Hi Gary,

I understand your desire to use this opportunity to learn something, but think about it: what you essentially want to do is reverse-engineer an interface, either RF or IR or whatever, and its protocol and commands...all this when your sample doesn't work.

You've picked yourself quite a project. Maybe it would be easier to rip out the existing remote control, and build your own to replace it. This means you have to define and likely replace all the control logic, but at least you are free to choose the interface and protocol, whatever you feel like.

If that's the case then it's time to do some research on your options, then make some choices before you can begin any realistic design work.

Dennis