A FREE Way to Check Infrared Remote Controls
Intro: A FREE Way to Check Infrared Remote Controls
Here's a really fast, simple, and best of all free way to check whether or not your remote control is working and all you need is a webcam. This trick only works with infrared remotes, not UHF.
Normal remote controls use an infrared LED to flash a light pattern which is invisible to the human eye. The sensors in webcams and camcorders are sensitive to infrared light. Many cameras have infrared filters but they still let a fair amount of infrared light through.
Normal remote controls use an infrared LED to flash a light pattern which is invisible to the human eye. The sensors in webcams and camcorders are sensitive to infrared light. Many cameras have infrared filters but they still let a fair amount of infrared light through.
STEP 1: Point and Shoot
If your remote is hesitant or only works every now and then you can point your remote at a webcam. If the remote's batteries are good you'll see the LED flash brightly while you are pressing a button.
7 Comments
Noah Legroom 11 years ago
Ben The Builder 13 years ago
philip42 12 years ago
Obviously you should check your webcam / camera phone / camcorder / whatever with a known working remote to verify that it can see infrared signals. I just got a new cell phone and it wasn't the first item to check out on the phone, but it was on the list of things to verify.
Once you know that your camera can detect IR remotes you can be fairly confident whenever you use it in the future to check out a remote.
andre_2004 12 years ago
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/24/controled.jpg/
kelcylane 12 years ago
Timofte Andrei 13 years ago
Metalopathe 13 years ago