IR Transmitter Kit

This is 1/2 of an IR system. The transmitter communicates with your TVs or IR destination and can be controlled by multiple IR inputs.


This is the other half of the IR Receiver Kit - but since you can have multiple receiver modules with this one transmitter kit, we are selling them separately.



What is this product for?

Currently my folks have 5 TVs but only ever watch 2 of them at any one time. Instead of renting 5 boxes they wanted to just be able to use just 2 boxes on multiple TVs. The splitting of the output signal is easily accomplished with standard cable TV splitters. But they needed a way to control the cable box from the various remote locations.

Since there are multiple rooms that need a multiple input and single output IR system. Looking around I found multiple systems that had a single input and multiple outputs for use in cabinets but not much for multiple inputs that were of reasonable price. In the end I decided to just make my own system. Once done I installed 3 IR-RX driving a IR-TX to one cable box and 2 IR-RX driving a second IR-TX on the second box.

Both cable boxes were mounted in the basement near the cable lines and all the IR-RX and IR-TX were wired up with standard 4 conductor phone wire. So far ~6 months in no issues with the system. Folks picked up some cheap universal remotes and programmed to the cable boxes and left them in each room.

Different use scenarios:

The design is as universal as I could make it. There are multiple ways it can be used:
  • Single in single out. This is the setup normally used for taking a signal from outside a cabinet to the inside.
  • Single in multiple out.
  • Multiple in single out. I used this setup for my folks.
  • Multiple in multiple out.
  • Remote IR receiver for a microcontroller. This is not all that useful since you can attach the sensor directly to the micro. But would be useful if you want the IR receiver far away from the micro.
You need to just add a 1k Ohm pull-up to the input signal to the micro.
  • IR transmitter. This is more useful as you can offload the signal encoding to the IR-TX. Just need to provide the TTL input of the signal you want to encode.
  • IR trip wire. This one requires some mechanical modifications. You would need to add a IR Opaque tube to both the transmitter and receiver. This is to improve the directionality of the beam. A ball point pen tube works well. After that just wire the input of the IR-TX low to send out a constant stream of IR. On the IR-RX side wire up the output to the input of the microcontroller with a pull-up resistor.
When the output is high the beam is broken. When the output is low the IR beam is made.

Kit Parts:

  • 1x 940nm IR led
  • 1x 8 dip socket
  • 1x 10uF 35V elec capacitor
  • 1x 1uF 50V capacitor
  • 1x 0.1uF 50V capacitor
  • 1x 2N7000 N fet TO-92 package
  • 1x 5mm green led
  • 1x 43 ohm resistor 1/4W
  • 1x 200 ohm resistor 1/4W
  • 1x 1k ohm resistor 1/4W
  • 1x screw terminals 5mm pitch 3 position
  • 1x microcontroller PIC12F1572 programmed with IR-TX firmware
  • 1x LM78L05 5V reg TO-92 package
  • 1x PCB