Arduino IR Transmitter & Receiver w/ LEDs Flickering Issue (Whats wrong with this circuit?)


Posted on Feb 5, 2014

An Arduino Uno connected to two IR transmitters and respective receivers. Basically, when one of the receivers detects a beam break, I have a strand of LEDs display a pattern. This all works in principle, but the problem is that when the IR transmitters and receivers are connected to the Arduino, the LEDs flicker with random colors. Here`sa video of exactly what`s happening. At first, the IR transmitters


Arduino IR Transmitter & Receiver w/ LEDs Flickering Issue (Whats wrong with this circuit?)
Click here to download the full size of the above Circuit.

and receivers are disconnected and everything is fine, then I connect the IR receivers and the flickering begins at around 8 seconds. . The flickering will continue even when I disconnect the IR receiver, albeit at a reduced rate. In the above diagram, the Arduino is powered via USB (I tried with a 12V power supply too), and the LED strand is powered from an external 12V power supply (I couldn`t find a diagram for an LED strand). If it matters, I should mention that I`m using the IRremote library to control the IR transmitters ( ) and the strandtest example from the Adafruit WS2801 LED library ( ) to test everything right now. The strange thing is that I also have another strand of similar LEDs ( ) and they do not experience the flickering regardless of if the IR transmitters and receivers are connected or not. So the only thing I can think of is to use an external power supply for the IR so as it avoid connecting them to the Arduino. Is that a valid solution If so, how do I got about determining what power supply I would need (in terms of voltage and amperage output)




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