Need help with IR Detector

Jun 29, 2005 8 Replies

Hi I'm 13 and a robotic newbie and need help with a PNA4602 - 38 Khz IR Detector that got from Solarbotics and I can't figure out how to use it. Can anyone tell me how these things work and what they are best for.



-- kit



These are quite standard 3-pin IR detectors. Most only differ on how the pins are connected. If you lay your IR detector down with the flat side on the table, the lens towards you and the pins down, then pin 1 is to the left. Connections are: pin 1 : output; pin 2 : GND; pin 3 : Vcc

Hooking up is quite straight forward: Vcc is connected to 5V, GND connected to 0V and output is typicaly connected to a microcontroller. If you don't have a microcontroller handy, you could hook up a led to see the output. Connect one side of a 330ohm resistor to 5V and the other to the led (at its anode, this is the longest wire on the led). The other pin (kathode) of the led is hooked up to output.

-Patrik

"kitmor" schreef in bericht news: snipped-for-privacy@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...

Thanks for the reply, they was very clear. But I still seem to have to messed it up some how. When I turned it on nothing happened except that the back got hot. If you know what might have happened please reply.

-Kit

I can't find a decent datasheet on this IR detector. I think the problem is either that it wasn't connected correctly

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does confirm the IR detectors pin out) or its internal transistor can't sink much current (The datasheet doesn't mention the limit) . In that case you'll need to add a transistor as a buffer. Here 's a quick schematic:
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None of the components are critical. You can use pretty much any standard transistor, Resistor values don't have to be exact.

-Patrik

"kitmor" schreef in bericht news: snipped-for-privacy@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

The Image is very clear so I understand what pins are what but, the circuit diagram docent say what transistor or resistor to use. So I am ether using the wrong program or it docent say. Could you please tell me, a. what program to use to view these files and b. what transistor and resistor to use. thanks

-Kit

Paint used to support PCX, seems it doesn't anymore. Here's the same picture in JPG:

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-Patrik

"kitmor" schreef in bericht news: snipped-for-privacy@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...

I think I must have zapped the detector, when it got hot so I am going to get another one and try that.

Thanks for all the help,

-Kit

Before you connect power again, you need to decide what you are going to do with the device. If you want to use it so that you can receive IR TV remote commands, then you'll have to do some reading on how to do that - It depends upon the microcontroller that you have, Stamps, PIC, AVR, BasicX, Atom, etc. You need to get the data sheet so that you know how to connect it. The easiest way to get this data sheet is to go to

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search for "PNA4602", then select Technical/Catalog Information link and click on the datasheet.

This is a garden variety 38KHz IR demodulator, perfect for using with TV remotes and the like.

have fun, DLC

: I think I must have zapped the detector, when it got hot so I am : going to get another one and try that.

: Thanks for all the help, : -Kit

As Dennis indicated, get the datasheet first. If the part got hot, then you probably had the power hooked up wrong, which should have been 5v dc - and not a 9v battery, etc.

Also, to get it to work you will need a 5-10K pullup resistor to +5v on the output pin. To see any output at all, you will need an oscilloscpe or else an Led, wired to +5v through a 1K resistor or so. If you use the Led circuit, you will not need the other pullup. In addition, you need a source of 38 Khz infrared light to stimulate the part. Where do you get one that will work? My TV remote stimulates the PNA4602 just fine, but other remotes might not.

So, you see, to get this thing to work requires 3 things - proper hookup, something to sense the output, and something to provide correct IR stimulation.

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