In everyday life, we are surrounded by a variety of different techniques and electrical appliances, for the convenience of which the remote controls are used. At the same time, there are more and more models in which it is possible to get access to certain menus and functions of the device only from the remote control, making its use impossible without the remote control. In addition to various audio-video equipment, infrared (IR) remote controls can be equipped with any system in the apartment: air conditioners or supply and exhaust systems, control of curtains or blinds, all sorts of elements related to the „smart home“, etc.
Quite often, especially in large apartments or houses, there is a need to control this or that technique or electrical appliances from several different rooms at once, from another room or just to hide it behind the doors in the closet. But how to do this, because for the IR remote control to work, it is necessary that both the receiver located in the electrical device and the infrared signal transmitter – the remote control – were in direct line of sight of each other or not too far away, so that the reflected signal could reach. The way out of this situation is to use an IR repeater, also known as an IR remote control extension.
At present, there are a lot of IR extensions from different manufacturers on the market. All of them differ both externally and in their main characteristics and functionality. Detailed information about the choice of such a device you can find in the article https://whatever-tech.com/best-ir-repeater-reviews/. Let’s take a closer look at the operation of an IR extension cord. We will consider not just an IR extender, but a multifunctional complex that allows you to solve almost any task associated with increasing or moving the coverage of any infrared remote control. The main feature of this IR extender is the presence in the set of infrared signal receiver – the sensor, made in the form of electrical installation equipment, in other words, similar to a switch or socket, which is installed in a standard submachine gun.
Principle of operation IR repeater
The principle of operation of the IR extender is quite simple – the signal from the remote control goes to the IR signal receiver, and then on the wires is delivered to the central unit, where it is processed and sent on the IR signal transmitter to the desired device. Sometimes there are four radiators (ik-transmitter) and only one sensor (ik-receiver) in the delivery set of the IR signal transmitter, but it is possible to connect four ik-signal sensors to the central unit simultaneously, it is such a number of connectors on the case, additional sensors are bought separately.
In addition, if you want to connect more than four IR sensors, they can be connected in series to each other, each receiver has terminals in (input, here is connected the next IR sensor) and out.
In order to ensure that the signal from the RC panel reaches the required device, IR emitters are used, which can be mounted directly in front of the „window“ of the IR sensor of the required devices, everything necessary for this is included in the package. The repeater central unit has two connectors for connecting the radiators, one for a standard jack 3.5mm plug.
In addition, a large number of modern audio-video equipment has special connectors for connecting a remote IR receiver or receiving a signal for transmission to other devices. This is just the case when the equipment is not within range of the remote control, or when the components of one system are separated or hidden. In this case, instead of the IR emitter, it is enough to connect the wire to the jack 3.5mm plugs on both sides, the unit with the required device, which is very convenient, as all the wires are hidden on the back side.