my fellow installers,

i'm using a ir. system with the equipment in the back of the room. some of the equip. is in cab. and some on top of the cab. the equip. on top sometimes receives a double code and won't do anything. i put something in front to block the equip. it works fine. for test purposes i layed the front of the equip. with black tape with the emit. under the tape but it doesn't solve it. i didn't cover the display so they could read it. so i'm thinking it's getting in that way. i tried running the equip. on top without the emit. but it doesn't work everytime. any ideas?

brandon

Black tape won't stop IR.

i've used it before and it worked.

I would say that a double signal is nearly impossible to get with an IR repeater system...I'd say it's sunlight interferance.

You can ocassionally get double signals. Xantech makes hoods that fit over their emitters that typically cost a buck a piece. Black tape if applied carefully does work. You can get the hoods at Electronic Custom Distributors.

matt and shoe have a good point, check for interference...sunlight, cfl (from a plasma if you're using one), possible IR signals that are bouncing off of the screen/monitor wall back to the equipment that is probably facing the front of the room(if the client can read the displays). the bouncing IR wont be consistent, but it will mess with things sometimes. to stop that, i almost always use the Xantech IR mouse emitter sheilds (model MS1). i buy them by the hundreds, and they save me service call dollars by the hundreds...lol.

i do have the plasma in the front of the room. and i have lots of windows. but i don't think it's interference from the plasma , sunlight , lights. what i think... it's coming from ir. signal bouncing around the room(alot of reflective surfaces). if i aim at the front of the equip. it works fine. as soon as i turn around and aim towards the plasma it freaks. i tried unhooking the ir. system and just work off it bouncing to the back of the room and it's not consistent. my equip. in cab. doesn't work at all and the equip. up above only 50% of the time give or take. i also used the sheilds and if i cover over any more of the front of the equip. i will cover up the display.

Completely cover the gear on top of the cabinet and install a mini camera that captures the displays. Wire the camera to the plasma then your client can pull up the display in pip (pending plasma) They won't even have to turn their heads... Should work.
Just joking...couldn't resist.
Sounds like maybe a cabinet modification may be a reasonable alternative so that all the gear is hidden, then again they won't be able to read the display.
Just curious, why do they want to be able to read the display?
CMack

You would have to have thousands of feet of cable inline to get any sort of 'delay' The speed of light and the speed of electrons through wire are about half. But when talking hundreds of thousands of feet per second, it's hardly releveant.

cmack,
your killing me! it's no wonder they call this forum "CUSTOM"!!! the reason for the display to be seen isn't to look over the shoulder, but to see what's going on when standing in front of the equip. (by the way equip. is a dvd & vcr) and the client wants the client gets! the cab. mod. is a little tricky we are in tahoe ca. where everything is 10 times more expensive and 10 times harder to find to do it. i have never seen this to be such a problem before. usually put a mask over the ir. window and done. the only thing thet comes to mind is to open the units and try to cover it and install the emitter on the inside. that would just suck!!!
matt,
not follwing?
brandon

What plasma are you using? Are you using a plasma friendly IR receiver? What remote?

The only time I've ever seen a double signal was some time ago with a Sony Satellite recevier using an IRP-6 and Niles emitters. Don't remember what fixed it but it was either a emitter signal that was to strong or IR and RF enabled at the same time. And Yes, there was a service setting for both.

Dave

plasma is the 50" marantz. the remote is tsu 1000. and no not plasma friendly but cfl friendly. if you cover up 50% of each of the 2 sensors the cfl will work. and i still don't think it's the reciever. because i turn off the ir. system and the problem is much improved. i'm going back and rethinking cmack's resolve. take a digital picture of the equip. tape to the front of box and i'll have to use a night camera because of the darkness inside the box.
brandon

If your serious, please keep us posted.
Seems like installing the emitters inside the components and blocking any possible esternal signals from entering would be a good quick fix. (But the camera idea sure sounds like fun.)
From my experiences I think your flooding the gear with too much signal from the emitters and signal bouncing around. While speaking with a tech from Audio Plex I learned that it possible and turns out that was the problem I was having. Can't remember the details and didn't make notes so I didn't make the suggestion originally.
CMack

Oops,
Now I remember,
I installed a plasma and installed the plasma poof I.R system by Audio Plex. At the time the brand was new to me and I didn't realize that digital cable had a higher IR frequency than most components. So the system wouldn't work consistantly. Called Audio Plex and ordered an additional IR target (receiver) that was resigned for digital cable freq. Wired it to the connecting block and everything was screwed up.
After talking to the techs a Audio Plex (which are very helpful) we realized that with 2 receivers I was doubling the amount of signal going to the emitters and causing the problem.
Solution?
The IR target (receiver) for digital signals is a seperate system that goes only to the digital cable box, therefore sending the acceptable amount of signal to each component. Expensive, but it worked.
Audio Plex does make a plasma proof target that will pass all the freq. necessary. So next time I'll order the right one. Only bummer is it's 1.5" in diameter for a cabinet mount. Hope this helps.
CMack