TV-b-Gone Kits: v2 ($30) & RISC edition ($25)

“With great power comes great responsibility…”

The TV-b-Gone is a simple project for anyone with basic electronic soldering skills (and a soldering iron suitable for electronic work … NOT a soldering gun). Running off two AA batteries (included!!!), it’s a small electronic device which transmits a lot of infra-red power codes. Enough, in fact, to switch off virtually any model of TV you might encounter! This will either make you into a super-villain or a super-hero. Please, use your new-found power to improve society rather than just annoying people!

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We are now stocking our own kits, as pictured above. With hardware and software developed in-house at MakerMobile, our kits feature key improvements over Version 1 kits (as sold by Adafruit):

Hardware upgrades include:

  • The button and LED are now in ergonomically sound positions, making the unit easier to hold and operate.
  • The PCB track width has been increased to better tolerate non-expert soldering
  • All component positions are now clearly labelled
  • The battery terminals are clearly identified as B+ and B-
  • The programming header has been removed as programming the chip in-circuit would very likely damage the IR LEDs

Software upgrades include:

  • Doesn’t transmit hundreds of unnecessary codes, wasting battery power - just the ones you need!
  • The code order has been optimized with all common codes transmitted early in the sequence
  • The gap between codes has been reduced. Combined with the previous point, this translates to much shorter wait times.
  • While transmitting, the indicator LED glows steadily rather than flashing (a behaviour that drew unwanted attention). It flashes under certain conditions only (e.g. 3 long flashes for a low battery warning)
  • Version 2 has multiple operating modes.

The Builder’s Guide is here

The Version 2 User Guide is here

The RISC edition User Guide is here. The RISC edition is our new standard kit and maintains the fantastic price point of CAD$25 including batteries!

 

7 Comments

  1. Pingback: Time to Build a TV-b-Gone ! | Maker Mobile

  2. Hi,

    Is there a firmware hex download available for version 2 of the TV-B-Gone?

    Thanks.

  3. Does this contain all of the codes for the US/Asia & UK/EU databases? Also, can it handle 3 AA batteries for increased range like the adafruit v1.2 can? I really like being able to reprogram easier and am thinking about getting one of these. Thanks for your replies!

    • Hi Trent,

      Our standard version contains the US database only. The reason for not yet including the EU dataset in the standard build is that I have not had an opportunity to optimize the transmission order as I have for the US codes. However, you can download an alternative firmware from sourceforge.net/projects/tvbgone which does contain the EU codes as well. Note that in our version 2 hardware, selection of the secondary region is achieved by holding down the pushbutton while you insert the battery. We think this is a better and more flexible system than Adafruit’s.

      We have made a lot of improvements to the TV-b-gone hardware and software that make V2 a big step up in terms of usability and efficiency. You can use three batteries but you will make the project significantly larger and I don’t think you will see much difference in range. The LED current has been optimized and is approx 650mA per emitter on fresh AA’s. Going higher may produce a slight improvement in range but might also shorten the life of the emitters. Bear in mind that the range is already stupendous (think: back of a store on the other side of the street). Please let us know if you have any more questions!

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