Maker Pro
Maker Pro

Ir break beam help

Hi all
Just after abit of advice i am new to electronics never been near them before anyways i bought a ir break beam kit and soldered all the components to the board but for some reason when you break the beam nothing is happening can anyone shed any light as you can see from the pictures there is power getting to it any advise is appreciated
Thank you

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Check the flat on the IR LED

It looks reversed to me, but maybe it is a trick of the photo.

EDIT: forgot to mention; a mobile phone camera will probably show whether the IR LED is lit. Try your camera with an IR TV remote to prove the concept, then try it on your IR LED
 
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As a side note:

Your batteries may run flat quite quickly. You might want to consider whether 9V DC adapter(s) - (or multi-voltage DC adapter) might save money in the long run.
 
You say that "nothing is happening" when you break the beam. What happens when you first energize the beam? Have you verified that the receiver relay switches state when when it receives a beam from the transmitter? If the relay doesn't energize in the first place, then "nothing will happen" when the beam is broken.

The beam sets I'm used to usually energize a relay when the receiver unit receives a beam from the transmitter, but if yours is different, you should mention that.

How are you breaking the beam? If you're putting a small object directly between the IR LED and photocell receiver, sometimes enough light will get around the barrier to keep the receiver activated. Also, sometimes there is enough ambient IR to keep the receiver triggered. The higher-end beam sets use a modulated beam that the receiver must see before it will activate.
 
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