The TV-B-Gone kit is what you need! This ultra-high-power, open source kit version of the popular TV-B-Gone is fun to make and even more fun to use. This version can be used in both “North American/Asia” as well as “Europe/UK” areas (basically, the whole world)! This kit comes unassembled with all parts necessary. Tools and batteries are not included. This is a very simple kit and great for people who have never soldered anything before. Tired of all those LCD TVs everywhere? Want a break from advertisements while you’re trying to eat? Want to zap screens from across the street? This turns off (or on) most TVs in the world!
Power: 2 AA batteries (not included) Output: 2 narrow-beam and 2 wide-beam IR LEDs Number of TV power codes: 230 total, 115 each for American/Asian and European! You can select which zone you want during kit assembly. Max distance: v1.2 has double the power, goes 150 ft or more!
This covers pretty much every TV of the following brands, including the latest flat-screens and plasma TVs…
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The firmware that is on the site at this time is v1.2 only however we will soon ‘backport’ it for v1.1 and v1.0 – you’ll need an AVR programmer and you cant switch between EU and US as easily.
@haineux –
That would be very easy to implement with just a firmware change on this equipment, if captions were just a single button press, or a two button press. Unfortunately, every tv I’ve seen, the captions are burried in an on screen menu, usually two or three menus deep, and dependent on the current state of the option. I wish it were this simple to make a Captions-Be-On kit, as I tend to find it easier to absorb info by reading it than listening to it, (especially in noisy/distracting environments) and I’d give one to my uncle (who is deaf)
It’s not the voltage, it’s the current. You can give a LED 20 volts if you wish, if you limit the current (usually 20mA for your average cheapo LED) it will work just fine but the brightness (in this case range) will be the same. I do actually still run a red LED at 20v, it replaced a really old bulb (so old that it was all black) which served as a power indicator in a 60W audio amp.
Indeed, increasing voltage without increasing the series resistor appropriately will make the LED brighter because there will also be more current going through it. But it will also make the LED run hotter and die an early death. I’ve fried enough LEDs to know that, trust me.
You can find LED current calculators in a number of different places, but my personal favourite is this: http://ledcalc.com/
An easy way to backport to v1.0/1.1, is more or less offer programmed NA or EU chips, for the desired hardware version. One plus side of this, is that 100% of a generation 3 NA or generation 3 EU will fit the chip, when you do it absolutely region specific.
In this way, 1.2 still has exclusive dual region support out of the box, although it is nice having ALL of the generation 3 codes, as that allows me to turn off TVs that the top 40 codes doesn’t hit.
the tv b gone is new here in Canad and it makes the sale people scratching they heads trying to explain why the power to several t.v’s are going out at the same time.
And the restaurants think their t.v. is on the blink when you turn it off and back on.
hahhaaha
we just need a tv b gone that does them all at once so it would need several chips one going to several wide and narrowed beams over 300 feet. MOO HAAAA HAAAA HAAA
Is it possible to use the reprogramming header on an older TV-B-Gone to download the latest codes?
It works in Brazil also 😀
The firmware that is on the site at this time is v1.2 only however we will soon ‘backport’ it for v1.1 and v1.0 – you’ll need an AVR programmer and you cant switch between EU and US as easily.
Please invent a “Captions-Be-On” kit to turn on closed captions.
My deaf friends will be ever so happy!
@haineux –
That would be very easy to implement with just a firmware change on this equipment, if captions were just a single button press, or a two button press. Unfortunately, every tv I’ve seen, the captions are burried in an on screen menu, usually two or three menus deep, and dependent on the current state of the option. I wish it were this simple to make a Captions-Be-On kit, as I tend to find it easier to absorb info by reading it than listening to it, (especially in noisy/distracting environments) and I’d give one to my uncle (who is deaf)
Would it be possible to drive the logic with 5V and the IR diodes with a higher voltage to increase range?
Or is it the IR diodes that can’t handle voltages over 5.5V ?
It’s not the voltage, it’s the current. You can give a LED 20 volts if you wish, if you limit the current (usually 20mA for your average cheapo LED) it will work just fine but the brightness (in this case range) will be the same. I do actually still run a red LED at 20v, it replaced a really old bulb (so old that it was all black) which served as a power indicator in a 60W audio amp.
Indeed, increasing voltage without increasing the series resistor appropriately will make the LED brighter because there will also be more current going through it. But it will also make the LED run hotter and die an early death. I’ve fried enough LEDs to know that, trust me.
You can find LED current calculators in a number of different places, but my personal favourite is this: http://ledcalc.com/
Hope that clears you up.
If you have questions about voltage use, be sure to check out our design notes – it
An easy way to backport to v1.0/1.1, is more or less offer programmed NA or EU chips, for the desired hardware version. One plus side of this, is that 100% of a generation 3 NA or generation 3 EU will fit the chip, when you do it absolutely region specific.
In this way, 1.2 still has exclusive dual region support out of the box, although it is nice having ALL of the generation 3 codes, as that allows me to turn off TVs that the top 40 codes doesn’t hit.
I think that you can just put the parts from the old kit onto the new circuit board with a new controller and it may work.
Just bought this, can’t wait till I try it out 🙂
the tv b gone is new here in Canad and it makes the sale people scratching they heads trying to explain why the power to several t.v’s are going out at the same time.
And the restaurants think their t.v. is on the blink when you turn it off and back on.
hahhaaha
we just need a tv b gone that does them all at once so it would need several chips one going to several wide and narrowed beams over 300 feet. MOO HAAAA HAAAA HAAA