More than 10 signals ?

[hackerd2501]

How do I create more than 10 signals ?
I want to be able ( via tts in an automation ) to power on/off the tv, select a channel by enering a 2digit number and call special functions like guide, info, source, so I need more than 10 signals to be learned.
Is it just extending the select list in the yaml with signal10, 11.. 20 ?

[baorepo]

Hi @hackerd2501, thanks for your interest in the project!

Quick answer: Yes, your intuition is correct — extending the select list is the main step. Here's what you need to change in xiao_smart_ir_mate.yaml:

1. Add more options to the select dropdown:

 select:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
 - platform: template                                            
   name: signal_select                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
   id: signal_select                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
   options:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
     - "Signal0"                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
     - "Signal1"                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
     # ... existing signals ...                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
     - "Signal9"                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
     - "Signal10"                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
     - "Signal11"                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
     # ... add as many as you need, e.g. up to Signal19                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      
     - "Signal19"                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
   initial_option: "Signal0"                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
   optimistic: true                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

2. Update the factory reset loop (search for for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) in the reset_button on_release lambda) to match your new signal count:

  for (int i = 0; i < 20; i++) {  // change 10 to your total signal count                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
    id(signal_nvs).clear_signal_by_index(i);                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
  }                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

That's it — the NVS storage layer already supports any index, so no C++ changes are needed.

One caveat: Each raw IR signal is stored as a blob in NVS. NVS has limited space (~4KB per namespace by default). With 20 signals, especially complex ones like TV remote codes, you may hit NVS capacity. If you encounter write errors in the logs, that's the likely cause.

---

Long-term improvement idea: If you or anyone in the community is interested, we'd welcome a PR that makes the signal count configurable via ESPHome substitutions instead of being hardcoded. For example:

  substitutions:
    signal_count: "20"                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

And then derive the select options and the reset loop from that single parameter. This would make it easy for any user to adjust the capacity to their needs.

If you'd like to work on this, feel free to submit a PR — we're happy to review and help!

[hackerd2501]

Sorry, I do not know how to program in C. I use homeassistant for less than a year and just got some insight in yaml. I don't know what a PR is. I would like to test this but I don't have an IR mate yet and found searching in the net that the device is sold out until June.

But I asked my friendly AI who helps me coding my own ESP32 yaml projects how he would do that:

_To implement a clean solution using substitutions, you can automate the loop logic easily. However, because ESPHome’s YAML parser does not support "loops" to generate list items (the options field), you have to define a maximum range of signals in the select menu once, while using the substitution to control the actual logic.
Here is how you can set it up:

1. Define the Substitution
   At the top of your YAML file, define your desired signal count:

substitutions:
  signal_count: "20" # Change this number to expand/contract your capacity

2. Updated Select Component
   Since YAML cannot auto-generate the list strings, you should list the maximum number of signals you might ever need (e.g., up to Signal19). The code inside the on_value lambda will automatically work with whatever index is chosen.

select:
  - platform: template
    name: signal_select
    id: signal_select
    options:
      - "Signal0"
      - "Signal1"
      - "Signal2"
      # ... add as many strings as you want to support (up to Signal19)
      - "Signal19"
    initial_option: "Signal0"
    optimistic: true
    on_value:
      - lambda: |-
          // 'i' is the index of the selected option
          id(signal_select_index) = i;
          ESP_LOGI("ir", "Current selected signal index: %d", i);
          id(send_data_vector).clear();
          id(send_data_vector) = id(signal_nvs).load_from_nvs<long int>(id(signal_select_index));
          
          if (id(send_data_vector).size() > 0) {
            id(is_learned_signal_script).execute(true);
          } else {
            id(is_learned_signal_script).execute(false);
          }

3. Updated Reset Button Loop
   Here, the substitution ${signal_count} is injected directly into the C++ for loop, making it dynamic.

    on_release:
      then:
        - lambda: |-
            uint32_t press_duration = millis() - id(reset_press_time);
            if (press_duration < 5000) {
              id(vibe).execute(100);
              ESP_LOGI("ir", "Restart Device");
              ESP.restart();
            } else {
              // clear signals based on the substitution value
              for (int i = 0; i < ${signal_count}; i++) {
                id(signal_nvs).clear_signal_by_index(i);
              }
              ESP_LOGI("ir", "Restart with Factory Default: Cleared %d signals", ${signal_count});
              id(vibe).execute(500);
              id(factory_switch).turn_on();
            }

Why this works:

Safety: The on_value lambda uses the variable i (the index), which is always valid for the selected option.
Efficiency: The for loop in the reset section now scales automatically whenever you change the substitutions value at the top of the file and re-flash.
Trade-off: You still have to manually type the list of strings in options, but you only have to do it once for your maximum expected range._

I do not know if that is a correct solution, sometimes I had to try often to get the AI to send me a correct solution. I think I would need about 15 signals. ( On, off, guide, info, source and 0-9 )

When I am able to buy an IR mate I will try to check it but as I said, I searched the net, sold out everywhere or fraud ( on Aliexpress you can buy it for 15.68 € but plus shipping costs of 4.685,74 € ! Yes really ! A big fraud. )
One company on its website said next shipment in June.

[baorepo]

Hi @hackerd2501, thanks for sharing your AI assistant's solution!

The approach your AI suggested is on the right track. A few notes to help you refine it:

1. The substitutions + ${signal_count} pattern for the factory reset loop is correct and will work well.
2. For the select options list — as your AI noted, ESPHome YAML doesn't support generating list items dynamically, so you do need to list them manually. Since you need about 15 signals (On, Off, Guide, Info, Source, 0-9), just list Signal0 through Signal14 (15 total). That's a one-time edit.
3. One small thing to watch: the on_value lambda in the select section already uses variable i (the selected index), so it works with any number of options — no change needed there.

Since you mentioned the device is sold out until June, you have time to prepare your customized YAML file. Once the device arrives, just flash it and you should be good to go.

Regarding the PR — no worries at all! If you ever feel like contributing in the future, the community is always happy to help. For now, the manual YAML edits described above should fully meet your needs.

Hope you get your IR Mate soon!

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