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I don't have any experience with electronics really but I do have experience in programming. I'm interested in writing a program to control my stereo, TV etc. To achieve this I'll need a piece of hardware which is WiFi capable and can generate a range of infrared signals to control my TV, stereo and other infrared capable devices. Given my lack of experience with microcontrollers etc, I'd probably find it easier if I could minimize the amount of work the hardware had to do and focussed it on converting data it receives via WiFi into infrared. What components would I require and are there any relatively inexpensive out-of-the-box solutions which will have the majority of what I need without requiring too much additional soldering? Also, at a high level, what way should the operation of such a device be architected?

conorgriffin
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Check out the USB Infrared Toy (from the people who brought us Bus Pirate).

Of course, you'll still need the wifi part. A linux based router running OpenWRT could be a good choice.

Toby Jaffey
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You could hook up a RF/Bluetooth (cheap) module to your IR receiver, which usually requires a UART header (USB IR Toy's UART header is not supported in the firmware, only UART-to-USB bridge), or you can use some kind of USB-to-Wireless converter (USB IR Toy uses USB CDC/ACM).

So you need to check the connections in your IR receiver and wireless module (signal levels, host/slave configuration, etc). Probably your best bet is to get a USB-to-Wireless bridge module.

EDIT: If you want to make your IR receiver truly wireless, you probably should look for a way to power it and the wireless bridge module. Take a look at these links (can't post more than one link, so check second link as a comment below ^.^):

Parts for Solar/Bluetooth Hot-Swappable Unit

Community
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OIO
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    http://www.rachelselectronics.com/2010/09/sol_arduino-v1/ – OIO Oct 02 '10 at 21:03
  • Bluetooth TTL Transceiver Module w/ Breakout (http://www.mdfly.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8&products_id=428) – OIO Oct 02 '10 at 22:04
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Your simplest solution would be a Microsoft Media Center IR blaster many types are available, note that some require you to connect external transmitter diodes, something with wifi running linux (eg a Raspberry Pi) and lirc. Lirc has a sensible API and a huge library of ir codes.

The traditional solution to this was the logitech harmony, but they recently shuttered their APIs.

james
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