Remote Control Fusion Brain.

**alexgray104** · 08-31-2007, 03:02 PM

Hi,

Would it be possible to remote control the outputs of the f/b?

For example, say I had it hooked up to 5 interior car lights, these lights would be controlled via a relay that is controlled by the F/B, which is then controlled by IR. If this is at all possible, what sort of reciever would I need? Would something like the Velleman K8050 15 Channel Remote Reciever work? The only reason I mention that, is because on the Velleman site it says it can work with the Velleman K8055, which I believe is a similar product to yours. This goes with the K8049 Transmitter (remote control).

Sorry if I'm being a bit vague, but I'm trying to work it all out in my head at the moment.

Also, will your relays and the F/B handle the U.K 240 volts ok? Reason I ask is that if the remote idea could work as well, it could mean I can remotely control the house from outside, or the car etc (within range) and turn lights on before approaching the drive etc.

Cheers.

**alexgray104** · 08-31-2007, 03:21 PM

Or I suppose, to put a different angle on it, I could connect both the F/B and the Velleman Remote Reciever to the relays??

Trouble is, would the F/B notice the change of state of one of the things connected up if used the remote control?

For example, if I had the interior light connected to the F/B and the remote, and then turned it on with the remote, would the Fusion Brain notice that the light has been turned on? Or would it simply just change the state of the relay when I clicked the button in the control centre? For example it was on with the remote, and then I turned it "on" with the f/b, it would actually turn it off?
I suppose a possible solution to this is use buttons in the skin that don't tell you whether its on or off, its just a graphic you click on, which remains the same whether the relay is on or off. But don't know whether this would work?

I would appreciate your comments on this, as I don't know enough about it.

Cheers.

**2k1Toaster** · 08-31-2007, 03:39 PM

Originally Posted by alexgray104

Hi,

Would it be possible to remote control the outputs of the f/b?

For example, say I had it hooked up to 5 interior car lights, these lights would be controlled via a relay that is controlled by the F/B, which is then controlled by IR. If this is at all possible, what sort of reciever would I need? Would something like the Velleman K8050 15 Channel Remote Reciever work? The only reason I mention that, is because on the Velleman site it says it can work with the Velleman K8055, which I believe is a similar product to yours. This goes with the K8049 Transmitter (remote control).

Sorry if I'm being a bit vague, but I'm trying to work it all out in my head at the moment.

Also, will your relays and the F/B handle the U.K 240 volts ok? Reason I ask is that if the remote idea could work as well, it could mean I can remotely control the house from outside, or the car etc (within range) and turn lights on before approaching the drive etc.

Cheers.

The easiest and best way is to get a PC remote. That way you can use the remote for everything such as volume/next as well as use it to control the outputs on the Brain. The actual Brain is "dumb" in the sense that it cannot make decisions. It relies on the PC to processes what it wants to do. It is just a slave to the PC allowing for easy outputs for the car/home/robotic projects.

Also the relays we sell can handle 25A at 250VAC, or 23A at 277VAC, or 25A at 110VAC-120VAC, or 25A at 12VDC. So the relays are more than suitable for car and home use.

Originally Posted by alexgray104

Or I suppose, to put a different angle on it, I could connect both the F/B and the Velleman Remote Reciever to the relays??

Trouble is, would the F/B notice the change of state of one of the things connected up if used the remote control?

For example, if I had the interior light connected to the F/B and the remote, and then turned it on with the remote, would the Fusion Brain notice that the light has been turned on? Or would it simply just change the state of the relay when I clicked the button in the control centre? For example it was on with the remote, and then I turned it "on" with the f/b, it would actually turn it off?
I suppose a possible solution to this is use buttons in the skin that don't tell you whether its on or off, its just a graphic you click on, which remains the same whether the relay is on or off. But don't know whether this would work?

I would appreciate your comments on this, as I don't know enough about it.

Cheers.

Well you could connect them in parallel, but it would be a little odd the way that it would work. If the velleman was closed turning on the output, and the brain was not, the output would be on. Now through the brain software, it doesnt matter anymore since no matter the state of the brain's relay, the output will always be on. I am not sure if you know the "logical OR" but it works like this:

So the only time the output would be off is when both are off. If either is on then both will be on.

The other way is to connect in series, but you dont want that either because the control would be through the remote, but the "switch" so speak would be through the brain. Imagine you had a lamp with one of those switches on the cord. You rotate the wheel it comes on, rotate again it goes off. Now you plug that into a wall socket that is controlled by a light switch on the wall. So when you flip the switch, that outlet gets power, when you flip it off, no power. So if the wall outlet has power (Fusion Brain) then you can control the lamp (output) via its wheel switch (Velleman) and make it go on and off. If you turn off the outlet's power, it doesnt matter what state that rocker wheel is in, the lamp will go off.

So the best way is to let the PC/Brain combo decide when to turn the relay on and off, and control the PC through a remote. They can be had pretty cheap lots of places. Girder would be a good program to intercept the remote button presses.

**alexgray104** · 08-31-2007, 05:14 PM

Ah thats excellent, thanks very much for the quick response.

So what you're saying is, I could buy one of these "Media Center" remote controls and recievers, from a place such as Ebuyer (not sure if you still have that in the US, but you used to).

And then once I have the reciever hooked up to the PC and drivers installed etc, Girder will program the buttons on the remote to do what I want?

For example instead of the "1" button being used to change to channel 1, it would turn on Relay 1 (via F/B) instead?

Sorry for all the questions....

Cheers.

**2k1Toaster** · 08-31-2007, 05:18 PM

Yes that is how it will be. You would need to get girder to send to the program which isnt done yet but should be within a week or two.

As for the actual remote, pretty much any remote except the MCE remote. The MCE remote is tied directly and only to Media Center's Interface.

**alexgray104** · 08-31-2007, 05:36 PM

Ah right, I'll have to make sure not to get one of those then. Is it just one brand to look out for, or do I have to avoid all "MCE" ones and just get one of the ones that usually come bundled with TV-Tuners.

On another sort of related note ('remote' control), I think I might have asked you this before, but is it possibe to use non-latching switches as well as the fusion-brain. For example, in a minivan, you have the screen with the fusion control centre software running on it at the front, for the driver and passenger to use, but what if a passenger in the back wanted to be able to turn lights on or off as well? I thought you could just put the relay in parallel with a "normal" switch and then have dual control, but it wouldn't give either switch dominance over the other. I.E the driver wouldn't have complete control over that rear light if someone else had flicked the switch in the back and it was getting juice from that.
So, would it work if you put a non-latching push switch on one of the sensor inputs? And then have that control the F/B, and therefore the relay controlling the light? And because its non-latching, the F/B doesn't lose control?

Cheers.

**greenman100** · 09-02-2007, 02:04 PM

Originally Posted by alexgray104

.
So, would it work if you put a non-latching push switch on one of the sensor inputs? And then have that control the F/B, and therefore the relay controlling the light? And because its non-latching, the F/B doesn't lose control?

Cheers.

Yes, That would work.

**alexgray104** · 09-02-2007, 03:31 PM

Originally Posted by greenman100

Yes, That would work.

Thats brilliant, thanks. At the rate the install is going, I'll be ordering a FB around September 15th I think, so I'll probably be picking your brains around that point for a how-to on getting these switches to work!!

So if I designed a skin, I could just leave these inputs out of the design and they wouldn't show up or anything, but would still work in the background? And just have like the temp sensor actually showing up in the software.

Cheers,

Alex

**2k1Toaster** · 09-05-2007, 01:01 PM

Originally Posted by alexgray104

So if I designed a skin, I could just leave these inputs out of the design and they wouldn't show up or anything, but would still work in the background? And just have like the temp sensor actually showing up in the software.

Cheers,

Alex

Set the page number to "-1". or to some page you wont ever visit. The program will accept only -1 as a negative page number. Others wont work.

But yup, that will all work.

**GizmoQ** · 09-06-2007, 04:16 AM

Originally Posted by alexgray104

So, would it work if you put a n[HL]on-latching push switch[/HL] on one of the sensor inputs? And then have that control the F/B, and therefore the relay controlling the light? And because its non-latching, the F/B doesn't lose control?

Is that the same as a momentary switch?