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[Nathan Garner]

Greetings all!

I have a permanently sealed fixture that is controlled via an IR remote. The fixture is a 16" Loftek Ball. We need to transmit the IR signal via a MIDI instrument so that the ball changes color at the same time as the other RGB light fixtures we have. This should be relatively simple if there were a DMX to IR converter that didn't require a separate DMX controller. I have wireless DMX transmitters and receivers, and I know that DMX 512 can send a variety of signals. What I need is a device with DMX in that can convert a transmitted DMX signal to the IR signal which is learned from the original remote.

Does such a device exist?

[Erik Jerde]

You need something more complicated since it’s hoghly unlikely that your IR control uses encapsulated DMX data.  Call it a protocol converter.  You’ll first need to capture the IR signals from your remote.  IR control is somewhat sloppy so you’ll need a way to verify the codes you captured actually work.  Then once you have that you need to find that protocol converter and program it to send IR codes on specific DMX values. 

If it was me I’d be looking at building something.  Probably arduino based though I haven’t done any DMX with that platform before.

Might be able to do a DMX to RS232 converter with an IR flasher on the rs232 port.  Usually need a full 9 pin rs232 port since it flashers pull power off of one of the other pins (CST maybe).

[Nathan Garner]

You need something more complicated since it’s hoghly unlikely that your IR control uses encapsulated DMX data.  Call it a protocol converter.  You’ll first need to capture the IR signals from your remote.  IR control is somewhat sloppy so you’ll need a way to verify the codes you captured actually work.  Then once you have that you need to find that protocol converter and program it to send IR codes on specific DMX values. 

If it was me I’d be looking at building something.  Probably arduino based though I haven’t done any DMX with that platform before.

Might be able to do a DMX to RS232 converter with an IR flasher on the rs232 port.  Usually need a full 9 pin rs232 port since it flashers pull power off of one of the other pins (CST maybe).

Thanks for the reply. I'm pretty confident that I could build something with an Arduino, but I didn't know if there were already a device that would handle this without purchasing the expensive DecaBox since it's additionally useful as a standalone unit. The BlinkFX looks good, but it's also expensive and a little much for what I need.

[Jeff Lelko]

...and I know that DMX 512 can send a variety of signals.

Hi Nathan, technically that statement is not correct.  DMX is a very set, standard protocol.  There is no variation to it regardless if whether the end item is a moving head, fog machine, laser, etc.  What Erik said is correct - you’d need a device to receive DMX and convert/transmit the instruction via IR to your fixture.  To my knowledge there is no standard to IR lighting control beyond possibly within a product range or manufacturer, so it’s likely that you’d also have to know what the fixture is expecting to receive in order for this to actually work.  Arduino can definitely do this if you know the right IR commands to send, but honestly it’d probably be cheaper and more reliable to ditch the IR product in favor of a DMX variant (which I believe do exist).  You could also consider retrofitting the balls with an easier to control light, or if you’re good with a soldering iron maybe adapting an Arduino to interact with the circuit on your remote, which would at least remove the IR protocol portion of the puzzle.  Best of luck though!

[Jerome Malsack]

So for the device accepting the IR codes you would have a box that accepts the DMX address and commands.   DMX (address) (Command 1 0to255) command 1 equals 0 to 10 do infrared code  0001101010   for 11 to 100 (dmx command 1) do infrared code 0001101011.   and so on. 
            DMX ( command 2)  111111111 or fffffffffff.

https://diyhacking.com/diy-universal-remote-with-arduino/   

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