I have a device that I built that has a one momentary switch to activate different functions. Since I need to control this device from across the room, I have a wire running from the device to another part of the room with the momentary switch on the other end. I would like to replace this wired interface with an RF or IR controlled (controlled by a universal remote) momentary switch interface so I no longer have to run a wire. Any ideas?
All the uC vendors have app-notes on IR receivers/transmitters....
/A
Radio Shack... X10 smarthome.com
Hack a wireless doorbell
Hey, good one! Thats what I like to do - Walmart Engineering.
-- Luhan Monat (luhanis 'at' yahoo 'dot' com) "The future is not what it used to be..." http://members.cox.net/berniekm
It may not appeal too much to the tinkerer's soul inside you, but I think you better off by buying a ready-to-go device like the one liked below instead of re-inventing it. At half the cost of wireless doorbell that others suggested here it would make most logical choice to me:
On a side note: I never bought anything from this eBay seller, I just happened to bookmark him because he sells electronics. Check him out before you buy, as usual on eBay.
-- Dmitri Abaimov, RCDD http://www.cabling-design.com Cabling Forum, color codes, pinouts and other useful resources for premises cabling users and pros http://www.cabling-design.com/homecabling Residential Cabling Guide ------------------------------------- ##-----------------------------------------------# Article posted with Cabling-Design.com Newsgroup Archiv http://www.cabling-design.com/forum no-spam read and post WWW interface to your favorite newsgroup - sci.electronics.misc,sci.electronics.design - messages and counting ##-----------------------------------------------##
snipped-for-privacy@slingshot.co.nz wrote in news:1109163906.144435.261030 @f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:
Hack one of those tiny,tiny remote control cars. They're about $10. With a little diode-transistor logic you can have four descrete outputs. Run the outputs into a uP (Pic, Picaxe, Basic Stamp...) and you can have more. With a longer antenna on the receiver PCB the range is much improved. I incorporated one, as a remote control, into a gag gift for the departing president of my college.
Absolutely perfect for the task, methinks! And I ain't even the one trying to do it.
-- Don Bruder - snipped-for-privacy@sonic.net - New Email policy in effect as of Feb. 21, 2004. Short form: I'm trashing EVERY E-mail that doesn't contain a password in the subject unless it comes from a "whitelisted" (pre-approved by me) address. See for full details.
Good plan, but for this purpose, overkill, I'd say.
*BUT*...I happen to have a project simmering that I think will use one (or more...) of those cars nicely. I want to tele-control a video camera's functions (Mainly zoom/focus, maybe record/stop, but I haven't decided on that one yet) and aim. I've already got a stepper-motor controlled power head to mount it on, and I was looking at the idea of using a pair of the *ULTRA* cheapo (the kind with the two-function "Go forward" and "Reverse and turn left" controller) R/C cars on different channels for that link - one for up/down tilt, and one for left/right pan. If I do some tinkering, I may even be able to turn it into a handy unit with a nice layout...
It's going to take more channels for the camera functions, though... I wonder how many remote doorbells I'd need? :)
-- Don Bruder - dakidd@sonic.net - New Email policy in effect as of Feb. 21, 2004. Short form: I'm trashing EVERY E-mail that doesn't contain a password in the subject unless it comes from a "whitelisted" (pre-approved by me) address. See for full details.
I have a couple of *ULTRA* cheapo toy cars - like, 99 cents apiece in the clearance bin at some toy store or pharmacy, a year or so ago. They're both sitting on the shelf, one of them hasn't even been opened yet. The controller has "forward/reverse" and "left/right", which could control up/down, right/left, albeit it's only one speed (either dir.) and zero.
Cheers! Rich
Curiosity piqued here - do tell us more please! Or email if you want to keep it relatively secret in anticipation of repeat usage.
-- Terry Pinnell Hobbyist, West Sussex, UK
That does indeed look good value, and I'm toying with the idea of buying one myself. But I'm currently seriously disenchanted with international ebay purchases. 4 weeks ago yesterday I bought a 2 GB CF card from a New York ebay vendor, reckoning that its "4-8 day delivery" (for about 14USD air mail) would get it to me within at most about 10 days. I'm still waiting ;-(
-- Terry Pinnell Hobbyist, West Sussex, UK
Terry Pinnell wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
Of course, but you'll have to wait 'til I get to work. My drawings are there. I'm happy to share whatever knowledge I gain, that's one of the reasons I like working at a college.
Ok, here goes. This was one of the very small RC cars from Radio Shack. It was great because the PCB was so small. If I had had time, I would have hacked the transmitter to reduce it's size.
The controls on the transmitter, besides On-Off, are (F)forward,(B)backward,(L)left, and (R)right.
Below is the wiring in the car, with the relative positions of the connections on the PCB:
+--------------------------------+ | Red | | | Enamel \ .--------------------. | +-------------------------------o| + 1.5 Volts | | | +----------------------------/ | | | | | Enamel | | | | | | | | | | | | 1.25V NiCad | | +------------------------o| Motor Forward | Battery | | | Orange | | | | | C| | | |+ | | C| Motor | Receiver PCB | --- | | C| | | - | | | Black | | | | | +------------------------o| Motor Backward | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ___ Green | | \ | | +---------UUU-----------------o| Left Turn | / | | Left Wheel Solenoid | | \ | | + | | / | | ___ Green | | \ | +-----------UUU-----------------o| Right Turn | / | Right Wheel Solenoid | | \ | | | / | +----o|Common Antenna |o---+ | | '--------------------' Violet| | Black | +-----------------------------------+Tiny RC Car Receiver created by Andy=B4s ASCII-Circuit v1.24.140803 Beta
All outputs are active lows. relative to common.
Push one button on the transmitter, and the receiver responds: F or B: Each output goes low with that button pushed. The other output is high. (H-bridge?) L or R: Each output goes low through its solenoid (open collector/drain NPN/NFET ?).
Push two buttons: F+L, F+R, B+L, or B+R: two of the above happens at the same time.
I'm not sure what happens if three or four button combinations were pushed. I don't recall investigating that. The above would give 8 combinations of 4 outputs, plus Off. I needed two, plus Off. (I had achieved what I needed.)
The current draw was: Quesent: 3mA F or B: 14mA L or R: 6mA
The advantage of this is the small receiver size. If I needed a small transmitter size, I would hack a wireless door bell. Those would yield Off, plus two active states (ding and ding-dong). I never tried to push the front door and back door buttons at the same time. Anyone know?
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