Bizarre TV project/question

Sure, it's easily done. Do be careful though, the TV may be of the hot chassis design, in which case your remote sensor is floating at line voltage rather than being grounded so if in doubt, insulate it.

uuhhh...in english? Sorry, I'm not sure I understand. Are you saying that to put the sensor somewhere else on the cabinet I might run the risk of getting zapped if I touch it? If so, what exactly should I do to avoid arc welding my fingers together?

turn off the tv set, desolder the ir reicever. take three wires from the PCB (where the three pins of the reicever were before you undsoldered it) and connect them to the legs of the reicever (1-> 1, 2-> 2, 3-> 3)... it's not too insane.. it's insane the xbox-racing-driver :-D

ok, I guess I follow you. Just so I'm on the same page though...there are a total of 5 solder points. I'm thinking that the two on the outside are actually holding the IR sensor to the pcb and the three in the middle are the brains of the unit??? Right?

As James said, moving the remote sensor is not a problem. However, I would recommend two additional caveats. First, use single screen twin ( like balanced mic cable ) to make the connection, using the screen ( shield ) for the ground connection, and one each of the two inners for the +5v supply pin, and the data out pin. Second, I would recommend that wherever you mount it, you make sure that it's still behind a piece of IR filter material to avoid interference from sunlight etc.( there's also no issue then about you being able to touch anything ).

Bart's suggestion above is also a very good one, if you only need to go over to AV, and don't need to get access to other remotely controlled functions.

Arfa

uhm..... if you only want to switch AV follow what "bart bervoets" said... or, if you want to use the remote controller.. how much pin does the ir reicever have?

I think that my best bet is to move the remote sensor elsewhere on the cabinet as I would like to access all of the remote functions if needed. It appears that the pins on the sensor are about 3/16" in length. Soldering should be a little tricky, but not impossible. Regarding what "Arfa" wrote, I am not sure what you are talking about with the single screen shield? What is it? What is balanced mic cable? Where can I purchase it? I thought that I could just use some telephone wire to extend the sensor out away from the circuit board? I appreciate all of the help guys, but I need alot of layman's terminology. (I am a fireman by trade, not even remotely an electrician or circuit board tech) If you guys could steer me towards exactly what type of wire to use and where to purchase it (radio shack???) that would help. Also, where can I get IR filter material? I tossed out the old tv cabinet a long time ago, so I can't use the old IR filter off of that.

If the TV has a live chassis there is another option worth considering - some retailers sell IRRC remote control extenders, some types use an RF link so you can mount the set end unit inside the cabinet where your TV chassis IR unit can see the IRLED and you can put the box that picks up the beam from your handset anywhere you like. Its a more expensive option but its certainly safe and avoids modifying the chassis.

You may find that there is too much electrical noise going on inside the cabinet to do this. Some IR receiver modules are incredibly sensitive to interference. I'd recommend using shielded audio or data cable to do this, rather than ordinary hook-up wire.

If you could run a piece of optical fiber from the receiver to the cabinet, that'd be even easier, and wouldn't create any interference problems for you. You can get cheap plastic fibers in six foot lengths or longer at electronics surplus places. Networking fibers are available everywhere, but I wouldn't recommend them because they are incredibly thin and you won't get very good coupling from six feet away.

Have you thought about using "mirrors" instead? I use one of the remote control extenders with my satellite system, but need to bounce the signal with a mirror as well.

I had the same problem, doing exactly what you did. My tv had a scart, if yours does not it's another problem but a scart has a pin which can be fed with i believe 12v and will cause the tv to jump in ext1 mode. I soldered a relay in series with a capacitor so the relay would have a delay of a few seconds to allow the tv to start and then the

12v feed kicked in, jumping the tv in ext1 mode. If that does not work for you, install the IR sensor somewhere else as mentioned above. If in doubd, ask a tv technician, it's not too complicated.

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Don't think anyone answered this, but yes, the 2 outside pins are just the metal bracket pins, the 3 inside ones are the active ones.

thank you...that is one of my questions answered. Now I just have to figure out the best solution for wiring. "stickyfox" suggested optical fiber for my wiring? I'm not familiar with this and I'm really looking for something I could just pick up at my local radio shack. I'm guessing by all of these posts that it must be shielded too? Come on guys, brainstorm! (think Radio Shack too!)

I would use microphone cable for a balanced line mike. It has a Copper braid shield and 2 insulated conductors inside. Connect the braid to your ground and use the other 2 wires for the +5v and signal. The cable sould be similar to what they have here:

The cable at the top of that page would work fine, Radio Shack should have something similar. 2 conductor with shield.

Hope this helps.

Yes, the outside two are the mechanical mount though they're likely also grounded for shielding. The other 3 wires are power, ground and signal.

If in doubt you might want to find someone more familiar with this stuff, TVs can be dangerous.

Hot chassis means that "ground" in the TV set is not earth ground, the AC line coming in is rectified and filtered into around 170VDC, the negative side of this is called "ground" but in reality it's floating well above earth ground and you'll get a shock if you touch it. Many TVs use a transformer in the switching power supply and are isolated but not all are so it's important to know what design your TV uses before you do too much mucking around.

I am trying to find circuit board schematics for this tv on the internet and have not been successful. It is a Memorex MT2274A set. I was just looking at the circuit board and specifically at the IR sensor. I understand that the outside left and right terminals on the sensor are for mounting purposes. Now the three middle ones I'm not sure of. If I purchase that mic cable for lengthening this setup, I guess I'm supposed to solder the braided ground cable from the mic wire to the "ground terminal" on the IR sensor. Out of the three center pins, how do you know which one is "ground?" I looked on both sides of the pcb and there is no markings, and as I said before, I have no access to schematics.

Try here;

Do you have an ohmmeter? See which terminal has zero ohms to a ground point such as the tuner case. Are you sure you are not in over your head?

David