IR Set up - Supplied & 3rd Party

Modified on Thu, 04 Mar 2021 at 02:43 PM

Step 1 - Only use the supplier IR Cables with the Matrix

  • If you need to use a different IR cable for a control system, please contact your supplier to purchase an IR-Opto Cable converter.
  • Using a different IR cable may cause damage to your Matrix and may not be covered by warranty.
  • Our Matrices use a Stereo jack, with a 5V tip, Signal Ring and GND sleeve. Any Mono jack connected will simply see the entire 5V rail from the system go through the jack resulting in an over current situation on the diode and the wire.
  • To safely connect 3rd Party IR equipment use our Opto-coupling IR cable
  • The Opto-coupling IR cable, avoids manually coupling IR transmitter and receiver buds together, provides a secure direct connection between IR control systems, such as Control4 and our matrixes.
  • Our generic Mono to Stereo solution will convert any IR signals between a mono transmitter and a stereo receiver.

Step 2 - IR Emitters

  • Our IR emitter buds with grey 3.5mm plugs have a 38kHzmodulator + LED driver circuit inside them. This is why our buds are stereo (3pole) plugs, T-R-S = 5V – Signal – GND. Our buds expect to see baseband signal ~1kHz, undriven, between 5V and 0V (active low).
  • The other emitter buds are smaller because they don’t have this circuit in them, they are effectively LEDs on the end of 2 wires. This is why their buds are mono (2pole) plugs, T-S = Anode-Cathode of LED. The modulation/LED driver circuits are inside the control system boxes.

Step 3 - IR receivers

  • Our IR receiver buds are very similar to generic ones, i.e they receive 38kHz IR signal from a remote, demodulate it to ~1kHz. Pinout is T-R-S = 5V-Signal-GND.
  • Our receiver buds are designed to be stuck underneath the bezel of the TVs, with the receiving eye being at the end opposite the cable grommet.
  • Other receiver buds might have a different pinout and therefore won’t work.

Step 4 - Global IR Out

  • All the IR signals coming into the matrix (through HDBT link from RX baluns, or HDMI_IN 9 and 10 on neo8s and neoXs) are AND-ed together and emitted from Global IR Out.
  • From Global IR out you can connect it to a control system which can then decode the IR signal.
  • If two IR commands come in at the same time from two different ports (very unlikely) then they will corrupt each other. Also, you won’t know from where the IR signal originated.

Step 5 - Global IR in (aka Control port)

  • This port is solely to control a matrix using IR, from a control system
  • Optocable: Please use optocables when connecting between systems using IR. This cable is effectively an IR emitter bud tied on to an IR receiver bud (but a lot less susceptible to outside interference).
  • There are two kinds of optocables: Mono-stereo: Use when connecting control system to matrix IR_IN. Stereo-stereo: use when connecting HDBT TX balun to matrix IR_IN9 and IR_IN10.

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