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Geeklink IR Blaster - Cheap #236

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arduino43 opened this issue Jan 2, 2019 · 67 comments
Closed

Geeklink IR Blaster - Cheap #236

arduino43 opened this issue Jan 2, 2019 · 67 comments

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@arduino43
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I just reprogrammed one of these IR Blasters from AliExpress with ESP8266-HTTP-IR-Blaster. For anyone looking for a complete solution that will work with this code these are a great.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-Geeklink-Smart-Home-WIFI-IR-4G-Universal-Intelligent-Remote-Controller-For-iOS-Android-Compatible-with/32958748327.html

Inside the unit is an ESP-12F with headers you can use to connect with either an Arduino or a USB-to-Serial adapter.
@mdhiggins
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That's pretty cool, thanks for sharing

@kaypohl
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kaypohl commented Jan 8, 2019

Could you please share some pictures from the inside of the unit? And is there anything to change or only to flash the HTTP-IR-Blaster Firmware?

Kay

@arduino43
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https://ibb.co/341KV5Y

No need to modify anything.

How I did it:
USB to Serial (5v)

5v to board 5v pin
RX to board TX
TX to board RX
GND to board GND

Also note that you will need to place a jumper from the KEY to GND to put the ESP into flash mode when uploading.

Pin 5 is the IR Receiver
Pin 14 is the IR Transmitter(s)
Pin 12 is the red status LED on the front of the unit
Pin 13 is the orange L:ED on the front of the unit

@mdhiggins
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img-1066-2

Like this? Not seeing where the 5v pin should connect on this image though

@arduino43
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Like this....

https://ibb.co/smpnfZF

@mdhiggins
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Ah gotcha, the existing micro USB port on there isn't usable?
Gonna order one today and mess around

@arduino43
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Not for programming the board, only for powering the device.

@benlye
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benlye commented Jan 8, 2019

Ordered one as well :-)

@benlye
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benlye commented Jan 8, 2019

Adding the USB<->Serial wiring here for in-line reference:
img-1066

@kaypohl
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kaypohl commented Jan 8, 2019

Ordered 2 :-) Thanks for sharing this information.

@benlye
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benlye commented Jan 18, 2019

Received mine today. Wired it up and was eventually able to flash it.

Tip that might save others some head-scratching - the mini USB cable that comes with it is NOT a data cable, so don't bother trying to use it with your CH340G!

@arduino43
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arduino43 commented Jan 18, 2019 via email

@benlye
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benlye commented Jan 18, 2019

No, not the USB port - I got that that wasn't for flashing, I meant the supplied cable doesn't carry data.

@arduino43
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arduino43 commented Jan 18, 2019 via email

@benlye
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benlye commented Jan 18, 2019

Wondering if the cable supplied has nonstandard wiring.

Certainly seems that way - mine only wants to power on with the supplied cable too.

@arduino43
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arduino43 commented Jan 18, 2019 via email

@benlye
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benlye commented Jan 18, 2019

Also, I found that the device would be come unresponsive at times. I started using the MQTT branch and it worked much better.

Good to know - I'll keep an eye on it.

@mdhiggins
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mdhiggins commented Jan 18, 2019 via email

@arduino43
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arduino43 commented Jan 18, 2019 via email

@kaypohl
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kaypohl commented Jan 20, 2019

Also, I found that the device would be come unresponsive at times. I started using the MQTT branch and it worked much better.
…
Sent from my iPhone
On Jan 18, 2019, at 5:33 PM, Ben Lye @.***> wrote: Wondering if the cable supplied has nonstandard wiring. Certainly seems that way - mine only wants to power on with the supplied cable too. — You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or mute the thread.

Can you please tell me more about the MQTT Branch?

Kay

@kaypohl
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kaypohl commented Jan 24, 2019

Does anybody know where the S1 switch is connected to?

@arduino43
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If you have a multimeter you can easily find out - just follow the trace to the pin chip.

You could also upload a simple push button sketch using different pins and check when the pin is pulled high when pressed.

@kaypohl
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kaypohl commented Jan 24, 2019

I have a multimeter. But I can't follow the trace. I will try the option with the button sketch.

@kaypohl
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kaypohl commented Jan 24, 2019

@arduino43 do you still have problems that the device becomes unresponsive?

@mdhiggins
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Just got my device and USB adapter so I'll be trying this out tomorrow. Keep me posted on any discoveries

@kaypohl
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kaypohl commented Jan 24, 2019

@arduino43 @mdhiggins I've got the same problem. The device becomes unresponsive after a while. Mostly after sending commands with normal remote to my TV. When I check the webserver there are some weird readings from the IR receiver. Also the LED flashes without sending or receiving. Really strange.

@arduino43
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Use pull request that added MQTT. I use MQTT but it also doesn’t crash using HTTP either.

@kaypohl
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kaypohl commented Jan 25, 2019

@arduino43 But you wrote that your device becomes also unresponsive after a time. What did you do that your device stay responsive either with Http?

@arduino43
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It does not using MQTT pull

@kaypohl
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kaypohl commented Jan 25, 2019

Yes ok. But do you use still http without problems?

@benlye
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benlye commented Jan 31, 2019

FYI, S1 pulls GPIO16 (the flash pin) low, so can be used to put the board into upload mode.

@benlye
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benlye commented Feb 1, 2019

I've created a tweak which puts the device into WiFi setup mode with a long press of the button, if anyone is interested.

I have it so that the orange LED comes on when button is pressed. If the button is held for 3s the LED blinks rapidly, then if the button continues to be held for 2s more the device launches WiFi setup mode.

@mdhiggins
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mdhiggins commented Feb 1, 2019 via email

@benlye
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benlye commented Feb 1, 2019

Here you go:
https://github.com/benlye/ESP8266-HTTP-IR-Blaster/tree/geeklink-config-button

I've found it's sometimes necessary to do an additional power cycle if the button isn't released quickly enough.

Regarding the stability, my device seems better with these two lines commented: https://github.com/mdhiggins/ESP8266-HTTP-IR-Blaster/blob/master/src/IRController.ino#L1626-L1627

Need a bit more runtime to be conclusive, then I'll try to work out why. I've looked at the MQTT PR and I don't see anything jumping out as to why that might behave differently.

@CodeFinder2
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CodeFinder2 commented Mar 3, 2019 •
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Has anyone verified that pin 14 actually uses all 7 IR LEDs on the board for sending?

A simple void loop() { irsend.sendSony(0xa90, 12); } for testing (whereby irsend is initialized to pin 14) just causes one LED to blink (the one in the middle, tested using my phone's camera) so I am concerned that we may need to use multiple pins in parallel? Any thoughts/comments on this?

@arduino43
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arduino43 commented Mar 3, 2019 via email

@CodeFinder2
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Any insights, @arduino43? 🙈

@arduino43
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arduino43 commented Mar 6, 2019 via email

@vicwomg
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vicwomg commented Mar 10, 2019 •
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I spent the better part of yesterday getting this to work.

This was not immediately clear to me since it was buried in the comments: you must change the receiver/transmitter/led pins, the main branch code doesn't work without modification. Here is the correct pin config:

// WEMOS users may need to adjust pins for compatability
const int pinr1 = 5;                                          // Receiving pin
const int pins1 = 14;                                         // Transmitting preset 1
const int pins2 = 14;                                         // Transmitting preset 2
const int pins3 = 14;                                         // Transmitting preset 3
const int pins4 = 14;                                         // Transmitting preset 4
const int configpin = 0;                                      // Reset Pin
const int ledpin = 12;                                        // Red LED
const int ledpin2 = 13;                                       // Orange LED

In the end, I used benlye's codeline here, which already contains above:
https://github.com/benlye/ESP8266-HTTP-IR-Blaster/blob/geeklink-config-button/src/IRController.ino

I also commented out lines 1692-1693 as recommended for stability. This did not affect the device's ability to receive codes.

 //   fullCode(&results);                                           // Print the singleline value
 //   dumpCode(&results);                                           // Output the results as source code

So far, so good. It has been running for a whole day without issue. The range and coverage is great. Much better than the 2-LED setup I had before, which was very directional and low range despite all the resistor values I tried. Also looks much less DIY.

Edit: Also FWIW, I could NOT get the recommended MQTT branch to compile. It has additional library dependencies: PubSubClient and EasyNTPClient. I installed the latest versions, but it kept throwing variable/scope errors that I never was able to fully figure out: "variable or field 'sendCodePage' declared void"

Edit2: It's been running 2 days without any issues

@CodeFinder2
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@arduino43 How did you make sure that all LEDs are used? I am asking because when I am looking at the LEDs (using my phone's camera) when the device sends an IR command, just the single LED in the middle is blinking. Additionally, it appears to me that reception rate of my devices (TV, AVR) is quite bad/low.

Nevertheless, are you controlling your LEDs by a single IRSend object initialized to pin 14 only? (Thus, I removed the non needed pickIRsend(), pin{2,3,4}, etc objects.)

That's what I am doing and maybe I am doing something wrong in the code. 🤔

@CodeFinder2
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@vicwomg I think the PR with the MQTT stuff was created against the master branch using an old commit/version which was still using EasyNTPClient. So merging it against the current master branch creates errors. I had similar issues. ;-)

@benlye
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benlye commented Mar 19, 2019

@arduino43 How did you make sure that all LEDs are used? I am asking because when I am looking at the LEDs (using my phone's camera) when the device sends an IR command, just the single LED in the middle is blinking. Additionally, it appears to me that reception rate of my devices (TV, AVR) is quite bad/low.

Nevertheless, are you controlling your LEDs by a single IRSend object initialized to pin 14 only? (Thus, I removed the non needed pickIRsend(), pin{2,3,4}, etc objects.)

That's what I am doing and maybe I am doing something wrong in the code. 🤔

I checked my device this morning using my mobile phone. It is definitely blasting from multiple LEDs, using only pin 14 for sending. If yours doesn't then maybe there is a hardware problem?

FWIW, since I commented out the this line the device has been perfectly stable:
dumpCode(&results); // Output the results as source code

@CodeFinder2
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CodeFinder2 commented Apr 2, 2019 •
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@benlye Thank you very much for your reply and, in particular, for checking the IR LEDs of your device while sending.

Does yours look like this? This is what my device looks like when I add a digitalWrite(14, HIGH); to the loop()function
IMG_20190402_224809

Appears to me that just the IR LED in the middle is used. Also, when I add the enclosure back to the PCB, all my devices are basically unable to receive anything unless I place the IR Blaster directly (< 20cm) in front of them and rotate it so that the top of it faces my devices' IR receiver. Really annoying and, thus, useless for me...

Would love to hear your feedback/opinion on this! :-)

By the way, I've no stability issues whatsoever even with the fullCode() and dumpCode() lines included. But this may also be related to (or a positive side effect of) the major refactoring of the entire code base. However, I also haven't used the device on a daily base yet due to the above mentioned IR sending (range) issue.

@stritti
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stritti commented Apr 15, 2019

I just received a new - unchanged device: I checked, there all IR LEDs are used. Just to let you know.

@CodeFinder2
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I just received a new - unchanged device: I checked, there all IR LEDs are used. Just to let you know.

Thank you very much! :-) Would you mind extracting (and uploading) the original firmware from the device using (see, e. g., here):
esptool.py --port COM5 read_flash 0x00000 0x100000 image1M.bin

whereby "COM5" is the appropriate serial port. I would like to test it on my device to see if it's software related. Thank you very much again!

@stritti
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stritti commented Apr 15, 2019

I just received a new - unchanged device: I checked, there all IR LEDs are used. Just to let you know.

Thank you very much! :-) Would you mind extracting (and uploading) the original firmware from the device using (see, e. g., here):
esptool.py --port COM5 read_flash 0x00000 0x100000 image1M.bin

whereby "COM5" is the appropriate serial port. I would like to test it on my device to see if it's software related. Thank you very much again!

I'll try. First of all I have to add connections wires :)

@CodeFinder2
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Thank you so much! If you need help, just let me know. ;-)

@stritti
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stritti commented Apr 15, 2019

shit, I think I killed the 5V-Pin on the device. Is here a way to connect somewhere else? The SONOFF S20 is quite easier to modify :/

@CodeFinder2
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CodeFinder2 commented Apr 15, 2019 •
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:-(

Can you show me a picture of how your board looks like right now? I am not having the board at hand (I can take a look in the evening today when I am back home) but maybe there's another 5V pad/pin on the bottom of the board (?).

@stritti
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stritti commented Apr 15, 2019

That was also my first try, but there is nothing on the downside.
It looks like following, but the 5V pad isn't there any more:
https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/23322579/50835547-de54ff80-134e-11e9-97f9-2bcf8051dbc5.jpg

@CodeFinder2
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Puh, not good. I just had a look at the bottom and yes, there's nothing like that. Hm. If you have a soldering iron, you can try to add solder to the location where the pad was previously but I am also not sure if it will adhere there.

I have another idea but honestly, I don't know if that works or if it even destroys the board/ESP completely: you can use an old micro USB cable, cut the cable, strip the isolation and identify the 5V and GND wires (advisable to use a multi meter, just to be sure). Then you take your USB-to-serial adapter and connect 5V and GND to the 5V and GND wires of the cut USB cable respectively. Plug the cut micro USB cable into the board. Finally, you just need to solder a pin header to the TX, RX and GND holes on the board in order to connect them to your USB-to-serial adapter as well. Make sure that the GND pin (next to the RX/TX pins), the GND pin of your USB-to-serial adapter as well as the GND wire of your cut USB cable are all connected (same ground). After that, connect the USB-to-serial adapter to your PC.

Note that you can enter flash mode of the ESP either by shorting KEY and GND (e. g., with a jumper if you added an appropriate pin header like I did in my photo) or by keeping the button "S1" pressed during boot/power up. ;-)

But again, I don't know if that will actually work. If you try it, please don't forget to extract the original firmware.

Hope that is clear. :-)

@2016for
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2016for commented May 6, 2019 •
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This is amazing! Do you know of any other devices that can be flashed?

Like Broadlink RM mini 3, or those Tuya thingies?

Tasmota Wiki has a great article on how to use those generic IR universal remotes from Aliexpress like this one https://github.com/arendst/Sonoff-Tasmota/wiki/YTF-IR-Bridge

Is there a way we can flash this library example (IRMQTTServer) onto pre-made devices?

image

Looking forward to hearing from you

@arduino43
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Judging by the pictures you could flash this device.

Just follow the wiring diagram for the GeekLink IR Blaster, its basically the same process (put the board into programming mode and flash the updated firmware)

@CodeFinder2
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@benlye Thank you very much for your reply and, in particular, for checking the IR LEDs of your device while sending.

[...]

Appears to me that just the IR LED in the middle is used. Also, when I add the enclosure back to the PCB, all my devices are basically unable to receive anything unless I place the IR Blaster directly (< 20cm) in front of them and rotate it so that the top of it faces my devices' IR receiver. Really annoying and, thus, useless for me...

Would love to hear your feedback/opinion on this! :-) [...]

Just for those who are interested: I can now confirm that my IR LEDs were broken (3 out of 7) and since they are controlled in series (2 in a row, except for the middle LED), all LEDs on the "outer ring" were off. I soldered new IR LEDs and now all work fine. Chinese quality ...

@s-hadinger s-hadinger mentioned this issue Jul 26, 2019
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@benlye benlye mentioned this issue Jan 8, 2020
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@cnsellon
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bringing this discussion back up:

I ordered a new GeekLink from AliExpress last week and it came in. Seems they have updated the design to V104 (images shared of v102) and they have removed any of the TX RX and Key pads/pins to the right of the ESP-12L. Is it possible to leverage the pads to the left side of the ESP?

If that's the case and KEY has also been removed, would it be possible to still flash the device with SW1?

Thanks for any help.

CS

@frankhommers
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frankhommers commented Jun 23, 2021 •
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I ordered a new GeekLink from AliExpress last week and it came in. Seems they have updated the design to V104 (images shared of v102) and they have removed any of the TX RX and Key pads/pins to the right of the ESP-12L. Is it possible to leverage the pads to the left side of the ESP?

@cnsellon, did you already manage to flash it? I am wondering the same thing....

@mojrs10
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mojrs10 commented Jul 20, 2021 •
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I think i have "incomplete" Geeklink GK01...I cannot receive signal from any remote.
In first picture I think IR recieiver is soldered on H1 but on my board this is empty.
(I have one TSOP1138 IR Receiver at home - if it will be ok)

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