On Mon, 02 May 2011 01:26:49 -0400, wrote:

On Sun, 01 May 2011 20:57:22 -0400, mm
wrote:

1) Can the infrared sensor on IR remote control receivers get weak, or
do they normally just fail.

If the IR receivers get weak, can they be replaced? Or repaired?
Change the IR-unit itself? a nearby cap?

The most important one that seems to have gone bad is in my 3-year old
300 dollar DVDR w/HDD. (Not a lot of money by some standards but it
is by mine. Plus, if I replaced it, I'd like to get a better model but
there is none (that is designed for over the air))

It's been getting weaker, I think, for a couple weeks. But tonight it
won't work at all and there is no way to change stations on the box
itself. (Only on/off, play, stop, record, eject.)

2) Also, my two new-used my Powermid pyramids seem very weak.

Thanks again to whoever suggested I get Powermids to control my dvd
player from the other rooms. They work really, really well. I got 3
new sets. (4 at first, but one transmitter was no good.)

Last week at a hamfest I got two old used sets with the Radio Shack
brand. 2 dollars a pair. They work a little, but not well**. (He
implied they worked when he set he got new cable stuff that made them
unnecessary, but I'm not mad at him, I just.)

**(Testing is complicated because it seems I bought a package of bad
AAA batteries at Walmart. The date on the package is 2014, but they
only work for a week or two in a remote, and then they seem to work
only on alternate days!! On bad days, the remote had to be held only
an inch from the DVD IR sensor, even though when shone at a good
Powermid, the remote would work from 10 feet away. But even on the
good days, the DVD remote doesn't work well with the new-old units.
And even on the batteries' bad days, the DVD remote does work with
with the new-new Powermids. I keep meaning but forgetting to buy
more batteries.)


3) The interesting thing about Powermid is that they have a red led
that goes on when I shine a remote control at one. These two new old
used transmitters, when installed in the bathroom, have the light on
whenever the bathroom ceiling light is on! I don't rememmber if that
is a CFL or not and it's surrounded by a frosted globe. One of them
also has its light on whenever the CRT TV underneath it is on. Isn't
that strange? I haven't looked inside yet. Any chance they can be
fixed by a medium-level-amateur techie?


Thanks a lot.



"Powermid" is a pair of 4" high black pyramids, one a transmitter and
one a receiver, by which one can convert an IR remote to radio waves
and relay the IR signal to another room in the same house. Usually
works very well.

Have you replaced the batteries?

John

Thanks for your reply

For sure. The problemhas been that the IR receiver on the DVDR seems
to be getting weaker. Even when the Powermid can receive the remote
signal from 10 feet away, the DVDR itself, with all but the strongest
newest battereis, sometimes won't work from 2 feet away, or even 2
inches or a half-inch. It has to be right up at faceplate of the
DVDR.

Or is it normal for something controlled by Powermid to work with such
a weak remote signal, while a directly controled device won't?


John's post may weil have solved the bathroom problem, but for those
who find it interesting, I have more info about the problem with
Powermid in the bathroom. When the tv and all the lights are off, a
remote control will actuate the Powermid. But when the ceiling light
is on (I don't remember if there is a CFL inside, but I suposed so)
and the red light is on the Powermid, even putting the remote right up
to the face of the Powermid won't make it work. Sometimes the light
can be on and the red Powermid light not on!, but otoh time doesn't
seem to be the factor. I've taken a 30-minute bath and the red light
never goes off.


I could change the ceiling light to a regular incandescent, but also
when the TV is on, the Powermid red light goes on, and there's little
point to controlling the DVD player when the TV is off. Oh, that
problem isn't solved, but maybe that problem will just go away.