In other news...
While looking for parts PCBs hoping to fix my new Surround receiver for free, what did I come across? The baggie filled with "bits o' remote" which belonged to my OLD surround receiver, that had accidentally gotten curb-stomped by a dropped couch years ago. Damn... now I HAVE to try and fix it, of course... but I don't have an IR module for my 'scope, nor any of the nifty testers from fleaBay. I used to have a little photochemical card from Radidio Shack that would show you the IR if you charged it up under UV light; but that got lost forever ago, and I never replaced it.
[Tool Time]
So... a little rummaging around in the PCB bin yields a front button bar pulled from an old TV with IR sensor; upon closer inspection, I find the I/O pins are not only neatly labeled, it also has the pullup resistor, etc already on the board to be fully functional with just application of 5V. A little Dremeling yielded a nice little sub-board to which I soldered a BNC adapter direct; then a 10K buffer resistor plugged into that and addition of a USB pigtail and it was ready to rock!
Then I just had to notice... there's a red/green LED on the board too.
A little trial/error "empirical engineering" nets me a combination of resistors that allows the green side to drive at ~3mA, yet easily shunted with a PNP to drive the red side at approx 15mA whenever the base is pulled low by the IR sensor. Some epoxy to pot the resistors and transistor and cable, and it's ready to go!
This gives me a decoder with green power indicator that blinks red (actually appears orange in most cases, which is still fine) with application of IR signal from a remote, AND plugs direct into the BNC & USB ports on my good ol' wRigol.
Not only that, but it's ALSO usable as a standalone go/no-go IR Remote tester just by plugging into any live USB port!
Easy-peasy, and useful as hell!
[/Tool Time]
mnem
More POWER!!! Waugh! Waugh! Waugh!!!