Stuart91 Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 One of our esteemed clients has recently bought a new projector. (Dell FullHD7700). We helped them fit it since we had scaffolding etc. in place for another project on site. It turns out that the infra-red remote supplied with the projector is really wimpy. They have a clear line of sight from a balcony to the back of the projector which has an IR receiver on it. The total distance is no more than 7m, probably less. If you stretch out from the balcony, with the remote at arm's length,the projector will respond maybe once out of every ten presses. The remote worked fine at shorter distances when on the ground. This performance is far worse than I would have expected, every other projector that I have encountered has worked fine at similar, and indeed much longer distances. I've had issues in the past with florescent lighting causing problems with IR transmission, but there are no light fittings anywhere near the projector and nothing close to the line of sight to the remote. Of course, we now need to help them find a solution to the problem. We could look into network control, or some sort of IR to CAT5 adaptor, but that would mean an additional cable run to the projector, which would be tricky and expensive. I've used IR extenders (like those pyramid shaped ones) which make an RF link. That's better than needing a cable run, but means we need to find a way to accommodate the receiver on the projector mount. What I'd ideally like is some sort of Infra Red amplifier. A unit that can sit on the edge of the balcony, aim the remote at it, and it rebroadcasts a much more powerful infra-red signal that will reach the projector without problems. Unfortunately, I have no idea if such a thing exists. Googling isn't getting me very far, most results are for AV amplifiers with infra red ports. Keene, my usual first port of call for IR widgets, don't seem to have anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 Thought of trying a universal remote? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkPAman Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 How about this one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 also, try searching on 'remote control extender'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart91 Posted October 8, 2012 Author Share Posted October 8, 2012 Universal remote would be a good solution. I'd prefer something that lets them keep the original remote, but it's unlikely that they will be doing much more than turning the projector on and off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImagineerTom Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 Then surely the perfect solution would be a reprogramable universal remote, one of the simple ones, so that "users" have a remote control that only allows them to access the basic functions whilst the proper remote can be kept somewhere out of harms way? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDLX Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 We have got some infra-red 'pyramids' at work that extend the range of IR remotes by something like 40 meters. I'll try and work out what brand they are when im next in! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistermorton Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 We have got some infra-red 'pyramids' at work that extend the range of IR remotes by something like 40 meters. I'll try and work out what brand they are when im next in! We use those too. We have multiple "ouptut" pyramids and a single input pyramid in the box, and we can control several devices from the box by pointing different remotes at the input unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 We have got some infra-red 'pyramids'...Powermid? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart91 Posted October 10, 2012 Author Share Posted October 10, 2012 infra-red 'pyramids' I'm familiar with these units and have used them before (typically when a projector is out of line of sight). However in this situation the receiver is going to have to sit on top of the projector and will be a bit more obtrusive than I would ideally like. I'll suggest the customers try out a Universal remote as a first step, £20-odd is not much to put towards an experiment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 It'd be interesting to know whether it's the remote that's dim, or the receiver that's insensitive. If it's the receiver, then switching to a different remote won't help much. A quick and dirty test would be to look at the output from this remote and a "normal" one using a video camera - does this remote seem dimmer? Another thought - is there any sort of lens on the remote LED? Should there be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimWebber Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 Stuart., I apologise if I'm teaching you to suck eggs, but have you tried replacing the batteries in the remote? Most remote controls that I have come across are supplied with very cheap and cheerful batteries with questionable power in them.... Yes, I know this sounds obvious, but sometimes it is so easy to miss these simple things. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart91 Posted October 13, 2012 Author Share Posted October 13, 2012 I was on site again yesterday so had another chance to have a play around. The customers also have a Kramer scaler which gave me a decent point of comparison. Both remotes looked similar on my phone camera - a bluish light showing up on the screen. The Kramer remote works from a range easily double the distance the projector remote has to cover. Replacing the batteries in the Dell remote didn't make any difference. The "business end" of the remote is just flat translucent plastic, there's no lens and no obvious hole where there should be one. I guess the only other thing I could try doing is opening it up and checking if there is anything untoward inside, e.g. if the emitter is pointing in the wrong direction or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrV Posted October 13, 2012 Share Posted October 13, 2012 I'd be tempted to replace the emitter with a high efficiency one, or one with a narrower beam width, or possibly reduce the limiting resistor a bit, subject to checking the maximum current the output transistor can supply. It's usually pretty easy to spot these components if you trace the tracks back from the LED. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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