Tag Archives: AnalysIR

Poor maker’s Infrared receiver #2

May 28, 2014AnalysIR Blog, Arduino, IR SourcesAir Conditioner, AirCon, AnalysIR, Arduino, Carrier frequency, Infrared, IR, IR emitter, IR LED, IR receiver, IR signals, maker, Remote control, Reverse Bias, VishayUser Two

Our recent post about the silver bullet IR receiver proved very popular and we promised that we would follow-up with another variant of the poor maker’s Infrared receiver. This time we are using an IR Led (emitter), 2 resistors and any standard Arduino. You will also need to download the Arduino code provided below, compile and upload it. One of the most common problems encountered when trying to decode IR signals is that makers don’t always have the appropriate IR receiver for the job in hand or have to wait for one to be delivered by mail. Here we present an affordable method to allow you to use any IR emitter (LED) as a receiver and as a bonus we are publishing the Arduino code to make it all work.

Circuit Diagram: Poor maker's IR Receiver — Circuit Diagram: Poor maker’s IR Receiver

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‘Silver bullet’ – the Oscilloscope Infrared Receiver

May 4, 2014AnalysIR Blog, IR Sources, Products, ProjectsAir Conditioner, AirCon, AnalysIR, BNC, Carrier frequency, decoding, Infrared, IR, IR receiver, IR signals, IR Tool, LED, oscilloscope, RCA, Remote control, workbenchUser Two

A while ago we came across a website on infrared remote controls which suggested a simple way to view IR signals using an Oscilloscope. The idea is to use a standard IR Led mounted into a BNC/RCA plug using a spare channel making an Oscilloscope infrared receiver. So we set about ordering the connectors, which arrived in the post today. Another way of looking at this device is as a ‘poor-mans’ IR receiver, but if you have an Oscilloscope to plug it into then maybe you are not so poor after all.

Silver Bullet - Infrared Receiver connected to Channel 1 — Silver Bullet – Infrared Receiver connected to Channel 1

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Infrared Receivers – signal lag and distortion

March 27, 2014AnalysIR BlogAnalysIR, Arduino, Carrier frequency, decoding, distortion, DIY, Infrared, IR, IR receiver, IR signals, IRLib, IRremote, LED, oscilloscope, TSSP4038, TSSP58038, VishayUser Two

Many electronics enthusiasts will be familiar with how Infrared receivers demodulate IR signals. In this post we show a visualisation of the time lag and distortion of the signals as they pass through the IR receiver for demodulation and noise filtering. Most DIY projects use the raw timings from the IR receiver to decode individual signals. However, not many will be aware that IR receivers can distort the signal timings by significant amounts. Fortunately, common IR decoders take this into account and compensate for timing distortions introduced by infrared demodulators / receivers.

Infrared Signal, Modulated & De-modulated

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Air Conditioners: Recording long Infrared Remote control signals with Arduino

March 19, 2014AnalysIR Blog, Arduino, ProjectsAir Conditioner, AirCon, AnalysIR, Arduino, Infrared, IR signals, IRLib, IRremote, marks, RAWBUF, sketch, spacesUser Two

hRecently we have been helping several members on the Arduino forum to record and playback their remote control signals from their Air Conditioners. These signals are typically much longer than those of TVs or common media devices. The 2 most popular libraries for Arduino, IRremote & IRlib are excellent, but have some limitations which we have covered in a previous post. In this post we address one particular issue that is proving challenging to users.

airconremote — Long Infrared signals prove challenging for Arduino users

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Arduino: 10 common pitfalls with Infrared Remote Control

March 5, 2014AnalysIR Blog, ArduinoAnalysIR, Arduino, current limiting resistor, decoding, Infrared, Interference, IR, IR receiver, IR signals, IRLib, IRremote, NEC, RAWBUF, transistor, VishayUser Two

Over the last few months we have been regular contributors to the Arduino and other forums, answering questions about Infrared remote control projects. It became apparent that beginners typically trip up on many common ‘pitfalls’. So we decided to list off our ‘Top 10’.

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Latest ‘New Year’ release of AnalysIR with full support for USB IR Toy and more.

February 3, 2014AnalysIR Blog, Arduino, Crowdfunding & Backers, IR SourcesAnalysIR, Arduino, backer, Crowdfunding, Daewoo, Daikin, decoding, Denon, Dish, export, Global Caché, Helicopter, Hitachi, IGG, Import, Indiegogo, Infrared, IR signals, IRLib, IRremote, Japanese Code, JVC, Konka, LG, Microsoft RC6, modulation frequency, NEC, Panasonic, Pioneer, Pronto, Raspberry Pi, RC5, RC6, RCA, Recs80, RPi, Samsung, Sanyo, Sharp, SKY, SKY RC6, Sony, TI MSP430 LaunchPad, USB IR Toy, XSATUser Two

Dublin, Ireland – 31st January 2014. We are happy to announce the latest ‘New Year’ release of AnalysIR to all our backers & supporters. Since the completion of the crowd-funding campaign on Indiegogo we have added over 125 updates and enhancements to AnalysIR, with more to come.

A major highlight of this release is full AnalysIR support for USB IR Toy from Dangerous Prototypes (V1 & V2 hardware) for decoding and resending IR signals at all common modulation frequencies. In our opinion, AnalysIR is now the premier GUI supporting DP’s IR toy, not to mention the Arduino, RPi, MSP430 F5529 LaunchPad (beta) and more. A selection of enhancements in this latest release, include: Continue reading Latest ‘New Year’ release of AnalysIR with full support for USB IR Toy and more. →

USB IR Toy – Infrared Carrier frequency review

January 10, 2014AnalysIR Blog, IR Sources30kHz, 33kHz, 36kHz, 38kHz, 40kHz, 455kHz, 56kHz, AnalysIR, Bang & Olufsen, Carrier freuency, Infrared, IR, oscilloscope, Remote control, USB IR ToyUser Two

Since introducing support into AnalysIR for the USB IR Toy we haven’t played too much with setting the different infrared carrier frequencies. After reading some mixed experiences on the Dangerous Prototypes forum we decided to put it to the test. So to start off we implemented a feature in AnalysIR to set the carrier frequency and to default to 38kHz at start up. Next we checked the mechanism described on the DP website about configuring the carrier frequency and everything seemed to work out OK. Continue reading USB IR Toy – Infrared Carrier frequency review →

Constant current infrared LED emitter circuit

November 22, 2013AnalysIR BlogAnalysIR, Arduino, circuit, constant current, diode, Infrared, IR, IRforum, IRLib, IRremote, NPN transistor, schematic, USB IR Toy, zenerUser Two

Recently, we have been asked several times about driver circuits for IR LEDs, particularly with good range and coverage. Most of us start off driving infrared leds directly from an Arduino or other MCU using a basic resistor in series with the LED connected to a digital output pin of the MCU.

IRsignaltraceRectifierDiodeIN4148 — An oscilloscope snalpshot showing a trace of Ve from the constant current circuit shown below.

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Testing AnalysIR with a custom PCB

November 15, 2013AnalysIR Blog, ProjectsAnalysIR, Arduino, Infrared, IR, IR receiver, PCB, Prototyping, Raspberry Pi, RPi, TI MSP430 LaunchPad, USB IR ToyUser Two

Here are some photos we captured, of a sample of our MCU test rigs and custom PCB for AnalysIR.

AnalysIRtestrigs — A sample of our test rigs for AnalysIR

The photo above shows some of our test setup for Arduino, Raspberry Pi, TI MSP430 LaunchPad and the (big) baby of them all the USB IR Toy. The small red custom PCBs are ones we had made via Elecrow which worked out great. So instead of just using solderless breadboards we now plug these ‘half shields’ directly into the Arduino header, or in the case of the RPi using a ribbon cable. The USB IR Toy already has the IR receivers on board and doesn’t require this PCB.

We should also be able to hook up the LaunchPad to this board using headers. So once we receive the full set of headers, we ordered on-line, we will have all our test setups much neater and more reliable. Previously, we used solderless breadboards, as can be seen in the photo attached to the LaunchPad. Continue reading Testing AnalysIR with a custom PCB →

USB IR Toy – test release issued.

November 14, 2013AnalysIR Blog, Crowdfunding & Backers, IR SourcesAnalysIR, backer, Firmware, Raspberry Pi, Release, TI MSP430 LaunchPad, USB IR ToyUser Two

Today we issued a test release of AnalysIR, supporting V1 & V2 USB IR Toy loaded with firmware V22. If you have an IR Toy and want to test it out, leave a message with your email in the contact form at the top. Naturally, this is available only to backers with AnalysIR. You can support our project and get a copy of AnalysIR via the option at the top of this page.

Continue reading USB IR Toy – test release issued. →