Help, can't find my IR receiver window!

[Guy Lavoie]

Well, we're hanging on every word to find out the concluding, dramatic finale to this ongoing saga! Will the IR LED be fried? Will the transistor be oriented the right way? Will we find out who shot JR? Will the DeLorean ever get back to 1985?

Stay tuned...

 

[Rupp]

That's funny Guy. I'm still laughing. :lol:

 

[electron]

Well no one shot IR :lol: Looks like I had a bad mini jack connector, all components including the old transistor and LED are still functional. I tested it upstairs, which is probably about 125ft run since I am using temporary speaker wiring, and I was still able to control my equipment from the other side of the room (around 25ft). I am using a 12VDC universal unregulated power supply putting out about 300mA. I am going to try to run some permanent wiring tomorrow, and build a second one for my bedroom (unless there is an easy way of using the existing circuit to drive a second LED). Thanks again for all the help guys!

 

[electron]

I finished running my wiring today, probably around 70-80ft, and everything works perfectly, the range is amazing! I took some pictures of my rear center speaker, where my IR transmitter is hiding.

 

[Guy Lavoie]

Neat. Always nice to see actual installation pics. Glad you're having a... blast!

 

[mustangcoupe]

would this circuit work on the output from an usb-uirt?

Todd

 

[Guy Lavoie]

It depends on what that device normally drives. Is it made to drive a stick on mini-emitter?

 

[mustangcoupe]

From their forum:
The external emitter jack is current-limited (similar to other brands of emitter jacks) and is primarily designed for stick-on emitters and not IR blasters. It is a near-5 volt drive with an internal 82-ohm limiting resistor. So, depending on the saturation voltage of an IR blaster LED (let's assume 1.5V), you're only going to put in about (5V - 1.5V)/82 ohms = 42mA into the IR blaster. Some of these blasters can handle hundreds of milliamps.

I guess Ill ask over there also...
Is this circuit basically an amplifier for the IR signals?

 

[Guy Lavoie]

Yes, that's exactly what it is; a current amplifier. From the description you posted above, it looks like it should work ok.