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General Remote Questions » Questions around remotely controlling an amplifier

Author: davetcc
07/11/2020 17:08:29
In this topic we discuss the possible methods for remote control of an amplifier, based on issue #105 in tcMenu repo. I can see a few initial options:

Control of the amplifier using IR with a standard Infra-red remote control unit:

This would entail generating a class that could understand a common IR protocol and decode a few of the button presses. For example, to change channel and volume would probably be the first two things that would be needed. This would probably be achieved by performing "delta changes" onto volume and channel. Lets take an example of the button press for volume down:

void onVolumeDown() {
    menuVolume.setCurrentValue(menuVolume.getCurrentValue() - 1);
}



Control of the amplifier using an early version of embedCONTROL app on iOS, Android or UWP.

In this case, you would include some kind of ethernet or bluetooth serial unit into your device, depending on the board you've chosen the easiest path may be WZ5xxx, ENC28J60, ESP* or HC-05 bluetooth module. Any of those options can be configured to work with the embedCONTROL UI with minimal set up. This is a different solution, it is based around an app that will be released very soon that gives more or less full control of the menu on your mobile phone or computer. It can currently run on iOS, Android and UWP. It is further ahead on iOS and UWP, than Android. It is probably also possible to build a Mac desktop version, but no effort has been spent on this, as with Big Sur the iOS version would probably work there without issue.

If you used the wired ethernet approach into your pre-amplifier, and the digital power lines are completely isolated, then noise should not be a problem. If you decided to use bluetooth, careful shielding would be required. Personally, for my units, I would either go ESP32 and carefully shield the Analog side, or use an ENC28J60 wired module carefully placed away from the Analog side.


Author: davetcc
08/11/2020 09:51:34
To be honest, I gave it more thought, and given how cheap it is to include IR, I would probably do both. That way you've got the simplicity of IR for simple volume adjustments.




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