distance

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DJ3riple
 
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distance

Post by DJ3riple »

After building my tv b gone I am not able to turn off tv's that are more than 25 feet away...anybody know why?

montag
 
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Post by montag »

Make sure all your leds are working. You need a cam corder or digital camera to see this.
Take out the AVR and put a jumper in the socket from pin 4 (ground) to pin 6 (base of the transistors) that should light the LEDs continuesly.

Sounds like your narrow beam LEDs are not working, mine works at over 70 feet.

To check operation of the transistors I just put a visable led in parralel with the IR one when troubleshooting a perfboard one I made.

adafruit
 
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Re: distance

Post by adafruit »

DJ3riple wrote:After building my tv b gone I am not able to turn off tv's that are more than 25 feet away...anybody know why?
use the digital camera test to verify all of your leds are lighting up and pointing straight. also make sure you're aiming well. the better your aim, the longer you can hit TVs from!

DJ3riple
 
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Post by DJ3riple »

I checked the leds with my digital camera and they are all operating. Though I did try some better charged batteries and was able to gain a few feet...nothing like 70 though. Also, I have a very steady aim and was looking directly at the tv, but from across the house it just doesn't want to work.

montag, could you please explain the transistor test you use?

montag
 
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Post by montag »

First I took an LED and soldered the 47 ohm resistor to it place it across the 3 volts. See how bright it lights.

Then jump the AVR as mentioned above and place the visable LED in parallel + to + - to - on your other leds one at a time. See if the visable LED lights up as bright as it was with just the resistor. I found a bad solder joint this way and it was causing the transistor not to switch.

I dont know if this will help with the brightness issue. Just giving you more things to test.

Also what LEDs did you use?

DJ3riple
 
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Post by DJ3riple »

I only used the IR LEDs that came with the kit.

DJ3riple
 
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Post by DJ3riple »

I'm sad that I can't get it to go further...I guess I'm not technically inclined enough to fix it.

maltman23
 
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Post by maltman23 »

I'm not sure what could keep your TV-B-Gone Kit from turning off TVs from way far away. The first field-testing I did with the current version of the TV-B-Gone Kit was at a Fry's in Austin (while at the Maker Faire). There was a long hallway with a huge-ass JVC TV at the end of it. I went all the way to the far wall, barely aimed my TV-B-Gone Kit at it, pressed the button, and a few seconds later the TV went off. There were 18" tiles all the way from the far wall to the huge-ass thing -- I counted them: 78! That's almost 40 yards! I tried it again to be sure that I wasn't hallucinating. It worked again! :)

So, I know that it the circuitry works as intended.

There really isn't much you can do wrong that would reduce the range. Perhaps some parts are incorrect? Are the resistors that connect to the base of the transistors all 47 ohm (yellow-violet-black)? Are the transistors all PN2222A ?

Also, please be aware that TV remote controls are designed to control TVs while being a couch-potato, and not designed to receive IR signals at any angle while out in public. If the TV is pointed directly at you, the range is increased by a huge amount (conversely, if the TV is pointed at a steep angle away from you, you may not be able to turn it off at all, no matter how close you are). Also, if there is any glass between you and the TV, that may or may not effect you ability to turn off the TV. Some glass diffuses or even blocks the IR light. And if the IR beam is at an angle with respect to the glass, then it is often the case that most of the IR is reflected away from the glass, rather than transmitted through it.

Mitch.

DJ3riple
 
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Post by DJ3riple »

I've been doing my tests with it at home from across the house looking directly at the tv sitting on the table. I can turn it on at about 25-30 feet but anywhere beyond that nothing happens. I've gone back and tried reheating all the transistor joints but it hasn't changed anything. Also, all the transistor part numbers are the same, nothing strange.

adafruit
 
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Post by adafruit »

DJ3riple wrote:I checked the leds with my digital camera and they are all operating. Though I did try some better charged batteries
make sure to use new alkaline batteries, rechargable batteries will not work as well!

DJ3riple
 
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Post by DJ3riple »

I tried some brand new duracell alkaline batteries and I am still getting the same results...

adafruit
 
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Post by adafruit »

is it just -one- tv that isn't responding well or -all- tv's?

DJ3riple
 
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Post by DJ3riple »

hah, just before I saw what you said last I tried another tv and this one worked from a greater distance. The tv that hasn't been working very far is a Sharp LCD HDTV...you would think the IR technology would be better than this old tv that I just tried it on that gave better results.

I think I need to go out and try it on some other tv's that aren't my own.

maltman23
 
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Post by maltman23 »

Yes, please go out and try lots of other TVs!

It is strange, but different TVs' IR receivers are very different in how well they allow the TV to turn off. Sony TVs are the best -- they turn off the easiest! :)

DJ3riple
 
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Post by DJ3riple »

thanks for all the suggestions, I'll let you guys know how the testing goes.

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