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Blog IR sensor: all that glitters is not gold
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  • Author Author: colporteur
  • Date Created: 12 Jul 2023 11:50 PM Date Created
  • Views 3758 views
  • Likes 9 likes
  • Comments 12 comments
  • IR issues
  • ir sensor
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IR sensor: all that glitters is not gold

colporteur
colporteur
12 Jul 2023

"All that glitters is not gold" is a concise statement stating that not everything that looks precious or true turns out to be so. I can say that about IR sensor only from experience.

I pride myself on due-diligence before using a technology. A recent project that relied on IR sensor has caused me endless problems. I have taken a step back from using IR sensors. IR noise is a problem that is not easily solved. I wanted to share my experiences in the hope that others can avoid the pit falls or at least be aware they are there.

I started using an ubiquitous IR sensor. I believed the claims. There were numerous examples of using the device. At no point did anyone mention an issues.

image

I used the IR Sensor in this project to detect a model train. IR sensors under the track are used to detect if a model train was present. I successfully completed the project development and then took the design on the road. I can only say, the road show failed miserably!

My windowless, IR noiseless development environment came back to haunt me later on. The amount of IR noise present in the production environment resulted in reducing the IR sensitivity so much that the sensor failed to detect. Sunlight, halogen lights, LED fixtures and even a desk lamp produced enough IR noise to swamp the sensor and made them unusable.

If you are planning on using IR technology, you need to consider that noise will impact the device operation.

Those familiar with RF know that if you are located adjacent to a RF broadcast tower it can create problems. The signal invades other technology and you are left scratching you head for solutions.

My old flat screen TV has issues with IR noise generation. Three brands of IR extenders fail if they are located near the TV. Turn on the LED pot lights in the living room and the extenders range gets poor. What gives?

I suspect much of new light technology is generating noise in the spectrum our eyes cannot see. Those inexpensive LED lights might look bright but outside of what our eyes see, the spectrum is getting lambasted. What you don’t see doesn’t bother you, right?

My friend garage door opener failed to operate after he replaced the incandescent bulbs in the garage with low energy LED bulbs. Only through the grace of his technology knowledge did he track down why the 20 year old garage door opener had issues after changing light bulbs.

After discovering the difficulties with IR on my project, I did a search for issues using the technology. Noise in the spectrum is a problem, that is not easy to solve. I'm forced to find another solution to detect the model train. IR has left me feeling like I am in the game of snakes and shoots and I just landed on the snake that took me back to the beginning. Ask the right question and all that IR glitters is not gold

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Top Comments

  • AE7HD
    AE7HD over 2 years ago in reply to shabaz +1
    It would be more accurate to say that the pin goes low in the presence of 38kHz IR. So you can use two steps to reduce interference: 1. use this sensor with 38kHz and 2. turn the 38kHz signal on and off…
  • colporteur
    colporteur over 1 year ago

    image

    Update. I have been working with IR sensors from DFRobot (dfrobot.com) on another project and made an interesting discovery. Two of the three sensors shown in the image are not impacted by IR noise. SEN0523 & SENO556 outputs do not change even when a 1500 watt halogen is shined directly on the sensor, I also used an IR noisy LED desk lap and it did not cause a problem. SEN0503 was impacted by both of the IR noise sources.

    SEN0523 is a break beam sensor and SEN0556 is reflective unit. They cost more than the cheap IR units I have used but they actually work in high IR noise environment.

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  • Jan Cumps
    Jan Cumps over 2 years ago in reply to Gough Lui

    Often, sun interference can be mitigated by putting the components in tubes. If narrow and well aimed, the source and sensor just see each other.

    A good source for several iR pairs are old defect video players. You'll get some motors as bonus.

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  • AE7HD
    AE7HD over 2 years ago in reply to shabaz

    It would be more accurate to say that the pin goes low in the presence of 38kHz IR. So you can use two steps to reduce interference: 1. use this sensor with 38kHz and 2. turn the 38kHz signal on and off, and detect those changes in phase with the outgoing signal.

    If you ground that shield, they are more resistant to RF. Keep your wiring short and use twisted wire or shielded wires, and only ground the shield back at the Arduino.

    The cover on them makes them more resistant to external lighting. The problem is in this use, they are pointed upwards and both fluorescent and LED lighting can give off loads of interference.

    So you might instead choose to angle them and use tubes to shield all but the intended signal.

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  • scottiebabe
    scottiebabe over 2 years ago

    Very interesting, thanks for sharing. I can tell you what is gold, my scopemeter + 9V topper...

    image

    In this case it is modulated IR at 36.2 kHz... interesting

    image

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  • shabaz
    shabaz over 2 years ago in reply to colporteur

    Hi Sean,

    IR works really well, but the original boards did not use modulation, so they are not really usable in conditions where changing ambient light cannot be kept away from them.

    The TL1838/VS1838 IR sensors as shown in the photo earlier are much cheaper. They use modulation. They are under $1 USD for a quantity of 10. Paired with an IR LED (similar cost) and a series resistor, operated by an Arduino timer output (or PWM) pin, the total cost would be under $0.20.

    image

    There's examples online showing how to connect up the sensor:

    image

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