So, how do you know if that remote is working?
Posted by Michael Brown on February 10, 2008
Pretty much every electronic gadget has a remote control these days. The fancier ones have a status light or backlit keyboard, so you know if the batteries are still working. But what about the remotes that don’t have the fancy features? Here’s where your Treo or camera equipped handheld or mobile comes in…
Fire up the camera app on your device, and point the remote at the camera. Start pressing buttons on the remote. You should see a bright (or dim) pulsing light depending on the strength of the batteries. You can also use this trick to test individual buttons on remotes that have suffered accidental drops or beverage spills (or toddlers/pets chewing on them).
If you need to get fancier in your reception of IR signals, you can use a Palm application called IR monitor on any IR enabled Palm device. It let’s you observe the actual IR modulation, so you can really see what’s going on with your remotes. And don’t forget, you can always use your handheld or Treo as a remote, using software such as Novii Remote.
