IR Cables Cheap

I been messing around with my Arduino and found that an IR remote is an easy way to send a bunch of commands to the microcontroller.

I have tons of orphaned remotes around the house.  You can get a used one for $1 at goodwill or a new universal IR remote at Big Lots for $5.

After you get the remote, tts pretty trivial to get the arduino to recognize when power/play/stop/ent whatever button is pressed.

But the IR Receiver is another story, the receiver itself can be purchased online relatively cheap, but usually they aren't lying around.

Or are they?

I found this old IR Receiver from an old Comcast DTA.

This all in one piece is perfect.  I could have saved some money and lopped of the end, but the 3.5mm plug would make a clean plug into my arduino project.

So I purchased a 3.5mm female jack from Radio Shack and I was in business.

 It took some trial and error (and a sacrificed IR extender) but here is where the connections are on the 3.5mm plug

I did tear one apart, it had a diode and resistor in there. Sorry no photo's of it in pieces.

I also found a Hauppage one lying around as well, the plug onthis one is 2.5mm, I am not sure if I can find the female plug for it.

I'm not sure what one of the connectors does, I am speculating it is for an IR emitter.  But here it is if you want to use it as a receiver.

Update May 19, 2013: I checked the voltage and the signal outputs 5 Volts so it is NOT Raspberry Pi Compatible.