IKEA Bekant Table Hacking

[@RobinReiter]

Hey guys! You like reverse engineering? I'm happy to share my latest project. kzbin.info/www/bejne/il7SXpyYfLp4paM Happy Hacking! ✌️

[@Mad-marv]

Hey sehr interessantes Video (auch wenn ich nicht alles verstehe :) )! Ich bin sehr preiswert an einen Bekant Tisch gekommen, da Tasten und Netzteil gefehlt haben. Irgendeine Idee wie ich den Tisch wieder ans laufen bekomme?

[@RobinObinray]

Yes, RE is amazing

[@capotwitchclipsco.8482]

You are German ?

[@RobinReiter]

Jep

[@capotwitchclipsco.8482]

@@RobinReiter das hört man raus 😆 und Ikea gibt's glaub ich nur hier 🤷‍♂️

[@wacens1]

I understood almost nothing from this video. You knowledge and skills are God level to me. Respect.

[@zbll2406]

its just a LIN protocon bruv

[@king_james_official]

@@zbll2406 lmao

[@bokkenka]

I guarantee none of my ancestors has ever had to say, "Hang on a second... I have to reboot my table."

[@florinpandele5205]

Oddly enough , I reached this video serching for a way to fix a broken one...for which the solution is..you guessed it.. reboot:D

[@nikolajk5330]

Next time someone calls me a nerd ill show em this.

[@LiamB1708]

nerd

[@andri6967]

Nikolaj K nerd

[@youreaveragepotato3337]

Nerd

[@cdxa5862]

You can also replace/reprogram PIC and use original electronics. New program will change buttons behaviour, single push recall memory(up memory for upper position, down memory for lower position), double push drives table manually, long push saves actual position etc.

[@hassiaschbi]

Hi CD XA, where can I find something about that hack?

[@philipspedding697]

@@hassiaschbi kzbin.info/www/bejne/h6DTkph4ZtBpgrcsi=8UdciubhQiUdSp1Z

[@rupel190]

Amazing. I understood just about everything you said, and usually I'm pretty dense. Speaks for your teaching skills! Also great how you're showing the process "I have no idea, but I found something promising" instead of just the finished product. That's so relatable whereas often it's intimidating.

[@DDoonniiXX]

You're a hacker of the first grade. Clean and clear engineering.

[@RobinReiter]

+DDoonniiXX Thank you!

[@jamisusijarvi646]

@@NicholausBrittain and that kind of modifying is also called as hacking

[@SeverityOne]

I was going to buy one of these, but the unmotorised one. But you may just have changed my mind. Except... how cool would it be to hook it up to USB and control it from your computer?

[@HardwareUnknown]

I did a similar mod to my Bekant desk, but rather than grabbing any code from the desk itself (I'm new to electronics and don't know how) I just replaced the flexible PCB that connects the buttons with wires to an Arduino Nano. Plugged those into the header you removed. Then via code I raise and lower the desk for a certain length of time. It works, but it's hacky, and your solution is a lot more elegant. Mine suffers from the acceleration/deceleration drift you describe. Not enough to complain, but a set amount of run time lowers the desk more than it raises it due to the weight on top of the desk. I'll adjust that eventually, but the point is I'm really impressed with how much effort you put into this mod and how well it was done.

[@lelluc]

"IKEA wants to know your location"

[@bernardthered]

This is highly impressive. I'd like to do this for my desk but my hardware/electrical engineering skills are limited, does anyone have a simple form how to with a list of materials and steps?

[@RollinShultz]

For people who don't wish to go through all this work, I suggest replacing the original buttons with push on/off buttons and using limit switches for the top and bottom positions. However your idea results in some good flexibility and scalability for added features.

[@super-panda]

I feel like it's gonna be easier for someone to simply make a control board and replace the original board. I will be a customer

[@patrikjankovics2113]

thought the same.

[@мимокрокодил]

they did so at LYFT

[@TixenDotNet]

THANK YOU for your work on this!! I've had this in the back of my mind for ages and had been putting it off because of just how much work would be involved, but you've done all the hard parts here! KUDOS!! and thank you so much for sharing this! :D

[@kbhasi]

Electronics engineering stuff on a Mac. I'm amazed. 7:39 That's a cool ruler!

[@dregenius]

Kevin Bhasi Hah! You’d be surprised how many engineer types prefer having a stable and powerful Unix box that also runs plenty of commercial applications. Macs are basically three computers in one - Mac OS, BSD, and Windows. 😜

[@loko1505]

@@dregenius HAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHA

[@juliandahl1999]

Yes, inclusive the crappy Hardware, no replacement parts, Apple SMC and Other "Security" Shit that disables the User and - Premium Prince...

[@kbhasi]

@@juliandahl1999 I agree! That's one of many reasons why I wouldn't want to support Apple platforms if I developed software. Another reason: twitter.com/kbhasi/status/1184915349247942656?s=19

[@ArnaudMEURET]

dregenius I know many. Except when you look closely it’s not because it’s a good platform. I stopped counting the times where I witnessed friends struggle with Apple’s idiosyncratic Unix. “MacOs, the only Unix where nothing works as in all other Unices, for a 2x or 3x price tag and no actual hardware superiority”

[@FranksWorldTV]

Yes! This has been my only complaint about my Bekant desk :) Now, adding a way to capture when the desk is standing or sitting to track how often you're standing vs sitting :)

[@razorr1920]

Dude, you are in the top subscriptions among my 250 youtube channel subscriptions. Great content, keep it coming. Cheers.

[@RobinReiter]

razorr1920 Appreciate it! 🤗

[@TheRokkis]

Car seat? There's electronic car seats these days? Damn..my old Primera is getting ancient =D

[@steenbeek4112]

Very nice video. I like how you take us trough the complete process, and not just show the result.

[@RobinReiter]

Thanks! Yes I'll try to keep that!

[@KentHambrock]

This is absolutely brilliant. I was thinking of doing something similar, but all I was going to do was put an atmega processor in between the buttons and the PIC and basically set it to emulate a hold on the up or down button for a specific amount of time. Your video of course is a 100% better way to do it.

[@RobinReiter]

+Kent Hambrock Thanks man! Well I wanted to go for absolute positioning so this was the only way :)

[@brickcausingunexpired]

Amazing! I wanted a similar solution, but I don't understand it enough to implement it. Respect.

[@Jeff-uy8xg]

Any tips on how to stop the clock display on my VCR from flashing "12:00" all the time?....I put a piece of black electrical tape over that space but the adhesive wears out and it keeps falling off.

[@0xC]

Stupid question but could somebody explain why he didn't just simulate the button press with an arduino? Did the button send a specific frequency to the microcontroller?

[@felixkolk4948]

He is doing that, but without the reading of the current position you will get deviation over time with the absolute position.

[@TheAntonymer]

Excellent tubing! Good speech, nice speed, great level of detail and very good hold on that level. Also, I need to hack my IKEA Bekant table. :)

[@RobinReiter]

Thank you! Appreciate that.

[@falwk]

Got a myself an esp8266 and thought I could be done in an evening thinking it was either just some polarity switch or pwm signal. Now I’m thinking that I can keep the original buttons and just hook into the LIN-pin, send a frame with the desired value (copying the id of the original if necessary) - is there a reason you simulated button presses instead of doing that? Is the LIN-pin only for reading? If so would it work by splicing into the blue cable? Great video, helped so much 🙌

[@imaginary_guy]

Could please tell what are the red, white and blue wires are for in the original up and down button board? 1:27

[@jaketaylor621]

Do you think you could make and sell these kits? I’d like to get one so I have a programmable switch as opposed to the simple up and down switch IKEA provides

[@destinal_in_reality]

Impressive work! Thanks to you, I'm strongly considering buying a Bekant table just to do this. With something like an ESP8266 and WeMo emulation code (like that already written by Xose Pérez) I can see being able to say "Alexa, turn on/off standing mode"

[@RobinReiter]

Thank you! Well that's a very good idea. I have a few ESP8266's and even a Alexa device laying around. Would be a pretty nice upgrade.

[@kioshiootori9657]

Limit switchs, and a wireless charging base -- and control via usb or serial/wifi/poe -- consider using wesp32 maybe -- or nodemcu -- could add usage graphs and everything to chart how much time you sit/stand n such -- or integrate into a smart home hub, and allow automation

[@kioshiootori9657]

Add an encoder on the motor too -- then you dont have to do math to find the exact table position, just a table that correlates after homing the table on boot

[@kioshiootori9657]

could even add a pressure sensor in your chair, with a tiny battery and a nodemcu -- auto change based on if your sitting down -- or place the buttons on your chair

[@godfathernt]

These kind of videos make me feel so dumb. Thanks for sharing this though, really enjoyed it.

[@tfk5853]

Looks like you never did make that final video? Would love to see the finished product in the end. Fantastic project - thanks for making this, which I will try build per your instructions :)

[@ZwergDesign]

Why not get rid of the original PCB in the beginning? Would make things quite a bit easier.

[@NicksStuff]

That's a great mod. I would use a piezzo sensor and knock on the table to switch between positions

[@bobbytalbert2778]

Is it possible to run 2 desks (4 legs) with only 1 controller?

[@MrHaXx]

I also wants to know this

[@pablob5483]

Nice idea! thanks for sharing it with the community! As a user of an ikea beakant I really appreciate! You've got my like and suscribe to your channel!

[@AlbiinoBlacksheep]

Probably should add some kind of stop button (big red emergency stop?) in case something gets in the way of the table.

[@phinok.m.628]

So what's wrong with the internal pull ups of the ATmega? They may have a higher resistance than your 10K pull down resistors, but for simple pull up/down resistors for push buttons, I really can't think of a good reason to use external resistors instead.

[@xcruell]

Also wenn die Grafikkarte nicht schon mindestens 1x runtergeflogen ist, weiß ich auch nicht :D Hammer Videos machst du! Hast nen Sub :)

[@joselu90]

A microcontroller for doing something a simple button can do. And not implementing any of the advantages provided by a microcontroller. What a mess! Really nice hack!

[@RobinReiter]

El Blog de Joselu The onboard microcontroller actually does more. As far as I can remember it was also responsible for keeping a cooldown period after extensive use. Also it does softstart and stop the entire thing. There are a couple of reasons.

[@chengL10]

I did something similar... instead of the Ikea table, I hacked the functions of the motors to tilt the beds because I hated to hold the button of the control remote and decided to add a function to it that if I pressed the button for x seconds, it would go up or down completely :)

[@naamarivlin599]

Could you answer how to read the LIN signal? Specifically, what physical Arduino port is the LIN wire hooking into? Also, how does the Arduino LIN library know which port to read the LIN signal from?

[@manvsmachine1]

I want to get this running on a raspberry pi nano so that I can add it to smart home automations via HomeBridge / IFTTT / Alexa ?

[@anthonyrich1592]

Aww man, how do I un-see this video? Now I'm going to have to figure out how my ADJUSTME TC15 controller and TH37 hand controller talk to each other so I can add memory buttons for the sit/stand positions.

[@ValenJon1]

Hi Robin! I have been trying to locate a replacement intermotor power connector no luck with Ikea nor anywhere else. Any idea where I can find this kind of cable?

[@lutzeslife]

Hello Robin, i know you video about the bekant desk is 4 years old but maybe do you know a answer of the following question. Did you know how the original arrow buttons work. My desk is more then 7 years old and i must push really hard the down button to move the desk. So the question is if i can switch both button without to use your way through arduino?

[@John-vk1ij]

Is it possible to modify the LIN library to inverted the signal voltage, instead of using a transistor to do that?

[@andiquoteable]

Where's the follow up tutorial you mentioned at the end of the video? Do you have details about the case you designed?

[@RobinReiter]

+andiquoteable Here is a short video about the casing: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oV6omnyhaJeEi7c

[@MrHaXx]

I'm still trying to figure out how to connect 2 tables to 1 controller, could i ask you to look into that?

[@Falkvinge]

This is really cool. May I ask a noob question? I've been trying to chain two BEKANT motorized desks to the same remote control. Nothing fancy like this one, just connecting them in a straight linear fashion with the same cables as come in the box. (The desks are side by side so I'd just like them to move in sync.) So in one end of the circuit there's the power supply, then four motorized legs connected in sequence, then the remote control. But whenever I'm chaining the assy like that, and have one remote control at the end, nothing moves. Not even the one desk it's supposed to be identified with (as opposed to both, which is what I'm trying to achieve). I was under the impression that the remote control was a master and all other devices were slaves, so it won't care if it's two or four slaves (leg motors) on the bus? Grateful for any pointers in the right direction. Rick

[@RobinReiter]

+Rick Falkvinge The remote is the master, yes. Unfortunately I think its almost impossible to keep both in sync since they do not immediately stop when you release a button. I'm not sure but if you digg deeper into the transmission protocol you might fully figure those numbers out. I stopped at one point because I had all I needed to succeed with my specific project.

[@dave_dennis]

I’m curious about how many hours were spent on this? I do these same things but feel I’m very slow. Working in the evenings when I have a few moments to spend on electronics, this project might take me 2 months to complete.

[@dregenius]

David Dennis That would be nice! What about putting a strip of reflective tape around the chair and using some kind of proximity detector to sense when the chair has been moved far enough away or close enough, and then activate the memory positions based on that?

[@bbreeuwer4577]

Fun project. In practice you could just only use the two original buttons. Short press is just the regular up and down. Long press are the stored positions. With a bit of luck you can squeeze it all in the original package :) (or just re-flash the entire pic)

[@RobinReiter]

Good Idea. The problem is that the PIC is doing all sorts of weird stuff. For example it is not just setting a position. It is also responsible for some acceleration and deceleration stuff. Also there are a couple of other things going on on the LIN bus. I kinda figured it was easier to just hook up my own controller and leave the PIC how it is :)

[@bbreeuwer4577]

The 'two button only' solution would still be possible. Personally I think I would just rip out the whole original board, and make my own, instead of re-engineering a whole existing protocol. Essentially it's nothing more than just moving a bunch of motors.

[@RobinReiter]

Bart B If you put in your own board you still have to figure out what the protocol does. The positioning values I am reading are actually the commands for them to start running. You could, of course, rewire the whole motor assembly and get rid of LIN entirely.. But that would be even more work to do.

[@felixbrochat]

Beautiful name for your code: IKEA Hackankt v1.0 ! :-D Bravo°

Very nice. :) I'm about to buy a desk like this, and missed these preset functions. I had some ideas while watching: - I would try to find a connector for that plug on the PCB, and use naked test clips to sniff the LIN data. I would try to keep original electronics as intact as possible, given that IKEA gives 10 years of warranty for these desks. But maybe this is not really worth it, because you had to force open the button box anyway. - I would try to use the original buttons to add presets, like "both button press" + "down" to lower, and "both button press" + "up" to raise to the preset position.

[@Krejstrup]

Frekking cool work you've done here - wow! Even though I came in a bit late I'll be following you, that's for sure...

[@tomeogonzales4691]

Very nice project. One question: it is possible to invert the data stream in Arduino code and get rid of the transistor and resistors used as a NOT gate?

[@RobinReiter]

Tomeo Gonzales Thanks! Yes you should probably be able to dig into the Lin library and invert the interrupt methods that actually parse the logic levels. Should be doable. But it might be easier to salvage a transistor somewhere ;)

[@shubhsuryatejas]

You should make a series on "From beginner to Robin Reiter". I mean they dont teach these stuff even in collage so how to become your level of expert from a beginner, where to start from and how to reach your level of genius.

[@666stk666]

Hi! Thank you for this hack! But as I'm planning to seperate the two linear motors, do you know how they are driven? I think it's easier to make my own motor controller than hacking the SW and switch on/off one of the motors. Or do you have a better suggestion?

[@uhhguu0o]

Is there anyway to raise and lower the bekant motorized desk without a key?

[@jjforjules]

Or....you could just put a subtle mark/etching on the leg at the desired height(s) and referencing the mark to ensure you recall the desired height.

[@piercer4882]

Wow.. good job. I like messing around with arduino but this is crazy. I wish I was able to do this kind of project

[@chibani_gl]

Impressive job. So, if I understand well, the controller you've modified is the master device on the LIN bus ? If so, do you think it could be possible to build a controller without having to break the original one ? (my desk is knew, and it's quite expensive... :D )

[@RobinReiter]

Thanks :) Well basically I didn't touch the stock controller. It still is the LIN master. The arduino is just a slave reading out table position values. The problem is that you have to find a LIN pin that you can hook up to. You may find one near the motors instead of having to crack open the main console.

[@auronmuc2532]

You could use a LIN Transciever (e.g. MCP2004 ) to do that, but you would still need to crack open the controller because you need to replace the buttons with this appoach. Be aware the Input voltage spiked to appx. 50 Volts when moving the desk... 8-| I transcoded the up / down / startup a while back, but the protocol is pretty complicated and I didn't have time to reverse enineer it. Maybe with your insights this will proove an interesting project for the dark time of the year :)

[@MuhammadAbbas-fo1qc]

Hey! can you tell BEKANT Table top Meterial? I mean what is made off? Particleboard? or MDF? or HDF?

[@Jakob127]

Thank You! This will make that Project a lot easier.

[@du2efs]

What was the model of the heatgun you use in this project?

[@RobinReiter]

du2efs Thats just a random cheap ass gun from aliexpress. I would not recommend it to anyone! I‘m thinking about purchasing a Atten 858D station. Still is not the best out there but it seems to do the job. (haven’t tested it though!)

[@urgisjot]

Thank you ! very well documented, and nice camera shots overall

[@RobinReiter]

Thanks. Appreciate that!

[@albertoceron8528]

Bravo! Good reverse ingeniering and excellent explanation. I want to control two tables, so four legs with one console. After you working on this table, do you think is posible that it works just connecting in series the two aditional legs?

[@RobinReiter]

Alberto Cezón Thanks! Basically that would work. You would have to connect the arduino to both controller board. But I have no idea if both tables will stay in sync...

[@albertoceron8528]

Thanks, early awake! I was talking about to just conect the four legs without the arduino. As far as I can see, each leg has one input and one output. So the schema would be power supply-leg1-leg2-leg3-leg4-console. Afterwards I can implement the functionality of your hack. One question... are you german?

[@philipspedding697]

@@albertoceron8528 Did you end I getting this to work? I'm thinking of doing something like this too. There are two issues I could think of: 1 is the power brick might not be powerful enough (an easy fix if that's the case) 2 is the LIN device ID. I haven't had a close look at the LIN protocol, but I know it's a relative of CAN protocol. When the LIN controller is talking to the motors its messages have device IDs in the header so it's possible every bekannt leg has a unique ID and the control box is programmed with the IDs for the legs it ships with. Alternatively, if there are genetic "left leg"/"right leg" IDs then two legs might take over eachother confusing the LIN controller. Really interested to see how it went for you

[@SLYKER001]

If you spend some time to setup temperature of the air from air gun you will be able to remove these plastic connectors without damaging it

[@GunSmoker]

Why would one use a controller and protocols for a motorized table??? What's wrong with motor and a button?

[@mrgamy196]

Would it be possible to operate multiple tables at the same time?

[@MiamiWebDesign]

Very cool. I want one of these modules but could never make one. Would you consider making more and selling them?

[@TilmanBaumann]

I see you just re-used the original board and buttons. I suppose the movement commands are also LIN packets? So one could entirely replace the original controller.

[@thorstenkrell6038]

Why aren't you using your micro to talk via LIN to the motors directly?

[@GermanLi]

Awesome, thanks for taking the time to document it....

[@RobinReiter]

Thanks!

[@99percents]

Не, я понимаю иммобилайзеры ломают, софт и тп. Но стол?)))

[@joe55514]

Very interesting how complicated it is to make something more simple and convenient to use 👍🏾

[@hooshyarkarimi9524]

If we were to replicate what you did in this video with your shortcuts, how much total time would it take us? Thanks

[@TheoParis]

Nice video! What is the program that you used to display the waveform?

[@anthonyrich1592]

Robin has a Saleae Logic Pro 8 USB-connected logic analyser so it was probably Saleae Logic, www.saleae.com/downloads/

[@GreenAbsinth08]

ich verstehe absolut nur Bahnhof, aber der Tisch ist gut xDD

[@manuelabella8748]

jargon overload :( can i use uplift advance digital memory keypad?

[@tookitogo]

Great hack! The lack of memory is one reason I didn't consider IKEA when buying my adjustable desk. Anyway, what IDE are you using there? I hate the arduino IDE and am looking for an alternative. (Übrigens, im Englischen sagt man "logic high" resp. "logic low", nicht "logically", da es sich nicht um ein Adverb handelt, sondern um den Nomen "Logik". ;) )

[@RobinReiter]

Thanks! Thats GitHub's Atom with the PlatformIO plugin installed. Works just awesome. (Danke für den Hinweis, man lernt mit jedem Video)

[@falias4]

Atmel Studio is pretty neat too

[@RobinReiter]

But windows only ;)

[@falias4]

developing on mac *ugh* :p

[@wi_zeus6798]

Antonio Tejada If you are running Windows, you should consider Visual Micro for Visual Studio. I believe it is quite similar to Atmel Studio which is actually based on VS. Coding feels very smooth and the support for the Arduino Environment is quite good.

[@jp2en]

The keyboard plug already had a few unused pins, possibly You've been just needing to add the buttons to the existing design.

[@MegaSteamfreak]

If there was a chance that it is a PIC16, why didn't you just reprogram it? Two buttons are enough for this application. Also MPLAB X MCC offers a ready to use LIN module. Or let the Arduino send the LIN comands as well.

[@RedLegoCraft]

What is the IDE that you're using called?

[@noa.sendlhofer]

Lab Gaming I found it, it‘s called PlatformIO

[@heyitzbrijesh]

Hey.. why didn't you just think of simulating the button function by attaching a parallel button like circuit that will be driven by an external controller. Use limit switches to determine the prefixed heights. A person who didn't understand protocols would probably do this! :)

[@mohamedrasheed8189]

Please what you are use for data acquisition

[@mohamedrasheed8189]

Please what you use for data acquisition

[@AlizFavz]

excellent work. what editor are you using for coding?

[@RobinReiter]

+AlizFavz Thanks! Thats a text editor called Atom in combination with PlatformIO. I do have two tutorials on my channel describing how to set that up.

[@bernardthered]

That looked like Visual Studio to me (or perhaps Sublime Text?)

[@SinanAkkoyun]

2:46 I think you wanted to say fortunately

[@RobinReiter]

Sinan Akkoyun True that!

[@mrspeaky6885]

How long did u take to do all of that?

[@MrGarda42]

Excellent video Robin, thank you. Did you finally make the follow up video to this one? 🍻🍻

[@jakeharlow9763]

What ide is that you use for the Arduino?

[@RobinReiter]

Jake Harlow At the time of that recording it was Atom with Platformio. Nowadays it’s VSCode with Platformio. I got two videos that cover this topic. You might wanna check them out.

[@jakeharlow9763]

@@RobinReiter thank you, great video, I'm new to your channel, I will sub

[@dtb9165]

Other products made by Ikea are different. A lot different. I rever engineered a desk, but the interface and the protocol is really really different. I am afraid this hack is specific to this product only.

[@michaelknight2342]

Your office chair looks comfy, where can i get one?

[@SumUnicus]

Memory for tables and stols/chairs, in cars, office, etc is not a good thing. If u memorize a wrong position or a bad position for your body, u will not notice that until your body start to hurt. That can take a very long time, but when it happens it can be hard to get rid of it. And if u have bad luck, maybe it take months of rehabilitation for u to be fine again. So don't use those memory things. Always adjust for next position.

[@johan79]

I think that could be the reason that IKEA didn't program a memory function.

[@Roman1i]

Hi Robin and GREAT JOB! are you planning on selling some custom 3D printed modules that can replace standard IKEA Bekant Table buttons? I hope you do, because I would invest into having 2more memory buttons on the table ;)

[@fn9673]

Thanks for sharing Robin, you did a great job.

[@MRTNBLND77]

Nice, but a 1 Euro whitemarker to mark your favorite hight on the tabelstand will do the same. Job done in 20 sec. ;-)

[@xman2670]

Are you selling any of these? Super cool work

[@CT2507]

wow... advanced. hey, do u think u could reverse engineer a UFO? im just looking for a simple hack to stop using that silly key/metal pin, so the up and down button can function all the time without that key/pin.

[@venugopals9680]

Yo man. You did awesome 👏 work . And grate thanks to you for doing this type of knowledge videos.