JP1 Remotes

The IR Widget is a device for capturing IR signals for decoding with software such as IRScope and IrScrutinizer. It is available ready-made only from Tommy Tyler's IR Widget Store. In recent years he has not supplied it to addresses outside the continental United States and will close the store completely at the end of December 2022. The IR Widget was originally designed by Kevin Timmerman in 2007, who posted here the details needed for constructing one. This is not a task to be undertaken lightly, as it involves the need to program a PIC chip which requires a dedicated programming device.

In order that IR Widgets should continue to be readily available, Tommy has led a collaboration to design the AIRWidget, an Arduino-based IR Widget. An Arduino-based solution has several advantages over the original PIC based design. It is written in C++, which is much more accessible to a wider audience than the assembler code of the PIC. Also, the Arduinos come with a pre-installed bootloader, so they can be directly programmed over USB and do not require a specialized chip programmer.

The AIRWidget is based on an Arduino Nano clone, although any Arduino with an ATmega328P MCU chip should be equally suitable. Note that this does not include the current official incarnation of the Nano, the Nano Every, as this uses a different processor. The design also uses a QSE159 photo sensor to receive the IR signals. The Nano and sensor are both cheap and readily available. The other components are two resistors, an LED and a small decoupling capacitor, though in its most basic form these can all be omitted. The entire device can be assembled easily on a solderless breadboard so no special tools or skills are required. Full details, including the Arduino sketch (Arduino's name for a program), are in the AIRWidget100.zip package here. As there are slight differences between the ways that the AIRWidget and the original IR Widget work, both IRScope and IrScrutinizer have been enhanced to work with both devices. Further information and links to the new versions are given in the documentation included in the zip package.

Great news, I may have to build one for myself, just for the fun of it.

I have tried to put together a parts list, as most people who are not electronic experts will need help knowing what to order. Could you please review what I came up with and see if these parts will all work, or whether you can suggest better parts.

http://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload ... e_id=26629

First, a big "congratulations!" to Graham for bringing this home.

I have had a lot of email correspondence with Graham the last few week. Most of what I will be saying he has already heard, but probably not the rest of you.

1. It is of not necessary to use am Arduino Nano with ATMega328. Almost any Arduino-compatible board can be used, just find out which pins have interrupts associated with them. By mistake, I ordered a few boards with ATMega168, which is slightly cheaper (and weaker), and it works fine for this project.

2. It is of course not necessary to build the thing on a breadboard. Here a picture of the sensor QE159 soldered to the board. .
It shows a Nano with ATMega168. It is slightly more robust in the handling than a breadboard.

3. The sensor TSMP58000 (and TSMP58138) by Vishay are better sensors (for example much higher sensitivity) than the QSE159. The former gives a range of (just quickly tested) around 2 m (6 feet), the latter in cm/inch range. Kevin used QSE157 in his original design, this is discontinued (replacement: OPL551), the QSE159 is an open-collector version. Graham mean that the Vishay sensors were really hard to get, as opposed to the QSE159, so he used the latter. IMHO, both are semi-hard to get: a local store will have none, largest distributors (like Mouser) will likely have both. Note that the pinout is different! The pull-up resistor is (at least normally) not needed.

4. It is not necessary to use a separate LED for signaling. It can be left out completely, or the built-in LED (typically pin13, available through the predefined macro LED_BUILTIN) can be used. Even if a separate LED is used, there are such (for example from Kingbright) with build-in resistor, lowering the component count, costing only marginally more.

5. I have forked the sources, here. It uses the configuration shown above in 2.

6. The original IRWidget required the signals DTR and RTS to be low when starting the IRWidget program. The old versions of IRScope and IrScrutinizer behave accordingly. The Arduino boards do not like this, but resets, and, due to the boot loader, this takes relatively long (a few hundred mili seconds). It still can be used, if the user is aware of the unexpected and annoying delay. This is why Graham made a new version of IrScope. The current snapshot of IrScrutinizer allows avoiding the reset too: Select pane Hardware -> IrWidget and uncheck "lower DTR and RTS on opening". (A new release is planned in the near future.)

7. This is not the only Arduino project. here is my Arduino thingy, which is very powerful at capturing, and also have a number of other advantages, in particular, it can send "arbitrary" IR signals. There is a Mouser basket, which possibly also can be helpful for the one only interesting in Graham's project.

@rob: As per above, you only really need two things: the board and a sensor, QSE159 or (preferred) TSMP58000.

Barf wrote:@rob: As per above, you only really need two things: the board and a sensor, QSE159 or (preferred) TSMP58000.

Yeah, but my goal is to make things as easy as possible for regular folks (who know nothing about electronics) to source the parts and build these for themselves. For example, just trying to find an LED at Mouser was tricky as I didn't know what to search for (and searching just for LED brings up WAY too much other stuff). I only listed a green one in my spreadsheet because that's the only one I could find. I don't intend to use a breadboard myself as I know how to solder and have flux, solder and a soldering iron.

Rob, I see no reason why your parts list will not work, but I hate being that specific for commonly available parts. Apart from the Arduino Nano clone and the QSE159, my parts all came from an Arduino starter kit which gives far better value. Here is one example which for GBP 12.04 (I am in the UK) gives a collection of several hundred parts that includes everything you need apart from the Nano and QSE159. It has 50 LEDs, 100 resistors and 20 ceramic capacitors, including 10 of each of the ones you require. Some of the labelling in the content list may require explanation. A 5K1 resistor is 5.1k, the position of the K being that of the decimal point, and 5.1k is just as good as 4.7k for our circuit. A ceramic capacitor labelled 104 is 100nF, as the final 4 is the number of zeroes to add to give the value in pF, so 100000pF = 100nF. This kit includes a standard-size breadboard, mine happened to include also the mini breadboard shown in the picture of mine in the AIRWidget documentation.

Here is a mini breadboard for $1.19 that I located on a US site if you prefer this to the ones you listed. You also list a green LED rather than a white one. Here is one possibility for a white LED if that is preferred. My recommendation, though, would be to get a starter kit such as the one referenced above. It ships from China, so I am sure that it and other similar kits are available through US websites.

Just a few notes on Barf's comments.

1. Thank you for discovering that Nanos with the ATMega168 work just as well as those with the ATMega328P.

2. I do say in the documentation that "It can also be easily soldered in a more permanent form if desired", but thanks for a picture showing this.

3. The QSE159 was not my choice, it was Tommy's as he was leading this collaboration. It is the sensor that he believed he had been using in his widgets, though some doubt arose during the development as to whether that is what they were. It is good to know of some alternatives. As to availability, a web search here in the UK gave Mouser as the only supplier of the TSMP58000 and they ship from the US with a substantial handling charge. I found a choice of UK suppliers of the QSE159.

4. I agree. The announcement at the top of this thread said "The other components are two resistors, an LED and a small decoupling capacitor, though in its most basic form these can all be omitted".

5. See my separate post about sources. I agree with points 6-7.

Graham, the thing to keep in mind is that most folks (including me) know little to nothing about electronics, so stuff that will seem obvious to you, will be far from obvious to others. If the expectation here is that regular folks can just jump in and make one of these, it has to be as "plug and play" as possible. So my goal is to make that as easy as possible. I will explore the kits to see if that is a better option for regular parts.

Rob, I agree entirely. I hoped I was making it as plug-and-play as possible, as it had to be for me too. I hate anything that involves soldering, which is why I have emphasised using a breadboard and have included a picture showing what I consider to be a pretty neat construction on a mini board. Anything you can do to make it even more plug-and-play is welcome. BTW I too find looking for components on the Mouser website to be a daunting task, to be avoided if possible.

This $12 kit on ebay has a lot of the stuff:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/195324146407

It has "104 Ceramic Capacitors", are those the same as the 100nF decoupling capacitor that your design calls for?

I know absolutely nothing about Arduino's but would something like this also work? It mentions ATmega in the title but not in the detail.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/134183955306

If the IR receiver doesn't need to be a specific brand/model, would a TSOP4838 work?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/314187544133

Any ideas for some sort of box or casing to put this in?

Rob, the $12 kit looks very good value. The 104 ceramic capacitors are indeed 100nF ones.

The Arduino compatible board you mention may work but it is not a Nano clone, the pinout is certainly different and the PCB does not label it as a Nano. I would stick to one that is labelled Nano, such as the one in your original parts list. Barf may have a different view.

The other point about this board is that the header pins are supplied separately, so any assembly requires soldering - either to add the pins or to connect other components directly. This would not be suitable for someone like me that wants to avoid soldering. Some Nano clones also supply the header pins separately. For a breadboard assembly you need one with the pins soldered in. To solder components directly to the Nano you need one without the pins.

I have looked at a datasheet for the TSOP4838 and it appears to be a demodulating receiver. That is not suitable. A widget requires a non-demodulating sensor.

A case? Why do you want to put this in a case? The sensor and LED at least must be visible. Even the ones Tommy currently supplies are uncased.

Barf wrote:The sensor TSMP58000 (and TSMP58138) by Vishay are better sensors (for example much higher sensitivity) than the QSE159.

I have just tested a TSMP58000 as a direct replacement, but with different pin-out, for the QSE159 and can confirm that it works. It does indeed have a much greater range, though I don't see this as significant in an IR widget as I would expect the remote to be held fairly close to the widget when testing signals. For anyone preferring to use a TSMP58000, the pin-out is as follows. Lying flat with the sensor window upwards and the leads towards you, the leads from left to right are output, ground and 5v. Put differently, the output and ground are swapped in comparison with the QSE159.

I was trying to source the IR receiver from ebay but I couldn't find cheap ones, that's why I asked about the TSOP4838.

As for whether the Nano has the pins soldered in or not, I get that the non-soldering people will want one with pins, but as I intend to solder this together, I would prefer one without the pins soldered in so that I can use those holes for the components that will need to be added, just like Barf did.

As for encasing it, once it's finished, I would want it to look finished, there's no need to have the circuit bard, etc exposed.

Barf mentioned the OPL551, will that work? I can get 10 of them for $10 on ebay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/143355718606

I have looked at the datasheet for the OPL551 and see that this comes in several forms. The nearest equivalent to the QSE159 is the OPL551-OC (open collector). I suspect this would work and the pin-out is the same as the QSE159. The OPL551 with no suffix would probably require some change to the circuit. I know little about this area of electronics, so these are just my opinions. Barf should be able to give you an authoritative view.

However, Mouser have 10 QSE159 for $12.30 or 1 for $1.95. Did you miss that in your search?

Edit: I see that the link you gave is in fact for the OPL551-OC.