Hi Kjrr!
This is an interesting project for sure! And ... there are no stupid or silly questions 😉
I haven't played with IR yet (it has crossed my mind in the past, but now that HDMI CEC is controlling my stuff, I didn't have a need for it anymore).
Maybe this is helpful, I found it somewhere online, quite a while ago on Instructables:
#include <IRremote.h>
int IRPIN = 2;
IRrecv irrecv(IRPIN);
decode_results result;
void setup()
{
Serial.begin(9600);
Serial.println("Enabling IRin");
irrecv.enableIRIn();
Serial.println("Enabled IRin");
}
void loop()
{
if (irrecv.decode(&result))
{
Serial.println(result.value, HEX);
irrecv.resume();
}
delay(500);
}
The IR Library may be the same as the one you're using, or not (in that case: link).
From what I copied at the time:
First check the PinOut diagram of the IR receiver you have. IR receivers have 3 pins, +ve , GND and Out. Before using any receive make sure you know these pins. If connected improperly the setup won't work and you will find it difficult to figure it out.
Make the following connections :-
1. Connect +ve pin of receiver to 3.3v of Arduino.
2. GND pin of receiver to GND of Arduino.
3. Out pin of receiver to Digital pin 2 of Arduino.
Ah took me a bit, but I found the original article here: IR Decoder.
So you could add an "Add" button, which would read one or more codes as in the example code. You may want to add something to stop the code reading (eg pressing a button, or after a timeout).
Hope this helps. 🙂