IR and Powermid strength

1) Can the infrared sensor on IR remote control receivers get weak, or do they normally just fail.

If the IR receivers get weak, can they be replaced? Or repaired? Change the IR-unit itself? a nearby cap?

The most important one that seems to have gone bad is in my 3-year old

300 dollar DVDR w/HDD. (Not a lot of money by some standards but it is by mine. Plus, if I replaced it, I'd like to get a better model but there is none (that is designed for over the air))

It's been getting weaker, I think, for a couple weeks. But tonight it won't work at all and there is no way to change stations on the box itself. (Only on/off, play, stop, record, eject.)

2) Also, my two new-used my Powermid pyramids seem very weak.

Thanks again to whoever suggested I get Powermids to control my dvd player from the other rooms. They work really, really well. I got 3 new sets. (4 at first, but one transmitter was no good.)

Last week at a hamfest I got two old used sets with the Radio Shack brand. 2 dollars a pair. They work a little, but not well**. (He implied they worked when he set he got new cable stuff that made them unnecessary, but I'm not mad at him, I just.)

**(Testing is complicated because it seems I bought a package of bad AAA batteries at Walmart. The date on the package is 2014, but they only work for a week or two in a remote, and then they seem to work only on alternate days!! On bad days, the remote had to be held only an inch from the DVD IR sensor, even though when shone at a good Powermid, the remote would work from 10 feet away. But even on the good days, the DVD remote doesn't work well with the new-old units. And even on the batteries' bad days, the DVD remote does work with with the new-new Powermids. I keep meaning but forgetting to buy more batteries.)

3) The interesting thing about Powermid is that they have a red led that goes on when I shine a remote control at one. These two new old used transmitters, when installed in the bathroom, have the light on whenever the bathroom ceiling light is on! I don't rememmber if that is a CFL or not and it's surrounded by a frosted globe. One of them also has its light on whenever the CRT TV underneath it is on. Isn't that strange? I haven't looked inside yet. Any chance they can be fixed by a medium-level-amateur techie?

Thanks a lot.

Reply to
mm
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CFLs are a known problem with IR systems...make sure any you buy are Energy-Star qualified:

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You can tell how 'bright' your transmitter is by looking at it with your digital camera - the IR LEDs will look white when on.

John :-#)#

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Reply to
John Robertson

Have you replaced the batteries?

John

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news

I guess I'm "lucky". They havent' changed my channels yet.

Okay, Engergy-star it is. I thought that only related to power-usaage efficiency, but I guess it is inefficient to make IR that no one can use to see. In fact I assumed all CFLs would be energy-star because they are all so efficient, I thought.

"Energy Star-qualified CFLs likely won?t cause this interference,.......... Our advice is that your friend not use CFLs in fixtures near her TVs, radios, remote controls, or cell phones" So they likely won't cause a problem, but don't use them. LOL

"If interference occurs, she should move the CFLs away from the electronic equipment or plug the light fixture and the electronic device in different outlets." Plugging into different outlets!! That doesnt' sound to me like it would help. After all, it's the light from the bulb that goes in through the IR sensor in the device. No one claims the IR light from the light fixture goes back into the electric wires and then goes into the TV through the power cord. So why do they say things like this. Did he copy and paste from an article on something else?

I dont' remember what is up there, but it's probably one of the new actually inexpensive ones from Home Depot. They warm up almost immediately, and the are Eco-Smart (tm) but not Energy Star. It won't hurt me to buy some Energy-Star, even if only the bathroom "needs" one.

Above the sink, which bubls I've turned off, are two 40-watt equivalents, which I think I bought early on just to try out CFLs.

The cheap ones at HD 3 months ago were only 50 and 100 watt equiv. The 40 and 75 watt were still expensive for some reason. Maybe by now that has changed, but after I find am energy star brand that works for the ceiling, I'll buy some for above the sink.

I use these CFLs in the basement too, and my bedroom, and the office, all in ceiling fixtures, but they've never caused a problem (except maybe with the digital to analog converter, that I posted aobut a long time ago. But I've learned to get around that problem.)

Very good to know. I'll try it.

Thanks a lot.

Reply to
mm

"Powermid" is a pair of 4" high black pyramids, one a transmitter and one a receiver, by which one can convert an IR remote to radio waves and relay the IR signal to another room in the same house. Usually works very well.

Thanks for your reply

For sure. The problemhas been that the IR receiver on the DVDR seems to be getting weaker. Even when the Powermid can receive the remote signal from 10 feet away, the DVDR itself, with all but the strongest newest battereis, sometimes won't work from 2 feet away, or even 2 inches or a half-inch. It has to be right up at faceplate of the DVDR.

Or is it normal for something controlled by Powermid to work with such a weak remote signal, while a directly controled device won't?

John's post may weil have solved the bathroom problem, but for those who find it interesting, I have more info about the problem with Powermid in the bathroom. When the tv and all the lights are off, a remote control will actuate the Powermid. But when the ceiling light is on (I don't remember if there is a CFL inside, but I suposed so) and the red light is on the Powermid, even putting the remote right up to the face of the Powermid won't make it work. Sometimes the light can be on and the red Powermid light not on!, but otoh time doesn't seem to be the factor. I've taken a 30-minute bath and the red light never goes off.

I could change the ceiling light to a regular incandescent, but also when the TV is on, the Powermid red light goes on, and there's little point to controlling the DVD player when the TV is off. Oh, that problem isn't solved, but maybe that problem will just go away. :)

Reply to
mm

It's possible that the Powermid transponder (or its extender) puts out more IR than the remote control itself. Regardless, you have a problem of some sort, either with the remote or the receiver in the device.

By the way, regular fluorescent lamps can cause problems with IR-controlled devices.

I have no idea what would make a particular CFL eligible for an EnergyStar label. Fluroescents produce about four times as much light (for a given power input) as regular incandescent lamps. They are inherently energy-efficient.

Reply to
William Sommerwerck

Thanks. I didnt' know that. (Just as I didn't know about the CFL's until less than a year ago.)

I don't have any regular fluorescents.... but I have bought a fixture for my kitchen. Ugh. I guess that would likely increase my problems.

It came with two long U-shaped bulbs, 2 to 3 feet long. I don't suppose those are a known exception and don't emit IR.

That's what I thought. Maybe the Energy-Star people are bluffing or lying, but it's worth a few dollars to find out, regarding CFL's. But in the kitchen, I would think those long U-shaped ones are expensive, to replace brand-new bulbs when I have no other place to use them.

I guess what I have to do is connect the fixture without attaching it to the ceiling, and see what effect it has.

Then if I have to, I can give away the whole fixture. (I also spent about 30 dollars to replace the wall switch timer with a special fluoresent-compatible wall switch timer, to keep the house looking lived in when I'm away.

Thank you for bringing this up. I definitely would not have thought to do testing before installation if you hadn't.

(In order to get more light in the kitchen, I exceeded the 60 or 75 watts allowed in those glass spheres (there are three of them). and it didn't cause a fire of course, but over the course of a decade or more, the bakelite? or plastic that surrounds the threads of the socket turned brittle and somewhat fell apart, largely in one case, and also there's not as much to hold the metal threads in place, and one socket won't work anymore, probably no longer makes contact with the center of the bulb. I coudl repair all this or, I think, buy a brigher non-fluorescent fixture, bigg but I thought fluorescent would look nice. Modern, since I'm stilll living in the 50's anything from the 60's seems modern to me. )

Reply to
mm

It's possible that the Powermid transponder (or its extender) puts out more IR than the remote control itself. Regardless, you have a problem of some sort, either with the remote or the receiver in the device.

By the way, regular fluorescent lamps can cause problems with IR-controlled devices.

I have no idea what would make a particular CFL eligible for an EnergyStar label. Fluroescents produce about four times as much light (for a given power input) as regular incandescent lamps. They are inherently energy-efficient.

*** I have no idea what energy star has to do with remote control interference. The basic problem is an I.R. remote modulates its I.R. output between 35 and 45 KHz. The receiver is tuned to listen in that frequency band. If the electronic ballast happens to operate in that frequency band, then interference can be the result. I doubt energy star has anything to do with the frequency the ballast happens to use.

David

Reply to
David

CFL's, LCD and plasma displays have a habit of interfereing with the operation of IR sensors depending on design. I have a Powermid, but haven't used it in a while.

Reply to
Ron D.

I suspect that all of the "if interference occurs" advice above, including the "different outlet" suggestion, is simply the standard language for trying to work around RFI issues between devices... some of which is due to radiated RF noise, but some of which is due to conducted EMI on the power lines. Using a different outlet often puts the two devices on different circuits, and can weaken the amount of RF received at the interfered-with device.

Nobody bothered to rewrite this language (or write a new discussion) for IR-related interference (as opposed to RFI).

Another issue, though: the PowerMid RF-to-IR repeater receivers are notorious for having *lousy* RF front ends... an RF engineer I know described them as "evil". They are very non-selective. They're quite prone to pick up RF noise (including RFI generated by other household components) and start flashing it out of their IR transmitters towards the TV. This random IR noise can "jam" the TV's IR receiver pretty badly... both "desired" signals through the PowerMid, and locally-generated IR remote signals can be jammed.

In this case, moving the PowerMid receiver away from the CFL, or plugging it into another outlet, can reduce the amount of RF noise that the PowerMid picks up, and thus reduce the IR jamming problem.

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Dave Platt                                    AE6EO
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Reply to
Dave Platt

Follow-up on IR remote remote

I figured that just like light fills the whole room when you turn on a light, so did IR!

But no, I noticed that if I held my hand between the CFL ceiling light and the Powermid pyramid, the red light on the pyramid went off.

So rather than change the bulb, I was going to make a little paper awning that would keep the IR from the light away from the pyramid.

But I noticed again that turning on the tv also lights the red light, and that no place I put a paper shield made any difference.

So I'll do more testing, with a pyramid and mostly with other televisions. Or moving the pyramid. I may have to install another outlet -- the room only has one.

I have five of these in operation, but only the bathroom gives me a problem, maybe because that ceiling light is only a foot in front of the pyramid and because only there does the pyramid sit right on the tv.

Thanks again for all the advice.

Reply to
mm

I ran the power cord across the sink, though I didn't want to do that, and moved the powermid to almost 3 feet from tv, so the tv doesn't cause the red light to go on anymore.

But I'd still like to know why the IR doesn't bounce off the white walls and fixtures and fill the room, like the visible light does.

Reply to
mm

Thanks all. The TV is a CRT, but nonetheless, it does make the red light on the Powermid transmitter turn on, and when the light is on, nothing from my remote gets relayed, except sometimes if the remote is only an inch or so from the Powermid. But the bathtub is 8 feet away!

But as you can see in my other posts today, other than finding a way to run the power cord to the right of the sink without going over the sink, I've solved the problem, even before I had time to shop for lightbulbs.

Reply to
mm

If the IR doesn't bounce off of the tiles it is because the tiles are absorbing the IR. Many substances that are opaque to visible light let IR shine through. This is why law enforcement agencies sometimes use IR cameras to look for pot growing operations by flying above homes.

Reply to
etpm

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