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Electronics Repair (sci.electronics.repair) Discussion of repairing electronic equipment. Topics include requests for assistance, where to obtain servicing information and parts, techniques for diagnosis and repair, and annecdotes about success, failures and problems. |
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#1
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TV Remote False Triggering Air Purifier!
I have an extensive backgroung in building and repairing all
sorts of electronic devices. Like millions of others I spend more time in front of my Desktop than actually breadboarding circuits, but I still remember most of what I've learned over the years. I recently purchased a very high quaility air purifier. I'm sure many of you have seen these large drum style air purifiers that use HEPA filters. That's what I've got. I resisted buying one for years but my allergies have become increasing worse as I've grown older, so I really had no choice. Here's the problem. The up and down volume controls, as well as the power switch on my TV remote instantly shuts the air purifier down and resets its programmable timing functions to 12:00 AM. Naturally I ran out and purchased a different remote. A foolish thing to do, but if there was chance the problem would go away I was willing to spend the extra bucks. Unfortunately, it didn't help. I tried shielding the IR detector in the air purifier display with a dark red lens. The same kind you see in convertor boxes, etc. I put up some carboard around the display to see if it might deflect the IR pulses away from the detector. I discovered that the lens would practically have to be opaque before it would stop reacting to the TV remote. I kept increasing the size of the cardboard deflectors. The cardboard finally did block the bouncing signals from TV remote. It also completely stopped the IR pulses from the air purifier's own remote! Many years ago a defunct electronics hobby magazine published an article I wrote about a simple on-off IR controller. Right after the detector module I included a simple integrator consisting of a resistor and capacitor. This created a short time lag which blocked the transmission of spurious signals. If this new air purifier didn't have 5 year warranty I would open the darn thing up and insert an integrator with a nice long delay. Each press of a switch on the TV remote is very short. The pulse would have no effect on the air purifier's detector if the integrators time interval were two or three times longer than a typical press on one of those membrane switches. I tried moving the purifier around the room to no avail. Nothing seems to help. I'm hoping someone with more expertise than myself might come up with a suggestion. Holophote |
#2
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wrote in message oups.com... .... | Here's the problem. The up and down volume controls, as well as | the power switch on my TV remote instantly shuts the air purifier | down and resets its programmable timing functions to 12:00 AM. | Naturally I ran out and purchased a different remote. A foolish | thing to do, but if there was chance the problem would go away | I was willing to spend the extra bucks. Unfortunately, it didn't | help. .... Tape over the air purifier remote sensor with black electrical tape. Peel it off when you need to reprogram it. N |
#3
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wrote in message oups.com... I have an extensive backgroung in building and repairing all sorts of electronic devices. Like millions of others I spend more time in front of my Desktop than actually breadboarding circuits, but I still remember most of what I've learned over the years. I recently purchased a very high quaility air purifier. I'm sure many of you have seen these large drum style air purifiers that use HEPA filters. That's what I've got. I resisted buying one for years but my allergies have become increasing worse as I've grown older, so I really had no choice. Here's the problem. The up and down volume controls, as well as the power switch on my TV remote instantly shuts the air purifier down and resets its programmable timing functions to 12:00 AM. Naturally I ran out and purchased a different remote. A foolish thing to do, but if there was chance the problem would go away I was willing to spend the extra bucks. Unfortunately, it didn't help. I tried shielding the IR detector in the air purifier display with a dark red lens. The same kind you see in convertor boxes, etc. I put up some carboard around the display to see if it might deflect the IR pulses away from the detector. I discovered that the lens would practically have to be opaque before it would stop reacting to the TV remote. I kept increasing the size of the cardboard deflectors. The cardboard finally did block the bouncing signals from TV remote. It also completely stopped the IR pulses from the air purifier's own remote! Many years ago a defunct electronics hobby magazine published an article I wrote about a simple on-off IR controller. Right after the detector module I included a simple integrator consisting of a resistor and capacitor. This created a short time lag which blocked the transmission of spurious signals. If this new air purifier didn't have 5 year warranty I would open the darn thing up and insert an integrator with a nice long delay. Each press of a switch on the TV remote is very short. The pulse would have no effect on the air purifier's detector if the integrators time interval were two or three times longer than a typical press on one of those membrane switches. I tried moving the purifier around the room to no avail. Nothing seems to help. I'm hoping someone with more expertise than myself might come up with a suggestion. Holophote Sounds like you might be out of luck as far as getting the remotes to cooperate, though you should contact the purifier company and let them know this is happening because you can't be the only one with a remote that uses those same codes. There's a few fixes I can think of, though none of them perfect. One is to install a switch to disable the IR reciever in the purifier when the TV is in use, another is to replace the IR LED and reciever with some inexpensive 433MHz RF reciever and transmitter, and another would be to put a microcontroller between the IR reciever module and the rest of the circuitry in the air purifier and write some firmware to reciever commands from a universal remote that doesn't interfere with your TV and output something compatible with the original. |
#4
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OK. I give up. Exactly why does an air purifier require a remote
control? --- sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ Mirror: http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/ Repair | Main Table of Contents: http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/REPAIR/ +Lasers | Sam's Laser FAQ: http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/sam/lasersam.htm | Mirror Sites: http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/REPAIR/F_mirror.html Note: These links are hopefully temporary until we can sort out the excessive traffic on Repairfaq.org. Important: Anything sent to the email address in the message header is ignored. To contact me, please use the Feedback Form in the FAQs. |
#5
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"Sam Goldwasser" wrote in message ... | OK. I give up. Exactly why does an air purifier require a remote | control? Next year: Every remote control will come with a remote control! N |
#6
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I really didn't think anyone would reply to my message.
I apologize for its length. I could have described the problem using half as many words. I just want to thank James Sweet, Sam Goldwasser, System Alchemist, and NSM for their responses. Sam, I don't have any idea why more and more home appliances are equipped with overly complex add-ons like IR remotes, etc. I grew up totally fascinated by anything techincal, so I guess I shouldn't complain. Still, this obsession with adding a remote to almost everything had definitely gone too far. System Alchemist, your idea about adding a simple IR repeater is probably the least complex solution to this problem. I was thinking along the same lines myself. This whole thing has got me down in the dumps. I need that stupid air purifier in my bedroom. My allergies are so bad I can hardly sleep at night. Maybe I'll drag myself into my home workshop or the lab where I work and try to breadboard something that will do the job. Holophote |
#7
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wrote in message oups.com... I really didn't think anyone would reply to my message. I apologize for its length. I could have described the problem using half as many words. I just want to thank James Sweet, Sam Goldwasser, System Alchemist, and NSM for their responses. Sam, I don't have any idea why more and more home appliances are equipped with overly complex add-ons like IR remotes, etc. I grew up totally fascinated by anything techincal, so I guess I shouldn't complain. Still, this obsession with adding a remote to almost everything had definitely gone too far. System Alchemist, your idea about adding a simple IR repeater is probably the least complex solution to this problem. I was thinking along the same lines myself. This whole thing has got me down in the dumps. I need that stupid air purifier in my bedroom. My allergies are so bad I can hardly sleep at night. Maybe I'll drag myself into my home workshop or the lab where I work and try to breadboard something that will do the job. Holophote You could make it simple and just disable the IR reciever and leave the air purifier on all the time. Mine doesn't have a remote in the first place and that's exactly what I do, there's no reason to ever turn it off. |
#8
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On 09 Dec 2004 08:35:44 -0500, Sam Goldwasser hath writ:
OK. I give up. Exactly why does an air purifier require a remote control? Here's an even more stoopid example: I recently had to replace our king size electric blanket. OT (Only it was not easy: Nobody sells electric blankets anymore! It took me awhile to realize they are now called "warming blankets"! Jeez! Just to be politically correct, I suppose, due to the hysteria of radiation from electrical power lines...) /OT It took me some effort to locate a Dead Simple one that did *NOT* use remote controls. I give up, too: "Exactly why does an (electric blanket) require a remote control?" Jeez! Think about it for awhile!! sigh... Jonesy -- | Marvin L Jones | jonz | W3DHJ | linux | Gunnison, Colorado | @ | Jonesy | OS/2 __ | 7,703' -- 2,345m | config.com | DM68mn SK |
#9
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Many years ago a defunct electronics hobby magazine published an article I wrote about a simple on-off IR controller. Right after the detector module I included a simple integrator consisting of a resistor and capacitor. This created a short time lag which blocked the transmission of spurious signals. If this new air purifier didn't have 5 year warranty I would open the darn thing up and insert an integrator with a nice long delay. Each press of a switch on the TV remote is very short. The pulse would have no effect on the air purifier's detector if the integrators time interval were two or three times longer than a typical press on one of those membrane switches. You sound a handy sort of chap - it sounds like you need simple IR repeater, photodetector followed by an IR LED with an RC filter to get rid of the short pulses from the TV remote. The IR LED will need mounting in front of the purifiers detector with black tape (or whatever) so that the purifier can't see the TV remote. The repeater may involve a little more complexity but no more than a nice low power OPAMP. Useful? ---Paul |
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