node-rc6

Super small home automation project, that let my Logitech Harmony One control Amazon Fire TV / Kodi Mediacenter and Philips hue lights. Runs on a Raspberry Pi with a noname RC6 USB IR receiver.

RC6 labeled IR receiver simple convert IR commands into keystrokes and is often used in connection with remote controls for Windows Media Center / Kodi / XBMC.

This package uses thouse IR inputs to control various devices in the local network.

Installation

1npm install node-rc6

You also need the Android Debug Bridge (adb) as binary¹.

Usage

You have to create devices, currently Philips hue lights and Android devices (e.g. Amazon Fire TV) are supported. Every RC6 input (even from a normal keyboard) fires an input event. Use the key to send an associated command to a device.

1var rc6 = require('node-rc6');
2
3// register devices
4var fireTV = rc6.device('adb-shell', '192.168.x.x', './bin/adb');
5var hue = rc6.device('hue-api', '192.168.x.x');
6
7// event driven input observation
8rc6.on('input', function(key){  
9  // key corresponds the key on the keyboard
10  if (key === 'enter') {
11    // sends a keyevent to the Fire TV
12    fireTV.execute('input keyevent KEYCODE_DPAD_CENTER');
13  } else if (key === 'k') {
14    // try to start Kodi on Fire TV
15    fireTV.execute('am start -n org.xbmc.kodi/.Splash');
16  } else if (key.match(/[01]/) !== null) {
17    // turn hue lights on/off
18    hue.on(key === '1');
19  }
20}).observe();

API

node-rc6 inherits EventEmiter

method	arguments	description
device	string type, string ip, ...	create a new device (s. Devices)
observe	void	start the RC6 input observer

Events

event	arguments	description
start	void	observation starts
end	void	observation ends (ctrl+c)
input	string key	keystorke, key corresponds the name of a key on normal keyboard
info	string message, object scope	info messages like child_process output, scope has information around the event, e.g. the returned json from the hue API
error	string/Error error, object scope	error reporting, scope has information around the event, e.g. the returned json from the hue API
debug	string message, object scope	debug messages, scope has information around the event, e.g. the returned json from the hue API

Devices

adb-shell device('adb-shell', ip, path_to_adb);

Used for Android devices which have network debugging enabled.

method	arguments	description
execute	string command	executes a adb shell command

hue device('hue', ip);

Philips hue lights.

method	arguments	description
on	boolean on	turn lights on/off
scene	int num	My hue scene (1..n)
bri	char operation, int value	change brightness by value using '=', '+' or '-' operation
random	boolean sync, mixed duration, int transition	bring the hue bulbs (simultaneously or separately, use sync) to random colors, every milliseconds or random ms values (e.g. duration => [1000,3000]), use optionally transition to have always the same time for the transition effect (otherwise the transition is permanent)

Status

This is the first implementation. The logging is still silly, only two devices with micro API functionality. But it works perfect for me. No further work planed.

My personal config can be found in `captains-table.js.

Links

• Install Kodi on Amazon Fire TV
• Philips hue API

Footnotes

1. For my environment I found adb for my Mac in the HOW-TO:Install Kodi on Fire TV (4.1 Setup ADB on Your Host) and for the Raspberry Pi in the xda-developers community. ↩