In this tutorial I am going to show you exactly how to make an Arduino remote control. You can use this project to combine functions from different remote controls and make your super-awesome dream remote control!
If you are not familiar with Arduino, check out What is Arduino and where to start?
A remote control sends out an infrared (IR) code when you push a button. The gadget you point the remote control at will receive this IR code. To make your own Arduino remote control, you need to first copy the IR code from an existing remote control using an IR receiver.
To create our remote control we need to:
- Get button-code from original remote
- Make a remote-control program
- Upload our program to the Arduino
We will use these components for our Arduino project:
You can buy an Arduino at Amazon.
Connect the hardware
We start by connecting the components to the Arduino. Here is how to connect the components:
Get the Arduino-IRremote library
In this tutorial we will use the Arduino-IRremote library. It is open-source and can be found at https://github.com/shirriff/Arduino-IRremote
We’ll download and install the library as described on their website. It’s basically just to download a zip-file, unzip it and rename it. Then put it in the arduino/library/ folder.
This library includes everything we need to receive and send IR signals.
First we need to get the button-code and protocol from the original remote.
In this tutorial we will copy the “Standby”-button from a Sandstrøm radio remote control.
To receive the IR code, we will use the IRrecvDemo example. You’ll find it in the example folder of the Arduino-IRremote folder (…/arduino/libraries/IRremote/examples/IRrecvDemo/IRrecvDemo.ino)
This example prints the code it receives. But we also want to know which protocol it uses. So we’ll modify the program slightly. We’ll add these two lines to the program:
Read more: Arduino Remote Control Tutorial
