Need to build a remote controlled momentary switch

[[email protected]]

I have a device that I built that has a one momentary switch to
activate different functions. Since I need to control this device from
across the room, I have a wire running from the device to another part
of the room with the momentary switch on the other end. I would like to
replace this wired interface with an RF or IR controlled (controlled by
a universal remote) momentary switch interface so I no longer have to
run a wire. Any ideas?

 

[Anders F]

I have a device that I built that has a one momentary switch to
activate different functions. Since I need to control this device from
across the room, I have a wire running from the device to another part
of the room with the momentary switch on the other end. I would like to
replace this wired interface with an RF or IR controlled (controlled by
a universal remote) momentary switch interface so I no longer have to
run a wire. Any ideas?

All the uC vendors have app-notes on IR receivers/transmitters....

/A

 

[BobG]

Radio Shack... X10 smarthome.com

 

[[email protected]]

Hack a wireless doorbell

 

[Luhan Monat]

Hack a wireless doorbell

Hey, good one! Thats what I like to do - Walmart Engineering.

 

[Dmitri]

I have a device that I built that has a one momentary switch to
activate different functions. Since I need to control this device from
across the room, I have a wire running from the device to another part
of the room with the momentary switch on the other end. I would like to
replace this wired interface with an RF or IR controlled (controlled by
a universal remote) momentary switch interface so I no longer have to
run a wire. Any ideas?

It may not appeal too much to the tinkerer's soul inside you, but I think
you better off by buying a ready-to-go device like the one liked below
instead of re-inventing it. At half the cost of wireless doorbell that
others suggested here it would make most logical choice to me:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=36332&item=3876729765&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

On a side note: I never bought anything from this eBay seller, I just
happened to bookmark him because he sells electronics. Check him out
before you buy, as usual on eBay.

--
Dmitri Abaimov, RCDD
http://www.cabling-design.com
Cabling Forum, color codes, pinouts and other useful resources for
premises cabling users and pros
http://www.cabling-design.com/homecabling
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[[email protected]]

[email protected] wrote in @f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

Hack a wireless doorbell

Hack one of those tiny,tiny remote control cars. They're about $10. With a
little diode-transistor logic you can have four descrete outputs. Run the
outputs into a uP (Pic, Picaxe, Basic Stamp...) and you can have more. With
a longer antenna on the receiver PCB the range is much improved. I
incorporated one, as a remote control, into a gag gift for the departing
president of my college.

 

[Don Bruder]

Hack a wireless doorbell

Absolutely perfect for the task, methinks! And I ain't even the one
trying to do it.

 

[Don Bruder]

[email protected] wrote in @f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:


Hack one of those tiny,tiny remote control cars. They're about $10. With a
little diode-transistor logic you can have four descrete outputs. Run the
outputs into a uP (Pic, Picaxe, Basic Stamp...) and you can have more. With
a longer antenna on the receiver PCB the range is much improved. I
incorporated one, as a remote control, into a gag gift for the departing
president of my college.

Good plan, but for this purpose, overkill, I'd say.

*BUT*...

I happen to have a project simmering that I think will use one (or
more...) of those cars nicely. I want to tele-control a video camera's
functions (Mainly zoom/focus, maybe record/stop, but I haven't decided
on that one yet) and aim. I've already got a stepper-motor controlled
power head to mount it on, and I was looking at the idea of using a pair
of the *ULTRA* cheapo (the kind with the two-function "Go forward" and
"Reverse and turn left" controller) R/C cars on different channels for
that link - one for up/down tilt, and one for left/right pan. If I do
some tinkering, I may even be able to turn it into a handy unit with a
nice layout...

It's going to take more channels for the camera functions, though... I
wonder how many remote doorbells I'd need?

 

[Rich Grise]

I happen to have a project simmering that I think will use one (or
more...) of those cars nicely. I want to tele-control a video camera's
functions (Mainly zoom/focus, maybe record/stop, but I haven't decided
on that one yet) and aim. I've already got a stepper-motor controlled
power head to mount it on, and I was looking at the idea of using a pair
of the *ULTRA* cheapo (the kind with the two-function "Go forward" and
"Reverse and turn left" controller) R/C cars on different channels for
that link - one for up/down tilt, and one for left/right pan. If I do
some tinkering, I may even be able to turn it into a handy unit with a
nice layout...

I have a couple of *ULTRA* cheapo toy cars - like, 99 cents apiece in
the clearance bin at some toy store or pharmacy, a year or so ago. They're
both sitting on the shelf, one of them hasn't even been opened yet. The
controller has "forward/reverse" and "left/right", which could control
up/down, right/left, albeit it's only one speed (either dir.) and zero.

http://www.neodruid.net/images/ToyCar.jpg

It's going to take more channels for the camera functions, though... I
wonder how many remote doorbells I'd need?

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Terry Pinnell]

I incorporated one, as a remote control, into a gag gift for the
departing president of my college.

Curiosity piqued here - do tell us more please! Or email if you want
to keep it relatively secret in anticipation of repeat usage.

 

[Terry Pinnell]

[email protected] (Dmitri(Cabling-Design.com))
wrote:

It may not appeal too much to the tinkerer's soul inside you, but I think
you better off by buying a ready-to-go device like the one liked below
instead of re-inventing it. At half the cost of wireless doorbell that
others suggested here it would make most logical choice to me:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=36332&item=3876729765&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

On a side note: I never bought anything from this eBay seller, I just
happened to bookmark him because he sells electronics. Check him out
before you buy, as usual on eBay.

That does indeed look good value, and I'm toying with the idea of
buying one myself. But I'm currently seriously disenchanted with
international ebay purchases. 4 weeks ago yesterday I bought a 2 GB CF
card from a New York ebay vendor, reckoning that its "4-8 day
delivery" (for about 14USD air mail) would get it to me within at most
about 10 days. I'm still waiting ;-(

 

[[email protected]]

Curiosity piqued here - do tell us more please! Or email if you want
to keep it relatively secret in anticipation of repeat usage.

Of course, but you'll have to wait 'til I get to work. My drawings are
there. I'm happy to share whatever knowledge I gain, that's one of the
reasons I like working at a college.

 

[Ken Moffett]

Curiosity piqued here - do tell us more please! Or email if you want
to keep it relatively secret in anticipation of repeat usage.

Ok, here goes. This was one of the very small RC cars from Radio Shack.
It was great because the PCB was so small. If I had had time, I would
have hacked the transmitter to reduce it's size.

The controls on the transmitter, besides On-Off, are
(F)forward,(B)backward,(L)left, and (R)right.

Below is the wiring in the car, with the relative positions of the
connections on the PCB:



+--------------------------------+
| Red |
| |
Enamel \ .--------------------. |
+-------------------------------o| + 1.5 Volts | |
| +----------------------------/ | | |
| | Enamel | | |
| | | | |
| | | | 1.25V NiCad
| | +------------------------o| Motor Forward | Battery
| | | Orange | | |
| | C| | | |+
| | C| Motor | Receiver PCB | ---
| | C| | | -
| | | Black | | |
| | +------------------------o| Motor Backward | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | ___ Green | | \ |
| +---------UUU-----------------o| Left Turn | / |
| Left Wheel Solenoid | | \ |
| + | | / |
| ___ Green | | \ |
+-----------UUU-----------------o| Right Turn | / |
Right Wheel Solenoid | | \ |
| | / |
+----o|Common Antenna |o---+ |
| '--------------------' Violet|
| Black |
+-----------------------------------+

Tiny RC Car Receiver
created by Andy´s ASCII-Circuit v1.24.140803 Beta www.tech-chat.de

All outputs are active lows. relative to common.

Push one button on the transmitter, and the receiver responds:
F or B: Each output goes low with that button pushed. The other output
is high. (H-bridge?)
L or R: Each output goes low through its solenoid (open collector/drain
NPN/NFET ?).

Push two buttons:
F+L, F+R, B+L, or B+R: two of the above happens at the same time.

I'm not sure what happens if three or four button combinations were
pushed. I don't recall investigating that. The above would give 8
combinations of 4 outputs, plus Off. I needed two, plus Off. (I had
achieved what I needed.)

The current draw was:
Quesent: 3mA
F or B: 14mA
L or R: 6mA

The advantage of this is the small receiver size. If I needed a small
transmitter size, I would hack a wireless door bell. Those would yield
Off, plus two active states (ding and ding-dong). I never tried to
push the front door and back door buttons at the same time. Anyone know?