IR sensor: all that glitters is not gold

"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.

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