IR blaster?

[kdlklm]

can someone tell me how much range does the IR blaster have. I have about six devices I would like to control, will the blaster work on all six if it was placed about 5 feet away.

[chewie]

That should work, it is exactly what the blaster was designed for.

[dj_siek]

That should work, it is exactly what the blaster was designed for.

what's the general range for the IR blasters? I'm wiring up my house now and it's about 15 feet away with direct line of sight to the components.

I can bring it closer, but the components are in opposite corners to each other, so the angle would need to be wide for me to bring it closer. Not sure what the angle usually is on these things?

[travisdh]

The blaster works quite well, i run two global cache WF2IR devices, and in my 4m room it works very reliably, i think that's around 13 feet.

I would not expect you to have any trouble at 15 feet, you would just need to make sure the path to the device you are trying to control from the IR blaster is not blocked by an object. To give you an idea, i control my Air conditioner (two separate ones), as well as a Samsung Navibot by IR. I used to also control by TV but when i got another WF2IR device, i switched to a stick on IR emitter, which works very well.

If you are having a range problem, you could also look at using an IR sender, and a global cache, or USBUIRT, but others may be able to suggest an all-in-one solution.

For me the WF2IR worked best, if i was to redo my system again though the only difference is I might look at going to an ethernet IR device rather than a WIFI device, just to minimize any potential problems, i did have WIFI issues at the start, but these were fixed quite quickly through discussions with homeseer.

[mark_anderson_us]

Whats the difference between the blaster and emitter on GC stuff?

[rmasonjr]

The emitters you use to stick onto the devices being controlled - right over the it. The blasters are open-air that shoot ir from a distance.

[mark_anderson_us]

The emitters you use to stick onto the devices being controlled - right over the it. The blasters are open-air that shoot ir from a distance.

Thanks

[travisdh]

Yeah that is what I find, i use the blaster for controlling multiple devices within the same room, in my case an air conditioner, and robotic vacuum.

The emitters however, i stick to the devices being controlled, so i don't have to worry about things getting inbetween the blaster and the item, and don't have to worry as much about interference. In my case i am lucky with the items i am controlling by emitter, that they are close to the GC WF2IR device(s), so i didn't have to worry about running cables, just stuck the emitter over the IR port of the device being controlled (TV or projector in my case), and control them using the GC devices.

The nice thing about (most) emitters, is that they are transparent, so normally your remote can still control the device, but in the case of my TV i switched to using an old tablet as the remote, because i wanted homeseer to know if the TV was on or off, and what channel it was on, so in the morning it can be turned on, channel set, and volume turned up as my alarm, since it does not have discrete IR codes, i really had to do it this way, otherwise if i turned it on through IR and it was already on, it would turn off and defeat the purpose of the Alarm on the TV. (and for those that ask why not use the alarm built into the TV), i would rather use homeseer to control it and more easily along with the other things.