What I am trying to setup is a tripwire type device. I have a IR Receiver(one of those 3 pin kind), I don't know exactly where it came from but it was the receiver to an old tuner card, and through the library I found on line I was able to get it working. You see I have a Leonardo, so i set a regular LED to pin 13 and set to go high output when it detected the 38KHz. I also bout a couple of IRLED's from Radio Shack, but they don't seem to be working. I can point a remote at it and my LED goes crazy while there is signal, but I cant get anything from these LED's, with or without 220 ohm resistors. I have tried LOTS of tutorials and I can get the receiver to receive but I cannot get the LED to transmit any light, and I used my camera to make sure, and I don't think ALL of these LED's can be bad...right?
Anyway can some help me get this setup running. Feel free to ask questions. I was going to point to what I found on the internet, but its easy to figure out as I tried everything within 3 pages of a google search. Anyway. Please any help would be appreciated.
I was thinking further, and this got me looking at the packing the IRLED came in. It says that its Forward Voltage is 1.2V @100mA now does that mean I could just put that much current through it to turn it on? I just need me detector to detect it, it would be nice if I could get it to respond to a specific signal, but Ill take just getting it to light at this point. How do I get a digital out on my Leonardo to output just that? If that is the right way to go about this...just thinking out-loud here
If you connected it without a resistor you may have already burned it or your Leonardo pin. AVR chips should be limited to 20ma output; use a 220 ohm resistor.
If you want to see if your IR led is on then look at it through a digital camera (cell phone camera, etc.) and it will show up as bluish-white.
If you're still prototyping I'd suggest you use either a red or white LED. The IR receiver will work with visible colors at short distances -- not the full range that an IR LED would provide but easily a meter of distance if the LED is of a bright variety.
I presume you are putting a 38kHz signal thru the IR LED.
Also many IR receivers cannot handle a continuous signal (they are designed for the opposite)
Expand your search for IR light barrier receiver (also on this forum)
you may need to pulse the modulated signal on/of ever 600 uSecs or even 1000 uSecs.
start off limiting the current thru the LED to 20ma until you have things working and as per other post using visible LEDs is a good idea initially for immediate feedback on the circuit.
Thank you all for your quick replies, and Ill give all this a try...shoulda thought about just using a regular LED as I dont need a very large range at all, the trip wire is just picking up the break in the signal and it should be less than 10 inches for sure that is my range..
Well I still cant get it too light, and really I think I can get it to pulse if I can power it. After reading I notice that these type of LED CANT be powered by the Leonardo (or any Arduino) without a bit of help from a transistor. So I have been trying to find a description of a circuit that would be simple and suit my needs.
You can't power a full 100ma without a transistor but up to 20ma works fine -- and you shouldn't even need 20ma based on your ~10 inch requirement.
Are you testing with IR LEDs or visible LEDs?
The only receiver that you can use is a TSOP4038. All the others are for data.
You need to modulate your output.
After reading I notice that these type of LED CANT be powered by the Leonardo (or any Arduino) without a bit of help from a transistor.
Rubbish.
You can't drive it full power but you can drive it.
You need to post your code and your schematic if you want any real help as we don't know what you are doing.
Thank Mike but I spent $3 on the solution, this things does what I need:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AMC1V2C/ref=oh_details_o07_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Its great I use analog input A0 on the Leo, and I get normal reading when nothing is in front of the IR beam is about 800 or better( I don't know what units they are I am just reading RAW analog values), and it is very reactive. The numbers instantly drop depending how far I have my hand over the receiver...I now notice that I think this 'might' be cm...just a guess....so now onto what I want to do with this, and here is the code that I am working with...warning there is commented stuff that is trial and error stuff I have been trying work out a solution. I can get it to work printing data to the serial input in the IDE, but when I do the same routine with mouse button output it just gets stuck on the right click no matter what I try...you can see some of the attempt in the commented stuff:
int sensorPin = A0; //analog pin 0
void setup() {
Serial.begin(9600);
}
void loop() {
int val = analogRead(sensorPin);
//Serial.println(val);
//just to slow down the output - remove if trying to catch an object passing by
//delay(100);
while (val < 25){
//Mouse.press(MOUSE_RIGHT);
Serial.println("Right Click!!"); // drop in for testing purposes
delay(5); // not sure if I need this
//break;
if (val > 25){
//if (!Mouse.isPressed(MOUSE_RIGHT)){
//Mouse.release(MOUSE_RIGHT);
Serial.println("UN___Click!!");
break;
}
}
}
I just need the right click ON when I am at 'x' distance and then go right OFF as soon as i leave the beam, I am using right click as in the end it for my game controller to emulate the mouse when hooked to PC...then I will need to translate this to work as a joystick, so I don't know how this part is going to work lol. BTW Thanks you all for the help