2012-03-25, 03:24 AM
I had troubles with my Hauppauge MCE IR transciever - like port 1 never working and then port 2 packing it in. I decided to get the USB-UIRT since it seems so well supported but I couldn't find any emitter cables except online from out of the country (Canada). I talked to the USB-UIRT maker and he assured me that a simple cable would work and that I only needed regular clear mini-white LEDs, not actual IR leds. So I bought a 3.5mm stereo audio cable and the same size mono cable.
From there I cut one end off the stero cable (couldn't find a Y adapter) and cut the mono cable in half as well as cutting off the ends. I spliced/soldered/shrink tubinged (not a word, I know) one mono cable to channel one and the other two channel two. Then I soldered and shrink tubed the splices ( 1/16") and shrink tubed the junction of the three cables (3/16") to provide a bit of strain relief. I soldered and shrink tubed the positive lead to the LED (long leg, short part of the inside) but didn't bother with the negative. Then I shrink tubed the led to the cable with a bit of tubing over the very end ridge on the LED.
Tried it out and they're working independently and both change channels on my STB no problem - even at some range.
The small clear white's don't come in really low power it seems. The lowest my local supplier had was 1000mcd (typical old red 5mm is something like 80mcd). I'll post a pic tomorrow - it doesn't even look terrible.
From there I cut one end off the stero cable (couldn't find a Y adapter) and cut the mono cable in half as well as cutting off the ends. I spliced/soldered/shrink tubinged (not a word, I know) one mono cable to channel one and the other two channel two. Then I soldered and shrink tubed the splices ( 1/16") and shrink tubed the junction of the three cables (3/16") to provide a bit of strain relief. I soldered and shrink tubed the positive lead to the LED (long leg, short part of the inside) but didn't bother with the negative. Then I shrink tubed the led to the cable with a bit of tubing over the very end ridge on the LED.
Tried it out and they're working independently and both change channels on my STB no problem - even at some range.
The small clear white's don't come in really low power it seems. The lowest my local supplier had was 1000mcd (typical old red 5mm is something like 80mcd). I'll post a pic tomorrow - it doesn't even look terrible.
