Remote control potentiometer

[siliconray]

Tired of walking a few steps to turn the knob of my tube amplifier, I'm planning to design and make a remote control potentiometer. Alpls motorized RK27 series make the project much easier. All I need to do is add remote control circuit.

There're 2 options for remote control: wireless and infrared. Which one do you think is better? I prefer wireless but it cost more.

[Mooly]

IR is pretty easy to do. Make a learning remote receiver that will learn commands from any RC.

This is brilliant if you have a PIC programmer. All you need is an H bridge motor driver for the pot motor.

FPRC5RX - DIY learning IR decoder

[siliconray]

Neither IR nor wireless is difficult, I will use STC microcontroller to reduce the cost. Benefit of IR is it can be designed to be compatible with some kind of remoter (TV, STB, DVD etc). Benefit of wireless is that you don't need to point it to the receiver. But it's more expensive, and prabobly easier to be interfered by other signals.

[AmpliFire]

oh well, you can ease up your project, see ebay item 220866827480. If you search for "DIY remote volume control" you get many other ones....

If infrared is an issue, then I remember an IR repeater unit in Elektor which can be placed where ever you want.

I saw some awesome simular kits with blue 8-segment volume indication in France some years ago, I'll have a look if I can find them again (around 70 euros).


EDIT: found it here, but actually 115 euro, they also have symmetrical, 4 channel versions, etc. Besides a LCD, they also have the large blue 8 segment indication (not lighted up in the picture, though can be seen on other kits).

[Pano]

I have the same kit as the eBay item. Pretty good, but 100K pot only, if that is a problem for you. There is a good bit of crosstalk in the relay board for some reason. For the price, it's a great start.

[dangus]

Save a lot of effort: buy a toy remote-controlled car and use the guts.

[theAnonymous1]

Originally Posted by dangus

Save a lot of effort: buy a toy remote-controlled car and use the guts.

That's almost a good idea; until the neighbors kid decides to play with his RC toy running on the same frequency and blows your gear.