On April 9, 2009 at 13:15, Bvanarsdale said...
Needless to say, I'm looking for a cheap solution to obtaining 4 IR receivers that I can use to connect to the blocks on the back of the DLA4, and I'm not against building them...just not entirely sure how to go about it.
As mentioned above one of the ubiquitous inexpensive IR
receiver/demodulator modules is likely all you need and
almost certainly what they are trying to sell you packaged
in a fancy enclosure.
Two considerations to observe however are carrier frequency
and operating voltage. 5V receivers used to be common but
aren't necessarily guaranteed to function at 3v3. 3v3 devices
are available but are rarely found from surplus/hobby
suppliers. If you can access the individual receiver module
connector, check the voltage being supplied to the device.
The other consideration being the IR carrier frequency of
which a few semi-standard values exist in the range of
30..56Khz. Ideally you would want to match the remote
and receiver's carrier frequency for maximum sensitivity.
That said I recall doing some informal experimentation in the
dim past back at TiVo. We used Vishay TK1838 (38Khz
devices) but found them to respond surprising well to a
56KHz carrier. If memory serves correct that device was
formally characterized by Vishay at 5V but we actually
deployed it in the series 2 systems operating at 3V3.
I don't believe 3V3 devices existed at that time (~2001).
