AardRemote Components

The initial prototype is using a standard arduino Uno R3 (see above) with an ITead Studio BT Shield v2.2. The idea being that my android phone (or tablet) can talk bluetooth to the arduino to send IR and learn new IR codes and the user interface and smarts can reside on the android. (But see Teensy Version for what is looking like a much better design).

The code I write is going to want to drive an IR emitter (among other things) via this circuit which I have fooled myself into believing may actually drive the emitter at the 100mA level that should produce max output for blasting a room full of electronics with IR signals. [Note: I put my handy-dandy Radio Shack digital multimeter in the circuit and it measures 107mA when a 5 volt supply is running things, so while that may be a tad high, I think it is close enough and should give me a nice bright IR blast - nothing in the circuit gets warm to the touch, so that's a good sign too :-].

The digital output fed to this circuit is generated using PWM from pin 3 of the Arduino. The pulse width modulated output makes it simple to generate the 38kHz (or whatever frequency is required by the device) signal by just programming some timers to drive the output pin.

The other bit of circuit I need simply connects the VISHAY TSOP38338 IR receiver to +5, ground, and the output from the receiver to arduino pin 8 where input capture mode is used to snapshot the timer value when the signal changes so I can time how long the IR is on versus how long it is off to learn a sequence of IR pulses for a remote button. (This does restrict me to only being able to learn codes for remotes that operate at or near 38kHz, but that is the most popular frequency, used by most remotes).

Both of these bits can be driven by interrupt handlers, leaving the main arduino loop free to communicate with my phone, or computer, or whatever I want to be in charge.