Conversation

Alice Averlong🏳️‍⚧️

Huh. I just bought something that came with a fake infrared remote.
It looks like one, but the LED isn't the usual IR, it's just plain red.
And the remote works even if that LED is blocked.

This is an RF remote! Not an LED remote!

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I mean, it's fine, it's not like the thing calls itself an LED Remote Control.

OH WAIT, YES IT DOES

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see? LED. Right where an IR remote would have an IR LED

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And here's the LED. Not only is this visible to my Human Eyes (which can't see IR), it's the wrong color. This is not what IR looks to my phone camera

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Here's an actual IR LED remote shining in my camera. Notice how it's a shade of purple, not red?

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I pulled the cover off and OH HELLO

this remote has two "buttons" but pads for 21!

Makes sense, this remote is probably reused with a lot of things

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@foone ah finally the ultrainfrared

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Blurry picture of the PCB.

Very minimal: a couple resistors and caps, an anonymous 14-pin microcontroller, two little mosfets, and a 433 oscillator. So this thing is a 433mhz remote

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It looks like those mosfets are for the oscillator and the antenna trace, not the LED. Makes sense I guess, whatever MCU this is can handle a low-power LED just fine

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If I'm using this SDR properly (dubious), it looks like it's using 433mhz channel 36, at 433.950khz

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@foone oh you have a Malahit dsp2 :0

Why i am not surprised ? X)
(Was eyeing it and the tecsun for dipping my toes in radio listening).

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@Briarheart It's actually my sister's, I'm just borrowing it

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@foone

434 (and 868) MHz a re unlicensed bands in Europe.

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@foone The real question is; do those other pads do anything?

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@RandamuMaki All of them transmit a signal, but the receiving device seems to only respond to the two main buttons

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I don't think I can decode or replay the messages it's sending with this specific SDR, I'll have to borrow a different one from my sister for that

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@foone I genuinely feel bad for every piece of electronics you own. At any given moment, each one could be ripped open for no reason. I only hope you are as better at putting them back together than I am.

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@TheCodeLorax I have a lot of practice at putting them back together, but that doesn't mean my success rate is all that high

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I googled it and found a couple other cases of people running into this kind of remote and getting confused because they're trying to decode the IR or replicate it and THERE IS NO IR, IT IS LIES

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@foone There is no IR, only Zuul

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@foone sorry I'm not Gen X I'm trying to delete it

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it seems to be a clone of FCC ID 2AUSN-LXZK1021: LXZK-TX1021, a remote for lights, licensed in 2019

https://fccid.io/2AUSN-LXZK1021

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has anyone hacked the FCC and leaked all their confidential PDFs yet?

I'm not saying anyone SHOULD do that, or that I'm eagerly awaiting the collapse of the US government so that I can pick through the wreckage, but it would be nice for us reverse-engineers if someone would leak all these FCC PDFs that explain how shit works

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@endrift @foone if someone asks if you're a remote...

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@foone mimicry in an ecosystem of mediocrity
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