Troubleshooting remotes with Mobile phones

hifi · #1 26th August 2008, 04:23 PM

Hello All,
I just want to share this information which I found out from a TV program.

If your remote control for TV/CD/AVR... is not working, you can check if it is really transmitting any IR signals using your mobile phone camera.

Just switch on the camera and point the remote towards the camera while pressing any button of the remote.

If the remote is working, you should see the LED blinking through the camera. (I believe the mobile phone camera is IR sensitive).

This works with IRDA ports of Laptops and mobiles also.

If you already know this method, please ignore this post.

Regards

Pradeep

ajinkya · #2 27th August 2008, 08:58 AM

I just tried it out. It's amazing how distinct the LED is against any backdrop. I knew that the CMOS sensors of cheaper (mobile) cameras have a sharp sensitivity peak near the IR wavelengths since Silicon is sensitive for near-IR light. However, I had no idea how prominent this effect is. Thanks for a useful tip !