Homebrew lirc reciever parts

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A long time ago when I built my homebrew serial LIRC receiver, I wrote down all the parts I used from Radio Shack. Now, I realize that buying this stuff at Radio Shack is not the best way to save money, but it is readily available to most users.

  • For the receiver portion, I followed the schematic diagram from LIRC's homebrew receiver page
  • For the transmitter portion, I followed the schematic diagram from LIRC's homebrew transmitter page. You can buy a good box here. Most people just make the simple transmitter, but I wanted to fire this same transmitter at 3 sat boxes, so I made the amplified circuit. It really works wonderfully.

This is a pic of the inside of my homebrew serial receiver / transmitter:

Homebrew inside.jpg



Here is that list of items I used:

  • IR Receiver Module (276-640)
  • 4.7uF Electrolytic Capacitor (272-1024) ***NOTE: RS description differs from lirc description
  • 7805+5VDC Voltage Regulator 1 amp (276-1770) ***NOTE: RS description differs from lirc description
  • Aluminum Heat Sink for TO-220 packages (276-1368) ***NOTE: Not sure if this is necessary, but I put it on anyway: I thought I read it somewhere, but kinda doubt it is needed. One thing: it really gets in the way ALOT and the weight of this heatsink will sometimes cause my solder to break at the circuit board.
  • Heat Sink Compound (276-1372)
  • Grid-Style PC Board (276-150)
  • Nylon Cable Clamps (64-3028A)
  • D-Sub Hood (276-1513)
  • D-Sub Connector (276-1428)
  • Project Enclosure With PC Board (270-283A)
  • 4k7 Resistor ( ?? 271-1330 ?? ) ***NOTE: it was either this package, or a piece in 271-312A assortment. But If I recall, the 1330 was what I used.
  • 1N4148 Diode (276-1122)
  • I used an old serial cable for wiring, but choose whatever you like




I also (with help) built a few transmitters based on the LIRC improved circuit, and they work great. Distance is not a problem, and I use them with multiple satellite receivers. Here is an image of the circuit board layout I used:

Lirc amplified circuit.png

I purchased the parts from DigiKey (almost two years ago - not sure if they are still available):

  • silicon diode (# 1N4148FS-ND)
  • .25W resistors (5% tol, 1k) (# 1.0KQBK-ND)
  • .25W resistors (5% tol, 2.2k) (# 2.2KQBK-ND)
  • .25W resistors (5% tol, 3.9k) (# 3.9KQBK-ND)
  • .25W resistors (5% tol, 10k) (# 10KQBK-ND)
  • .25W resistors (5% tol, 22ohm) (# 22QBK-ND)
  • 4700 uF capacitor (# 493-1047-ND)
  • PNP transistor (# ZTX549-ND)
  • NPN transistor (# PN2222AFS-ND)
  • IR diode (# 475-1088-ND)
  • female serial connector (DB9) (# A2001-ND)