Sow how are they making one go 300ft plus?

[jasonx]

just did a quick quote
first is for the boost board just etched



second is for the ehp pro with mask and screen

[oPossum]

Modular High Power (MHP)

• 100 IR LEDs
• 60 AA Batteries
• 7 Parsec Range

Stack 10 IR boards with 1 brain board.

[caitsith2]

Eagle files for MHP? (And the schematics, curious as to how the circuit is supposed to work.)

[oPossum]

EAGLE Files
.
.

[IBeHoey]

Ok, Ive been lurking around this forum long enough so I guess its about time that I make my first post. I have already built two of the regular TV-B-gone`s from scratch using both parts Ive ordered and had laying around, and they have worked great.

Vishay was kind enough to sample me 16 of their TSAL6100`s so what better way to put them to use than build one of the EHPs but Im having some problems though. The circuit I have built on my breadboard is based off of this schematic, minus the jumpers:


The symptoms I am having are after I apply the 6V to the circuit, the IRs immediately kick on, and stay on, but not at their full intensity (kind of dimmed). However, when I trigger the MCU it seems to operate normally with the IRs flickering as they should, but with more intensity than they are when setting idle.

I guess the first thing I should ask is which firmware should I be using with this design and could this cause the symptoms that I am having? If not, I was thinking that it might have something to do with the transistors that I am using. When I first built the circuit I was using some transistors that I scrapped out of a old vcr that only had a rating of 150mA for the collector current. So I came to the conclusion that this might have been my issue and went out and bought some of the 2N2222`s, which have a rating of 800mA. After plugging those in I did notice that the IRs were much brighter, but I still had the same issue with them being dimly lite when I applied power to the circuit.

I know the EHP isnt officially supported on this thread but any help would greatly be appreciated..

-=D

[oPossum]

Check these voltages...

Pin 8 of IC1 (should be 5.0 to 5.5V)
Base of Q1 (should be 0 V)
Emitter of Q1 (should be 0 V)

Use the standard rev 1.1 firmware.

[magician13134]

Alright, after being mostly gone for a month, there's been a fair deal of activity with EHP/bigger designs. Anyway, I'll be home on Tuesday and ready to place an order for circuit boards that I'd been talking about before I left. I've had a few PMs asking for EHP boards, but my question is, would you prefer that board, or would you want a higher power, but also higher cost of making design? Let me know which one you would most prefer to have made, as I'll be getting at least 100. I look forward to your input

Also, I don't know if it matters, but would you have a color preference? I can do:
White silkscreen on green soldermask
Black on green
or white on black

Let me know...

[woody1189]

is there any way you could do a small bunch of 4, 6, or 8 led surface-mount ehp boards along with the normal ones?

and personally i think the white on black combo looks best

[oPossum]

I've had a few PMs asking for EHP boards, but my question is, would you prefer that board, or would you want a higher power, but also higher cost of making design? Let me know which one you would most prefer to have made, as I'll be getting at least 100. I look forward to your input.

I want some PCBs for the CHiP design. It's my favorite. More power than any sane person needs.

[woody1189]

ditto

[magician13134]

There were a few issues with that, from what I read, the touching pads created problems and the round side of the LED looks like it's attached to the ground plane... Are those non-issues, should they be fixed, and isn't that fairly similar to the kit sold here? I don't want to just rip off of what Ladyada's selling.
Plus isn't the small size, defeated by the three batteries? Just a thought...

[oPossum]

The minimum drill spacing is determined by the PCB manufacturer. If they are too close, one set could be removed.

There is copper pour for ground and supply. The LEDs are connected to the supply copper pour, not ground.

The small size of the board is to allow it to be installed in a AA battery box. It solves a packaging problem, not a size problem.

It is a very versatile design...

When 2xAA batteries (or 1xCR123) are used, a single pin of the AVR drives the four transistors. This is how the original Rev 1.0 TV-B-Gone kit worked. This makes it more tolerant of weak batteries and extends the battery life. The Rev 1.1 kit uses two pins to drive the transistors for more power and demands strong batteries for reliable operation.

When 3xAA batteries (or 1xLiPo) are used, an emitter follower boosts the base current beyond what the AVR alone could supply. This provides more power to the LEDs than the Rev 1.1 kit. The higher voltage of 3 batteries allows reliable operation at high power. If the recommended TSAL series LEDs are used, the IR output would be very close to the TV-B-Gone Pro SHP.

The board can be cut down for three, two or single LED versions.

The board can be cut in half and the two halves connected with three wires. This could be useful for custom installations.

1 1/2 boards could be used to create an 8 LED version if you really want that many LEDs.

[magician13134]

I was unaware of those features. That and the small size (more boards) definitely makes it the best choice. Which battery case does it fit in? A 4xAA with only 3 batteries in it?

Nevermind, just read the original topic and had my question answered. I will redo my board layout and hopefully have that ordered tomorrow
---------------
What is the purpose of that extra capacitor? I want to be sure if I need to take it out
---------------
One more thing about Eagle that I hadn't noticed before is that the origin cross for text seems to be showing up in the silkscreen despite the fact that no other origins are... Is there any way to disable this? It seems to be one item with the text... I can't just delete it like I usually would

Nevermind again, apparently, it just copies the text to the silk layer, so that origin is retained, but a quick 3D render verifies that they don't show up in the final.

[woody1189]

What led combo do you suggest for the chip design opossum? 2 tsal6100 and 2 TLHG5400 or TLUR5400? maybe 4 tsal6100?

[oPossum]

Two TSAL6100 and two TSAL6400 for near & far use.

-or-

Four TSAL6100 for maximum range.



TLHG5400 is green, not IR
TLUR5400 is red, not IR