JP1 Remotes

I ordered a URC-7880 which is the US version of the URC-7980. I'd like to use it with Bluetooth, but I can't seem to get it paired in RMIR. The BLED112 driver seems to be installed and working well. RMIR finds the COM port. The URC-7880 works with the One For All Android setup app. It pairs right away and even beeps the locator beeper when I activate that. Is there something that I need to do to get this to work? It occurs to me that this remote may have an ID that's not in RMIR yet. Just a thought.

The URC-7980 requires an extender for the Bluetooth to be able to work with RMIR, so I expect that the URC-7880 would too.

We'll need Graham (mathdon) to jump in and advise you how to proceed.

https://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload ... e_id=25449

At present, RMIR does not support the URC7880. The first step is that we need to create an RDF (Remote Description File) for it. This enables RMIR to recognise the remote. It will then fully support the remote when used with an FTDI JP1.x cable. It will also enable RMIR to connect to the remote via Bluetooth with the BLED112 dongle. That connection will support downloading from the URC7880 but not uploading, see this thread for more details. If the remote is similar internally to the URC7980 then uploading via Bluetooth will require an extender. This does not yet exist for the 7880. I will need to create one. The ease, or otherwise, of this will depend on how similar these two models of remote are.

Ideally I will need to get a URC7880, but I may be able to get some way, at least to create the RDF, by working with you if you are willing to help. I will send you a PM with more info in the next few days.

Sounds good. I'm certainly willing to do whatever I can to help. I did try out an old JP1 cable that I had. This one is based on a fake pl2303 usb adapter. I did manage to get a raw download in RMIR, if that is any help. I did that twice and they compare bit for bit. So at least that's repeatable. Let me know if I need to get an FTDI JP1.x cable for this to work.

I don't know how far RMIR is working with your BLED112, but here is something for you to try. After a connection attempt, close RMIR and use any text editor such as Notepad to open the rmaster.err file that it creates in your RMIR installation folder. Look near the bottom of the file to see if there are lines such as Those are the entries for a URC7980. If there are such lines, make a copy of the file "603704 (URC-7980 Smart Control).rdf" in the RDF subfolder, and change the name to "xxxxxx (URC-7880 Smart Control).rdf" where xxxxxx is the signature value in the rmaster.err file.

If the 7980 and 7880 are pretty similar internally, this should allow the connection with Bluetooth to complete, so that you can try a download. If you get this far, see how far the download display agrees with what you would expect for your setup and post a message in this thread to let us know. Please also let us know the values that you find for the three parameters in the rmaster.err file, and in any case please post your raw download in our Diagnosis Area, with a link in this thread. I don't think you need to get an FTDI JP1.x cable, at least not yet.

I looked in rmaster.err, but I didn't see any lines like you mentioned. However, I did see this in the rmaster.err when I used the JP1 cable.

Remote signature = 606101

So, I copied the URC-7980 rdf file and renamed it to '606101 (URC-7880 Smart Control).rdf'. When I tried this with the bluetooth dongle it was the same as before. These were the last lines in rmaster.err.

Testing interface: JP2BT
Interface matched. Trying to open BLE dongle
Trying to open serial port COM3
serial port = User-Specified Port
Trying to connect to BLED on port COM3
Connected. BLED112:1.3.2 (122) ll=3 hw=3
Connected to BLED after 0ms
Connected BLED dongle on port COM3
Port Name = COM3
Opened on Port COM3
BLED112: Receiver thread stopped.
RemoteMaster.windowClosing() entered

Next, I tried a download with the JP1 cable. This failed as well. Here are the last lines in rmaster.err.

Testing interface: JP1.X Serial
Port Name = COM4
Opened on Port COM4
Opened interface type 501
Interface opened successfully
Base address = $3D000
Searching for RDF
Final signature sought = 606101
Remote identified as: URC-7880 Smart Control
Number of bytes read = $FFFFFFFF
Ending normal download
Download aborting due to incomplete read
RemoteMaster.windowClosing() entered

At this point, I was interested that my bluetooth dongle actually worked. Following the directions in this document

https://docs-emea.rs-online.com/webdocs ... 2eb651.pdf

I used a Linux machine to run the test script. Everything worked just fine. After some experimentation, it was pretty clear what the mac address of my remote was. I filtered for that because I apparently have a couple of other bluetooth devices around. I must say, I was quite surprised at how chatty these things are. Here's the output of that script. I took out a battery, ran the script, and put the battery in. It started talking right away.

/home/kits/jp1/urc7880# ./bled112_scanner.py -m 9CAC6DF2A5D4
================================================================
BLED112 Scanner for Python v2013-04-07
================================================================
Serial port: /dev/ttyACM0
Baud rate: 115200
Scan interval: 200 (250.00 ms)
Scan window: 200 (250.00 ms)
Scan type: Passive
UUID filters: None
MAC filter(s): 9C:AC:6D:F2:A5:D4
RSSI filter: None
Display fields: - Time
- RSSI
- Packet type
- Sender MAC
- Address type
- Bond status
- Payload data
Friendly mode: Disabled
----------------------------------------------------------------
Starting scan for BLE advertisements...
1553629956.982 -66 0 9CAC6DF2A5D4 0 255 0201040303E0FF04FF0193000609536D417274
1553629957.004 -66 0 9CAC6DF2A5D4 0 255 0201040303E0FF04FF0193000609536D417274
1553629957.027 -66 0 9CAC6DF2A5D4 0 255 0201040303E0FF04FF0193000609536D417274
1553629957.060 -66 0 9CAC6DF2A5D4 0 255 0201040303E0FF04FF0193000609536D417274
1553629957.082 -66 0 9CAC6DF2A5D4 0 255 0201040303E0FF04FF0193000609536D417274
1553629957.115 -66 0 9CAC6DF2A5D4 0 255 0201040303E0FF04FF0193000609536D417274
1553629957.138 -66 0 9CAC6DF2A5D4 0 255 0201040303E0FF04FF0193000609536D417274
1553629957.170 -66 0 9CAC6DF2A5D4 0 255 0201040303E0FF04FF0193000609536D417274
1553629957.193 -66 0 9CAC6DF2A5D4 0 255 0201040303E0FF04FF0193000609536D417274
1553629957.216 -76 0 9CAC6DF2A5D4 0 255 0201040303E0FF04FF0193000609536D417274
1553629957.238 -76 0 9CAC6DF2A5D4 0 255 0201040303E0FF04FF0193000609536D417274
1553629957.261 -76 0 9CAC6DF2A5D4 0 255 0201040303E0FF04FF0193000609536D417274
1553629957.283 -76 0 9CAC6DF2A5D4 0 255 0201040303E0FF04FF0193000609536D417274
1553629957.306 -76 0 9CAC6DF2A5D4 0 255 0201040303E0FF04FF0193000609536D417274
1553629957.339 -66 0 9CAC6DF2A5D4 0 255 0201040303E0FF04FF0193000609536D417274
1553629957.361 -66 0 9CAC6DF2A5D4 0 255 0201040303E0FF04FF0193000609536D417274
1553629957.384 -66 0 9CAC6DF2A5D4 0 255 0201040303E0FF04FF0193000609536D417274
1553629957.417 -66 0 9CAC6DF2A5D4 0 255 0201040303E0FF04FF0193000609536D417274
1553629957.439 -66 0 9CAC6DF2A5D4 0 255 0201040303E0FF04FF0193000609536D417274
1553629957.462 -66 0 9CAC6DF2A5D4 0 255 0201040303E0FF04FF0193000609536D417274
1553629957.485 -66 0 9CAC6DF2A5D4 0 255 0201040303E0FF04FF0193000609536D417274
1553629957.507 -67 0 9CAC6DF2A5D4 0 255 0201040303E0FF04FF0193000609536D417274
1553629957.530 -67 0 9CAC6DF2A5D4 0 255 0201040303E0FF04FF0193000609536D417274
1553629957.552 -66 0 9CAC6DF2A5D4 0 255 0201040303E0FF04FF0193000609536D417274
1553629957.585 -76 0 9CAC6DF2A5D4 0 255 0201040303E0FF04FF0193000609536D417274
1553629957.618 -76 0 9CAC6DF2A5D4 0 255 0201040303E0FF04FF0193000609536D417274

At this point I killed it. This was before I even put the remote in pair mode. I'm pretty confident that the hardware is working properly. Here's the link to the raw download that I mentioned before.

https://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload ... e_id=25543

I have now looked at your raw download and modified the RDF of the URC-7980 based on the little that I can deduce from it. I have posted this trial RDF here. It may allow you to download with either a cable or the BLED112 dongle, but no guarantee even of that.

It is already clear that this remote is significantly different from the URC-7980. Its user data area, what we call the EEPROM or E2 area, is in a different location in memory and only half the size of that of the URC-7980. It appears from your raw download that this is either brand new and you have not yet set it up for your equipment or else that you have done a factory reset. If you can download with the trial RDF, you could try setting the remote up according to its instructions, without using RMIR, and then downloading to see if RMIR displays correctly what you have input. If you do this, please let us know what you find.

I have ordered one from the US (I am in the UK) which should arrive by April 8 at the latest. I don't think there is much further that I can do until I have that to experiment with. I think it should be possible for me to get it to work with the BLED112 dongle but the differences I have already found with the URC7980 indicate that this may not be as simple as I had hoped.

You are correct that I had not setup the remote. And in addition, I did a factory reset. With your trial RDF I was able to download from the remote with the JP1 cable, but not with the BLED112. After that, I set up some devices and downloaded again. RMIR seems to get the device codes correct. But it considers them invalid. Here's a link to the rmir file.

https://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload ... e_id=25545

Sorry to lead you to spend money. I'll be looking forward to getting this working. I don't really suppose the limited memory will be a problem for my purposes. I did really expect that this remote would be similar to the URC-7980. I suppose I can order one of those if it comes to that. Please, let me know if there's something else you'd like me to do.

StephenR0 wrote:RMIR seems to get the device codes correct. But it considers them invalid.

Yes, it will consider them invalid as the RDF still contains the table of valid codes from the 7980, which will be for European models rather than US ones. That is something I will need to update when I have my remote.

The limited memory is more a problem for me than you. These remotes require an extender in order to do uploads with RMIR. The extender itself takes up no room in the user memory, but the installer for it, which is used just once and then deleted, is big. The one for the 7980 would take up most of the user memory of a 7880. I just hope it doesn't have to be any bigger for the 7880 or it might not fit.

I can't think of anything else you can usefully do at this stage, so it is just a question of waiting for developments from me.

I have now received my URC-7880 and have created RDF, map and image files for it. These should enable you to use RMIR with the URC-7880 with a JP1.x cable but I have not yet looked into the Bluetooth issue. I would not expect these files to do anything to solve that problem. Looking into that is my next task. I believe the RDF, map and image files to be complete and correct, so please post about any problems using them with a cable.

I have now posted development build 7 of RMIR v2.07 in the RMIR Development folder. This update includes the files for the URC-7880 described in the post above, but also a revised RemoteMaster.jar file. That should allow connection to, and downloading of, the URC-7880 with the BLED112 dongle (and also sounding of the finder buzzer). Upload capability will have to wait till I write the necessary extender, just as was required for the URC-7980 and URC-7955.

I would be grateful if StephenR0 would test whether this limited Bluetooth support works with his URC-7880, as so far it has been tested only with mine and a sample of one is not the most reliable test .

I've done some testing with build 7 of RMIR v2.07. I was able to download a test setup from the remote with both the BLED112 and my jp1 cable. The results were bit for bit the same. The only thing that I've noticed is that RMIR isn't always able to connect to the remote with bluetooth the first time. But it seems to work the second time.

I've run into some trouble with macros, though. I'd like to be able to have macros on some of the device buttons that tell the receiver to select the correct hdmi input port. Then leave the remote configured for that device. In addition, I'd like to have global macros that do something with another device and then leave the remote configured for the original device. Maybe I'm looking for functions that need an extender. Anyway, that's what I've done to this point.

Also, I'm confused about the phantom buttons that seem to be mirrors of the device and activity buttons. What is the effect of putting a function on one of those buttons?

Thanks, Stephen, for the report. When RMIR fails to connect, what is the percentage on the progress bar when it times out or otherwise fails? I have not experienced any connection failures of that nature with the BLED112 dongle, but occasionally the remote has got in a state where RMIR search does not find it. This has always been sorted by taking out and replacing the batteries, to force the remote to re-boot.

Do you have a particularly fast PC? We have experienced connection failures through the new Windows WCL port with newer, faster computers but have not been able to find why they are occurring. My development work is on a new laptop bought last December but it is just a run-of-the-mill one, nothing particularly fast and I have not been able to reproduce these problems.

I will have to leave your questions about macros and phantom buttons for some other expert to answer. I have not used any of these Bluetooth-enabled remotes "for real" and have no experience of setting them up. I see no prospect at present of a conventional extender that adds additional functionality to the remote. The one I am developing to allow Bluetooth uploads does that and nothing else, I'm afraid.

I think yesterday I saw it fail to connect with very little progress. But today I've only seen it fail at 20% progress. Then a message pops up that says "Connection terminated by the connected remote." When I dismiss that, a connection error message pops up that says "Attempt to connect to remote urc7880 failed". Urc7880 is the name I gave the remote. A second attempt immediately after seems to succeed. This has happened several times. My computer isn't super fast. It's an Ivy Bridge Xeon with ten cores at 2.8Ghz. It's comfortable, but not today's 4 and 5 Ghz processors. Maybe I'll start another thread about programming these smart remotes unless someone notices and fills me in a little. I'm beginning to realize that I've been spoiled by the extenders that I've worked with in the past.

Thanks, Stephen, for the report. At 20% the Bluetooth connection to the remote has been opened. RMIR then goes on to read, in several stages, the information it needs to identify the remote. If you open the rmaster.err file in the RMIR installation folder, you should find a line saying "Basic connection to remote succeeded", followed by one saying "Failed at stage N" where N is a digit. My guess is that N=3, which means that the first read stage after connection fails. Could you confirm this, please.

Since you get the message that the remote has terminated the connection, it seems possible that something is sent to the remote before the remote is ready to receive it. This would tally with my belief that it is due in some way to the power and speed of your computer. During the weekend I will create a trial version of RMIR for you that puts in a delay between connection and this first read, and which also makes some more diagnostic printouts in the rmaster.err file. I would like to get to the bottom of what is happening, but cannot guarantee that I will succeed.