Just another ESP32-based IR Blaster. It was designed with ESPHome in mind but should work fine with Tasmota or any other app, really.
I've created two versions:
- v1
- Rectangular
- Up to four external control channels
- Pads for up to eight through-hole LEDs, front- and/or back-facing
- v2
- Disc
- One external control channel
- Pads for surface mount LEDs on top of the PCB and pads for through-hole LEDs around perimeter of PCB, allowing LEDs to be oriented in nearly any direction
More images can be found in the images directory of this repository.
After trying this on a perfboard with parts I had laying around, I wanted something more polished and more powerful. I found Sparkfun's IR Blaster which is quite nice, tiny and clean but I quickly realized that its IR output is somewhat weak and would only work if pointed directly at the device it was intended to control. Rather than hack it up, I chose to draw up my own versions of such a thing. My goal was to make them substantially more powerful in an effort to "light up a room" with infrared light; that is, you'll probably find that they work well even when not specifically directed at (if even near) devices you wish to control. I've used an ESP32 module instead of an ESP8266, as the ESP32 has dedicated hardware for IR data transmission (the RMT) which makes it more suitable for this purpose, despite that it is otherwise quite overkill.
Please see the bill of materials (BoM) for the version of interest:
I had the PCBs fabricated by Elecrow but nearly any PCB fabricator should be able to manufacture these without any issues.
The schematic and PCB were drawn in KiCAD.
The PCBs have on the bottom side a number of solder jumpers that enable each of the FET drivers to be connected to one of two possible GPIO pins. This allows a single GPIO pin to control all LEDs simultaneously or they can be broken apart onto separate GPIO pins. Labels on the underside of the PCBs indicate what jumpers are connected to what LEDs.
Note that the solder jumpers must be bridged one way or the other; if this is not done, the FETs (and consequently the LEDs they drive) will not activate! When you build one, be sure to complete this step or you'll be left in the dark. (Punny, I know.)
An FS1000A (such as this one) or similar 433 MHz transmitter module may be connected as indicated on the PCB allowing the device to double as an RF remote controller. On the v1 PCB, bridge JP6 to enable this and then connect the module to pins 4, 5, and 6 on J2. On the v2 PCB, simply connect the transmitter to J8. When doing so, be sure to orient the module correctly or tragedy may result.
After building, see my ESPHome-configs repository for example ESPHome configuration you may use with your IR blaster. Enjoy!
The circuit schematics and PCB found here are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Happy building!