ikea dioder lights mod

[wingnut121]

i own dioder lights and love them but i would love them even more if i could use them with my remote.

i am quite tech minded but i have search the net for ages but cant find a sultion.

i was thinking. could i find a product that uses a ir remote that i can take aprt and put on the dioder lights. i was thinking buying a varilight and slaping this on the circit. but i can only think this would turn on and off and dimm the lights not change the colour ect. can any one think of any thing or do you think iam better off buy a proper kit

any ideas

[Kryptix]

There's an AVForums member selling lights similar to the old Ikea ones, but his can be controlled via IR. You might be able to modify your lights using bits off a tiny kit, but I think it'd generally be easier to just re-buy it all and sell your current lights (which will sell easily).

[wingnut121]

i found this old thread

IR control of Trettioen light strips.

does any one was the old ikea lights the same kind as the new and would this work

[mark_curd]

Hey,

Yes this would work in the same way, you can use pretty much any 12v LED (dioder as some say) lights you wish. The IR unit act as a switch and will go inline with the 12v power source to the lights

[wingnut121]

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

[lawrenso]

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

[mark_curd]

Grab one of these from Maplin's along with the remote kit.

2 Channel IR Receiver > Maplin

It has 2 channels, I would use the first one to switch power to the unit that is 12V and using the other channel to simulate the momently press of the button you are talking about.

[dmmathews]

[FONT=Verdana]Has anyone modified the length of the wire from the lights to the connector? I need about 3 feet more on one. So I was thinking about cutting the extra length from another and soldering them back together.[/FONT]