DIY IR remote on my Android Phone.

I have followed the instructions here:http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Infrared-transmitter-for-iPhone-iPod/#step1 and here: http://www.vladcazan.com/previous-projects/electronics/iphone-remote-control.

The basic idea is using the Left/Right channel on the audio jack to power up two IR LEDs, so when you play a special audio (wave) file on your phone, it will generate the appropiate IR signals to the devices such as TV or your Camera.

It is a very easy hack, may be a good project for the new year start.

What u needs are only 2 x IR LED and a Audio 3.5mm Plug! Of coz, your phone, I am using Nexus S.

I don't have a TV, so I generate a wave media file to trigger my Canon DSLR, please check out the video:




The signal is not very strong, so sometimes it is not working properly. It may be because of the choice of the IR LED or just the phone won't provide enough power to the LED. It may not be very pratical, but it is fun anyway. Hope u will enjoy.  Please do it @ your own risk, it may/may not damage your phone.

Tutorial on How to generate the wave form:
http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-dslr-discussion/131633-absurdly-simple-diy-k-x-remote-timer-using-mp3-player.html#post1368821

Canon Trigger Waveform:
http://controlyourcamera.blogspot.com/2010/01/automatically-resume-video-shooting-on.html

My Sample wave form download here:
http://androidhk.com/Canon.wav

IR object tracking.

Using Infrared LED and receiver are the cheapest way to make an object detection sesnor, but you may require a lots of hard works. Luckily, Oddbot from "Let's make robots" worked very hard and give us a very good tutorial on IR object tracking. Source codes and circuit diagrams are included. Thanks OddBot.



Links:
http://letsmakerobots.com/node/4428

PIR motion sensing.

When we design lighting circuit, we would like to light up the LEDs only when there is somebody around. The PIR sensor is a motion sensor based on passive infrared sensor which senses infrared emitted by human body. I got the PIR Module "KC7783R" from local store, which includes the PIR sesnor and also the KC7783 motion detection IC.

The PIR module is very easy to use, it contains only 3 pins (1-Signal, 2-Vcc, 3-Gnd), where it detects somebody moving, the signal line goes high for a period of time (3 secs for example).

Here is my test circuit to drive one auto-flashing RGB Led with PIR module:



Live action:



My another demo of using PIR module, combining the use of AVRtiny13 as a timer. When it detects motion, it will light up the light bulb for 10 seconds, afterward it will go into deep sleep to save power and wait for the next interrupt send by PIR module.

Video demo:

Grow LED when Dark.

We love simplicity, Evil Mad Scientist Labs proposed a simple and Cheap Dark-detecting LED circuit, only few components can work it out!

link:
http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/nightlight