How-To: DIY TiVo IR Blaster

From the MAKE Flickr pool

MightyOhm shares this uber-simple recipe for building an “IR blaster” which allows a TiVo recorder to control a cable box –

The IR blaster that came with our TiVo was lost long ago, in a time when no unnecessary electrical-optical-electrical sillyness was required for it to function. Rather than spend $3 on eBay and wait a week to get a replacement, I decided to make one out of spare parts in my junk bin:

• an infrared (IR) LED
• a 1k resistor (not sure if this is necessary, safety first)
• a 1/8″ mono headphone plug with a couple feet of cable attached
• some heatshrink tubing
• duct tape

I don’t know if the resistor is required – the TiVo may already have an internal resistor. I used 1k, if I see any problems with the cable box getting an intermittent signal I’ll try lowering the resistor to 330 ohms.

Looks like a nice little intro to electronics & soldering, if you’re in need of one of these. More detailsavailable on the mightyOhm blog.