batteriespower supplyremote control
For an artistic installation, I need to use 20 TV remote controls. So I would like to replace their batteries (1.5V * 2 = 3V) with a single power supply.
How hard is it to replace the circuitry - Not hard at all.
Here's a circuit for the sender unit capable of 16 unique single key presses.
The uC has three basic jobs to do.
(1) Scan/read the keyboard and determine which key is pressed.
(2) Convert the 'keypress' to a particular code value (see standard codes e.g. RC5) with various start and stop bits
(3) Send out a stream of bits with the 38kHz carrier (internally generated) to the output pin.
You'll find the necessary software in most libraries or other uC projects. From a power saving point of view you should use the key press to wake up the processor.
The cover is made of plastic that is opaque to visible light but transparent to infra-red. It probably attenuates the infra-red a small amount but not enough to affect operation.
The cover is basically for aesthetics - it will work fine without it.
Learning remote controls also have an IR photo-diode where there may be some advantage to filtering out visible light to avoid picking up other lights during the programming process.
Best Answer
No, you would not wire them in series. You'd wire them in parallel. You'd tie all the "positives" together and connect them to a 3V power supply's positive output. You'd tie all the "negatives" together and connect them to the same supply's negative (common, ground, etc.) output. The supply would likely not need to supply more than a few hundred milliamps but that's just a guess.