Infared remote control - help needed

Sep 09, 2005 5 Replies
F

Hi, I am currently working on a school assignment, where I have to build a fully working remote control and describe the process of building it and the way it works over about 20 pages. The problem is that I am a complete beginner when it comes to electronics. All I know about my specific subject so far is:


- what infrared light is



- that you need an emitter and an infrared diode or photo transistor as a receiver



- that you might need to modulate the signal and use some kind of coding to be able to have a remote that works at the same range as TV remotes do and have a number of buttons between which the receiver can tell the difference



- basic electronics such as what resistors, capacitors and transistors are, and how they work, but I don't really know how exactly they interact with each other, especially in circuits that are more complex than 2 or 3 components



The end-product musn't be too complex since 12th-graders should be able to understand it, so I can't work with huge schematics. On the other hand it'd be lame to use some kind of high-tech chips who already include all the necessary components and I just have to put some wires to it. After all, I'll have to fill 20 pages. I'd have to find a middle way.



My problem is I don't have any idea what to begin with. Even if I was able to build a remote, I still wouldn't know how to desribe it that detailed.



I thought maybe some of you could help me out in any way, I'd appreciate any guidance, whether it's just an advice, a link to a website that offers instructions on the subject, or whatever...



M. Seifert



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E

Try the Nuts & Volts web site. They have had many articles about remotes and how they work. You can buy for pretty cheap the IR xmitters and recievers. Also, try Google. Search for IR remote control. ERS

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S

You may want to consider getting one of the IR kits from a site like below and working with it. Most will have schematics and an explination of how they work.

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F

Yeah, well...the problem with getting one of those IR kits is that I unfortunately happen to reside in Germany and shipping would probably be a major financial disaster if possible at all. In Germany I've got even fewer choices when it comes to information or products about the subject. And I've been searching on Google for hours, without finding anything valuable...But I guess I'll just have to keep trying.

But thanks anyways, guys.

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R

Do you still need help on this. If you do, I'll see what I can do. I will post anything I have when I have it at:

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Regards Robert

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J

maybe design a remote that produces bursts of IR with the modulation frequency of the bursts dependant on which key is pressed

maybe use a 555 chip with different timing resistors connected to each remote key, like one of those monophonic "organ" kits only modulating IR instead of driving a speaker,

At the other end some sort of frequencyt-to-voltage circuit to decode it

commercial remotes are digital and while digital signale like morse code aren't beyond the understanding of 12th graders understanding a circuit to generate and to deocde it built from discrete logic would probably be.

fill some of those 20 pages with theory like how LEDs and photodiodes work, the inverse square law, filters...

Bye. Jasen
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