ok i took apart the switch for the dioder lights photos below. i was wounderng if i removed the switch in the centre and soldered wire in its place does anyone know what i could put there so i could controll it with a remote, i have been searching for a ir switch. or does any one a divice which would have one so i could take that apart Right (blows off the cobwebs from my old electronic theory).
To me it looks like that switch (or rather button) in the centre is connected up to the small ic package on the board. This is more than likely a flip flop to step through the available colours on the output. It is a bit hard to see as the board looks to be double sided with it's fields and tracks.
Is the stepping through the colours what you want to achieve? or do you want to select a colour immediately?
You need to go to somewhere like
Fairchild Semiconductor - Site Search - Photosensors
to find the bits you are after. Your first point is - what controller will you use to send the signal - a custom one or an old one you have knocking about. You then need to find out the pattern that is being sent. Then figure out the logic to replace the function of the switch and what chip you need to carry out that function.
You could build a custom transmitter quite easily if you want to just step through. Then, in the recieve, just feed the signal into a flip flop. I would suggest first to measure the voltage on the legs of the button to see what happens - ie does it change state, or toggles ie 0-5-0.
On the link above you should be able to identifity the IC on the board and see what function that supplies for controlling the colour as well.
Cheers
Steve