Infrared range

Mesomelas

Hi all,

I have trouble with Homeys infrared range.
Infrared signals work as long as I keep the Homey in front of the device at a max distance of ~1,5meters.
There is nothing between homey and the device and I tried turning Homey around hoping that would increase the range.
I also tried different devices, without any luck.

Did anybody experience the same issue?
The strange thing is that a friends Homey seems to have better range.

Any input would be appreciated.

Ps. I didn't post it as an issue on github yet as I don't know if it's an issue and would like to pinpoint it before posting an issue.

Bumblez

IR range should be a lot more than 1,5 meters. See also this youtube video...

Mesomelas

Yeah that is what I was thinking...

I find it hard to believe, but could this be a software issue?
Is there anything I can do to try and fix it, or is it bad luck and is it a hardware issue and should I return my Homey?

Bumblez

I assume that your devices are just out in the open (not all locked up in a cabinet or something)... so there is a clear line-of-sight from your location to the devices?
Don't know if you've tested if the location of the devices in the room makes any difference? (don't know anything about the setup of your room)

You did state, that it happens with all devices, so it's not a device-specific issue... and you're right, I think a software issue in this case would be unlikely... so yeah, it's possible that there is a defective part in the IR component, and you will have to swap your Homey for another one. Before you send it back, I recommend contacting Athom support, though...

MarcoF

IR range is a big issue thingie

For example;
https://forum.athom.com/discussion/comment/16427/

The IR receiver(s) are interfering with the LED-ring.

rob_houweling

MarcoF said:

IR range is a big issue thingieh

For example;
https://forum.athom.com/discussion/comment/16427/

The IR receiver(s) are interfering with the LED-ring.

This has nothing todo with the issue mentioned by @Mesomelas . He is referring to sending of infrared, not receiving it.
  

MarcoF

+1 to @rob_houweling ;
 
Oops i forgot the "also" in front of the last sentence....

rob_houweling

MarcoF said:

+1 to @rob_houweling ;
 
Oops i forgot the "also" in front of the last sentence....

No problem!

Mesomelas

Thanks for the responses everyone! 

Because a picture is worth a thousand words, I included some pictures.
As an example I'm trying to make it work with my television.
If I want it to work I have to put it on the front end of the coffee table.

Put it a little more to the back and it won't work...
Needless to say it doesn't work at the spots in the pictures either...
I also tried closing the lamellae, still no luck...

honey

I just received my homey so I did not have time to test it but this is a question what I have raised countless times. I havent got answer so far. So the question is how is the vertical distribution of the IR signal.

https://forum.athom.com/discussion/comment/3701/#Comment_3701
https://forum.athom.com/discussion/comment/5935/#Comment_5935
https://forum.athom.com/discussion/comment/3690/#Comment_3690

Bumblez

Plenty of open space... that shouldn't be a problem.
Even though @rob_houweling is right and the thread that @MarcoF linked is about Homey's IR receiver, it may still be worthwhile to test if it makes a difference when you turn off Homey's LED ring...

WathLamers

Mesomelas said:

Hi all,

I have trouble with Homeys infrared range.
Infrared signals work as long as I keep the Homey in front of the device at a max distance of ~1,5meters.
There is nothing between homey and the device and I tried turning Homey around hoping that would increase the range.
I also tried different devices, without any luck.

Did anybody experience the same issue?
The strange thing is that a friends Homey seems to have better range.

Any input would be appreciated.

Ps. I didn't post it as an issue on github yet as I don't know if it's an issue and would like to pinpoint it before posting an issue.

I also have the same trouble.      I did not mention it yet, because i thougt it was not working al all.
I have a samsung television.
now i tested it, i see that the range is very poor.     Perhaps @Athom  can give a come out, if it should work.
0.08.29  over here.
Thankx in advance

0burner0

Got the same problem, sending and recieving is verry poor.

Strange thing is when i was 'learning' homey my remote it worked well, but when I use it in a Flow it doesnt work from more then 1,5m.

0.08.30 here

WathLamers

0burner0 said:

Got the same problem, sending and recieving is verry poor.

Strange thing is when i was 'learning' homey my remote it worked well, but when I use it in a Flow it doesnt work from more then 1,5m.

0.08.30 here

ok,  receiving is a isue.   i turned my ledring out, then it receive my sinals.       sending should work, and has nothing to do whit that i guess

honey

@Emile @JeroenVollenbrock Could you please comment on this?

MarcoF

Sending should work or is sending working?

As far as i can find Homey has only one IR-receiver (some wath bigger "black" "block" on the edge of the PCB near the 868 antenne) and there are 6 IR sending parts placed evenly around the edge of the PCB.

So if there only one receiver, it can make a big difference on how you place homey.
Based on the animation on the Technologie page , the sensor is located on the back left side from the middle;


Maybe someone can test homeys IR receiving when is placed with the back to the remove or the remote pointed at the back of Homey?

fuzzybear

When I make a flow to turn my Samsung TV on this works when pressing test button but when I say the text "TV on" as written in the flow nothing happens. Is this a reserved word or is there something wrong with the flow?

Julian

I can confirm the bad IR range. I duplicated IR-signals (LED-ring off) and tried them in a flow (LED-ring off) but it never worked. Since my Homey has a direct line of sight I assumed a distance of 3,5 - 4 m would not be a problem and thought it was that the signals were not correctly duplicated. But I just tried it with a distance of 30 cm and it works perfectly. So indeed a range problem!

Mesomelas

For me sending is the main issue at the moment.
I tried sending with the ledring on and off without any difference.
(Thanks @Bumblez for the suggestion!)

I find it strange that a friends Homey seems to have a much better IR sending range.
He can turn his projector on and off using his homey which stands on the right closet.
That is a much wider range than what my homey seems to be able to produce.




As some additional info I'm using: Homey Firmware Version: 0.8.29

mbalik79

My homey doesn't even see the signal when I  add my remote (LG). Does anybody know what I Am doing wrong?

MarcoF

You could try to point your remote to the back of homey.

RikPost

Try to hold the button for 3 seconds or tip the same button as much as you can for 3 seconds.
Last option works for the LG remote I'm using.
Good luck!

mbalik79

It didn't work. Homey finds no signal @MarcoF ;

MarcoF

tried different remotes? There's one IR receiver and that could limit the range if the unit is placed "wrong".
So try different remotes pointed to different point just below and around the LED-ring.

mbalik79

I Will try tomorrow. .have to work..;)

Mesomelas

Mesomelas said:

Thanks for the responses everyone! 

Because a picture is worth a thousand words, I included some pictures.
As an example I'm trying to make it work with my television.
If I want it to work I have to put it on the front end of the coffee table.

Put it a little more to the back and it won't work...
Needless to say it doesn't work at the spots in the pictures either...
I also tried closing the lamellae, still no luck...

I've been playing around a bit more, it seems to work a little bit better when I place the Homey higher then the IR sensor. Still I think it should be possible to place the Homey in one of the two spots in the pictures above and control the television.

Some other IR remotes don't work at all. 
I've got a remote where multiple commands are interpreted as the same command when I register the device.
Turning the device on and off doesn't work, not even when I place the Homey directly next to it.

Any tips?

MarcoF

Have you tried to turn the LED-ring off and point the remote at different positions toward Homey and max 50cm between Homey and remote.

And try different remotes of different brands and different ages.

jjtbsomhorst

After some tests my Homey finally does it jobs very well. The issue that I have is not that it does not send the signal but simple that the signal that is being send is not interpretred correctly by the device. My Samsung TV ( ue32b6000) does receive signals and works correctly ( and it does not matter where I put my homey). But the UPC MEdiabox (old one) does sometimes work and sometimes ignores it completely. Therefore I have added a monkey bash flow. So when I want to watch TV the samsung device is triggered correctly and after that all buttons of the UPC box are smashed by homey with a 1 second interval. That does work most of the time.

but still.. IR is a pain in the .. to work with.

mbalik79

@RikPost you're trick worked!  Thanks +1

rob_houweling

I've been doing some testing with IR as well. Using my cellphone's camera I can see that signals are  being sent by homey but they appear to be quite weak in comparison to the original remote of the devices I tested. My homey is approximately 5 meters aways from the devices I want to control with a direct view on them but nothing seems to work.
Either the signals are to weak or the signals homney learns are being sent out wrong. My devices were not in the database so I had to do a manual addition.

Mesomelas

rob_houweling said:

I've been doing some testing with IR as well. Using my cellphone's camera I can see that signals are  being sent by homey but they appear to be quite weak in comparison to the original remote of the devices I tested. My homey is approximately 5 meters aways from the devices I want to control with a direct view on them but nothing seems to work.
Either the signals are to weak or the signals homney learns are being sent out wrong. My devices were not in the database so I had to do a manual addition.

@rob_houweling an easy way to test if the signal is wrong is to hold Homey in front of the device.
I have had different results, my projector for example just doesn't seem to recognize the IR signal from Homey.
My television at the other hand has range issues and only seems to work well when I hold Homey in a range of +/- 2,5 meters or put Homey higher then the television.

I understand that you want to be able to control your device from a 5 meters range, so do I, but it helps trouble shooting if you just hold it in front.