How to check bullets with a mobile phone. How easy it is to check the remote control

You pick up the remote control of a TV or other household device, press the power button and ... ... nothing happens. The TV does not turn on. It's a shame, right? Well then we go to the box and turn it on with the button. We turned it on and again try to control it from the control panel. Well, nothing comes of it. Annoyance .... It doesn't matter, we will try to find the reason for its failure. First, bring the remote control close to the TV and press the buttons.

If nothing happens, then open the lid on Remote control and remove the batteries. Take a digital multimeter and check the EMF value. It should be at least 1.25 volts. Better yet, install new batteries and repeat the above steps. If now the remote control is working, then you can stop reading and calmly sit down and watch TV or DVD. 😀 Well, if he didn't show signs of life, then let's move on. Now you need to check if the remote control works or not. How to do it? We take a cell phone with a camera in our hands, turn it on and direct it to the infrared LED of the control panel and press any buttons in turn. If the remote control works, then on the screen we will see a blinking greenish LED. If you don't have a hundred meters at hand, but there is a portable radio receiver, then turn it on and bring the remote control close to it and press the buttons. Every time you press the button, you can hear babbling sounds in the speaker. If you hear a chaotic babbling noise when you press a certain button, then this button is dirty and has poor contact. If nothing is heard from the speaker, then the infrared transmitter is unusable.

Now let's get down to the "barbaric" test method. Take the remote control and knock on it. This can often bring the remote back to life. If this happens, then feel free to remove the cover from the battery compartment, take out the batteries and see the state of the contacts of the battery compartment. If they are oxidized, then we take a knife and carefully clean them. Also such unstable operation of the remote control may be caused by loose knots or cracked PCB. Check the PCB assembly in good light. Make sure there are no breaks in capacitors, quartz resonator, transistor. Solder all defective spots. If the remote control is operated at a short distance from the device, then there is a possibility that the batteries are dead. Change them. If all these actions did not help you revive Remote control, then you need to give it for repair to people who check its components for failure. In conclusion, I would like to say that the cost of control panels is not high now, so repairing them is often not economically justified. Read also articles on,

When ordering a remote control, you always need to clarify whether your remote control is lost or does not work. If the remote control is available, but you think that it does not work, then first you need to check the functionality of the remote control. The test procedure outlined below has a greater than 95% chance of detecting faults in the remote control.

We are talking about all types of wireless remote controls (infrared, IR) for all types of equipment. Using this technique, you can check the remote control for the air conditioner (split system), the remote control for the TV, the remote control for the DVD player, the remote control for the VCR, the remote control for the music center, the remote control for the receiver, etc.

Preliminary check of the equipment itself: Before starting to check the remote control, first we make sure that the equipment itself (air conditioner, split system, TV, VCR, etc.) is operational and is switched on from the corresponding buttons on its control panel. The split system has a button to turn on the automatic mode. This button is usually located under the front panel of the indoor unit (see the split-system manual). If you do not have instructions for a split system, then you can find it on the page of our website. If the equipment does not turn on from the buttons on the control panel, then do not rush to call the service center, but first unplug the plug and insert it again after 20-30 minutes, preferably turning the email over. the fork 180 ° from its original position.

If you are convinced that your equipment works from the buttons on the control panel, then we proceed to check the control panel.

Remote control check:

1. External examination of the remote control. Mechanical damage is detected, including darkening of the screen (complete or partial).

2. Lack of moisture inside, incl. traces of alkali that may leak from the old unsealed battery in the compartment of the remote control. That is why we do not recommend using alkaline batteries R03, R6. Better to use alkaline batteries LR03, LR6, etc. Alkaline batteries do not leak and can be stored for up to 5 years. If the remote control has traces of moisture and alkali, then you need to remove and discard the batteries (dispose of), wash the remote control several times with water, dry it (on a central heating battery, hairdryer, etc.). After making sure that the remote control is dry, insert new alkaline batteries into it and turn it on. If the screen did not light up, the remote control could not be restored. It is faulty and there are three options left:

Option 1: Take the remote control to the service center (loss of time, not the fact that it can be repaired, the cost of repairs may exceed the cost of a universal control panel).

Option 2: Buy an original remote control. It is expensive and usually takes a long time to find it.

Option 3: Buy a universal remote control. It costs less. Fast shipping. You can send cash on delivery. Money back guarantee within a month, without explanation.

3. If your remote control does not have mechanical damage, as well as traces of moisture and alkali, but its screen does not light up, then first of all replace the batteries with a known good one. When replacing, be careful not to reverse the polarity of the batteries. If there are multiple batteries in the remote control, always use the SAME batteries. If the screen does not "light up", then the remote control is not working properly. See three options for your actions.

4. If the remote control screen “lights up” and the icons and symbols change when you press different buttons, then go to the next check point. If there are no changes on the screen, when you press different buttons, then remove the batteries. If the screen “continues to glow”, it means only one thing - you see symbols that reflect light. These symbols are in some remote controls and do not say anything about its performance. So, if you see the SAME characters or letters that with the batteries inserted, that with the removed ones, then replace the battery with a known good one (see item 3).

5. If characters or numbers change on the screen of the remote control, when you press buttons, and air conditioner, TV, DVD player, etc. does not react in any way to your actions, then first of all you need to check if there are any obstacles between the window of the photodetector on the controlled equipment and the LED of the control panel. We have seen LEDs on the remote control covered with chewing gum, plasticine, bread crumb, smeared with paint or nail polish. There were cases when the window of the photodetector (usually dark red or almost black) was smeared with paint, whitewash, sealed with translucent or opaque tape, wrappers from chewing gum, etc. In some such cases, it was possible to turn on the equipment only by bringing the remote control close to the photodetector window. In some cases, the remote only works at a distance of 2-3 meters, even when installing new batteries. This happens quite rarely and is possible if there is a source of interference in the room. So, we remove the obstacle, if it turned out, and if the technician does not respond to the remote control, then proceed to the procedure described at the beginning of this instruction in the section “Preliminary check of the technique itself”.

6. If it is not possible to turn on the equipment this time, then we check the operation of the LED on the remote control itself. If the remote control is working properly, then the LED should blink when the buttons on the remote control are pressed, but the fact is that the LED blinks in the range not visible to the human eye. To see this blinking, we need to look at it through a camera built into a mobile phone (of course, you can use a digital camera, video camera, web camera, etc.).

Aim the camera lens at the remote control LED. The LED is located on the front of it and can be hidden by a semi-transparent dark red panel. Turn on the photo or video mode on the phone and when you find the LED or the remote control window on the phone screen, press the “on” button on the remote control or another button. If you see that the LED is on or blinking, then the remote control is working properly (99%). If you have not seen the glow on your phone screen, then do not worry, perhaps you have set the shooting mode incorrectly. Check your actions on a knowingly working remote control from any of your equipment, and only after making sure that the diode is lit on a knowingly working remote control, start checking the “faulty” remote control. It is better to check on the on / off button, because there are buttons from which there is a very short pulse and you simply may not accidentally notice it.

The remote control has firmly taken its place in consumer electronics, becoming an indispensable assistant. This device is equipped with a wide variety of equipment: televisions, and air conditioners, and players, and music centers, and many other familiar equipment. Such widespread use also affects the breakdown of the remote device, so it is important to know how to check the remote control.

Verification methods

Sometimes remotes stop working and it is difficult to understand the reason. But there are some simple ways to determine if a device is transmitting a signal.

Using the camera

Infrared light is not visible to the human eye. But this is what most remote controls use for signal transmission. And to understand if the device is transmitting a signal, turn on the camera on your camera, laptop or phone. Point the remote towards the lens, just like at a TV, and press any button. Hold it and look at the camera screen. You can turn off the light to see the IR signal better. It is advisable to hold the on / off button, it activates the signal in any model of the remote control. If you see a bluish light, then the remote is transmitting a signal.

IMPORTANT!

Do not use the main iPhone camera from iPhone 4s and up. This smartphone has an infrared filter, so it will not let you see the signal. If you have an iPhone, you can use the front camera, which doesn't have a filter like this.

Using the radio.

If you have a radio on which you can turn on the AM band, you can also check for a signal. To do this, set a frequency where there are no radio stations, and just press the buttons on the remote control while being nearby. If a signal is being transmitted, a crackling sound will be heard.

What if there is no signal on the new remote?

If you bought a remote control and tested it using one of the above methods, but there is no signal, follow these steps:

• make sure to install the batteries correctly. Check and inspect carefully whether the polarity is correct - the plus and minus symbols. They are indicated inside the compartment and on the batteries themselves. If suddenly there are no polarity symbols, then install the battery with the flat side on the spring.
• try other batteries. If you have installed previously used batteries, simply purchase new ones. It often happens that a certain model of the remote control does not have enough voltage from almost dead batteries, although they work on another device.

It happens that you press the buttons on the remote control, but the TV does not listen. This is especially annoying (if not to say that it just infuriates!) When you are already ideally seated on your couch or in your favorite chair, and the remote control does not work, and you feel reluctant to get up.

But, nevertheless, you will have to get up from the sofa, because you need to find out what could be the reason, the remote control is faulty, or maybe something suddenly happened to the IR receiver on the TV itself. It is very simple to check whether the remote control works and you do not need any complicated devices for this.

We will do all this using an ordinary cell phone.

We check the remote control using the phone. How to do it?

I must say right away that this method works only for remotes that work on infrared radiation. These are still the majority, although now, there are radio remotes for televisions and other devices. You will not check them in this way.

What do we need to check? An ordinary cell phone of any model. Now, probably, there are no phones left that do not have a camera. It is the camera of your mobile phone that we need to check the remote control.

The same can be done with any digital camera. But, it is not very convenient to hold it at the same time, and it is especially problematic if it is rather bulky, and you have no one to help you. So, the ideal option is to use your phone for this.

What are we doing? You just need to substitute the remote control from your TV under the phone camera (the camera is turned on and the picture from it should be displayed on the display). This should be done in such a way that you can see the infrared LED in the camera, which is on all infrared remotes in the upper part of them.

Then you simply press any button on your remote control and at the same time see what the camera of your phone shows you. If the remote control works, then it should send an infrared signal, you will see it on the phone.

The infrared LED will flash purple on your phone screen. This means that the batteries are "alive" and your remote control is working. Although, if the batteries run out a little, the signal brightness drops. But, all the same, you will understand that the remote control is your worker. For complete confidence in its full performance, you just need to replace the batteries in it with fresh ones.

If this helps and your TV starts listening to the remote control again, then very good. Well, if not, then look for the problem in the TV itself. It is possible that the infrared receiver is faulty on it, or something else has happened. Here the problem is more complicated than checking the remote control at home.

Infrared remote controls firmly took their place in consumer electronics. What kind of equipment is not equipped with this very convenient device, these are TVs, stereos, microwave ovens, car CD / MP-players, chandeliers and many other things we are used to.

Such widespread use of remote controls could not but affect their frequent breakdowns. Since a new remote control necessary for a particular device is sometimes difficult to acquire, they are handed over for repair.

How to quickly check the remote control?

The simplest and most effective method is to check the remotes (RCUs) using digital cameras. Almost every cell phone now has a digital camera.

Many laptops have a built-in webcam. For netbooks, a digital web camera is generally a must. Also, digital photo and video cameras are suitable for testing remote controls. In general, any device in which there is even the simplest digital camera will do for testing the remote control.

To check the remote control, you just need to direct the emitting infrared LED into the camera lens. On the digital display, when the buttons on the remote control are pressed, periodic flashes of purple light will be visible. This indicates that the remote control is working properly.

The photo shows infrared LED flashes captured by the Sony Ericsson K810i mobile phone camera.

If there are no devices with a digital camera at hand, then you can use the following method.

It is necessary to temporarily solder a conventional light emitting diode instead of an infrared LED. The LED can be of any glow color: red, green, yellow, white, in general, it does not matter, the main thing is that the LED is 3 volts.

When you press the buttons on the remote, a temporarily soldered ordinary LED will emit flashes of light. It should be noted that the brightness of the radiation will be low.

In the photo - a regular white LED, soldered instead of infrared.

The remote control can be tested with an infrared photodiode and an oscilloscope.

In this case, an infrared photodiode is connected to the input of the oscilloscope. When the remote control is operating, short burst pulses will be visible on the oscilloscope screen. It is important that the photodiode is connected to the open input of the oscilloscope.

It's so simple and easy to test the performance of any infrared remote control. To do this, it is not at all necessary to collect any probe circuits and litter the total overloaded workshop, because all the necessary tools are already at hand, so a mobile phone with a camera for sure