IR Transmit not working... but it was!

[DCypher]

Hi,

When i got my UIRT2 device from Luc, I tried out both receiving IR (which still works great) and sending IR commands out (which worked fine). I also was able to wake the machine from sleep without a problem.

Well, i finally decided to get around to using the sending of IR for some useful purposes, but it seems it's not working anymore! I don't know what i could have done, or what i could be doing wrong, but I just can't get anything out of my UIRT2. I don't think it's the cable, as it's the same cable that was working before.

Here's how I tested:
1. Created a new command in Girder
2. Went to the "plugin" tab.
3. Selected UIRT, then clicked on settings
4. Learned an IR code from my remote by clicking on "learn"
5. Clicked on "test" to test out the code, but nothing happens.

I moved the LED close to the device to be controlled, but ... nothing.
I put the LED in front of my IR sensor for my liteon keyboard/mouse (which has a little light that flashes when it senses IR), pushed the test button, and ... nothing... it's not transmitting anything.

The receiving part of the UIRT2 is working perfectly. I have not tested the WOL part lately as I leave my machine on all of the time.

Is there some other way to test the UIRT2? Any ideas as to what may be wrong?

TIA,
Jeff

[levyshay]

Hi,
It might be that on of your IR leds stopped working, Now since you can't see this type of light (at least most people I know) it's hard to test it.
An easy solution I used is putting a normal RED (or any color you like) led instead of the IR led and then I can see it flashing.
If you have experience with soldering that it's an easy solution, If not, then there are other ways of testing.

Shay Levy.

[windtrader]

Do you just add a visible LED in series to the existing pair of emitters or some other way?

Thanks
Don

[Davros]

Windtrader,
Most Video camera's can see IR. If you or a friend have a vid. cam, you can just point it at the LED and you should see flickering in the viewfinder (some older cam's may not work as they do not use CCD).

But from what you are saying...it's not looking like it's transmitting anyway.

Hope this helps,
Dav

[DCypher]

Thanks for the tips.

Sorry it took a bit to get back to this... I just had a few minutes to try something out.

I took out my video camera, put it into "Nightshot" mode and tested to make sure I could see IR being emitted from my remotes... works great!

Then i looked at the led coming from my UIRT2... dead. Nada. Tried learning other codes and sending them... nothing emits.

OK, so i figured i have a bad led, i hunted around my house and found the emitters that came with my tivo, plugged those in and they both stay lit! I'm not even transmitting any codes and they stay lit all of the time. I tried another emitter that i had from my sat. box, and same thing, it stays lit all of the time. I tried them both in both ports on the UIRT2 and they just stay lit.

That's probably what happened to my original LED and it eventually burned out.

So, the question is... what would cause the emitters to turn on and stay on?

Thanks again,
Jeff

[gkour]

Most likely a short circuit in either
a)the traces of the pcb
b) a bad ULN chip that has a shorted switch
c) most unlikely I think a malfunctioning PIC
Check with a multimeter the voltages on all the related pins and see what comes up.

[DCypher]

Most likely a short circuit in either
a)the traces of the pcb
b) a bad ULN chip that has a shorted switch
c) most unlikely I think a malfunctioning PIC
Check with a multimeter the voltages on all the related pins and see what comes up.

I wish I knew the first thing about this, unfortunately, I just took the easy way out and ordered this from Luc. Looks like it's going to become a project!

Thanks,
Jeff

[Luc]

Another possiblity is wrong connection on the jacks, you must use the tip and ring of the stereo jack and may NOT use the ground of it.
There could also be short between the ring and ground somewhere.

Regards,
Luc.

[DCypher]

Turns out it was a bad ULN. Replaced and all is working well.
Thanks for the advice.
Jeff