If I don't see anything in the Button Codes Display when I hit a remote key, does that definitely mean that the empeg can't receive that remote's carrier frequency? Or is there some possibility that it might still be able to? I know I'm probably grasping at straws, but I really, really want this to work.

BTW, it's a Sony RM-X117 remote for the CDX-M630 head unit. Actually I'll be using an SWI-X unit to get the steering wheel controls to work, but it should be the same thing (I want the empeg to react to the SWI-X output when it's emulating the Sony head unit remote buttons).

The only alternative I can see is to have the resistance seen by the SWI-X change when the empeg is active (to make it give me a whole other set of codes). This would require some basic transistor circuit being (de)activated when the empeg is active. The drawback to this is that I'd bump into the limit of 12 codes generated by the SWI-X, and it's a bit of pain, but it should work. Any other ideas are most welcome.

BTW, it's a Sony RM-X117 remote

When I do a search on "RM-X117", Get the following information:

High band Wireless Card and Rotary Commander
High Band Wireless Commanders use High Frequency Control Signals that bounce off the interior of the car to access the tuner.

That means uses a high frequency band instead of the standard consumer IR band. Therefore it cannot be seen by the empeg player as stated here. It just won't work.



Actually I'll be using an SWI-X unit to get the steering wheel controls to work, but it should be the same thing (I want the empeg to react to the SWI-X output when it's emulating the Sony head unit remote buttons).

No, the SWI-X is not the same thing. The SWI-X will work, the RM-X117 will not. The SWI-X will broadcast at the correct consumer IR frequencies. You will "teach" the SWI-X by using the Rio remote, not the Sony remote.

Actually, I think that they're wrong about the RM-X117 being a high-band remote. In any case, it works with the SWI-X, which is only supposed to work with signals in the 38-40 kHz range. Since the SWI-X recognizes both the Sony and Rio remotes, I was hoping that the empeg unit would be able to recognize the signals from the Sony remote.

The idea is that I want the SWI-X to only emulate the Sony remote, and have the empeg interpret some of those signals differently than the Sony head unit (when the empeg is active). So e.g. volume +/- would control the head unit volume, but track +/- would control the empeg.

Since the SWI-X can control both units, my hope was that the empeg could just understand the Sony signals. That's why I was asking whether the Button Codes Display was absolutely authoritative, or whether it might be missing something.

That's why I was asking whether the Button Codes Display was absolutely authoritative..


Yes it is. the button codes display shows every code that the IR receiver understands.

Bump !!!

Did the SWI-X installation work ?

Thanks

Dave

> Did the SWI-X installation work ?

Well, I did get the SWI-X to work with the Sony, but it was a bit intermittent, probably due to the LED not being easily/cleanly mountable real close to the head unit. So I got a stronger LED with intentions of trying it out, but then I started remodeling the house and having twin boys, and I haven't gotten back to the car stereo project yet. :-)

I was never able to get the SWI-X to be able to control both the Empeg and Sony HU, but I'll give that another run when I can, and I'll update with the results.

When the SWI-X did work it was pretty cool, and I have no doubt that if I didn't mind having it more obvious or my car allowed a closer mounting for the LED it would have worked more reliably. It was pretty easy to install and configure, so I'd recommend it as a product.

I was never able to get the SWI-X to be able to control both the Empeg and Sony HU, but I'll give that another run when I can, and I'll update with the results.

What method were you trying to use to do that?

Hopefully not by trying to get it to learn both devices at the same time. It can only learn one IR command per button press, if you try to make it learn both, it'll just look like interference noise to it.

Theoretically, you could make it work by having it learn the Sony commands, then using Hijack and IR-translate to show you what the Sony button codes are, and programming those into Hijack.

In reply to:

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Theoretically, you could make it work by having it learn the Sony commands, then using Hijack and IR-translate to show you what the Sony button codes are, and programming those into Hijack.

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Yeah, that's what I was hoping to do. E.g. the track+/- isn't acted on by the Sony unit when the empeg is playing (through the CD AUX-IN adapter), so if I could make the empeg act on it then it would do the right thing when it was playing, and it would also change the radio stations when the Sony was in tuner or XM mode. But I couldn't get the empeg to see the Sony remote, nor the SWI-X remote when it was emulating the Sony (which makes sense). I'm assuming it's just outside of the carrier frequency range of the empeg.

Another approach is to use some of the steering-wheel buttons for the empeg and some for the Sony, but that's pretty limiting (there are only six buttons). I could also try to extend the button range by changing their values when the empeg is activated, e.g. by having a transistor alter the resistor bridge values when the empeg is activated. That may be the best solution, but I have a feeling it will take more than a few hours to get working.

Ah, gotcha.