I am testing some infrared LED transmitters and receivers and am not sure about a few things. Are all IR LED Transmitters the same color? I have some from one game that are dark blue and then from another game they are white. Each set has an opposite dark blue or clear white receiver or transmitter. I am using an old Radio Shack detector which is a flat card 1"x2" It glows when it detects a IR signal. When I hook up the dark blue ones on one system it will glow and the corresponding part across from won't when hooked into a LED tester. (Those little square ones from China) Then when I hook up the white/ clear one from the other system it will show a glow on the radio shack card and their corresponding blue ones won't. Can a transmitter be dark/blue in color OR white/clear in color??
What is the failure pattern? Can they get weak? Is that common? Or do they just fail. Is there a proper way to test these things? Has anyone seen pocket test instrument that can show an IR signal and test the receiver? The radio shack one I have is falling apart. Also, In general how do you usually choose these things. Are some for 3V, 5V or 12V. If I want to replace a transmitter or receiver and I don't have any manual how would I find the right one? AND, How do you tell from looking at the component what it is? That is a lot of questions.
Thanks for any and all help. Russ