My IR Toys just arrived. I didn't appreciate just how small it is until I saw it.
Looking at it now, I'm guessing that an additional LED driving output could be added by using the unpopulated UART TX Pin and getting power from the ICSP header. Of course the firmware would need to be modified to use the other pin or drive both pins. I suppose having a 2nd IR output, possibly on an 1/8" (3.5mm) phono jack could make this useful for HTPC/Mythtv type setups where one needed to control a cable box, or satellite receiver, amplifier, etc.
Thanks for the reply and thanks to whoever (Ian?) split this out from the emitter follower thread.
Actually I would like to drive more LEDs, including some at a distance for some home automation bits(*). I'm pretty new to all of this, so I'm interested in both the theory of proper driving circuits as well as the practical aspects. Currently I'm just playing with Arduino, but I've got a bus pirate, and I'm waiting for my USB IR Toys to arrive. I could probably do what I want with the Arduino, however I'm anticipating that the USB IR Toy firmware may wind up having more advanced IR capabilities. Given that, at some point I anticipate trying to build (or at least prototype) my own USB IR Toy plus more IR LEDs and driver circuits.
The TV-B-Gone has a circuit that drives 4 IR Leds, two wide angle and two narrower angle but higher power. I suppose I can follow that as a reference.
For what it's worth, this Oscilloscope page at OpenCircuits has links to a number of previous oscilloscope design projects. Not sure how much value they offer but thought it would be worth mentioning *http://www.opencircuits.com/Oscilloscope
[quote author="rozling"] Just wondering then, could the Logic Sniffer somehow be used as an audio oscilloscope? [/quote]
If all you want to do is audio you might try just using your sound card. There are many restrictions for the sound card A-D, like it is AC coupled so you can't see any flat DC signal. However if you are looking at line level audio it's just fine. I've also been able to hook up an IR detector and see IR signals using the sound card. If you are doing anything other than line level you'll need a probe with attenuation. Have a look at the Zeitnitz scope software for windows or xoscope for linux.
Also, I've just started using a bus pirate. It's most basic features, like the voltage probe and it's frequency counter to monitor my Arduino pins when running a sketch. After a long struggle with rxtx, I finally got the SUMP logic analyzer bit working today.
If you wanted to drive more leds, and add the necessary circuits being discussed to do it, would you attempt to modify the existing USB IR toy boards or would you build a new one?
Is it feasible to build the USB IR toy in a through hole board or on breadboard? I guess the first step is a through hole PIC that would use the same firmware. Of course something to program the PIC would be needed. Is there any chance the bus pirate could be used to program the PIC?
(Mine was shipped on the 20th, USPS tracking doesn't have anything useful to tell me about it yet. Today, I was able to use my Bus Pirate to record some IR signals today with just an IR receiver.)
In the meantime, here's a useful blog entry on some of the different methods of representing IR codes in repositories. It will probably help for grabbing codes from LIRC or the JP1 oriented hifi-remote site.
There is also this software called IR Scope, listed in the hifi-remote forum. Source is available, I don't know yet if it would be worth trying to get the USB IR toy emulate their existing usb device or whether it would be better to try to add usb ir toy support to ir scope.
[quote author="vicx"] Eventghost. It's a great free automation and remote host software on windows. Pretty lightweight and hosts python plug-ins. It speaks LIRC and HID and some other more wacky serial remote/device dialects. I use EG for more and more as time goes by. [/quote]
Event Ghost looks like a great find for windows. The source is available and it's GPL. Thanks.
How far could one extend the IR receiver from the IR toy with just CAT 5 cable? Would additional components be necessary for filtering? Would it be possible to wire several IR receivers in parallel as long as only one was receiving at a time?
