Solving IR Problems

1. How to Check if a Remote Control is Transmitting an Infrared Signal: Many households have 5 or 6 remote controls laying around the house. Sometimes, it stops working and you don't know what happened.

Most remote controls use infrared light to transmit the signal. The human eye cannot see this light, however a camera can. If you don't you have a bad IR emitter.

2. You can get IR interference/jamming from nearby sources like compact fluorescent lights, LCD/Plasmas displays, etc.

3. Check to see that the problem truly lies with the IR signal. Check your remote's batteries and the connections on the cables to your speakers, receiver and television, among other components.

4. Check the covers on the IR receiver and transmitter. If something is blocking them or they are covered with grime, wipe them clean with a lint-free cloth. Remove any boxes, small animals or children that may be in the signals path.

5. Check the batteries to see if they're dead. Don't forget that sometimes whoever dropped the remote last might have put them in backwards.

6. Position the supplied IR device with as little as possible in the proximity of potential sources of interference such as direct sunlight, strip light, energy saving bulbs, etc.

7. IR Receivers have a reception sensitivity of approx. 6 meters at a 90 degrees angle of aperture. Range is also dependent on the remote control used.

8. Check if the power adapter has been connected to the transmitter

9. Please ensure that the IR receiver and the IR extender cable have been connected properly and that they are fully plugged in.

10. Please ensure that the LEDs of the IR extender cable are placed correctly to the infrared sensor of the A/V device, this has to be done very precisely. The exact position can be found easily by shining at it with a flashlight.

11. Check with the manufacturer of your remote control making sure it uses the standard 38 kHz frequency.

12. Something you will want to make sure of is that the LED on your remote is lined up properly with the small hole on the unit. Also, a good way to learn is first by holding the unit in your left hand, with the faceplates facing you, and rotating the unit to the left 90 degrees until the learner hole is oriented at the top of the black faceplate. From there, hold your remote a few inches away from the learner access hole and press a button. If you continue to have no success getting this working let us know and we will go through some troubleshooting steps with to you see what is causing the problem.

13. Wireless routers or Wireless alram sytems or a hardwire modem within a few feet of where the remote is can be a problem.

14. Check your installation for a device that is near or in front of a mirror that could reflect IR interference.

15. Test your remote control's infrared signal. Have one person hold the remote control, facing your digital camera. The other person can operate the digital camera. Push a button on the remote control and simultaneously take a picture of the front end of the remote control where the infrared light displays. If the infrared signal is working, you can see the light in the digital camera picture. If it is not working, the light will not display as lit in your digital camera photo.

16. Watch for the blinking light on your IR device to indicate it's receiving the IR signal from the remote control. On many digital televisions, anytime your remote control sends a signal to your television, a light on the TV should flash. Absence of a flashing light could indicate a problem with the wire connection on your IR receiver.

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