Tasmota and IR Blaster – Neo Coolcam NAS-IR03W

After my previous debacle getting an IR Blaster to work with Tasmota, I purchased a Neo Coolcam from Aliexpress (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33040426244.html) – and I’m glad I did.  Other then the firmware version this proved to be really good for hacking.

The board is trivial to open (just rotate the top off, like opening a jar).    The board itself is well laid out, with everything on 1 side, and exposed pads grouped together.   I soldered on headers – and indeed these can remain on the board permanently as there is ample space for them.   I used Tasmota to flash.

I had no problem getting this to work with Tasmota-IR, following the details at https://templates.blakadder.com/neo_coolcam_NAS-IR03W.html although while my Air conditioning units worked fine, I was unable to get my Panasonic TV to co-operate.

I also found a nifty program for Android “IR Remote Tester” which allows you to see if a remote is working by filtering wavelengths to allow near-UV to come through – this is really useful in confirming if IR devices are working, and is free.

After enabling MQTT on the device, I could send commands like the following from my Linux box to turn my Aircon on/off remotely –

mosquitto_pub -h 192.168.1.254 -t "cmnd/BedroomIR/IRhvac" -m '{"Vendor":"FUJITSU_AC","Power":"On"}'

NOTE:   I tried to get another one of these from the manufacturer but could not.  They incorrectly advised the NAS-IR02W is the same inside.  Its not.  The NAS-IR02W also appears to be an ESP8266 based system but thats the extent of the similarity.  The boards are differently laid out, with no pins exposed (well, tiny dots I was unable to solder onto scattered round the board )    I could not git it working with TUYA-CONVERT either.