I have a small IR remote control that trips the shutter for a digital camera from a short distance. It uses a button cell battery so it's not very powerful.

The thing is - I need to reliably trip 10 cameras at once. These camera sare monuted side by side and the multiple images are processed into a 3 dimensional picture of whatever they werw all pointed at. It's an odd contraption but it works.

I'l like to add 9 more LED in parallel with the original - and stick each LED over each cameras IR sensor. I'll no doubt need to up the available current to get all LEDs to light.

As a HAM I used to be neck deep in hobby projects like this - but its been a long while since - and while I'd LOVE to experiment to get the working I need to get the camera up and running - so I figure I'll cheat and ask for a driver circuit that will help.

Any Ideas?

Thanks

 

I wonder if instead of taking the approach you are considering, maybe you would be better off amplifying the output from your transmitter. Does that sound reasonable?

hgmjr

 

Here is something similar to what I had in mind.

It is referred to as an extender or repeater. I have also heard these circuits referred to as ir-boosters.

This one would be powered by 2 standard 1.5V batteries

hgmjr

 

I thought about increasing the power but figured that it would work in my case because I'll be behind the row of cameras when I trip the shutters, and the IR sensor is located on thee front of each camera. Making it worse is that the bodies of the cameras "overlap" each other in order to get the lenses as close to each other as possible. This overlap obscures the view of the IR sensors on about half the cameras.

What I had thought about doing was to give each sensor it's own IR LED emitter. This would be placed directly over each IR receiver on the cameras. This way action will be reliable - even in bright sunlight.

The remote (most likely attached to the case that all the cameras sit in) then acts as the shutter for all cameras. What's neat is that it controls the zoom too, so all cameras will zoom in/out together as needed.

 

Just saw your post about the IR repeater - this might just do the trick......

 

Just saw your post about the IR repeater - this might just do the trick......

That is what I was thinking also. You could construct the repeater module in such a way that the mechanical relationship between the receiver and the transmitter would conform to you specific needs. The repeater module would be mounted on or near the camera body.

hgmjr