Modern consumer entertainment equipment invariably includes an infrared remote control. In fact, the equipment is often almost totally reliant on its operation via the infrared remote control, leaving itself relatively free of switches and controls.

Operation via the remote controls is quite handy if you are in the same room as the equipment, however many homes now have a second TV set or set of loudspeakers that are located in another room. These are usually linked to the main equipment using wiring or via a wireless transmitter/receiver.

Fig. 1: it's a simple concept – instead of directly controlling equipment the infrared signal is detected and sent by wire to an infrared LED which then mimics the detected signal, beaming it into the remote equipment

So how do you control the equipment from another room? The answer is to use a remote control extender as described here.

In use, the Infrared Remote Extender sits somewhere visible (eg, near a TV set or amplifier) and receives signals from the remote control. The arrangement is shown in Fig.1. The Infrared Remote Extender converts these signals into electrical impulses and feeds them down a shielded cable. The end of this cable attaches to an infrared LED placed near the equipment in the other room. The Infrared Remote Extender duplicates the infrared signal produced by the handheld remote control so that the equipment is controlled exactly as if you were in the same room.