X10 Community Forum
🔌General Home Automation => Automating Your House => Troubleshooting Automation Problems => Topic started by: troll334 on November 18, 2010, 04:59:23 PM
-
Gents (ladies too),
I had a grand plan of using the VCR Comm II to send a "Zoom Out" command to my
circa 1998 Hitachi camcorder. Programming the VCR Comm II went well. The first tap of the icon in AHP actually has the
camcorder zoom out about one notch; so to speak. Any further attempts to send the zoom out IR signal yield nada.
I've come to realize that the Hitachi native remote allows you to keep your finger on the Zoom out button to continuously
zoom out. As well, the time to act between button press and actual zoom motor activation seems to be about half to
three-quarters second. I'm guessing VCR Comm II is sending out something like a single pulse for about .5 sec or less.
Anyone have a schematic for the VCR Comm II by chance? Or know if the RC time constant for IR transmit can be
modified? I have yet to crack him open; warranty stuff ya know.
I've had AHP send out 20 bursts as fast as it can but to no avail.
thanks for any input.
mike
-
Gents (ladies too),
Anyone have a schematic for the VCR Comm II by chance? Or know if the RC time constant for IR transmit can be
modified?
$0.02
Don't know but speculate it is software/firmware timed.
-
Maybe video tape the output of the IR emitter on the VCR Commander, to see if it is even transmitting any IR at all after the first transmission.
-
Confirmed. The only time any I/R signal is emitted from the VCR Comm II is when it first receives an RF command
from XXXeye, remote, or AHP. Nothing sent at any time after will trigger I/R output from the VCR Comm II. You simply
have to wait on that built-in timer to which Dave W eluded. Although AHP has an object for VCR Commander, which
has both Start and Stop buttons, the only one that works is that initial 'Start' click. Having the CM15A send an
explicit On to the VCR Comm's address embedded in a macro works just as good. So Dave, youda man! I'm now hoping
I find a 555 timer inside when I crack him open. Maybe get lucky and mess with the RC time constant...bring it down
to one second before it sends it's Stop command. Then I'll have a chance to make that Hitachi zoom out far enough
and quick enough to catch the bad-guys on tape. Thanks for the input all.