IR Emitter Range

Hi,
We've been asked to add IR control of two Daikin split system air conditioners to an existing c-bus system so i've been looking at the SC5034NIRT unit to achieve this with 2x 8050LD emitters.

I've read the various install guides but they do not really give any definitive answer as to the maximum transmission range of the 8050LD emitters.

In the ideal scenario the NIRT would be mounted high up on the joining wall between the two rooms in which the A/C units reside.

In each room the IR target is on the wall directly opposite to the wall on which we would be mounting the NIRT so the plan would be to have an emitter on either side of this central wall sending the IR across each room to the A/C unit using the high output side of the emitter.

On one side the target is ~8m away from where the emitter would be in a direct line, and on the other side it is ~4m.

Unfortunately locating the NIRT units near enough to the A/C units to allow cables to be run to locate the emitters over the receivers is not an option in this install due to the locations.

Is this likely to work at the sort of ranges we are talking about? Obviously the standard remote controls for the air conditioners work fine at this sort of range but i'm not fully clear on if the 8050LD emitters transmit at a similar power to a standard remote?

Thanks,

Al

 

The output power of the NIRT and 8050LD emitters is a long way below that of a standard remote. This is because they are designed to be placed in very close proximity to the equipment they are controlling. The output range is about 10cm out the "sticky side" of the emitter and about 30cm out the back of the "smooth side", give or take a bit for different IR protocols.

You could always try creating your own emitter by soldering an IR LED on to a 3.5mm stereo socket and connecting it directly to the NIRT. It will definitely work, but I couldn't give you an estimate on range. You'd need to just test it out. If I was to make a guess I'd say 1-2m, but that's just a guess.