1000, 900, 1050, 900, 1000, 950, 1000, 950, 1050, 850, 1000, 950, 1000, 950, 1050, 900, 1000, 900, 1050, 950, 1050, 900, 1000, 950, 1000, 1800, 2000, 900, 3000, 2850, 1050, 900, 1000, 950, 1000, 1850, 1050, 900, 1050, 900, 2050, 900, 1000, 900, 1050, 900, 1050, 950, 1000, 1900, 1950, 1900, 2050, 900, 1050, 900, 1000, 950, 1050, 900, 1000, 950, 1000, 850, 1050, 950, 1000, 950, 1000, 950, 1050, 850, 1000, 950, 1050, 900, 1050, 950, 1000, 900, 1050, 900, 1000, 950, 1000, 950, 1050, 1800, 2000, 850, 3900};
PROGMEM prog_uint16_t uSendBuff_Toggle_Cool_Auto_24[] = {181, 3000, 3750, 2000, 900, 1050, 1850, 1000, 850, 1100, 850, 2000, 900, 1000, 850, 1000, 900, 1000, 900, 1050, 1850, 1950, 900, 1050, 1850, 2000, 850, 1050, 900, 1000, 900, 1000, 900, 1050, 850, 1000, 900, 1050, 900, 1000, 950, 1000, 850, 1050, 900, 1000, 900, 1000, 900, 1050, 850, 1000, 900, 1000, 900, 1050, 900, 1000, 1800, 2000, 850, 3000, 3750, 2050, 900, 1000, 1850, 1000, 850, 1100, 850, 2000, 900, 1050, 850, 1000, 900, 1000, 900, 1050, 1850, 1950, 900, 1000, 1850, 2000, 850, 1000, 900, 1000, 900, 1050, 900, 1000, 850, 1000, 900, 1000, 950, 1000, 900, 1000, 850, 1000, 900, 1000, 900, 1000, 900, 1000, 850, 1000, 900, 1050, 900, 1000, 950, 1000, 1800, 2000, 850, 2950, 3750, 2000, 950, 1000, 1850, 1000, 900, 1050, 850, 2000, 900, 1000, 850, 1000, 950, 1000, 950, 1000, 1850, 1950, 950, 1000, 1850, 2000, 900, 1000, 950, 1000, 900, 1000, 950, 1000, 850, 1000, 950, 1000, 950, 1000, 900, 1050, 850, 1000, 900, 1000, 900, 1000, 950, 1000, 850, 1050, 900, 1000, 900, 1000, 900, 1000, 1800, 2000, 850, 3900};

prog_uint16_t * getAcSendBuff() {
	if ( (Toggle == pwr) && (Cool == mode) &&(Auto == fan) && (25 == temp) ) { return uSendBuff_Toggle_Cool_Auto_25; }
	if ( (Leave == pwr) && (Cool == mode) &&(Auto == fan) && (25 == temp) ) { return uSendBuff_Leave_Cool_Auto_25; }
	if ( (Toggle == pwr) && (Cool == mode) &&(Auto == fan) && (24 == temp) ) { return uSendBuff_Toggle_Cool_Auto_24; }
	return 0;
}

Obviously, the Arduino IR Receiver and Sender depend on the Arduino-IRremote library (specifically - the version I forked and modified).

The Arduino projects were compiled successfully with Arduino IDE v1.0.5 on my Windows 7 machine, and run successfully on Arduino Uno.

The Python script works with Python 2.7 on my Windows 7 machine, and requires matplotlib for graphing (I had v1.3.0 when testing, but v1.2.1 also worked).