From: ohg...@gmail.com   
      
   On Friday, September 16, 2022 at 9:25:52 PM UTC-4, micky wrote:   
   > In sci.electronics.repair, on Fri, 16 Sep 2022 09:31:33 -0700 (PDT),   
   > "ohg...@gmail.com"  wrote:    
   >    
   > >On Friday, September 16, 2022 at 1:06:54 AM UTC-4, micky wrote:    
   > >> Have any of you noticed that your remote control, for a tv or whatever,    
   > >> doesn't work at first, if you haven't used it for a day or two?    
   > >>    
   > >> I keep thinking the batteries have died, but after a couple minutes it    
   > >> usually works.    
   > >>    
   > >> I try to warm up the batteries by pressing one button or another 10 or    
   > >> 20 times and that doesn't seem to work but a fwe minutes later, things    
   > >> are fine.    
   > >>    
   > >> One complication: I'm not controlling the TV directly. I'm shining the    
   > >> remote on PowerMid that uses radio waves to communicate with a receiver    
   > >> in my bedroom that uses a thin cable to send infrared to a little bead    
   > >> that is stuck in front of the IR receiver on the DVDR. But the powermid    
   > >> has a red light that goes on when I'm shining the remote at it, and that    
   > >> does go on. Still, I don't think that is the cause of the delay.    
   > >    
   > >I've never noticed that, no. It seems that with the equipment you have,   
   your lag could be anywhere in the chain and not so much the remote since your   
   powermid is responding to it apparently.   
   > I know the light on the powermid goes on, but I thought that only meant    
   > it detected a signal, but maybe not a strong enough signal. The    
   > powermid at both ends is plugged into the wall, doesn't depend on    
   > batteries. So it didn't seem like it would require "warming up". Maybe    
   > time will tell what the problem is.   
      
   There is a *tiny* window where a digital signal is usable and when it isn't.    
   If the powermid is flashing, it does mean it detected an IR signal yes, and it   
   certainly can also mean the signal is gibberish from the remote, but I can   
   tell you in over 50    
   years in consumer electronics, I can't recall seeing more than one or two   
   remotes that put out an IR pulsed signal that also put out gibberish or the   
   incorrect code at the same time.  IOW, if they transmitted IR, they were   
   generally good.  Could the    
   powermid being seeing a signal too weak to reliably get the code read?  I   
   guess, it depends on what the light  means.  It could mean signal detection or   
   it could mean code readable.    
      
   What if you take your remote directly to your  DVDR?  If it responds   
   immediately, the DVDR and the hand unit are good and the powermid is bad.  If   
   the DVDR doesn't respond immediately, the powermid is good and the hand unit   
   or DVDR is bad.     
      
   Lastly, those little IR beads are often very directional and I've seen times   
   when simply relocating the transmitter bead improves the function greatly.   
   Sometimes they're too far away, sometimes off axis, and sometimes they can   
   even overwhelm the IR    
   receiver they're transmitting to. I know that seems like it's not the problem   
   since it clears up at some point, but I would investigate the placement of the   
   IR bead carefully.  I had a customer with a home theater (all equipment in a   
   utility room) and I    
   ended up sticking a plastic block to the front of his HT receiver with double   
   sided tape and sticking the IR bead to that block  to fix erratic remote   
   operation.   
      
   You can use your smart phone's camera to view the IR from the bead and see in   
   which direction the light is travelling to get a better idea how to aim it and   
   where to aim it.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)